Best Rent Collection Apps for Landlords (2026)
Real ACH and card fees for the main online rent collection tools: Avail, TurboTenant, Stessa, Baselane, RentRedi, and plain Zelle. Who pays, how fast payouts land, and when free stops being free.
About this guide: Fees and plan limits were checked against each vendor's live pricing and help pages in June 2026, with the source linked next to each tool. Pricing in this market changes often, so confirm the current number on the vendor's page before you commit. Rankings are editorial. No vendor pays for placement and we earn nothing if you sign up.
Intro
The question that matters for rent collection is not "which app has the most features." It is "who pays the fee, and how long until the money is actually in my account." Every tool here moves rent for free or close to it on the landlord side. The cost lands somewhere else, on the tenant as a per-payment fee, on you as a monthly subscription, or on your patience as a five-day ACH hold.
Five tools cover most small landlords: Avail, TurboTenant, Stessa, Baselane, and RentRedi. Plain Zelle is the sixth option, and for a single unit it is often the right one.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Landlord cost | ACH fee | Card fee | Payout speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avail | Free (Plus $9/unit/mo) | $2.50/payment, tenant-paid (waived on Plus) | 3.5%, tenant-paid | Standard; next-day on Plus |
| TurboTenant | Free (Premium $149/yr) | $2/payment, tenant-paid (waived on Premium) | 3.49%, tenant-paid | ~5-7 business days free |
| Stessa | Free | $2 to an external bank, $0 into a Stessa account | 3%, tenant-paid | up to 5 business days |
| Baselane | Free (Smart $20/mo) | $2/payment | 3.49%, tenant-paid | Standard; 2-day on Smart |
| RentRedi | $5/mo and up | Not published, confirm at signup | Not published | 2-3 business days |
| Zelle / manual | Free | $0 | Not supported | Same or next day |
The short answer
Avail or TurboTenant if you also list units and screen applicants in the same tool. Rent collection rides along free, the tenant covers the small ACH fee, and you keep one dashboard. See the full feature comparison in our best free property management software guide.
Stessa if your books matter more than your payment flow. Collection is free, and the rent lands already categorized for Schedule E. Paying into a Stessa account drops the ACH fee to zero.
Baselane if you want banking and rent collection in one place and like the idea of 2-day deposits on the paid tier.
RentRedi only if you specifically want its tenant mobile app and have a paid budget. There is no free tier.
Zelle if you have one tenant who pays on time. No fees, no app, no automation. You track it yourself.
What "free" actually costs
Three fee levers run this market. Knowing which one a tool pulls tells you who really pays.
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The per-payment ACH fee. Avail charges about $2.50, TurboTenant and Baselane about $2, Stessa $2 to an outside bank. It is small, and it is almost always passed to the tenant. One landlord summed up the friction in a BBB complaint about TurboTenant filed in January 2026: "The worst part they charged me $2.00 for processing the transaction." The fee is standard across the industry, but tenants and landlords both notice it.
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The card surcharge. Cards run around 3% to 3.5% everywhere because that is roughly what the card networks charge. This is always passed to the tenant. Most tenants pick ACH once they see the card fee.
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The subscription that waives fees. Avail Plus ($9/unit/mo) and TurboTenant Premium ($149/yr) waive the ACH fee. The math only works if you have enough monthly payments that the waived fees exceed the subscription. For one or two units, stay free.
Detailed breakdown
Avail: rent collection plus listings
Avail's free tier collects rent by ACH, with the roughly $2.50 fee paid by the tenant. Card payments run 3.5%. The Unlimited Plus plan at $9 per unit per month waives the ACH fee and adds next-day FastPay deposits. Source: avail.com/pricing.
Best for: landlords who also use Avail to list units and screen tenants. The collection is a free add-on to a tool you are already in.
TurboTenant: the Avail alternative
TurboTenant collects rent by ACH at about $2 per payment, tenant-paid, with card at 3.49% that cannot be waived. The Premium plan ($149/yr) waives the ACH fee for tenants. Free-tier ACH payouts can take roughly five to seven business days, which is the slowest in this group, so factor that into your cash flow. Source: TurboTenant's rent payment FAQ.
Best for: the same landlord choosing between this and Avail. Pick whichever dashboard you prefer and stay there.
Stessa: collection that books itself
Stessa charges the landlord nothing to collect rent. An ACH payment to an outside bank costs about $2, but paying into a Stessa Cash Management account drops that to zero. Card payments run 3%, tenant-paid. Standard ACH can take up to five business days. The real draw is that collected rent flows straight into Stessa's accounting, already sorted for tax time. Sources: Stessa's rent collection and fee FAQ.
Best for: landlords who care most about clean books. Compare it head to head in our Stessa vs Landlord Studio review.
Baselane: banking plus rent
Baselane bundles landlord banking with rent collection. The free Core tier collects by ACH at about $2 per payment and cards at 3.49% (tenant-paid). The Smart tier at $20/mo adds 2-day accelerated deposits. Source: baselane.com/pricing.
Best for: landlords who want a dedicated rental bank account and rent collection under one login.
RentRedi: paid, app-first
RentRedi has no free tier. Plans start at $5/mo, with a Grow plan at $29.95/mo or about $12/mo billed annually. Per-payment ACH and card fees are not posted on the pricing page, so confirm them at signup. Payouts run two to three business days. Source: rentredi.com/pricing.
Best for: landlords who want a polished tenant mobile app and will pay for it.
Zelle and manual: the one-unit answer
Zelle moves money bank to bank with no fee, usually same or next day. There is no card support, no late-fee automation, no receipt trail, and no reminders. You keep the ledger yourself. For a single reliable tenant, that is often enough.
When to pay vs stay free
- One or two units: stay free. The waived-fee subscriptions cost more than the fees they remove at this scale.
- You chase rent every month: a tool with automated reminders and late fees pays for itself in recovered time.
- Slow payouts hurt your cash flow: the 2-day deposit tiers (Baselane Smart, Avail Plus) are the fix, if the monthly cost is worth two or three saved days.
FAQ
Who normally pays the rent collection fee? The tenant, in almost every case. ACH fees of around $2 and card surcharges of about 3% are passed through by default. You can choose to absorb them, but few landlords do.
Why does ACH take so long on some tools? Free ACH rides the standard bank rails, which clear in a few business days. The paid "fast" tiers front the money or use expedited rails. If a tenant pays on the 1st and you see it on the 6th, that is normal on a free plan.
Can I require ACH and block cards? Most tools let you steer tenants to ACH or pass the full card fee to them, which usually pushes tenants to ACH on their own.
Is online rent collection safe? These are established companies handling bank transfers like any other fintech. The bigger practical risk is a failed or reversed ACH, so confirm the first payment clears before relying on the schedule.