Real estate business accounting software helps real estate agents, brokerage firms, landlords, and investors who buy, sell, or rent property keep track of their business finances. We evaluated industry-specific and general business programs on cost, features, and ease of use to find the top real estate accounting software options for you.
- QuickBooks Online Plus: Best overall for real estate businesses, investors, brokers, and agents looking for a cloud-based accounting software. Offering 50% off for three months
- Realtyzam: Best for real estate agents to track profit and loss by sale
- QuickBooks Desktop: Best for keeping the books for multiple businesses
- Buildium Property Management: Best for businesses needing property management features
- QuickBooks Self Employed: Best for self-employed real estate agents, managers, and investors looking for combined accounting and tax software solution
- Xero Established: Best for businesses that want less-expensive, cloud-based, full-featured accounting software
- Wave: Best for property managers with only a few units looking for free accounting software
To help narrow down the best software for you, answer a few questions below. This will provide a personalized recommendation based on the responses you give.
How We Determined the Best Real Estate Accounting Software
The best real estate accounting software is one that allows a real estate investor or broker the ability to separate their real estate and personal expenses and income. It should also allow real estate businesses―both large and small―the ability to track and manage their properties online.
We based our evaluation on the features most real estate businesses need. We also looked for a good core accounting system that:
- Separates profit and loss by property or sale
- Tracks vehicle mileage automatically
- Manages balance sheet and income statement reporting
- Allows access for multiple users
- Connects to bank and credit card accounts
- Reconciles bank and credit card accounts
- Offers customer support
- Integrates property management and accounting functions
QuickBooks Online Plus: Best Overall Real Estate Accounting Software
We selected QuickBooks Online as our best accounting software for small businesses because of its ease-of-use, robust reporting, flexibility to customize, and large support network. You’ll want to purchase the Plus edition to create custom “classes” that can be used to separate income, expense, assets, and liabilities by property. If you don’t need to track profit and loss by property, then you can save money by going with QuickBooks Online Essentials.
QuickBooks Pros | QuickBooks Cons |
|---|---|
Cloud-based software can be accessed anywhere | No integrated property management features |
Includes five concurrent users | Expensive for self-employed and independent agents |
Effortlessly share books with your ProAdvisor for assistance | |
Track profit/loss by property | |
Industry leader in quality accounting software |
QuickBooks Online Pricing
- Plus: $70 per month
- Essentials: $40 per month (no tracking by class or property)
- Free 30-day trial
QuickBooks Online Plus Features
- Input and track bills
- Use class tracking to monitor income, expenses, assets, and liabilities by property
- Automobile mileage tracked and transferred from mobile app
- Print balance sheet, income statement, and other reports separated by classes
- Connect bank and credit card accounts to load transactions and reconcile to statements monthly automatically
- Software is always up-to-date and data is always backed up
- Enjoy unlimited customer service
- Allows five concurrent users for no additional charge
For more information, read our review of QuickBooks Online.
RealtyZam: Best for Real Estate Agents to Track Profit by Sale
Realtyzam is excellent for real estate agents who are self-employed because it’s specifically designed to track costs separately for each deal. You also can print an overall profit and loss statement for tax returns. Realtyzam is easy to use because it downloads transactions automatically from your bank accounts and allows you to upload cash expenses by scanning receipts.
Realtyzam Pros | Realtyzam Cons |
|---|---|
Cloud-based software can be accessed anywhere | No integrated property management features |
Track profit/loss by sale | Does not track assets and liabilities |
Scan receipts with mobile app | Ecustomer support is by email only |
Affordable for even part-time real estate agents | Cannot track unpaid bills |
RealtyZam Pricing
- Free until you record $5,000 in income and expenses or sell three properties
- $12 per month
RealtyZam Features
- Track vehicle mileage in mobile app
- Connect bank and credit card accounts to transfer expenses
- Unlimited customer support by email
- Scan receipts with mobile app and link to expense accounts
- Print profit and loss by sale, buyer/seller conversion rates, and average commissions
For more information, read our review of RealtyZam.
QuickBooks Desktop: Best for Keeping the Books of Multiple Companies
One QuickBooks Desktop license can be used for the bookkeeping of an unlimited number of companies. This is important to real estate investors and managers if not all properties are owned by the same company. QuickBooks Desktop is a top pick because of its price, flexibility, and excellent customizable reports.
QuickBooks Pros | QuickBooks Cons |
|---|---|
Single license can be used for unlimited companies | No integrated property management features |
Track profit/loss by property | Must purchase a separate license (at full price) for each concurrent user |
Reports can be customized and exported to Excel | No mobile app for mileage tracking |
QuickBooks Desktop Pricing
You can purchase QuickBooks Desktop for a one-time fee, or purchase an annual “Plus” subscription, which includes unlimited backups and customer support along with a free edition upgrade each year.
- QuickBooks Pro $299.95 or Pro Plus for $299.95 per year
- QuickBooks Premier $499.95 or Premier Plus for $499.95 per year
- 60-day money-back guarantee
QuickBooks Desktop Features
- Define customized classes to track profit and loss by location, building, or unit
- Print balance sheet, income statement, and other reports separated by classes
- Connect bank and credit card accounts to load transactions and reconcile to statements monthly automatically
- Data is backed up online automatically with Plus subscription
- Unlimited customer service with Plus subscription
- Pro allows three concurrent users and Premier allows five concurrent users, but you must purchase additional licenses
For more information, read our review of QuickBooks Desktop Pro.
Buildium: Best for Property Management Features
Buildium is a robust property management software designed for managing hundreds or even thousands of units but is still affordable for even small companies with as few as 20 units. Along with your accounting, Buildium will help you manage all aspects of leasing, maintenance, and repair requests. You can evaluate Buildium with a 15-day free trial with no credit card required.
Buildium Pros | Buildium Cons |
|---|---|
Integrated property management features | Expensive for more than 150 units |
Unlimited users for no additional fee | No mobile app for mileage tracking |
Track profit/loss by property | |
Affordable for small property managers |
Buildium Pricing
- Buildium Core (maximum of 150 units): $47 per month for 20 or fewer units, to $234 per month for 150 units
- Buildium Pro (unlimited number of units): $153 per month for 20 or few units, $250 per month for 150 units, and $312 per month for 250 units
Buildium Features
- Includes common area expense allocations, tenant and owner portals, maintenance managements, board member tracking and permissions, electronic leases (fee required), and tenant screening (fee required)
- Allow tenants to pay online (fee required)
- Connect bank and credit card accounts to transfer activity and reconcile
- View and print income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows.
- Includes free unlimited customer support
For more information, read our review of Buildium.
QuickBooks Self-Employed: Best Combined Accounting and Tax Software for Self-employed Agents
QuickBooks Self-Employed is the best accounting software if you are self-employed or own rental units and want the ability to transfer your profit and loss information to your individual tax return. You can track your commissions, expenses, and mileage easily―all from within the app.
QuickBooks Pros | QuickBooks Cons |
|---|---|
Transfer information to TurboTax automatically | Cannot track unpaid bills |
Calculate quarterly estimated tax payments | Cannot track profit/loss by property |
Separate personal and business expenses | Does not track assets and liabilities |
Track receipts with mobile app | Customer service is via chat only |
Visit QuickBooks Self-Employed
QuickBooks Self-Employed Pricing
- $15 per month for QuickBooks Self-Employed alone
- $25 per month including TurboTax Self-Employed
QuickBooks Self-Employed Features
- Automatically track and transfer automobile mileage from mobile app
- Connect bank and credit card accounts to transfer and categorize transactions automatically
- Pay quarterly estimated tax online directly from QuickBooks Self-Employed (requires the TurboTax bundle)
- Print reports for profit and loss, mileage summary, and receipts.
For more information, read our review of QuickBooks Self-Employed.
Xero Established: Best Budget Cloud-based Software
Xero is a full-featured, cloud-based software that is less expensive than a comparable QuickBooks Online subscription and includes unlimited users. You’ll need the Established version of Xero to track income and expenses by property using the Project feature, which is $60 per month compared to QuickBooks Online Plus at $70.
Xero Pros | Xero Cons |
|---|---|
Cloud-based software can be accessed anywhere | No integrated property management features |
Unlimited users | Mileage tracking requires a separate app |
Track business assets | |
Track profit/loss by property |
Xero Established Pricing
- $60 per month
- Free 30-day trial
Xero Established Features
- Connect bank accounts to transfer transactions and reconcile to monthly statements
- Capture receipts on the mobile app and transfer to your account
- Prepare budgets and compare to final performance
- Print or export financial statements and other useful reports
- Unlimited online customer support
For more information, read our review of Xero.
Wave: Best Free Accounting Software for Small Real Estate Investors
If all you need is to track the income and expenses of a few rental properties, Wave is probably the right pick for you. Wave is good online accounting software that is completely free. You can perform all the basic accounting functions, but you can’t separate income and expense by property.
Wave Pros | Wave Cons |
|---|---|
Free | Can’t separate profit and loss by property |
Access anywhere | Only one user |
Connect to bank and credit card accounts | No budgeting features |
Print balance sheet and income statement |
Wave Pricing
- Free
Wave Features
- Reconcile bank and credit cards accounts easily
- Subaccounts can be added to track each income and expense items separately for each property; however, overall profit and loss cannot be calculated by property
- Enter unpaid bills and track until paid.
- Integrates with many Zapier apps
For more information, read our review of Wave.
Bottom Line
We have provided you with our top seven picks for the best real estate accounting software. If you’re a real estate agent looking for software that doesn’t require any customization to get going and is affordable, go with Realtyzam. Businesses looking for integrated property management tools should look at Buildium.
If you’re looking for fully customizable accounting software that can handle a variety of real estate selling, managing, and investing, go with QuickBooks Online. You can access the software from anywhere on the internet and get assistance easily from a huge selection of independent QuickBooks ProAdvisors. Sign up for a free trial to get your business up and running in no time.
Shashank Raj Holavanalli
Hi Tim,
Thank you for comparing the different softwares available for real estate accounting. With my experience searching and using different softwares as a real estate investor I can further categorize your options this way:
1. Small business accounting softwares: QuickBooks online plus, QuickBooks desktop, QuickBooks self employed, Xero and Wave. These software can create bills, reconcile bank accounts, generate sophisticated reports, create budgets, track employee time, calculate payroll withholding, and generate and maintain fixed asset records. These programs are more expensive, not tailor made for real estate personnel and is hard to learn. For a real estate person who wants to just do accounting or record keeping or portfolio performance tracking then these softwares have too much to offer and there is a steep learning curve.
2. Property management softwares: Buildium property management. These are softwares designed specifically for rental property management have features specifically useful to landlords. They are hard to learn and implement and it is useful only if you do complete property management and hold hundreds of units. If you’re an investor and delegate property management to another person or company then these softwares are too much to learn and implement. They have owner portals that give you access to statements and invoices but they lack performance metrics like cash on cash return, net cash flow, etc. They also don’t have the complete picture of your income and expenses because in most cases property managers don’t take care of paying your property taxes, insurance bills, utility bills, etc.
I am a real estate investor with 17 properties who delegate property management to another company. I personally use cashonplex.com for portfolio performance tracking and book keeping. The software is tailor made for land lords. It can pull transactions automatically from most banks in the US and Canada and most importantly it has in built set of tags that is used by every REI to categorize their transactions. It is also very simple to use, has a free 2 month trial and it costs only a fraction of some of the other softwares mentioned in this article. I encourage you to review it. Once again thank you for comparing all the options out there.
Amanda Norman
Hi Shashank,
Thanks for reading and sharing your insight!
Best wishes,
Mandy, Moderator
Jordan Aibel
Hi Tim & Mandy –
Thanks for preparing this helpful article! I read – and benefited from – it while I was working through my own decision re: which accounting software to use after purchasing my first multi-family rental property.
I ultimately ended up going with RentalHero (rentalhero.io). After struggling with more (unnecessarily so for me) sophisticated accounting software for my primary job, I wanted something for my rental property business that was intuitive to use, quick to set up, mobile-friendly, and built specifically for purpose. Just as Benjamin encouraged you to give AcctFusion a look for your next buyer’s guide, I encourage you to do the same for RentalHero!
Keep up the good work! – Jordan
Amanda Norman
Hi Jordan,
So glad you found the article helpful, and thanks for suggesting RentalHero and sharing your insight.
Best of luck with your rental property!
Mandy, Moderator
Benjamin Davies
You should do a review of AcctFusion! It is a fully automated and cloud-based accounting system for real estate brokerages. It can be used by those with or without accounting background.
Amanda Norman
Hi Benjamin,
Thank you for suggesting AcctFusion for our buyer’s guide. We take pride in independently researching a range of companies before writing a buyer’s guide. We decide to include those companies that we believe provide the best value and features for small businesses.
We update buyer’s guides approximately once per year, so we’ll have another look at AcctFusion before the next update.
Thanks for reading!
Mandy, Moderator