Free real estate trust accounting software

The best real estate accounting software is easy to use and provides advanced features, like profit and loss tracking by location and automatic monthly e-payments. To take the guesswork out of determining the best, we evaluated a range of accounting software across different key metrics using an internal case study. Based on the results, here are our top recommendations:

• QuickBooks Online: Best overall accounting software for real estate companies and property managers (4.18 of 5 points)
• Buildium: Best for running day-to-day property management operations (3.63 of 5 points)
• Quicken: Best for landlords with around three rental properties (3.54 of 5 points)
• Wave: Best free real estate accounting software (3.03 of 5 points)
• Realtyzam: Best accounting software for real estate agents (2.73 of 5 points)
• Bench: Bench online bookkeeping service for real estate companies (no score)

Comparison of Best Real Estate Accounting Software

*Custom pricing for more than 5,000.

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QuickBooks Online: Best Overall Real Estate Accounting Software

While QuickBooks Online has no real estate-specific management features, you can use it to manage the accounting side of your business. For instance, it makes it easy for you to bill and collect payments from your clients with its bill pay feature and QuickBooks Payments integration. You can also set up unlimited classes and locations to see which among your buildings or types of rentals are the most profitable. QuickBooks Online also excels in other areas, including banking and inventory management, making it our best small business accounting software.

QuickBooks Online

Overall Score: 4.18 OUT OF 5

What We Like

• Outstanding general bookkeeping features
• Track income and expenses by class and location with the Plus or Advanced plans
• QuickBooks Payments integration for scheduling automatic monthly e-payments
• Great mobile app with mileage tracking and receipt capture

What's Missing

• Can’t initiate a call to a customer support agent
• No integrated property management features
• Expensive for self-employed and independent agents

QuickBooks Online Pricing

• Simple Start: $30 per month for one user
• Essentials: $55 per month for three users
• Plus: $85 per month for five users
• Advanced: $200 per month for 25 users

New subscribers have a choice between a 30-day free trial with no credit card or 50% off for three months.

To help you decide which plan suits you, check out our QuickBooks Online comparison.

QuickBooks Online Standout Features

• Location tracking: QuickBooks Online lets you track the income and loss separately for each of your real estate properties. You can even add sublocations for units in the same location. Also, you can generate a P&L report by location to help you determine which among your business offices or locations is making the most money and which one needs your attention.
• External accountant access: The tool allows your external accountants to manage your books. You can invite up to two accountants in addition to the users included in your plan.
• Recurring invoices: Instead of sending invoices manually to tenants, you can save precious time with recurring invoices. QuickBooks Online sends your invoices automatically based on the recurring schedules you set.

Our Expert Opinion

QuickBooks Online may not have real estate-specific management features, but its location tracking capability makes it a dynamic program that can be adapted to the real estate industry. It allows you to set up classes for each of your real estate segments and then locations for each property.

Most of its vast array of reports can be customized to include only the classes and locations you choose. For instance, you could look at the profitability of a particular building by running a report showing only those units, or locations, within the building. So, if you want a solid solution to keep an eye on your profitability, then QuickBooks Online is our top recommendation.

Buildium: Best for Running Day-to-Day Property Management Operations

Buildium is a cloud-based property management system with integrated accounting features. It includes leasing tools that automate the rental workflow, from application to approval, making it easy for rental property managers to handle move-ins and maintenance requests and communicate with tenants easily. Also, it offers flexible options for paying rent. For instance, it integrates with Pay Near Me to accept retail cash payments from renters, which are then transferred to landlord accounts. This feature makes Buildium one of our best online rent payment services.

Buildium

Overall Score: 3.63 OUT OF 5

What We Like

• Outstanding property management features
• Separate profit and loss by property
• Allocate common area expenses to properties automatically
• Leasing tools to streamline rental workflows

What's Missing

• Mobile app doesn’t include accounting functions
• Lacks common accounting features like mileage tracking and receipt capture
• Can be difficult to use for new users

Buildium Pricing

• Essential: $50 per month for 150 units or fewer
• Growth: $160 per month for over 150 units
• Premium: $460 per month for up to 5,000 units

If you have more than 5,000 units, custom pricing applies. Try out Buildium’s features by signing up for its free 14-day trial with no credit card required. The trial includes preloaded test data to see how Buildium works.

Buildium Standout Features

• Tenant evaluation: Buildium can help you screen tenants during the application process. This includes credit screening, criminal records, and eviction information. It also lets you customize credit score requirements.
• Specialized accounting functions: The platform has specialized accounting functions you’ll need for real property management. It also features recurring invoices and automatic expense allocation, such as trash removal, among tenants.
• Marketing tools: Buildium can help you create listings that can be posted on managers’ websites, on Craigslist, or to the entire Zillow network.

Our Expert Opinion

If you’re looking for a capable property management software to handle the day-to-day operations of your real estate business, then Buildium is worth a try. It helps you simplify various workflows, such as rental listings, tenant screenings, and online payments. On the accounting side, it enables you to collect rent, manage bills, and classify transactions transferred from your bank account.

It also offers a feature for more experienced accountants to record general journal entries. It provides basic financial statements, including a balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows, plus many reports for analyzing your activity by property.

Quicken: Best for Landlords With a Few Rental Units

Quicken is an accounting software designed predominantly to manage personal finances. However, its Home & Business edition is very capable of managing rentals, but we recommend a more complete software, like Buildium, if you have over 3 units.

You can manage and track tenants with Quicken, something you can’t do with QuickBooks Online. As our best QuickBooks alternative for managing rental houses, it has specialized real estate features like a property dashboard, rental agreements, and a report of income and loss formatted as the Schedule E required on your individual income tax return.

Quicken

Overall Score: 3.54 OUT OF 5

What We Like

• Very affordable
• Track P&L by property
• Manage lease terms, rental rates, security deposits, and maintenance
• Monitor personal finances, retirement accounts, and self-employed income

What's Missing

• Doesn’t track assets and liabilities so it can’t print a balance sheet
• Supports only one user
• Software must be installed on your computer

Quicken Pricing

• Simplifi by Quicken: $3.99 per month
• Starter: $3.49 per month
• Deluxe: $4.99 per month
• Premier: $6.99 per month
• Home & Business: $9.99 per month

Note that all the plans are billed annually and that Quicken Home & Business is only available for Windows users.

Also, Starter, Deluxe, and Premier come with a desktop companion app, while Simplify by Quicken includes a mobile app.

Quicken Standout Features

• Integrated accounting: Quicken features includes accounting functions to help you manage your real estate transactions, such as invoicing, estimates, receivable and payable tracking, and a tax deduction finder.
• Market value tracker: If you also need to track your security investments, then Quicken’s market value tracker can be useful. This feature gives you quick insights into the current market value of your securities portfolio which can be classified by type, sector, or the integrated Morningstar’s Portfolio X-ray tool. The Portfolio X-ray tool is a special analytical tool of Morningstar, a financial services company. This tool evaluates your asset allocation and sector weightings along with diversification and uncovers potential weaknesses in your portfolio.
• Tenant management: Quicken can help you manage your tenants in one software program, keeping track of their accounts and managing their payments easily.
• Online document storage: Quicken also has cloud storage for saving receipts and other business documents. We like this because you can keep copies of lease contracts in the cloud.

Our Expert Opinion

Quicken isn’t a double-entry bookkeeping system and isn’t appropriate for a corporation, partnership, or limited liability company (LLC) because it doesn’t track assets and liabilities. While the mobile app will sync with your desktop computer via the cloud, the software itself isn’t cloud-based and must be installed on your computer. It’s not as robust as QuickBooks Online, but if have a small portfolio or you need something that will help you manage your personal accounting, then it’s an excellent alternative.

Wave: Best Free Accounting Software

Wave, a free accounting and invoicing software, is a great option if you have a limited budget or are just starting out. While it lacks premium accounting features you’ll find in other similar programs like class and location reporting and a mobile app, you’ll still get a number of decent functionality, such as the ability to send and track invoices, connect your bank account to track income and expenses, and accept rent payments online through Wave Payments (paid service).

Wave

Overall Score: 3.03 OUT OF 5

What We Like

• Free forever for unlimited users, transactions, and customers
• Connect bank account to import transactions
• Set up automatic monthly e-payments

What's Missing

• Cannot track profit and loss by property
• No property management features
• Cannot track automobile mileage

Wave Pricing

• Free for accounting and invoicing
• Credit card and bank payment processing fees apply per transaction: 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction (for most cards) and 3.4% plus 30 cents (for American Express)

Wave Standout Features

• Recurring invoices: Never miss a payment with Wave’s recurring invoices. Wave will generate and send an invoice to your tenants automatically. Moreover, you can track invoices on Wave to see the status of payments and obligations of your tenants.
• Bank account connection: On Wave, you can connect your bank accounts and credit cards to track expenses and payments from tenants. This feature is helpful especially if you only accept bank-to-bank transfers or credit card payments.
• Free accounting and invoicing: The free accounting and invoicing feature is probably one of the best features from the perspective of small businesses. Given that most products today come at different price points, small real estate businesses can benefit from starting with a free accounting service.

Our Expert Opinion

Wave is a pretty good option if you have a small portfolio and just need a tool to send invoices and track income and expenses. If you’re looking for a free and low-cost option and are willing to sacrifice some essential features like reporting by location and a mobile app, then Wave is a good starting point to grow your business.

Realtyzam: Best Easy-to-Use Accounting Software for Real Estate Agents

While Realtyzam didn’t score well as accounting software for real estate companies in general, it’s a useful app for real estate agents who want to track expenses and commissions by listing. You can set up your account in just a few clicks, connect your bank account easily, and run the reports you need. Also, it has an automatic transaction categorization feature that speeds up data entry.

Realtyzam

Overall Score: 2.73 OUT OF 5

What We Like

• Affordable for even part-time agents
• Easy to use
• Good mobile app
• Tracks automobile mileage

What's Missing

• Cannot speak or chat with customer service
• Doesn’t track assets and liabilities, so it can’t produce a balance sheet
• Cannot reconcile your bank account

Realtyzam Pricing

• $12 per month

Try Realtyzam for free for 30 days—no credit card required upon sign-up.

After 30 days, it will still be free until you sell two properties or generate a $3,000 income and expenses.

Realtyzam Standout Features

• Zero data entry: The hardest part of bookkeeping is data entry, especially for real estate agents who are always on the road or meeting with clients. Realtyzam provides a zero data entry feature wherein you can feed data from more than 15,000 banks and credit cards directly into the platform.
• Receipt scanning: Meeting with clients and visiting sites entails expenses. With Realtyzam, you can monitor your expenses through its receipt scanning feature. You can also use your smartphone to capture receipts. Realtyzam will store the digital receipt and reduce unnecessary papers on your desk effectively.
• Client relationship management (CRM) module: This is one of the features we like. Real estate agents can use it to organize clients by storing all client information in one place. Hence, there’s no need to keep physical records.

Our Expert Opinion

Realtyzam lacks some accounting features, like invoicing, online payments, inventory, and time tracking, but we believe it’s not a major concern for real estate agents. If you only need a simple and easy-to-use tool for tracking your expenses, recording your mileage, and running the reports you need for taxes, then Realtyzam will suffice.

It also does a great job of tracking commission income and expenses—you set up each of your listings in the software and assign expenses and mileage as they’re incurred. When a listing is sold, you confirm your commission and view your P&L details instantly. Of course, when tax time comes, you can print a cumulative P&L statement for the whole year.

Bench: Best Online Bookkeeping Service for Real Estate Companies

Bench isn’t complete accounting software and is primarily designed to offer bookkeeping and tax services for businesses. It employs highly trained bookkeepers, accountants, and tax professionals to support small businesses, making it our best online bookkeeping service.

When you sign up for Bench, you’ll get an industry-expert bookkeeper who will help you create a real estate-specific general ledger, reconcile your accounts, track mileage and expenses, assist with managing and tracking home office deductions, and prepare your taxes. If you have fallen behind on your books, then Bench offers retro bookkeeping services to help you get caught up.

Bench

What We Like

• Access to a team of trained bookkeepers
• Catch-up bookkeeping services
• No need to learn how to use a real estate accounting software
• Premium subscription includes annual business income tax return

What's Missing

• No financial planning services, like investment and business expansion
• A bit more expensive than using an accounting software
• No invoicing and bill payment features
• Essential is expensive if you want to pay as you go

Bench Pricing

• Essential (Pay-as-you-go): $349 per month
• Essential (Annual Contract*): $249 per month
• Premium (Annual Contract*): $399 per month
• Add-ons
  • Historical bookkeeping: From $299 per month
  • Specialized bookkeeping: From $100 per month

*Paid annually.

You can request a free trial, which includes one prior month of bookkeeping, in addition to a free tour of the Bench platform.

Bench Standout Features

• Access to a dedicated bookkeeping team: When you sign up for Bench, you’ll get access to a team of in-house bookkeepers. They’ll import your business transactions to Bench and categorize them accordingly, reconcile your bank accounts, and prepare the financial statements needed for tax time.
• Accounting Integration: While Bench has no built-in accounting features, it integrates with accounting software programs, such as FreshBooks, to help you perform essential tasks, such as sending invoices and paying bills.
• Mobile app: The Bench Accounting mobile app, available for iOS devices, lets you check your business performance and connect with your dedicated bookkeeper on the go.
• Catch-up bookkeeping: For an additional fee, Bench offers historical bookkeeping services to those behind on their books or taxes.

Our Expert Opinion

We recommend Bench for real estate companies that require unlimited bookkeeping support and those that have fallen two years behind in their bookkeeping. It also makes sense to use Bench if you have no in-house accountants or have no time to learn using accounting software as you’ll be connected to a team of professional bookkeepers who’ll manage your books for you. If you can sustain the price, you should consider Bench to support your basic real estate bookkeeping needs.

How We Evaluated Real Estate Accounting Software

Using a unique scoring methodology, our experts evaluated a range of accounting software that could be tailored to real estate companies. We looked at the features that are useful specifically to real estate businesses, such as the ability to track profit and loss by class and location and accept payments online. Our evaluation boils down to five criteria: pricing, ease of use, general features, real estate features, and expert evaluation.

• Breakdown
• Pricing
• Ease of Use
• General Features
• Real Estate Features
• Expert Evaluation

20% of Overall Score

The most important factor in our pricing score is the monthly cost of the program. However, we also considered any limitations on transactions, vendors, or customers. Finally, we scored programs higher that offer a month-to-month option versus an annual license.

20% of Overall Score

Along with a subjective evaluation by our accounting expert, the ease-of-use score includes the availability of customer service by telephone or direct message. Other components include whether online payments require third-party integration and the likelihood of finding third-party accountants familiar with the program who are able to assist.

20% of Overall Score

General features include bookkeeping features typically found in modern bookkeeping software, including online payments, mobile apps, and receipt capture. We also determined whether the software is a double-entry system, which means it tracks both assets and liabilities as well as income and expense. Double-entry systems are the standard for bookkeeping and provide checks and balances to ensure accuracy.

20% of Overall Score

The most important real estate feature evaluated is the ability to track profit and loss by property. Other features include the ability to track automobile mileage, automatic monthly e-payments, tenant portals, and maintenance management.

20% of Overall Score

Our expert evaluation is a subjective analysis of the software’s features, mobile app, and reports. It also includes the availability of bookkeeping assistance from third parties.

*Percentages of overall score

Bottom Line

Ultimately, the best real estate accounting software depends on your budget, the size of your business, and your specific needs and priorities. For instance, if you own a multilocation business and you want to stay on top of your profitability, then you can benefit from QuickBooks Online’s profit and loss tracking by location feature.

If you’re a property manager or landlord who needs custom features for managing your properties, go with Buildium, but landlords with a few rental properties may be best served by Quicken. If you have a limited budget and you don’t have much time to learn how to use a real estate accounting software, there’s Wave or Realtyzam. Finally, if you have no accounting department and want professional help cleaning up your books, consider Bench.

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