Free vs Paid Landlord Software: What You Actually Need in 2026

If you’re a South African landlord wondering whether you really need to pay for property management software, you’re asking the right question. Free tools can absolutely work — up to a point. The trick is knowing where that point is, and what it costs you when you push past it.

Let’s break down what free landlord software can do, where it falls short, and when a paid solution like Indlu’s Starter plan actually saves you money.

What Free Landlord Tools Can Do

There’s no shame in starting simple. Many successful landlords manage their first property with a combination of:

Spreadsheets (Google Sheets / Excel)

Track rent payments and due dates
Record income and expenses
Calculate basic rental yield
Store tenant contact information

WhatsApp or email

Communicate with tenants about rent, maintenance, and inspections
Send informal payment reminders

Free software tiers

Indlu Free — manage 1 property with basic tenant management, lease tracking, and access to the compliance dashboard
Rentila Free — basic property and tenant tracking (international platform, no SA-specific features)

TPN basic checks (pay-per-use)

Run individual credit checks at R50–R100 each without a subscription

For a single property with a reliable, long-term tenant, this setup might be all you need. There’s nothing wrong with keeping it lean.

The Hidden Costs of “Free”

Here’s where the free approach starts to crack — and it usually happens sooner than expected.

1. Compliance Risk

South African rental law isn’t optional. The Rental Housing Act requires specific lease clauses, deposit handling procedures, and tenant notification protocols. POPIA demands written consent before you run a credit check.

With a spreadsheet, there’s nobody checking whether your lease is compliant, whether you’ve collected proper consent, or whether you’re handling deposits correctly. One mistake can mean a Rental Housing Tribunal complaint or a POPIA penalty.

Cost of getting it wrong: Tribunal disputes average R5,000–R20,000 in time and legal costs. POPIA fines can reach up to R10 million for serious violations.

2. Screening Gaps

Running a single TPN check costs R50–R100, but most landlords either skip screening entirely (too expensive, too complicated) or do a basic check that misses red flags visible in other bureaux.

The cost of a bad tenant — months of unpaid rent, legal eviction fees, property damage — typically runs from R20,000 to R80,000. A R99/mo subscription with built-in multi-bureau screening is insurance against that.

3. Administrative Hours

Time is money, even if it doesn’t feel like it. Consider the hours you spend each month on:

Manually creating and sending invoices
Chasing late payments via WhatsApp
Updating spreadsheets after each transaction
Calculating deposit interest
Generating financial summaries at tax time
Managing document storage

For one property, this might be an hour or two per month. For five properties, it’s a part-time job. At an effective hourly rate of even R200/hr, five properties could easily cost R1,000+/mo in admin time — far more than a software subscription.

4. No Audit Trail

SARS can request records going back five years. If your tracking is a loose collection of WhatsApp screenshots, bank statement PDFs, and a spreadsheet you last updated three months ago, you’re not audit-ready. A proper platform maintains a complete, timestamped record of every transaction, communication, and document.

When to Upgrade from Free to Paid

Here are the clearest signals that it’s time to move beyond spreadsheets:

You’re adding a second property — Managing multiple properties in a spreadsheet gets messy fast. Separate tenants, leases, income streams, and expenses need structure.
You’re screening a new tenant — If you’re about to sign a lease with someone, multi-bureau AI screening is worth far more than the monthly subscription cost.
Tax season is painful — If you spend hours compiling rental income and deductions for SARS, a platform with built-in financial reporting pays for itself in time saved.
You’re not sure about compliance — If you can’t confidently say your lease is Rental Housing Act-compliant and your data handling meets POPIA requirements, you need a system that checks for you.
You’ve had a bad tenant experience — Nothing motivates investing in screening faster than losing R30,000 to an eviction.

Free Tier vs Starter vs Pro: What You Get

Here’s how Indlu’s plans stack up, so you can choose the right level for where you are now:

Indlu Free

1 property
Basic tenant and lease management
Compliance dashboard (view-only)
Access to the Indlu blog and resource library
Best for: Landlords with a single property and an existing tenant who want to get organised

Indlu Starter — R99/mo

Up to 5 properties
AI tenant screening (TPN + TransUnion + Experian)
Automated POPIA consent forms
Rent invoicing and payment tracking
Deposit management with interest tracking
Rental Housing Act compliance checks
Financial reporting and expense tracking
Best for: Landlords growing their portfolio or screening new tenants

Indlu Pro — R249/mo

Up to 20 properties
Everything in Starter, plus:
Advanced portfolio analytics and rental yield tracking
Priority support
Custom reporting
Best for: Serious landlords scaling their portfolio as a business

No setup fees on any plan. No lock-in contracts. Upgrade or downgrade at any time.

What About Other Free Options?

Rentila (Free plan)

Rentila offers a free tier for basic property management. It’s functional for tracking rent and tenants, but it’s an international platform with no SA-specific features — no Rental Housing Act compliance, no local credit checks, no POPIA tools. If you only need a digital filing cabinet, it works. If you need anything SA-specific, it doesn’t.

Google Sheets Templates

There are free rental property spreadsheet templates available online. They’re fine for tracking basics, but they don’t automate anything, they can’t run credit checks, and they won’t flag compliance issues. You’re trading software cost for admin time.

TPN RentBook

TPN’s RentBook offers basic management features alongside their credit checks. It’s a reasonable option if you primarily want screening and don’t need much else, but the management side is limited compared to a dedicated platform.

The Real Comparison: Free vs R99/mo

Let’s put it bluntly. For a landlord with 2–5 properties, the real question is:

Is R99/mo worth it compared to:

R50–R100 per ad-hoc credit check (Indlu includes unlimited screening)
R5,000+ if a compliance gap leads to a tribunal complaint
R20,000–R80,000 if a bad tenant slips through without proper screening
5–10 hours/mo in manual admin work
A stressful tax season compiling records from five different places

The maths isn’t close. R99/mo is R1,188/year — less than the cost of two individual credit checks per month, and a fraction of what a single bad tenant costs.

Start Free, Upgrade When You’re Ready

There’s no pressure to start paying on day one. Indlu’s free tier lets you explore the platform, set up your first property, and see how the compliance dashboard works — all without entering payment details.

When you’re ready to screen your next tenant, add a second property, or generate your first tax report, the Starter plan is there at R99/mo. For a deeper look at how Indlu compares to other paid platforms, read our best property management software comparison.

Start free, upgrade when you’re ready. Create your Indlu account today — no credit card required.