One landlord platform or separate apps for rent, banking, books and screening?

What does a separate-apps setup look like?

A typical stack uses one product per job. Published plans show what is available at the free end, read on 2026-10-29 and 2026-10-30.

Details read from each company's own pages and may have changed; check before relying on them.

Where does the cost show up?

Each free tool is limited, and the limits are what you work around. TurboTenant's published pages put the full accounting suite on Pro and say Finances does not move money or pay bills, so a landlord on its Free plan keeps the books elsewhere. Every handoff between tools is a place for a number to go wrong.

• Rent paid in app A has to be recorded in app B.
• A tenant's name must be spelled the same in every tool.
• Reports come from different places, so your preparer gets several files.
• Each tool has its own login, password and support desk.

How do you compare the time cost?

Example a made-up owner with 10 units uses three free apps. Recording each rent payment in the books takes 2 minutes, so 10 payments x 2 minutes x 12 months = 240 minutes, or 4 hours a year, before any fixes. Add 30 minutes a month reconciling the three: 6 hours a year. That is 10 hours. An all-in-one product at $2 per unit costs 10 x $2 x 12 = $240 a year. If an hour is worth $30, the 10 hours is $300 of time, so the two choices are close in cost and the second also reduces errors.

The numbers are made up. Time your own routine for one month before you decide.

When do separate apps fit?

• One to three units, with a simple lease.
• You enjoy tuning your own tools.
• You already use one tool you are happy with, such as your bank.

An all-in-one platform fits better when you have several properties, each with its own books, a tax preparer who wants one set of reports, or co-owners who expect statements.

What does the tenant notice?

Tenants do not see your stack, but they see its seams: one app for the payment link, another for repair requests, a third for the lease. Each has its own login, and a tenant who forgets which one holds what will email you. A single place for the lease, the payment details and the repair request means fewer questions.

That is a reason to count tenant experience in the comparison, even though it has no price tag. Ask two or three tenants what annoys them about paying rent today before you choose.

How DoorKeeping handles it

DoorKeeping puts rent matching, books for each property, leases, documents and reports in one place for one price, and your own Claude or ChatGPT can ask it questions across every property.

DoorKeeping costs $2 per unit per month with every feature included, no setup cost and no minimum. You import a rent roll from a CSV or XLSX file, and each property gets its own books. Tenants pay your own bank directly, and anything involving money waits for your one-tap approval.

Sources

1. Stessa, Pricing, read Oct 29, 2026
2. Baselane, Pricing, read Oct 29, 2026
3. TurboTenant, Pricing, read Oct 29, 2026
4. TurboTenant Help Center, General finances FAQs, read Oct 30, 2026
5. Zillow Rental Manager, Rental applications FAQ, read Oct 30, 2026

Questions

Is it cheaper to use several free landlord apps?

The subscription can be lower, but you pay in re-entering data and reconciling between tools.

Can I start with separate apps and combine later?

Yes. Export your tenants, balances and deposits, and import a clean rent roll into one system at a month end.

What should I check first?

Time one month of your routine in minutes, then compare it with the price of a combined product.