The small landlord ops stack (2026)

The rule

This is an operations stack for someone in the US who still answers the tenant themselves: a house, a duplex, a handful of doors. It is not a property-management company, not a short-term host playbook, and not legal or tax advice. Depreciation, security-deposit rules, and whether a repair is a capital improvement belong to a CPA and, when the lease is unusual, to counsel. If the leak is Airbnb payouts, use the Airbnb accounting ranking. If the leak is a vacancy, stay here.

The stack

Three tools, and only three, until a door count forces a fourth. One system owns the tenant: the listing, the application, the lease, the rent. One system owns the books a CPA will open. One business-named account receives the rent. Everything else is a tab you will not update. Prices below are public cards as of September 22, 2026 unless noted.

• Lease desk: Avail’s free Unlimited plan, or TenantCloud Starter at $15 a month billed annually ($180 a year).
• Books: Stessa’s free plan, or QuickBooks Online if the CPA already lives there. That choice is the landlord accounting ranking, not a second opinion buried here.
• Bank account: a business checking account in the LLC’s name if you have an LLC. Rent in a personal account is how the books lie. The LLC banking ranking is the fee card.
• Signature, only if the lease tool charges by the document: Dropbox Sign Essentials at $15 a month. Buildium’s Essential plan charges $5 per e-sign document. You should not be on Buildium yet.

The lease desk

Avail’s pricing page calls Unlimited free. Tenants pay $2.50 per bank transfer on that plan. Cards are 3.5% on both the free plan and Unlimited Plus. Plus waives the ACH fee. The per-unit Plus price did not render when we loaded the page, so we will not multiply it by your doors. TenantCloud Starter is the paid alternative: $18 month-to-month or $15 annual, with tenant-paid ACH at $1.95 on the comparison we read. Starter’s FAQ includes screening, listings, online rent, and digital signatures.

Pick one. Listing on Avail and collecting rent in Venmo means the deposit lives in a chat. Say the tenant fee in the listing so it is not a surprise at move-in. State-specific templates are a starting point the vendors market. They are not a custom review of your addendum.

The file a CPA will open

Stessa Essentials is free on the card we reviewed September 20, with Manage at $12 a month annual if you need the reports that were gated above free. Use it when you will tag income and repairs by property. Use QuickBooks Online when the accountant has already said the file must be QuickBooks. How much QuickBooks Online costs is that napkin: do not buy Advanced to track a duplex. Wave is the year-one option on the accounting ranking if the CPA is flexible and the portfolio is simple. Baselane is the banking-plus-books path on that same page. Do not also subscribe to a full PM suite “for the reports.”

Separate the security deposit from operating rent in the way your state and your lease require. Software will not know your state. Ask.

What to skip

• Buildium Essential, starting at $62 a month, plus $2.35 incoming EFT and a $99 bank-account setup on that tier. That is a manager’s platform. Revisit it when you run buildings for other owners or TenantCloud’s custom Business plan is already the conversation.
• AppFolio and anything that will not show a price. We will not invent a unit minimum. Get a quote only after the free or $15 stack has failed.
• A second e-sign tool on day one. Avail and TenantCloud already collect a signature. Add Dropbox Sign when you are sending addenda outside that desk.
• An AI lease writer. A generated clause is not local law. That category of tool is Aiacent’s, and it is still not advice.
• Personal Venmo as the system of record. Even if the tenant prefers it, the transfer needs a property tag in the ledger the same day.