Stessa is a free property management software platform designed for rental property owners who want to track income, expenses, and portfolio performance in one place. It automates much of the bookkeeping that landlords traditionally handle with spreadsheets, and it generates tax-ready reports at year end. The platform offers both a free tier and a paid Pro plan at $28 to $35 per month.
What Stessa Does
At its core, Stessa is a financial tracking tool for landlords. It connects directly to your bank accounts and downloads transactions automatically, similar to how personal finance apps like Mint work. Once connected, it categorizes rental income and expenses using single-entry accounting, which means you don’t need bookkeeping experience to use it. You can also pull in data from property management platforms like AppFolio if you use one.
The platform generates several reports that matter for rental property owners: an income statement showing revenue minus expenses for each property, a net cash flow report, a schedule of real estate owned (a snapshot of your entire portfolio), and tenant ledgers that track what each renter owes and has paid. These reports update in real time as new transactions flow in.
How It Helps at Tax Time
Tax reporting is one of the biggest draws. Stessa produces a personalized tax package that includes an income statement, a net cash flow report, and a ZIP file containing scanned receipts for backup documentation. If you file a Schedule E for rental income, having these reports organized and ready saves significant time, whether you prepare your own return or hand everything to an accountant.
You can scan receipts throughout the year using the Stessa mobile app on iOS or Android, and the platform stores them alongside the matching transactions. If you have gaps in your transaction history, you can fill them by uploading CSV or QIF files exported from your bank.
Cash Management Accounts
Stessa offers cash management accounts that let you hold rental income and earn interest on the balance. The interest rate depends on two things: how much you keep in the account and whether you’re on the free or Pro plan.
On the free Essentials plan, APY ranges from 0.53% on balances under $10,000 up to 1.88% on balances of $250,000 or more. Pro subscribers earn higher rates at every tier, starting at 1.34% on small balances and reaching 3.24% on balances of $250,000 or more. These rates are variable and were last updated in April 2026, so they can shift over time. The tiers are based on your previous month’s aggregate ending balance across all accounts under one login.
Free vs. Pro Plan
The Essentials plan costs nothing and covers the basics: automated bank feeds, transaction tracking, core financial reports, a basic tax package, and one portfolio. For many landlords with a handful of properties, this is enough.
The Pro plan runs $28 per month if you pay annually or $35 per month on a month-to-month basis. It unlocks several upgrades:
- Unlimited portfolios instead of just one, useful if you hold properties across different LLCs or partnerships
- Advanced reports including budgeting and pro-forma analysis, which help you project future returns on a property
- Unlimited receipt scanning instead of the five-per-month cap on the free plan
- Full capital expenditure tax package with more detailed reporting than the basic version
- Higher cash management APY across all balance tiers
- Seven eSignatures per month for lease agreements and other documents
- Priority phone support and priority tenant screening
- Project expense tracking for renovation or improvement projects
Who Stessa Works Best For
Stessa is built for individual investors and small landlords, not large property management companies. If you own one to a few dozen rental units and manage them yourself or with a small team, the platform fits naturally into your workflow. It replaces the spreadsheet where you’ve been logging rent checks and repair costs, and it does the categorization work for you.
It’s less suited for landlords who need full-service property management features like maintenance request portals, vendor coordination, or complex lease management across hundreds of units. Stessa focuses on the financial side: tracking money in and out, measuring property performance, and producing reports you can actually use when filing taxes or evaluating whether a property is worth keeping.
The free tier is generous enough to be genuinely useful, which makes it easy to try without commitment. If you find yourself bumping against the receipt scanning limit or needing multiple portfolios, upgrading to Pro is straightforward.