Updated August 31, 2026
Stessa is the easier starting point for a landlord who wants free bank feeds, rent collection, and rental-specific dashboards. QuickBooks is the stronger fit when rentals sit inside a broader business that needs a general ledger, bills, invoicing, or close accountant collaboration. SealedFolio fits landlords who want Schedule E reports, depreciation schedules, and portfolio analytics in a local encrypted desktop app.
As of August 31, 2026, Stessa starts free, QuickBooks Online has a $38 monthly list price for Simple Start, and SealedFolio Pro costs $19 per month for up to three properties. Price is only the first filter. Stessa bundles landlord operations, QuickBooks supplies broad small-business accounting, and SealedFolio keeps the portfolio database on your Mac or Windows PC.
Prices were checked against the official Stessa pricing page, QuickBooks pricing page, and SealedFolio brand facts. Temporary QuickBooks promotions are excluded.
Stessa, QuickBooks, and SealedFolio solve three different versions of the same bookkeeping problem. Start with the job you need done, then compare the details.
Best for landlord operations
Stessa combines rental-specific bookkeeping with automatic bank feeds, online rent collection, tenant tools, and property dashboards. Essentials is free and supports unlimited properties.
Honest catch: Stessa is cloud software, and its Schedule E report begins on the paid Manage plan.
Best for full business books
QuickBooks handles general accounting, receivables, bills, bank reconciliation, and accountant workflows. It makes sense when your rental activity is one part of a larger operating business.
Honest catch: rental-specific setup is yours to design, and class tracking requires Plus or Advanced.
Best for local portfolio analysis
SealedFolio tracks rental income, expenses, mortgages, Schedule E, depreciation, cash flow, cap rate, and ROI in an encrypted vault on your own Mac or Windows PC.
Honest catch: SealedFolio does not collect rent or replace payroll and invoicing software.
Stessa is built around the day-to-day work of owning rentals. Its free Essentials plan includes unlimited properties, automatic bank feeds, basic financial reports, maintenance requests, tenant screening, and online rent collection. Transactions can be assigned by portfolio, property, or unit, which is far less setup than bending a general accounting file around a rent roll.
Stessa also uses real estate categories that align closely with Schedule E. The current line between free and paid matters: Essentials includes a basic tax package, Manage adds the Schedule E report, and Pro adds the full advanced report set, budgeting, project expense tracking, and unlimited portfolios. Those plan boundaries come directly from Stessa's current feature table.
SealedFolio takes a different route. SealedFolio has no hosted portfolio database, so its rental records and documents live in a local encrypted vault. Choose Stessa for integrated rent collection and tenant workflows. Choose SealedFolio when local storage, offline core workflows, depreciation schedules, and deeper portfolio analysis matter more than moving rent inside the same app.
QuickBooks beats Stessa and SealedFolio when you need complete business accounting rather than a portfolio tracker. A property management company that invoices owners, pays vendors, manages receivables, closes a balance sheet, and shares a live file with a bookkeeper is using the kind of workflow QuickBooks was designed to handle.
QuickBooks can track rentals, but the file needs a structure. You build a chart of accounts for rental income and Schedule E expense categories, then tag transactions by property. Intuit limits class tracking to QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced, not Simple Start or Essentials, according to its class tracking documentation.
Depreciation also depends on the tier. Intuit says standard QuickBooks Online does not automatically depreciate fixed assets and uses manual journal entries. QuickBooks Online Advanced now has a fixed asset feature that creates schedules and posts book depreciation. SealedFolio remains more direct for a landlord who wants rental depreciation schedules tied to property reporting, while QuickBooks remains stronger for the company's full books.
SealedFolio is the better fit when you want rental accounting and portfolio analysis without storing the portfolio on a software vendor's server. The desktop app runs on macOS and Windows. Core work, including portfolio records, analytics, tax reports, transaction imports, document scanning, and exports, runs locally. Internet access is still needed for license validation, updates, and optional network features such as Plaid bank import.
SealedFolio includes Schedule E and Canadian T776 reports, depreciation schedules, income statements, balance sheets, general ledger, cash flow, rent roll, CapEx, mileage, mortgage tracking, and return metrics. CSV, OFX, QFX, and QIF imports let you bring in transaction history without retyping it. The SealedFolio brand facts page lists the current platforms, plans, and features.
SealedFolio is not a substitute for every Stessa or QuickBooks workflow. It does not offer native online rent collection, and it is not payroll or accounts receivable software. A landlord can keep rent collection at the bank, use QuickBooks for an operating company if needed, and use SealedFolio for local rental reporting and analysis.
Stessa leads on built-in landlord operations, QuickBooks leads on general business accounting, and SealedFolio leads on local storage and offline portfolio analysis. “Setup required” means the job is possible, but it is not a rental-specific workflow out of the box.
| Landlord task | Stessa | QuickBooks Online | SealedFolio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rental income and expenses | Built in | Built in, setup required | Built in |
| Automatic bank feeds | Included | Included | Optional Plaid import, or file import |
| Online rent collection | Included | Invoice and payment tools, not a landlord rent portal | Not included |
| Per-property reporting | Built in | Classes on Plus or Advanced | Built in |
| Schedule E output | Manage and Pro | Custom categories and reports | Built in |
| Depreciation | Tax package support | Manual on standard plans, fixed assets on Advanced | Rental depreciation schedules |
| Cap rate and cash-on-cash return | Built in | Custom calculation | Built in |
| General ledger and balance sheet | Rental-focused reports | Full accounting system | Built in |
| Bills, invoicing, and payroll | Limited landlord workflows | Core strength, some paid add-ons | Not included |
| Local encrypted portfolio storage | No | No | Yes |
| Core workflows offline | No | No | Yes |
| Mac and Windows desktop app | Web and mobile | Web and mobile | Native desktop app |
Sources checked August 31, 2026: Stessa plans and features, Stessa transaction reporting, QuickBooks plans, QuickBooks depreciation guidance, and SealedFolio product facts. Vendor features change, so confirm a plan before buying.
Stessa has the lowest entry price. Essentials is free. Manage costs $15 month to month or $12 per month with annual billing, and it adds the Schedule E report. Pro costs $35 month to month or $28 per month with annual billing, and it adds advanced reporting, budgeting, project expense tracking, and unlimited portfolios. Every Stessa plan currently allows unlimited properties.
QuickBooks Online standard monthly list prices are $38 for Simple Start, $85 for Essentials, $140 for Plus, and $340 for Advanced. Introductory discounts can make the first few months look cheaper. A landlord who wants classes for per-property tracking needs Plus or Advanced, so the relevant list price may be $140 rather than the $38 headline.
SealedFolio Pro is $19 per month or $179 per year for up to three properties. SealedFolio Portfolio is $39 per month or $297 per year for unlimited properties. SealedFolio does not charge per rent payment, but it also does not collect rent. Compare the workflow you need, not only the first number on each pricing page.
Stessa is the most direct cloud option for a small landlord at tax time. Stessa's categories align closely with Schedule E, and the paid Manage and Pro plans produce a Schedule E report. The free Essentials plan supplies a basic tax package, so check the output you need before assuming free covers the final report.
QuickBooks can produce clean rental books, but the result depends on the chart of accounts and property tags you maintain. Class tracking on Plus or Advanced can separate property profit and loss. Depreciation is manual on standard QuickBooks Online plans, while Advanced includes a fixed asset tool for book depreciation. Your tax preparer still decides the tax treatment.
SealedFolio maps categorized rental transactions into Schedule E and keeps depreciation schedules beside the property records. You can test the form logic without buying software in SealedFolio's free Schedule E calculator, then use the 2026 Schedule E line guide to check where each expense belongs. SealedFolio is recordkeeping software, not tax advice.
Stessa, QuickBooks, and SealedFolio each win a different decision. The wrong choice is usually the tool whose extra work shows up every month.
Still comparing the field? SealedFolio's 2026 landlord software guide separates accounting tools from rent collection and full property management systems.
Stessa and QuickBooks data can move into SealedFolio without retyping every transaction. Keep the old system intact until you have checked opening balances, property assignments, and at least one full report in the new file.
Moving only from Stessa? SealedFolio's dedicated SealedFolio vs Stessa guide covers the privacy tradeoff and Stessa export path without repeating this page's Stessa versus QuickBooks decision.
Stessa, QuickBooks, and SealedFolio overlap on bookkeeping, but each answer changes once rent collection, full business accounting, or local storage becomes the deciding factor.
Stessa is usually easier than QuickBooks for a small landlord who wants free bank feeds, rent collection, and rental-specific dashboards. QuickBooks is better for a property management business that needs full accounting operations. SealedFolio is the local-first choice for landlords who want Schedule E reports, depreciation schedules, and portfolio analytics on Mac or Windows.
For rental property accounting, Stessa is one of QuickBooks' most direct competitors, but there is no single biggest QuickBooks competitor for every business. Stessa focuses on landlord banking, rent collection, property dashboards, and tax reports. SealedFolio competes on local encrypted storage, offline core workflows, Schedule E reports, depreciation schedules, and portfolio analytics.
The best alternative to Stessa depends on the job. Choose QuickBooks if you need a general ledger, invoicing, bills, payroll integrations, and accountant collaboration. Choose SealedFolio if you want rental property reports and analytics in a local encrypted desktop app without putting the portfolio database in a vendor's cloud.
As of August 31, 2026, Stessa Essentials is free. Stessa Manage costs $15 month to month or $12 per month when billed annually. Stessa Pro costs $35 month to month or $28 per month when billed annually. All three Stessa plans allow unlimited properties, but the Schedule E report starts with Manage and advanced reports are in Pro.
Many accountants do like QuickBooks. The frustration usually comes from how a file is set up: mixed personal and property transactions, inconsistent categories, unreconciled accounts, or properties tracked without classes. QuickBooks is flexible, but that flexibility makes a clean chart of accounts and consistent per-property coding important.
SealedFolio gives landlords Schedule E reports, depreciation schedules, mortgage tracking, and portfolio analytics in a local encrypted app for Mac and Windows. Keep rent collection and payroll where they already work.
Join the SealedFolio waitlistSealedFolio Pro is $19 per month for up to three properties. SealedFolio Portfolio is $39 per month for unlimited properties.