Pricing and product pages checked 27 August 2026. No affiliate links.
Start with how a booking becomes a bank deposit
Short-term rental bookkeeping starts with reservation and payout records, not the net bank line. Airbnb calculates a host payout from the nightly rate and extra charges, then subtracts the host service fee and any co-host payout. Refunds, discounts, currency conversion, and other adjustments can change the final deposit again. If the accounting system receives only that net bank line, it cannot reliably reconstruct the reservation by categorizing the deposit after the fact.
That is the useful dividing line in this comparison. The right system must preserve enough source detail to explain gross booking revenue, platform deductions, property expenses, and the amount that settled at the bank. A clean dashboard is secondary to that trace.
Source: Airbnb's payout calculation and current service-fee structures.
Worked record
A $1,420 deposit can contain $1,600 of revenue
Illustrative arithmetic based on the payout components Airbnb documents.
- Accommodation and guest charges
- $1,600
- Host service fee
- −$48
- Guest refund
- −$100
- Co-host payout
- −$32
- Bank deposit
- $1,420
What the public plans establish
These five cover rental-specific ledgers, banking-led bookkeeping, landlord administration, and a general ledger. Prices are standard U.S. list prices or annual-billing prices checked on the date above; temporary promotions are excluded.
| Tool | Published price | Use it when | Published facts | Confirm before relying on it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| REI Hub | Free for up to 3 units; Professional is $9 a month annually or $15 monthly for up to 3 units; 14-day trial | You own rental properties and want reports organized by property without building the structure yourself | Supports long- and short-term rentals, bank feeds, property profit-and-loss (P&L) and cash-flow reports, balance sheets, Schedule E, and fixed assets | How reservation and payout detail enters the books, plus the access available to a bookkeeper |
| Stessa | Essentials is free; Manage is $12 and Pro is $28 a month when billed annually | You want a low-cost property dashboard and tax package before moving to a general ledger | Unlimited properties on every plan; Manage adds Schedule E and explicitly includes investors managing short-term rentals | Whether its reports and exports contain everything your accountant needs for your entity structure |
| Landlord Studio | Go is free for 3 units; Pro is $12 and Pro Plus is $28 a month when billed annually | Your portfolio also needs tenant, lease, listing, and rent-collection workflows | Pro adds bank feeds, expense categorization, Schedule E, and a direct Xero integration | How it handles short-term-rental settlements, refunds, and any properties without monthly tenants |
| Baselane | Core is free; Smart is $20 a month with a 30-day trial | You are willing to make property-specific banking accounts part of the bookkeeping workflow | Property and entity tracking, tax packages, Schedule E, and QuickBooks and Xero sync; Smart adds shared access and automated tagging | Whether moving or linking banking relationships is worth the workflow change for your portfolio |
| QuickBooks Online Plus | $140 a month at the current U.S. list price before temporary discounts | Your accountant wants a general ledger or the rental activity sits inside a broader operating business | Five users, two accountant seats, detailed reports, budgets, and up to 40 combined classes and locations | The chart of accounts, class structure, reservation-data import, and reconciliation process you will need to configure |
Sources: REI Hub pricing, Stessa pricing, Landlord Studio pricing, Baselane pricing, and QuickBooks pricing.
Match the software to the accounting job
You own the properties and want rental-specific reports
Start with REI Hub or Stessa. Both publish a reversible trial or free path and property-level reporting. Run the same difficult month through each before deciding which report your accountant can use with less cleanup.
You want banking and bookkeeping in one workflow
Baselane is the distinct option because its property accounts, transaction ledger, and reports are one system. That can reduce handoffs, but it makes the banking decision part of the software decision.
Your accountant already works in QuickBooks
Use QuickBooks when a general ledger and accountant workflow are the requirement. The current Plus plan supplies class and location tracking, but the rental structure and reservation-data handoff still need to be designed.
You manage money for other owners
Stop treating this as a five-tool feature comparison. Client-fund and trust-accounting requirements depend on the jurisdiction and management agreement. Confirm the required account structure with the appropriate accountant or attorney, then require the vendor to demonstrate that workflow in writing.
Run one month through the system before you migrate
- Pick a difficult month. Include a normal booking, a refund or adjustment, a cleaning invoice, and at least one platform fee.
- Keep the source records. Use the reservation statement, payout statement, bank settlement, and property invoice rather than the bank feed alone.
- Trace gross to net. Confirm that another person can explain how the booking became the deposited amount from the system's records. A reconciliation worksheet is fine; an unexplained plug is not.
- Run property reports. Produce a property P&L and the tax or accountant export you expect to use at year-end.
- Test access. Give the bookkeeper the least-privileged vendor-supported role and confirm that approvals remain with the owner.
- Review with the accountant. Fix the chart, property labels, and close checklist before importing the rest of the year.
Give a bookkeeping assistant a monthly close process
Define which statements enter the system, how reservations map to properties, who approves adjustments, which accounts are reconciled, and what the accountant receives each month. Give the assistant their own supported access wherever the product allows it. The owner or accountant should approve the chart of accounts and any workflow involving client funds. That division of work is detailed on the short-term-rental bookkeeping support page. If the reservation system is still undecided, compare its accounting handoff in the Airbnb management software shortlist.