Accounting & Tax
Stessa
Financial tracking and tax optimization for real estate investors
Best for Small Hosts
Free accounting tool for solo real estate investors
From $0/mo • No free trial
Comparison
Stessa vs Hostfully Bookkeeper
Pricing, pros and cons, and buyer-fit side-by-side. Pick the one that matches your operation — or see why neither should.
Accounting & Tax
Hostfully Bookkeeper
Accounting and financial reporting built into Hostfully's property management platform
Solid Option
Solid accounting layer if you're already on Hostfully's PMS
From $129 • No free trial
✓Editorial verdict
Which Should You Pick: Stessa or Hostfully Bookkeeper?
Pick Stessa if you're a real estate investor who wants free, unlimited property financial tracking with tax-ready reports and doesn't need a PMS. Pick Hostfully Bookkeeper if you're an STR operator managing guests across Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com who wants accounting integrated directly with channel management, owner statements, and booking-level financial data.
Editorial perspective from the Stessa side; factual claims about Hostfully Bookkeeper are drawn from its review.
Pricing Side-by-Side
Stessa
Full pricing →From $0/mo • No free trial
Essentials
$0/mo
Unlimited
- Unlimited properties
- Basic financial reports
- Bank feeds
- Online rent collection
Manage
$12/mo (annual) or $15/mo (monthly)
Unlimited
- Everything in Essentials
- Advanced reporting
Pro
$28/mo (annual) or $35/mo (monthly)
Unlimited
- Everything in Manage
- High-yield cash balances (3.98% APY)
- FDIC coverage up to $3M
Hostfully Bookkeeper
Full pricing →From $129 • No free trial
Starter
$129/mo
~$117/mo billed annually (~9% discount)
Up to 4 listings
- Extended Data Report with flexible owner/property columns
- Automated CSV and HTML report exports
- Clearing integration for trust accounting
- QuickBooks Online connector
- 120+ integrations included
Pro
$229/mo
Annual billing discount available
Up to 11 listings
- Everything in Starter
- Enhanced owner statement customization
- Zapier and API workflows for custom accounting exports
- Multi-user access with role permissions
Pro Plus
$285/mo
Annual billing discount available
Up to 19 listings
- Everything in Pro
- Advanced reporting with per-property tax holding rules
- Priority customer support
Premium
Custom quote
20+ listings
- Everything in Pro Plus
- Dedicated account management
- Custom onboarding and training sessions
- Volume-based pricing negotiation
What each tool does well — and where it falls short
What Stessa does well
Comprehensive financial tracking with tax optimization
Stessa automatically categorizes transactions and generates tax-friendly reports, making tax preparation straightforward for real estate investors.
Free plan with unlimited properties
The Essentials plan offers significant value with unlimited property tracking, basic financial reports, and rent collection at no cost.
Integrated banking with competitive yields
Pro plan includes high-yield cash balances (3.98% APY) with FDIC coverage up to $3M, directly connected to property accounting.
What Hostfully Bookkeeper does well
120+ integrations included in all plans with specialized accounting partners
All Hostfully packages include access to 120+ integrations, including Clearing for AI-powered trust accounting and QuickBooks Online for automated bookkeeping workflows.
Industry-leading flexible reporting via Extended Data Report
Any data collected from listing sites, OTAs, or direct booking sites can be placed into custom columns, enabling calculations for owner fees, per-property exceptions, and tax holdings with CSV or HTML export.
Consistently praised customer support and onboarding
Reviewers describe onboarding as smooth with helpful training sessions. The team is described as attentive, quick to resolve issues, and consistently improving the platform according to Capterra reviews.
Where Stessa falls short
Persistent technical issues with bank connections
Users report recurring problems with bank account verification and transaction syncing that customer support cannot permanently resolve.
Limited functionality for complex operations
The software lacks recurring bill/income features and detailed account tracking needed for sophisticated real estate portfolios.
Poor customer support responsiveness
Users on free plans experience slow email-only support, with reported resolution timeframes extending to months for simple issues.
Where Hostfully Bookkeeper falls short
Requires full PMS subscription — no standalone accounting option
There is no way to purchase Hostfully's accounting features separately. The minimum entry point is the $129/mo Starter plan, which may be excessive for operators who only need bookkeeping.
Reported performance issues with slow page loads
Multiple reviewers report certain features taking 5-10 seconds to load, with navigation requiring multiple steps and lacking mobile optimization.
Limited customization and mobile app restrictions
Users report limited flexibility in customizing guidebook layouts and the inability to edit existing templates from the mobile app, with a learning curve for advanced automation setup.
Which Should You Pick
Pick Stessa if
Individual real estate investors seeking comprehensive financial tracking and tax preparation with unlimited properties on a budget.
Skip Stessa if
You run multi-entity portfolios requiring complex accounting, need dedicated tenant mobile apps, or require robust third-party integrations.
Pick Hostfully Bookkeeper if
Property managers running 4-20+ short-term rental listings who need centralized booking management with integrated accounting workflows through Clearing and QuickBooks Online.
Skip Hostfully Bookkeeper if
You need standalone accounting software only, or you manage fewer than 4 properties where the $129/month base cost exceeds per-listing value.
Where Stessa and Hostfully Bookkeeper actually differ
- Stessa offers a free Essentials plan with unlimited properties and paid tiers at $12–$35/mo; Hostfully Bookkeeper requires a full PMS subscription starting at $15/property/mo for just 4 listings, scaling to $25/property/mo for 19 listings.
- Hostfully pulls financial data directly from OTA reservations via Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com channel connections; Stessa has zero OTA or PMS integrations and relies entirely on bank feed aggregation for transaction import.
- Hostfully includes 120+ integrations with native Clearing trust accounting and QuickBooks Online connectors; Stessa has no public API, no Zapier support, and no third-party accounting integrations.
- Stessa's Pro plan includes integrated banking at 3.98% APY with up to $3M FDIC coverage; Hostfully offers no banking products or cash management features.
- Hostfully generates automated owner statements and Extended Data Reports with custom columns for owner fees and tax holdings; Stessa provides basic financial reports and Schedule E-ready tax categorization but lacks owner statement generation or trust accounting.
Common objections
- Hostfully has booking-level financial data and owner statements — can Stessa match that?
- No. Stessa tracks income and expenses at the bank transaction level, not the reservation level. If you manage properties for outside owners and need formal owner statements, trust accounting, or per-booking fee breakdowns, Stessa can't do that. Hostfully's PMS captures that data natively because it manages the bookings themselves.
- Stessa is free with unlimited properties while Hostfully charges $15/property/mo for 4 listings — how is Hostfully worth the price difference?
- You're paying for a full PMS, not just accounting. Hostfully includes channel management, guest communication, a booking engine, and 120+ integrations alongside its financial reporting. If you already need a PMS for STR operations, the accounting comes bundled at no extra cost. If you only need a financial ledger for buy-and-hold rentals, Stessa's free plan is the obvious choice.
- I have a mixed portfolio of long-term rentals and a few STRs — which tool covers both?
- Stessa handles both equally well as a financial tracker since it doesn't care about booking source — it just categorizes bank transactions. Hostfully's accounting is tightly coupled to its PMS and only captures data from properties managed through its platform. For a mixed portfolio, Stessa gives you one unified view of all properties, though you'll still need a separate PMS for your STR operations.
Keep Digging
Hostfully Bookkeeper
Solid accounting layer if you're already on Hostfully's PMS