Rentia or a spreadsheet

Your notebook, except it tells you.

What A spreadsheet is

A spreadsheet or a notebook is what almost everyone uses, and it is not a bad tool: it is free, you understand all of it, nobody can change it on you, and it does any formula you can think of. The one thing it does not do is remember for you.

When A spreadsheet is the better choice

If you have one or two units and a tenant who pays on the same day every month, a spreadsheet is enough and it costs nothing. Nothing here will serve you better than that, and switching would be work with no prize. A spreadsheet also wins if you need calculations only you understand — a split between partners, an odd proration, a local tax: a spreadsheet does whatever you write in it, and an app does what it was built to do.

The three points where it breaks

The spreadsheet starts to fail at three specific points, and always in the same order. First the partial payment: someone pays $120 of $400 and the balance stops being a cell and becomes a subtraction you redo every month. Then the advance: two months arrive at once and now there is a row belonging to a different month. And finally the ending: no spreadsheet tells you the lease on unit 3 ends in 40 days, because a spreadsheet does not open itself.

The partial payment. In Rentia a charge and a payment are two different things and the balance comes from subtracting them, so $120 of $400 shows as $280 outstanding and the days keep counting. There is no half-ticked box.

The advance. If two months are paid at once, the second stays as credit and applies itself when it is due. In a spreadsheet that is a note in the margin someone has to remember.

The ending. Rentia warns you at 60 days and again at 30, with the app closed. A spreadsheet does not warn you: you have to open it, look down the date column, and remember to do it.

What does not change

You still collect the way you always collected. You still decide who you rent to and for how much. Your money does not pass through Rentia or anyone else. The difference is that the balance is already done when you open it, and that something remembers the dates for you.

What about everything I already have?

You do not have to move it all at once, and we would rather you didn't. Start with one unit and its contract: in two minutes you see a real balance and you know whether this is for you. Load the rest whenever you want.

Rentia's account statement: the list of contracts with each tenant's balance and days overdue.

What it compares

Your tenant sees their own balance

This is what makes collecting impersonal: your tenant opens a link, sees what they owe and since when, and you never have to tell them.

Rentia: YesYour tenant opens a link and sees their balance and their payments.Planned
A spreadsheet: NoYour tenant does not open your spreadsheet, and you would not want them to.

It survives losing your phone

If the data lives only on the device, the device is the backup. And if it goes in the water, so does the history of everything you collected.

Rentia: YesData lives on the server; the phone is a view of it.
A spreadsheet: YesIn the cloud, yes, if you use Google Sheets or keep the file in a backup service.

Under $5 to start

The cost of leaving the free tier is what decides whether an owner of three units can justify it at all.

Rentia: Yes$2.99 a month or $19.99 a year, with unlimited units.
A spreadsheet: YesFree.

It warns you before a contract ends

A contract ending that catches you off guard costs an empty month of rent. No spreadsheet reminds you.

Rentia: YesA notification at 60 and at 30 days, with the app closed.
A spreadsheet: NoA spreadsheet warns you about nothing. You have to open it and remember to look.

Rentia compared with the alternatives on four points
What it compares	Rentia	A spreadsheet
Your tenant sees their own balanceThis is what makes collecting impersonal: your tenant opens a link, sees what they owe and since when, and you never have to tell them.	YesYour tenant opens a link and sees their balance and their payments.Planned	NoYour tenant does not open your spreadsheet, and you would not want them to.
It survives losing your phoneIf the data lives only on the device, the device is the backup. And if it goes in the water, so does the history of everything you collected.	YesData lives on the server; the phone is a view of it.	YesIn the cloud, yes, if you use Google Sheets or keep the file in a backup service.
Under $5 to startThe cost of leaving the free tier is what decides whether an owner of three units can justify it at all.	Yes$2.99 a month or $19.99 a year, with unlimited units.	YesFree.
It warns you before a contract endsA contract ending that catches you off guard costs an empty month of rent. No spreadsheet reminds you.	YesA notification at 60 and at 30 days, with the app closed.	NoA spreadsheet warns you about nothing. You have to open it and remember to look.

This table does not list everything each product does. It lists what an owner of 3 to 15 units uses to decide.

Prices verified September 13, 2026. Vendors change tiers; check the source.

Other product names are used only to identify them and belong to their respective owners.

This page does not compare any vendor's prices, so it carries no source table.

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