resty.ai vs spreadsheets
A spreadsheet is great until row 400.
Nearly every landlord started in a spreadsheet, and there's nothing wrong with that — a spreadsheet is free, it's yours, and it does exactly what you tell it. It's the most honest tool there is. This page isn't here to talk you out of one. It's here for the moment a spreadsheet quietly drops something — a late fee you forgot to add, a depreciation line you never set up, an insurance renewal that lapsed because the reminder lived only in your head. So this comparison isn't about features. It's about hours.
Side by side
Where each one actually earns its keep.
| What it does | Spreadsheet | resty.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking this month's rentwho paid, who's short, what's the late fee | ~20 min/mo, and the late-fee math is on you | ~2 min — late fees compute from the grace period |
| Schedule E at tax timeevery transaction sorted to its tax line, per property | a weekend of sorting rows by hand | already categorized — export the CSV in a click |
| Depreciation27.5-year mid-month convention, line 18 | the line most spreadsheets quietly skip | computed per property, all year |
| “Did the insurance lapse?”knowing a renewal is coming before it's late | you remember, or you don't | dated once, then it reminds you early |
| Surviving a tab fixa wrong formula doesn't quietly corrupt last year | one dragged cell can break a column | totals derive from the data, not hand formulas |
| Your data is portableno lock-in, leave whenever | it's already a file you own | import your CSV in, export every table out |
Tracking this month's rent
who paid, who's short, what's the late fee
- Spreadsheet
- ~20 min/mo, and the late-fee math is on you
- resty.ai
- ~2 min — late fees compute from the grace period
Schedule E at tax time
every transaction sorted to its tax line, per property
- Spreadsheet
- a weekend of sorting rows by hand
- resty.ai
- already categorized — export the CSV in a click
Depreciation
27.5-year mid-month convention, line 18
- Spreadsheet
- the line most spreadsheets quietly skip
- resty.ai
- computed per property, all year
“Did the insurance lapse?”
knowing a renewal is coming before it's late
- Spreadsheet
- you remember, or you don't
- resty.ai
- dated once, then it reminds you early
Surviving a tab fix
a wrong formula doesn't quietly corrupt last year
- Spreadsheet
- one dragged cell can break a column
- resty.ai
- totals derive from the data, not hand formulas
Your data is portable
no lock-in, leave whenever
- Spreadsheet
- it's already a file you own
- resty.ai
- import your CSV in, export every table out
Compared in good faith against each tool's public product as of June 2026. Tools change — if a row here is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.
The honest version
There's a right answer for you.
Sometimes it isn't us, and we'll say so. Here's the short way to tell.
Choose a spreadsheet if
- You have one property and the whole picture fits on one screen.
- You genuinely enjoy the control, and the formulas are yours.
- You're never planning to scale past what you can hold in your head.
- Tax time is one property's worth of sorting, and you don't mind it.
Choose resty.ai if
- You've felt the spreadsheet drop something — a late fee, a renewal, a line.
- Tax time has become a weekend, and you want it to be a click.
- You want depreciation and renewals handled, not hand-maintained.
- You've added a unit and the one-screen picture stopped fitting.
On purpose
An off-ramp in both directions.
The fairest thing a tool can promise a spreadsheet user is that you're never trapped. So: import the CSV your spreadsheet already exports to get started, and export every table back out to CSV any day you want — during the trial, while you're subscribed, or after you cancel. You came in with a file you owned; you leave with one too. The only thing that changes in between is how much of it you have to do by hand.
Questions
What landlords ask comparing the two.
What can a spreadsheet do that resty.ai can't?
A spreadsheet is infinitely flexible — you can model anything, and it's free. If you have one property and enjoy maintaining your own formulas, a spreadsheet is a perfectly good answer. resty.ai trades some of that open-ended flexibility for structure: rent roll, Schedule E, depreciation, and renewals that maintain themselves instead of waiting on you.
Can I import my existing spreadsheet?
Yes. Export your income and expenses from your spreadsheet as a CSV — the kind most spreadsheets already produce — and import it to start. Unknown categories map to a catch-all you can re-file later, so nothing is dropped on the way in.
If I switch, am I locked in?
No. Every table in resty.ai exports to CSV at any time — rent roll, the full ledger, Schedule E, all of it. You can leave with the same kind of file you came in with, on any day, for any reason. The off-ramp works in both directions.
Bring the spreadsheet. Keep the off-ramp.
Every account opens on a fully worked sample portfolio, so you can see a year of rent, a finished Schedule E, and the renewals — then import your own CSV when you're ready.
Free 7-day trial · No card to start · Export everything, anytime