Quick Overview: Stessa in 2026
Stessa (acquired by Roofstock) is a free accounting and asset-tracking tool for rental property owners. It excels at one thing: helping you track income, expenses, and depreciation for tax purposes. You can link bank accounts, auto-categorize transactions, and generate tax-ready reports.
But Stessa is not a property management platform. It doesn't collect rent, create leases, screen tenants, or handle maintenance requests. It's a financial dashboard — not an operational tool. Many landlords use Stessa alongside another platform, which means managing two apps instead of one.
Where Stessa Does Well
- Expense tracking: Automatically imports and categorizes transactions from linked bank accounts. Great for keeping books organized without manual entry.
- Depreciation tracking: Calculates and tracks property depreciation schedules — something most property management tools skip entirely.
- Tax-ready reports: Schedule E, net cash flow, and capital expenses reports that make filing rental property taxes straightforward.
- Free tier: The core tracking features are free. Stessa Pro adds more reports and document storage for a monthly fee.
- Portfolio dashboard: Clean overview of all properties with performance metrics, occupancy, and financial health at a glance.
Where Stessa Falls Short
- No rent collection: Stessa cannot collect rent. You need a separate tool (or manual Zelle/Venmo/check process) for actually getting paid.
- No lease management: No lease creation, no e-signatures, no lease storage. You'll need DocuSign, HelloSign, or another platform for leases.
- No tenant screening: No credit checks, background checks, or eviction history. You'll need yet another service for screening.
- No maintenance tracking: No way for tenants to submit maintenance requests or for you to track work orders through Stessa.
- Accounting only: Stessa is fundamentally an accounting tool, not a property management platform. You'll still need additional software for day-to-day landlording.
- Roofstock acquisition uncertainty: Since Roofstock acquired Stessa, some users worry about the long-term direction — will it remain a standalone tool or become a funnel for Roofstock's marketplace?
Where Rentlane Wins
- All-in-one platform: Rent collection, lease signing, tenant screening, maintenance tracking, and accounting — all in one app. No juggling multiple tools.
- Zelle-first rent collection ($0 fees): Tenants pay via Zelle. No fees, no delays, no third-party payment processing.
- SMS lease signing: Create and send leases via text. Tenants sign on their phone without creating an account.
- Tenant screening: Credit, criminal, and eviction checks built into the platform.
- Maintenance tracking: Tenants can submit requests, and you can track them through resolution.
- Mobile-first: Built for your phone, not just a web dashboard.