Deal analyzers help you decide whether to buy. Once you own the property, you need a different tool — one built for operations: tracking what rent came in, what repairs went out, whether you're on budget, and how it all maps to your tax return when March arrives.
Most landlords with one to three properties are choosing between four options: a purpose-built spreadsheet tracker, a cloud-based subscription platform like Stessa or Landlord Studio, a free tracking tier from one of those platforms, or a generic Etsy template. Each makes different tradeoffs on features, price model, and tax prep depth.
Disclosure: I built the Shopfolio Rental Cash Flow Tracker and sell it for $29. The other tools in this comparison are evaluated based on publicly available information. Subscription pricing and feature sets for Stessa and Landlord Studio change over time — verify current rates and features directly at their websites before purchasing. Features I was unable to confirm from public listings are marked with a question mark.
Bottom line up front: For landlords tracking one to three buy-and-hold properties who want IRS Schedule E organized at year end without an accountant sorting your receipts, a $29 one-time spreadsheet covers every operational tracking need. Cloud platforms earn their subscription price when you need bank auto-import, tenant portals, rent collection, or maintenance tracking — features that go well beyond record-keeping. The right choice depends on which of those you actually need.
Before comparing tools, here are the five functions that distinguish a tracker built for tax-ready operations from a basic cash flow sheet.
| Feature | Shopfolio ($29) | Stessa (free / Pro) | Landlord Studio | Etsy template (~$15–25) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly income/expense log | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Schedule E auto-fill by category | ✓ | ? (Pro) | ? | — |
| Budget vs actual with variance flag | ✓ | ? | ? | — |
| CRE market + lender context tab | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Works offline (Excel / Sheets) | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| Bank account auto-import | — | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Mobile app | — | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| No account / login required | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| Properties tracked | 1–3 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Usually 1 |
| Price | $29 one-time | Free + $?/mo Pro | $?/mo | ~$15–25 one-time |
✓ = included · — = not included · ? = feature status not confirmed from public listing as of May 2026 — verify directly before purchasing. Subscription pricing for Stessa Pro and Landlord Studio not independently verified; check current rates at stessa.com and landlordstudio.com before purchasing.
One-time purchase · Excel + Google Sheets · Instant download · Up to 3 properties
Built for buy-and-hold landlords who track income and expenses themselves and want their Schedule E organized at year end without a manual sort. Eight tabs cover the full operational cycle: property setup with annual budget targets, a month-by-month log with IRS-aligned expense categories, YTD totals with budget vs actual variance highlighting (red = over budget, green = under), a Schedule E Part I auto-populated tab, a portfolio summary, a CRE market context tab, and a Lender Defaults tab with DSCR hurdle benchmarks by lender type.
The two features that distinguish it from generic trackers: the budget vs actual system (you enter your annual budget once during setup; every month the YTD tab shows how actuals compare to the pro-rated budget target, by category) and the Schedule E auto-fill (at year end, the totals are already sorted into the exact line items the IRS form requires — hand it to your CPA or enter directly).
Cloud-based · Mobile + web · Unlimited properties · Free tier available
Stessa (acquired by Roofstock) is the most widely used free landlord tracking platform and the most direct comparison to a spreadsheet for landlords making the one-time vs. ongoing-cost decision. The free tier is genuinely useful: it connects to bank accounts to auto-import transactions, categorizes income and expenses, generates a P&L report, and handles unlimited properties. For landlords whose primary goal is eliminating manual transaction entry, Stessa's bank sync is hard to beat at $0.
Where Stessa Free falls short relative to a purpose-built tracker: income and expenses must be individually categorized after import (you're reviewing each transaction rather than having IRS-aligned categories pre-built), and the Schedule E output is available in Stessa Pro rather than the free tier. The budget vs actual functionality — setting annual targets and flagging monthly variance — is not documented on the free tier. Stessa Pro adds advanced tax reporting and additional features at a monthly subscription rate; verify current Pro pricing at stessa.com.
Cloud-based · Mobile-first · Subscription · Unlimited properties
Landlord Studio is a mobile-first property management platform that extends beyond tracking into operational management. Based on their publicly advertised feature set: rent collection, maintenance request logging, tenant communication, and lease storage. For landlords who want a single app for both record-keeping and tenant management — particularly if they self-manage on a phone — it addresses more of the landlord workflow than a spreadsheet does. Verify current features and pricing at landlordstudio.com before purchasing.
As a tracking tool specifically, Landlord Studio handles income and expense logging with bank sync and generates reports. The depth of Schedule E-specific output and budget vs actual variance tracking was not confirmed from the public feature listings. Subscription pricing varies by tier. For landlords whose need is purely income/expense tracking and tax prep without tenant management features, the subscription cost includes a feature set they may not use.
One-time · Excel or Google Sheets · Various sellers
Etsy has a healthy market for landlord spreadsheet templates priced between $15 and $25. Most are single-property income and expense trackers built in Excel or Google Sheets. For a landlord who wants a basic log of what came in and what went out — and is comfortable building their own year-end summary — these templates are functional and inexpensive.
Based on a review of the most popular listings, the typical Etsy rental template does not include budget vs actual variance tracking, Schedule E auto-fill by IRS category, multi-property portfolio aggregation, or a market context tab. Some sellers offer these as add-ons or premium versions. For landlords whose primary tax prep method is handing bank statements to a CPA, the $15 template covers the record-keeping function. For those wanting to reduce their CPA's sorting time with a pre-organized Schedule E, the category structure and auto-fill output matter more than purchase price.
The IRS Schedule E Part I requires you to report rental income and expenses in specific named categories: advertising, auto and travel, cleaning and maintenance, commissions, insurance, legal and professional fees, management fees, mortgage interest, other interest, repairs, supplies, taxes, utilities, depreciation, and other expenses.
Most landlords — including those using bank auto-import tools — track expenses in generic categories ("repairs," "utilities," "misc") that don't perfectly match these IRS line items. At tax time, that mismatch requires a manual reconciliation pass: pull each transaction, decide which Schedule E category it belongs to, total by category. On a property with 50–80 transactions per year, that's one to two hours of sorting per property.
Example: You pay for a roof repair ($1,400), new appliance installation ($340), and landscaping after a tenant moveout ($180). Are these "repairs," "cleaning and maintenance," or "other expenses" under Schedule E? The IRS category matters — "repairs" vs. "improvements" affects whether you can deduct in the current year or must depreciate over 27.5 years. A tracker that uses IRS category names from day one means this decision is made at the time of entry, not reconstructed from a bank statement description in March.
The Shopfolio tracker's Monthly Log uses Schedule E-aligned categories for expense entry. At year end, the Schedule E tab pulls your annual totals into the exact line items the IRS form requires. For a two-property landlord, that's the difference between a 10-minute review and a two-hour sort.
For landlords using any subscription-based tracking tool at $10/month or more, the five-year cost comparison is significant.
Subscription pricing for Stessa Pro and Landlord Studio varies and changes over time — verify current rates before purchasing. The math above uses $10/month as a conservative reference point. If your subscription runs $15–20/month, the five-year cost is $900–$1,200 and the savings from a one-time purchase widen further.
The subscription is the right choice if you actively use the platform features beyond tracking: bank auto-import that saves meaningful time, rent collection, tenant management, or a mobile app you use daily. If your primary need is monthly record-keeping and year-end Schedule E prep, a one-time spreadsheet covers those functions without the recurring cost.
1–3 properties, buy-and-hold, want Schedule E-ready at year end: Shopfolio Rental Cash Flow Tracker Pro ($29 one-time) covers every operational tracking need — budget vs actual, IRS-aligned categories, auto-filled Schedule E, and market context — without a recurring cost.
4+ properties or you want bank auto-import and don't mind a subscription: Stessa's free tier is a strong starting point. It handles unlimited properties with bank sync at no cost. Evaluate whether Stessa Pro's additional features (Schedule E reports, advanced analytics) are worth the subscription rate vs a free-tier + CPA combination.
Self-manage on a phone, need rent collection + maintenance tracking: Landlord Studio or a comparable property management platform. You're paying for operational features (rent collection, maintenance routing, tenant portal) that go beyond what a tracking spreadsheet does.
Single property, minimal budget, basic record-keeping only: An Etsy template at $15–25 covers the basics. Plan for a manual Schedule E sort at year end, or upgrade to a dedicated tracker once your portfolio grows.
Month-by-month tracking · IRS Schedule E auto-filled · Budget vs actual variance · CRE market context · 1–3 properties · Excel + Google Sheets.
Download Rental Tracker Pro — $29If the spreadsheet doesn't work for your situation, email orders@shopfolio.store. I fix it or refund it.
No. A rental property tracker spreadsheet handles income and expense tracking, budget vs actual variance, and Schedule E tax prep. Property management software adds features that go beyond tracking: tenant portals, online rent collection, maintenance request routing, lease storage, and communication logs. If you self-manage and primarily need a record of what came in, what went out, and how it maps to your tax return, a spreadsheet covers your full need. If you need tenants to pay rent through a portal, submit maintenance requests digitally, or communicate via a managed platform, property management software serves those functions — at subscription pricing that reflects the added feature set.
As you log income and expenses in the Monthly Log tab throughout the year, the Schedule E tab pulls your YTD totals into the exact line items from IRS Form 1040 Schedule E Part I — advertising, insurance, management fees, repairs, taxes, utilities, and depreciation. At year end, the numbers are already organized by category in the IRS-specified format. You or your CPA transfer the totals directly to the tax return. The spreadsheet does not file for you — it eliminates the hour or more landlords typically spend reconstructing category totals from bank statements and receipts in March.
The Shopfolio Rental Cash Flow Tracker is built for traditional long-term rentals with consistent monthly income and IRS Schedule E Part I tax treatment. Short-term rentals (less than 7-day average stay) are typically reported on Schedule C rather than Schedule E, with different income patterns including nightly fluctuations, cleaning fees, and platform deductions. For Airbnb or VRBO properties, a tracker designed for STR income is more appropriate than a Schedule E-focused tool. If you mix long-term and short-term units, use this tracker for the long-term properties and a separate method for the STR units.
The Lite ($9) covers single-property expense tracking for Schedule E prep — income and expense log using IRS-aligned categories, a Schedule E output tab, and a simple annual summary. It is a compact, clean record-keeping tool for one property. The Pro ($29) adds budget vs actual tracking with monthly variance highlighting (red = over budget, green = under), multi-property support for up to three units, a portfolio-level dashboard aggregating all properties, a CRE market context tab with current credit direction and CMBS signals, and a Lender Defaults tab with DSCR hurdle benchmarks by lender type. Choose the Lite if you have one property and need straightforward Schedule E prep. Choose the Pro if you have two or more properties, want ongoing budget discipline, or want market context alongside your tracking.