Stessa vs Baselane

Checked Oct 24, 2026As of October 2026, Stessa costs about $0 a month for 20 units (Essentials), while Baselane costs about $0 a month for 20 units (Core). Stessa fits landlords and real estate investors wanting a free starting plan and flat pricing regardless of property count. Baselane fits multi-property investors wanting free banking, bookkeeping and rent collection, plus Schedule E and tax reports.

Stessa

For independent landlords

Stessa is rental property software for real estate investors and landlords, with bookkeeping, rent collection, screening and leases. Every plan covers unlimited properties, starting with a free Essentials plan.

Baselane

For independent landlords · AI features

Baselane is a banking and bookkeeping platform with rent collection, run by Skylight Financial Services Inc. It is aimed at real estate investors with multiple properties and at property management companies.

What each costs at your unit count

Cheapest plan from each vendor at each size, worked out from its published pricing rules. Tenant-paid fees aren't included.

	5 units	20 units	50 units	200 units
Stessa	$0Essentials	$0Essentials	$0Essentials	$0Essentials
Baselane	$0Core	$0Core	$0Core	$0Core

Feature by feature

	Stessa	Baselane
Made for	Real estate investors and landlords. Unlimited properties on every plan.¹	Multi-property investors and property management companies. Baselane says 50,000+ real estate investors trust it.²
Free plan	Essentials is free: unlimited properties, bank feeds, basic reports, rent collection, screening. Leases cost $15 each.³	Core is $0/month: banking, bookkeeping, rent collection essentials, tax package and Schedule E reports.⁴
Rent payments	No-fee ACH for landlords; cards also supported. Accelerated rent payments on Manage and Pro.⁵	ACH $2 to $5 per payment, waived for deposits into Baselane accounts; card 3.49% charged to tenant. Deposits: 5 business days, 2 on Smart.⁶
Tenant screening	Through RentPrep: credit or background check $29 each, complete package $49, income verification add-on $10.⁷	Starts at $24.99, listed under tenant fees. Provider and who pays are not stated.⁸
Leases and e-sign	Attorney-drafted state leases. Essentials $15 each; Manage: unlimited leases, 1 e-signature/month; Pro: 7/month.⁹	Not documented
Maintenance	Maintenance requests and tracking are included free on Essentials.¹⁰	Not documented
Accounting	Bank feeds on all plans; Schedule E on Manage; advanced reports, budgeting, pro-forma on Pro.¹¹	Core: property-level bookkeeping, tax package, Schedule E, QuickBooks and Xero sync. Smart adds balance sheet.¹²
Listings	Vacancy ads syndicate to Zillow's family of sites on all plans.¹³	Not documented
AI features	Stessa doesn't describe any feature as AI. Its pricing lists smart receipt scanning: 5 a month on Essentials and Manage, unlimited on Pro.¹⁴	Smart plan: AI categorizes transactions as they arrive and matches uploaded receipts to transactions.¹⁵
App Store rating	4.8 average from 5,267 ratings on the Apple App Store.¹⁶	4.79 average from 725 ratings on the Apple App Store.¹⁷

Which should you pick?

Pick Stessa if

Landlords and real estate investors wanting a free starting plan and flat pricing regardless of property count.

Essentials is free and includes unlimited properties, rent collection, screening and maintenance tracking.
Pricing is flat per month for all properties, with no per-unit charge.
Vacancy ads syndicate to Zillow's family of sites on every plan.

Watch for: Tenant ACH and card fee amounts and deposit speed are not published. State lease agreements cost $15 each on the free Essentials plan.

Pick Baselane if

Multi-property investors wanting free banking, bookkeeping and rent collection, plus Schedule E and tax reports.

Core plan is $0/month and includes banking, bookkeeping and rent collection essentials.
The $2 ACH fee can be avoided by depositing rent into a Baselane checking account.
Core includes Schedule E reports and an accountant tax package.

Watch for: Listings, leases and maintenance were not found on the pages reviewed; the product leads with banking and bookkeeping. Card payments carry a 3.49% processing fee charged to the tenant.

Last checked Oct 24, 2026. Every figure links to the page it came from (see Sources). Found something out of date? Tell us. How we pick and rank: methodology.

Sources 17 sources from 3 sites, including stessa.com, baselane.com, itunes.apple.comShow

Every fact on this page comes from one of these.

All plans include an unlimited number of properties.stessa.com/pricing
Trusted by 50,000+ real estate investorsbaselane.com/pricing
Essentials Free For newer investors looking to get organized and accomplish key tasks efficiently.stessa.com/pricing
Yes — Baselane is free to sign up and use Core features for banking, bookkeeping, and rent collection.baselane.com/pricing
With a no-fee ACH option for landlords and additional payment methods like credit cards and debit cards also supportedstessa.com/rent-collection
ACH payments incur a $2 fee, which landlords can either cover, pass to tenants, or waive by depositing rent into a Baselane checking account.baselane.com/rent-collection
Complete Screening Package $ 49 Order Nowstessa.com/tenant-screening
Tenant screening $24.99+baselane.com/pricing
generate a lease built on attorney-drafted state specific templates, send it for e-signaturestessa.com/tenant-screening
Maintenance requests (new!) Maintenance trackingstessa.com/pricing
Get everything in Essentials plus: One (1) eSignature/month Schedule E reportstessa.com/pricing
Accountant tax package and Schedule E reportsbaselane.com/pricing
syndicate your listing out to Zillowstessa.com/tenant-screening
Smart receipt scanning 5 / month 5 / month Unlimitedstessa.com/pricing
AI automated real estate financesbaselane.com/pricing
"averageUserRating": 4.79514, "userRatingCount": 5267itunes.apple.com/search
"averageUserRating": 4.78897, "userRatingCount": 725itunes.apple.com/search