Conflict declared. We sell a competing product. So rather than a pitch, this sets out where Landlord Studio is genuinely the better buy, and where it is not — including the point at which its free plan costs more than a paid one elsewhere.
The short version
Landlord Studio is landlord accounting software with strong mobile expense capture and a genuinely free tier for up to three units. It is on HMRC’s recognised list. The detail that decides most comparisons: the free MTD Go plan charges £5 per MTD submission. Once you are filing four quarterly updates plus a final declaration, that is £25 a year on top of “free” — still cheap, but no longer free, and Pro at £12 a month includes filing. The per-unit pricing above three units is what to model if you own an HMO.
The alternatives, priced
| Product | From | Units at that price | Files MTD | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landlord Studio | £12/mo (Pro) | 3, then £1.20 per unit | Yes on Pro; £5 per submission on free | Yes — 3 units |
| Hammock | £8 + VAT/mo | 1–3; £15 for 4–10; £25 for 11–20 | Yes — every plan | No |
| PaTMa | £15/mo (Pro) | 5, then £1.50 per unit | MTD ready | Yes — 1 unit |
| Landlord Vision | ~£11.97/mo | Flat-rate plans | Yes | Trial only |
| Lendlord | £0 | Portfolio tracking | Yes | Yes — free for landlords |
| The Landlord Alliance | £10/mo or £99/yr | 1–19 properties | No | No |
Where the arithmetic turns
- One to three units, filing MTD. Hammock at £8 + VAT undercuts Pro. Landlord Studio’s free plan plus £25 of submissions is cheaper still if you can live with the reduced feature set.
- Four to ten units. Hammock’s £15 flat tier usually beats per-unit pricing. Landlord Studio at ten units is £12 plus seven extra units at £1.20 — about £20.40 a month.
- An HMO let by the room. Per-unit pricing is punishing. A six-bed HMO is six units on Landlord Studio and PaTMa, and Hammock’s banded pricing is usually cheaper.
- Not in scope for MTD at all. Lendlord is free, and a spreadsheet remains perfectly legal.
Count units, not properties, before you compare anything. This is the single most common mistake in this category. A four-bed HMO let by the room is one property and four units, and on per-unit pricing that changes the monthly cost by more than the headline difference between any two products.
What Landlord Studio does better
- Mobile expense capture. Photographing a receipt at the merchants and having it categorised is the feature landlords actually use, and it is well executed.
- A free tier that is genuinely usable, not a crippled trial. Three units is a real allowance.
- Rent collection and reminders, which not every competitor at this price includes.
- Reporting aimed at landlords rather than at general bookkeeping.
What to check before switching
- Bank feed limits. Pro allows five bank connections and Pro Plus twenty. If you run an account per company or per property, check this first.
- Your unit count, on both products, at your actual portfolio size.
- MTD recognition for whatever you move to — search HMRC’s find-software tool.
- Export before you cancel. Get the reconciled ledger and your documents out while the subscription is live.
- Timing. Switch at the start of a tax year. Mid-year migration means opening balances by hand and only partial bank feed history.
Where we fit
We are not an alternative to Landlord Studio in the sense most people mean. We do not do accounting, and we are not on HMRC’s recognised list, so we cannot file your quarterly updates. What we do is portfolio value, equity, LTV, yield and cash flow, plus compliance tracking and documents. If MTD is your problem, buy Landlord Studio, Hammock, PaTMa or Landlord Vision — and if you want portfolio analysis as well, run one of those alongside something like us or Lendlord.
Read next
Is Landlord Studio’s free plan really free?
To use, yes, for up to three units. But it charges £5 per MTD submission, so filing four quarterly updates and a final declaration costs about £25 a year.
What is the cheapest MTD-capable option?
For one to three properties, Hammock’s entry tier at £8 plus VAT is usually the cheapest paid option. Landlord Studio’s free plan plus per-submission fees can be cheaper again with fewer features.
Does it work for HMOs?
Yes, but per-unit pricing means a room-let HMO costs considerably more than a single let. Model your actual unit count.
How many bank accounts can I connect?
Five on Pro, twenty on Pro Plus. Check this against how you actually bank before choosing a plan.
Can I move my data out?
Ask for the export format in writing before you commit. Do the export while your subscription is still live.
Is The Landlord Alliance an alternative?
Not for accounting or MTD — we do neither. Only if what you want is portfolio and compliance tracking.
Sources. Published pricing pages for Landlord Studio, Hammock, PaTMa, Landlord Vision, Lendlord and The Landlord Alliance, read 8 September 2026; HMRC find-software tool (Beta) for MTD recognition. The Landlord Alliance is a product described on this page.
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