Landlord Studio sits in an interesting spot — it's more serious about accounting than most property management apps, but it's not quite a full accounting tool either. If you've been Googling "Landlord Studio vs QuickBooks" or "Landlord Studio accounting," this should answer it.
What it does well
Landlord Studio covers the tenant management basics — rent collection, tenant screening, lease tracking, maintenance — and adds a more thoughtful income/expense tracking layer than most competitors. You can categorize expenses by property, attach receipts, and generate reports that actually look like something you'd hand to a CPA.
- Income and expense tracking with per-property categorization
- Receipt scanning (OCR) via the mobile app
- Mileage tracking — useful for deducting property-related drives
- Rent collection with automatic reminders
- Tenant screening and lease management
- Tax-focused reports (Schedule E-ready exports)
The receipt scanning and mileage tracking are legitimately useful features that most landlord tools skip entirely. If you're self-managing and driving to properties regularly, those details add up.
Pricing
Landlord Studio starts free (limited to 1 unit), then $12/month for 3 units on the Landlord plan, up to $24/month for the Pro plan with more units and features. It's reasonably priced for what you get.
Pricing by plan
* Landlord Studio free plan limited to 1 unit
Where it stops short
Landlord Studio is cash-basis income/expense tracking — which is fine for simple situations, but it's not double-entry accounting. Here's what that means in practice:
- No balance sheet. You can't see assets, liabilities, and equity in one place. Your loan balances aren't tracked anywhere on the books.
- No mortgage amortization. That $2,200 monthly payment is just logged as an expense. The split between principal (balance sheet) and interest (deductible expense) doesn't happen automatically — or at all.
- No real depreciation tracking. There's a field to enter it manually, but no calculation engine or depreciation schedule.
- No multi-member LLC support. If you own with a partner, Landlord Studio can't track capital accounts or partner allocations. You'd need to handle that elsewhere.
The mortgage tracking gap
Over a 30-year loan on a $400k mortgage, the interest-principal split changes every single month. If your accounting tool doesn't handle this automatically, you're either overstating expenses (deducting principal as an expense) or understating them (missing interest). Either way your Schedule E is wrong.
How it compares
| Feature | Kulta | Landlord Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Receipt scanning | ✗ | ✓ |
| Mileage tracking | ✗ | ✓ |
| Rent collection | ✓ | ✓ |
| Expense categorization | ✓ | ✓ |
| Double-entry accounting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Balance sheet | ✓ | ✗ |
| Mortgage amortization | ✓ | ✗ |
| Multi-member LLC / K-1s | ✓ | ✗ |
| AI auto-categorization | ✓ | ✗ |
| Free (unlimited units) | ✓ | ✗ |
Who it's right for
Landlord Studio is a good fit if you're a solo landlord with a small portfolio, you want mobile receipt scanning and mileage tracking, and your tax situation is simple enough that cash-basis income/expense reporting is sufficient. For someone who's been tracking everything in a spreadsheet, Landlord Studio is a meaningful upgrade.
If you own through an LLC, have a mortgage on the property, own with a partner, or want financial statements that match what your CPA expects — you'll hit Landlord Studio's ceiling quickly.
The receipt scanning is a nice feature. It's not a reason to sacrifice accurate books — keep your receipts in a folder or use a dedicated receipt app, and use proper accounting software for the books.
Bottom line
Landlord Studio is one of the more thoughtfully built property management apps, and the income/expense layer is better than most. But "better than most" isn't the same as "actual accounting."
If your books need to be real — balance sheet, mortgage amortization, depreciation schedule, partnership support — Kulta is built specifically for that. Free to start, no unit limits.