(2023 Guide) The 13 Best Property Management Accounting Software

Are you looking for property management accounting software for your real estate rental portfolio?

If so, you will need a good software that can solve all kinds of problems, including basic accounting tasks and those tailored to property management specifically:

• Recording rent payments
• Tracking deposits
• Doing payroll
• Managing work orders
• Screening and managing tenants
• Automating rent collection
• Improving efficiency with tenant and owner portals

When searching for these features, it can be hard navigating the plethora of options out there, from well-known general accounting options (like QuickBooks) to more dedicated property management software solutions.

That’s the purpose of this guide.

And, because we know you likely have questions, we’ll be answering those too:

• How is property management software different from accounting software like QuickBooks?
• Why should property managers and landlords use property management software?
• How much does property accounting software typically cost?

So, let’s get started.

13 Best Property Management Accounting Software for 2023

Below, we’ve organized the 13 best property management accounting programs on the market for property managers and landlords.

Some are general accounting solutions, though many are more dedicated property management tools.

Under each option, we’ll cover the following:

• A quick summary with notes on where that software excels
• A list of notable features
• The pricing model

With that said, we still suggest you do your homework and review the product and pricing pages of the respective options yourself before making any decision.

1. DoorLoop

DoorLoop is a full-service rental property management software tool that includes a comprehensive suite of features. DoorLoop is designed to be highly intuitive and easy to use so you can manage every aspect of your rental business with ease. Any property manager or landlord who manages real estate rentals from 1-20,000 units can use it.

Features include:

• Built-in CRM and tenant portal that allow you to automate rent collection, tenant screening, tenant management, and more
• Fully responsive mobile app for any device
• Owner portal that gives easy access to reports and enables you to print checks in real time
• Marketing features for scheduling showings and listing rental properties
• A full range of accounting features designed to replace QuickBooks, including custom reports, a complete chart of accounts, and a variety of payment options (e.g., ACH and credit cards)
• Easy interface to manage work orders, from scheduling maintenance requests to tracking and communicating with tenants about progress

DoorLoop Pricing

Right now, DoorLoop starts as low as $49 per month for your first 20 units with the Standard plan.

2. QuickBooks

While not a dedicated property accounting system, QuickBooks’ popularity makes it a common choice for landlords or property managers, especially when starting out.

QuickBooks is excellent as a complete accounting tool. In terms of accounting features, you have everything you need.

Features include:

• Robust financial reporting
• Payroll
• Online payments
• Chart of accounts

The Issue with Using QuickBooks for Property Accounting

QuickBooks can be a great place to start for those with just a few rental properties or who are just getting their accounting started.

But if you manage dozens of properties yourself or are part of a property management team that manages large numbers of properties, you'll quickly learnthat QuickBooks is not a property management software. It has many limitations in this industry, and they're significant.

For example, you don’t have access to essential non-accounting features like a tenant portal, marketing tools, and work order management. Trust accounting is not easy. You also have to use workarounds to input both your properties and tenants as customers, since QuickBooks isn’t designed for property management. To get this to show up correctly, you need a workaround.

With QuickBooks, it's hard to work using multiple accounts, such as property management, business management, and deposits.

QuickBooks Pricing

The QuickBooks Small Business version’s most basic plan, Simple Start, is $30 per month. However, for essential features such as managing and paying bills, you’ll need to get the Advanced plan for $200 per month.

3. Buildium

Buildium is one of several reliable options for the property management industry, particularly for residential properties, as it has a robust set of features.

It’s not as affordable as other options unless you have at least 50 units. Other than that, however, it delivers on ease of use and the number of features.

Features include:

• Payment tracking
• Financial reporting
• Automated monthly bank reconciliation
• Expense tracking
• Mobile app
• Integrations with sites like Apartments.com and Zillow

Buildium Pricing

The Buildium basic Essential plan starts at $52 per month up to 20 units.

Larger portfolios can move up to the Growth plan at $166 per month or Premium at $479 per month.

4. AppFolio

AppFolio is a strong overall option, with great features for both residential and commercial property management.

It has an up-to-date interface and robust set of features, but it’s on the pricey side. Also, certain features can come off as a bit complex or hard to use. With that said, it has good training resources for getting started.

While AppFolio is pricey compared to the typical property management accounting software, it has very few gated features. All customers have access to most of the features AppFolio offers.

Features include:

• Smart bill entry
• Robust reporting
• Automated late fees
• Utility management
• Security deposit account holding

AppFolio Pricing

AppFolio has a $400 onboarding fee for getting started. Monthly pricing comes in between $1.40 and $3 per unit, depending on the property type. It also has a minimum $280 or $900 monthly payment, depending on the plan.

5. Hemlane

Hemlane is a dedicated tool that offers unique features that help you connect with local agents and leasing tools. Accordingly, Hemlane’s strong points are its marketing and tenant placement features.

However, it’s designed for smaller-scale property managers. Its pricing is more expensive than other options, so it’s not great for large-scale operations. However, this might be justified by the program's unique local support features, such as on-the-ground leasing agents.

Features include:

• Real estate marketing and leasing tools
• Maintenance coordination to handle repairs and other requests
• Local support features
• Tenant screening

Hemlane Pricing

Hemlane’s Basic plan starts at $30 per month and $2 per unit after the first. Its premium Complete plan starts at $60 and $32 per additional property.

6. TenantCloud

TenantCloud offers fewer and less robust features than most dedicated tools on this list.

However, it makes up for it with the most affordable pricing plan.

Features include:

• Financial reporting
• Insurance reminders
• Maintenance request management
• Vendor payments
• Cloud-based system

TenantCloud Pricing

TenantCloud's Basic plan is a low cost of $15 per month. While lacking in many areas, it offers several useful features like maintenance request management, online rent payments, and some basic accounting tools.

For $50 per month, the Growth plan covers more units and includes additional features like an owner portal, lease builder, and QuickBooks Online sync.

7. Rentec Direct

As another all-in-one pick, Rentec Direct offers a diverse range of features.

It's known for feeling a bit dated and less intuitive than many of the newer options on this list, but it manages to deliver one of the more impressive lists of features as well.

Features include:

• Robust financial reports
• Owner portal with reporting and owner payments
• Work order management system for maintenance requests and vendor payments
• Tenant screening and advanced real estate lead tracking
• Built-in email and SMS service for tenant communications
• Cloud-based software

Rentec Direct Pricing

The basic Rentec Pro plan costs $45 per month, covering 10 units. Additional units increase the monthly cost on a tiered scale.

For example:
50 units = $65 / Month
100 units = $110 / Month
250 units = $270 / Month
500 units = $550 / Month

Also, tenant screening will incur an additional cost, with $10 for the Basic Screening Package, $13 for the Enhanced Screening Package with nationwide eviction search, and $18 for the Premium Screening Package with TransUnion credit reports and FICO scores.

8. MRI Commercial Suite

MRI is a strong option for those working with commercial properties, though it has separate offerings for residential and public/affordable housing.

It offers good leasing tools and a generally robust set of features customized to your type of real estate property management.

MRI’s user interface is dated, and its pricing is high and less transparent (you have to contact MRI for a quote).

Features include:

• Financial reports
• Automated accounts payable
• Maintenance requests
• Lease templates
• Owner portal

MRI Pricing

MRI doesn’t list pricing directly on its website, so you need to contact the company directly to determine how much the program will cost you based on your number of rental properties and feature needs.

9. Condo Control

Condo Control is a rental property management software designed specifically for condos and homeowners' associations. The software has a somewhat unique set of features. It’s based not only on helping property managers run their business but also handling the unique needs of property owners with condos and similar types of units.

Features include:

• Architectural change requests
• Community features for members like events calendar, bulletin board, and voting
• Violation tracking
• Online payments
• Security and concierge features like visitor parking and package tracking

Condo Control Pricing

Condo Control offers both a Core and Premium plan with a variety of features. However, the cost isn’t very transparent; you’re required to contact Condo Control directly for a quote.

10. Propertyware

Propertyware is a good system with a robust set of features and other unique paid add-ons for the property management industry.

It stands out and has some of the best reporting features on the market, including custom fields options, as well as automatic notification options for both owners and tenants.

However, its pricing structure makes it a difficult fit for those with fewer than 250 rental properties in their real estate portfolio.

Features include:

• Robust and custom reporting
• Owner portal
• Maintenance request management
• Email notifications for tenants and owners
• Cloud-based system

Propertyware Pricing

Propertyware’s Basic plan has a minimum instead of a flat fee. A $250 monthly minimum is required, with $1 per unit. That means Propertyware isn’t a great fit unless you have at least 250 rental properties in your portfolio.

The Basic plan also has an onboarding fee equal to 2x the monthly subscription fee.

If you have 300 rental properties, your monthly subscription price would be $300. So, you’d pay a one-time $600 onboarding fee.

Also, Propertyware offers several attractive additional paid features, such as 24/7 call center assistance for a $300 one-time setup fee and an additional $1.10 per unit.

11. Property Matrix

A strong overall option, Property Matrix is a fully customizable solution that boasts particularly robust real estate features and an intuitive interface.

Features include:

• App access
• Online payments via ACH, CC, and check scanning
• Customizable financial reports
• Enterprise-level features
• Built-in document signing
• Owner statements

Property Matrix Pricing

Property Matrix is definitely on the enterprise end of things, with its most basic Standard pricing plan starting at $450 per month for up to 250 units. Additional units are $1.75 per unit.

The most premium Enterprise plan runs at $1,400 per month for up to 800 units.

12. Yardi Breeze

Similar to its big brother, Yardi, Yardi Breeze is uniquely suited for new and smaller-scale property managers.

It doesn’t offer an app, but the cloud-based software gives you access to training materials to help get you started easily. It also has a simple and intuitive interface.

Features include:

• Owner reports
• Tenant communications
• Maintenance request management
• Accounting features like one-click import, invoicing, and QuickBooks integration
• Cloud-based system

Yardi Breeze Pricing

Yardi Breeze’s pricing structure is a bit complex, as it's based on the property type.

For example, its basic residential Breeze plan has a $100 monthly minimum at $1 per unit. There are no additional fees for as onboarding or support. The Breeze Premium plan for residential properties has a $400 minimum at $2 per unit, the same price as the company's basic commercial property plan.

13. Rent Manager

Rent Manager is one of the most feature-rich options on the list. Its great balance of features includes a cloud-based, desktop, and app-version of the software that’s a fit for both beginners and more advanced, large-scale operations.

Features include:

• Vendor and owner payments
• Automatic bank reconciliation
• Reporting
• Countless integrations
• Custom training and data migration
• Cloud-based system

Rent Manager Pricing

Rent Manager doesn’t offer its pricing model on its website. You need to sign up for a free demo to get information from a sales representative.

Part II: Your Property Accounting Software Questions: Answered

Managing a property management business of any size is difficult, and accounting is just the beginning.

There’s marketing the properties, managing work orders, handling other tenant requests, and communicating with and paying your client owners (among other things).

The great part about good rental property management software is that it handles all of that and more.

But if you’re new to these tools, you’re not convinced whether your business needs it, or you have another question, the answers below might help.

What is property management software?

Property management software is designed specifically to help you manage properties with ease and efficiency and help you save time.

It allows you to do everything you would do with a typical accounting system:

• Manage accounts
• Perform reporting tasks
• Accept payments
• Issue receipts
• Do payroll

Plus, you can do countless other tasks not directly related to accounting, including the following:

• Market and manage listings
• Offer a tenant portal for tenants to pay rent and check on maintenance requests
• Offer an owner portal, where owners can see reports and payment info
• Manage work orders from one convenient place

Property management software can be used by landlords, property managers, and small businesses. Whether you have a single unit or a real estate portfolio of thousands, these programs help you save time and money by pulling dozens of tasks into one, centralized location.

How is property management software different from accounting software like QuickBooks?

With QuickBooks, you can handle every accounting task your property management company could ever need.

That includes:

• Collecting rent payments
• Managing your real estate chart of accounts
• Running reports

Property management accounting software offers all of these basic accounting features, plus many other non-accounting features:

• Tenant portal and screening
• Work order management
• Automatic listings and marketing
• Owner portal

QuickBooks is a more robust accounting solution than the average rental property management software, but many of its features are designed for purposes that aren’t always relevant to property management.

In other words, more features don’t necessarily mean more useful to you.

To summarize:

• QuickBooks: Robust accounting-only software
• Property management software: All-in-one software designed specifically for property management, including everything from accounting to marketing

Built for Property Managers and Landlords

The purpose of rental property management software is to make your life as a property manager or landlord easier.

Handling everything from maintenance requests to rent payments, putting up listings, marketing, and managing deposits and accounts is a pain when you have to manage them separately.

With the right program, you can bring all of those things together in one location.

Instead of bouncing from spreadsheet to spreadsheet—or spreadsheet to QuickBooks—trying to manage everything separately, with property management software, you can simplify your job down to a single dashboard.

That not only makes things simpler and easier but also saves you a real, quantifiable amount of time and money.

And the less you have to manage everything, the more you can focus on other high-level tasks.

A few years ago, features like web portals for tenants and owners were reserved for high-end, expensive software solutions.

Now, affordable options exist for property managers and landlords with real estate rental portfolios of all sizes, whether one or one thousand.

Here are just a few of the benefits you can reap by using a property management software:

• Simplify communication by allowing tenants to communicate through a dashboard on maintenance requests and other issues
• Reduce the time it takes to list available units and market them, further reducing the amount of time those units are vacant
• Centralize business reporting and data to make clearer and more streamlined decisions
• Obtain mobile access to all your real estate property data
• Automate tasks like collecting rent payments, saving you time and hassle
• Avoid forgetting something important with custom alerts like due dates on work orders

What Does Your Business Need from Property Management Software?

One of the most important questions to answer when considering what kind of property management accounting system and features you need is:

What does your business need from property management software?

Or, said another way, what is of value to you that property management software can offer?

A shiny list of features sounds nice, but it’s important to consider which of those features are actually significant to your business.

You might be hesitant to give up the robust accounting features of QuickBooks, only to realize on further inspection that you really only need a few cornerstone features.

If your accounting situation is more complex, those same features might be vital time savers.

That’s what’s so special about dedicated property management software. Its features are designed to be exactly what you need to thrive as a property manager or landlord managing your properties.

In the same way, however, certain features in a dedicated property management software might be worth their weight in gold, while others won’t provide any value at all to you. It all depends on your situation.

Here are the most important things to consider:

• What do you need from property management software?
• Which solution provides the most value to you?

Pricing

Like a general accounting system, property accounting software varies in what features it has depending on who offers it. For that reason, the price varies somewhat as well.

Some basic accounting software offers a free trial along with a low monthly payment. Still, you only get the most basic features and none of the other valuable features that the best property management accounting software offers.

Other accounting-only software offers a perma-free version with limited features (and a paid premium version).

True property management software typically uses a per-unit model. For example, one solution might charge a $50 flat monthly fee plus $1.50 additional per unit. So, if you have 75 units, you’d pay $162.50.

Other solutions can charge larger flat monthly fees as well as a cost for onboarding.

For example, some solutions may charge a $500 onboarding fee and a monthly fee ranging from $200-$2,000 depending on the size of your business. This is usually the case for more robust general accounting software and isn't typical for dedicated property management software.

Try a Free Demo of DoorLoop

There are countless property management accounting software options out there that can help deliver the tools and features your real estate business needs to maximize productivity, reduce hassle, and optimize revenue.

Some, like accounting-specific software such as QuickBooks, only handle accounting. They’re robust, though, and deliver features that dedicated property management software might not offer.

DoorLoop offers not only all the accounting features necessary to manage your rental portfolio but also a plethora of additional tools that help you run your entire business—not just accounting.

Whichever you choose, remember that property management software should make your life easier, not more complicated.

The best property accounting software is the one that works for you.

If you don’t feel like your software solution is doing everything it can for your real estate business, consider your other options, and find one that truly helps streamline your business processes, saving you time and money.