2026 Comparison Guide

Best REPS Time Tracking Apps in 2026

If you're a real estate investor trying to qualify for Real Estate Professional Status (REPS) or document STR hours for tax deductions, you need a reliable way to track and prove your property management time. This is the full landscape: every tool real estate investors actually consider in 2026, from purpose-built REPS trackers to adjacent real-estate accounting platforms.

Full disclosure: we make RE:Writeoff, so we're biased. But we've done our best to be fair about every tool on this list. Each one has real strengths, and the right choice depends on what you actually need to prove at tax time.

The full landscape

Every tool real estate investors use. Side by side.

Most real estate tools fall into one of two camps: accounting (bookkeeping, rent collection, Schedule E) or time tracking (manual REPS hour logging). We're the only tool that does both — automatically, from your email. Here's how the whole landscape compares.

Tool	Entry price	Email auto-scan	AI classification	REPS hours	Source-linked evidence	STR + LTR	Team access	Free tier
RE:Writeoff	$9/mo	Yes ✓	Full (IRS cats)	Yes ✓	Yes ✓	Both	Family plan	Yes
REPStracker	$32/mo	No	No	Manual logging	Photos only	Both	Per-seat	14-day trial
REPSLog	$12.49/mo	No	Partial (autofill)	Manual logging	Attachments	Both	Participant tracking	14-day trial
REPS Time	Free · paid TBD	No	No	Manual logging	No	Both	No	5 hrs free
Stessa	Free · $28/mo Pro	Bank feeds only	No	No	Receipts	LTR focus	Limited	Yes
Baselane	Free · $20/mo Smart	Bank feeds only	No	No	No	LTR focus	Yes	Yes
REI Hub	$9/mo (3 units)	Bank feeds only	No	No	No	LTR focus	Multi-user	Yes
Landlord Studio	$12/mo + $1/unit	No	No	No	No	LTR focus	Yes	3 units

Pricing as of April 2026 from each vendor's public page. For the four accounting-focused tools above (Stessa, Baselane, REI Hub, Landlord Studio), “bank feeds only” means their automation pulls transactions from your bank — not reading email for activity hours, which is a different problem entirely. None of them track REPS hours. We don't cover them in depth below; if you need bookkeeping, pick the one that best matches your portfolio size. Detailed writeups for the five tools that actually compete on REPS hour tracking follow.

Tool-by-tool breakdown

The five REPS-specific trackers, in detail

Ranked from most automated to most manual. Each one includes price, pros, cons, and the specific use case it fits best.

RE:Writeoff

rewriteoff.com — Free tier, Pro $9/mo, Family $19/mo

RE:Writeoff is the only REPS tracker that reads your email to find property management activities automatically. It connects to your inbox (Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo), scans for maintenance requests, vendor coordination, tenant emails, and other property management work, then classifies each activity by IRS category and estimates time spent. Every activity links to the original email as evidence.

Pros

Email auto-scan (unique to RE:Writeoff)
AI classification into IRS categories
AI time estimates from email content
Evidence linking to source emails
Three input methods: auto-scan, forwarding, manual
Free tier for manual logging
30-day free trial, no credit card

Cons

Newer product (less established)
No native mobile app yet (responsive web)

Best for: Investors who want the strongest audit documentation with the least manual work. Especially valuable if you manage properties heavily through email. See which persona fits you.

REPSLog

reps-log.com — Starter $12.49/mo, Premium $16.66/mo

REPSLog is the most feature-rich manual REPS tracker. It offers AI autofill suggestions, speech-to-text logging, calendar sync, participant tracking for spouses, and document attachments. It works across desktop and mobile with cross-device sync.

Pros

AI autofill for faster manual entry
Speech-to-text logging
Calendar sync
Spouse / participant tracking
Document attachments
CPA firm partnerships

Cons

No email scanning or automatic detection
No AI time estimates
More expensive ($12.49–$16.66/mo)
No free tier (14-day trial only)
Starter plan limited to 3 properties

Best for: Investors who prefer manual logging with AI-assisted autofill and need speech-to-text for on-the-go tracking. Full comparison

STR Hours

strhours.com — Free to start, paid tiers available

STR Hours is a voice-first tracker built specifically for short-term rental owners. Founded by Jennifer Beadles, a 17-year real estate veteran, it focuses on the 100-hour and 500-hour thresholds that qualify you for STR tax deductions. Users report average documented savings of $12,847.

Pros

Voice logging (unique and convenient)
STR-focused (100/500-hour thresholds)
Spouse and third-party hour tracking
Calendar sync
CPA-ready PDF reports
Clean, intuitive UX

Cons

STR only (no LTR or full REPS support)
No email scanning
No AI classification
No evidence linking
No IRS activity categories

Best for: Pure STR investors who want a voice-first tracker and only need to hit the 100 or 500-hour thresholds. Full comparison

REPStracker

repstracker.com — 14-day free trial, subscription

REPStracker is a mobile-first app for iOS and Android with quick time logging, a built-in timer, photo evidence uploads, and CSV export. It's straightforward and focused on the basics of REPS hour tracking.

Pros

Native iOS + Android apps
Photo evidence upload
Built-in timer
Simple, focused UX
CSV export for CPA

Cons

No email scanning or automatic detection
No AI classification or time estimates
Recent reviews mention laggy updates
No free tier (trial only)
Basic feature set compared to competitors

Best for: Investors who want a native mobile app and value photo evidence from property visits. Full comparison

REPS Time

repstime.com — Free (5 hours), paid tiers available

REPS Time is a simple, web-based tracker from Jennifer Beadles (also behind STR Hours). It offers quick-tap logging, calendar sync, smart reminders, and audit-ready reports. Over 2,000 users trust it, and it retains data for 7 years.

Pros

Simple and easy to use
No download required (web-based)
Free tier available
Smart reminders to keep logging
750-hour progress tracking
7-year data retention

Cons

Very basic feature set
No AI of any kind
No email scanning
No evidence linking
No IRS activity categories
Free tier limited to 5 hours

Best for: Investors who just want the simplest possible hour counter with zero learning curve. Full comparison

Our pick

RE:Writeoff, obviously — but here's when the others fit.

We built RE:Writeoff because every other REPS tracker requires you to manually log activities, and none of them attach evidence to entries. If you forget to log something, those hours are gone. If the IRS questions an entry, you have nothing but your word. We're the only tool that reads your email, finds activities automatically, classifies them into IRS categories, and links them to the source. For investors who want the strongest possible documentation with the least manual work, that's a meaningful difference.

That said, every tool on this list has legitimate use cases:

Want speech-to-text dictation on the go? REPSLog offers it.
Want a native iOS/Android app with photo evidence? REPStracker fits.
Running only short-term rentals and want laser focus on STR thresholds? STR Hours is purpose-built for that.
Need a simple hour counter and nothing else? REPS Time will do.
Wondering if a generic tool like Toggl could work? Read why it can't.

Pick the tool that fits how you actually work. If that's us, great — if it's someone else on this list, we'd rather you pick them and actually use the tool than pick us and abandon it.

This comparison is based on publicly available information as of April 2026. We make RE:Writeoff, so our perspective is inherently biased, but we've tried to be fair regardless. Competitor pricing and features may change. RE:Writeoff provides activity tracking tools, not tax advice. Consult a qualified tax professional before making decisions based on this information.

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