Free calculator

STR Software Stack Cost Calculator: cost per door

List your PMS, pricing, operations and accounting tools. See software cost per month, per year and per door, with channel fees kept apart.

No account neededFree PDF report

Examples computed by this calculator on sample inputs. Not market data.

Your tools and door count

Your software, one line per tool

Pick a vendor to use its published price, or Custom to type yours. Vendors that do not publish a price ask for your quote.

Line 1

Published price, checked 11 Oct 2026. Premium features billed separately.. Source

Line 2

Published price, checked 11 Oct 2026. $16.99 per listing at 10 to 49 listings; 50+ contact sales.. Source

Line 3

Published price, checked 11 Oct 2026. Source

4 of 25 lines
Paste from a spreadsheet

Copy rows from Excel or Google Sheets (tab separated) or a CSV. Columns are read as Category, Vendor, Billed, Price, Paid. A vendor name must match one in the list; anything else is a custom line. Up to 25 rows. Nothing leaves your browser.

  • No account needed
  • Every formula shown, sources dated
  • Free PDF report with every chart
  • 20 free calculators
How it works

Three steps. About a minute.

  1. Step 1: List your tools

    Pick each tool from the list of published vendor prices, or enter your own quote. Add your door count and monthly gross.

  2. Step 2: See the real cost

    Software per month, per year and per door, its share of gross, and channel fees reported on their own.

  3. Step 3: Keep the PDF

    Download the line-by-line stack, the cost at other door counts, and the vendor prices used.

Your report

What you'll get

Software per monthFrom the sample
THE HEADLINE

What your software costs a month, a year and a door

Every tool priced as the vendor publishes it, totalled. Per door is the number to compare as you grow.

  • Software per month
  • Software per year
  • Software per door per month

Showing part 1 of 5: Monthly total

  • Software cost per month, per year and per door
  • The hours each tool must save to pay for itself
  • Each line per door at 10, 25 and 50 doors
  • Channel fees shown apart from software
  • The cheapest published price in each category, and the saving

Three ways software bills, and how each one scales

Software cost by door countFrom the sample

Per-listing tools grow with every door you add. Percentage-of-revenue tools grow with bookings, so they cost most in your best months. Flat tools get cheaper per door as you grow.

The chart shows the same stack priced at other door counts, which is where you see one billing type overtake another. Vendors that do not publish a price are never estimated here; choose the vendor and enter your quote.

Stack mistakes this calculator catches

Software creep happens one $20 subscription at a time.

  1. 01Counting channel fees as software

    On the sample's $48,000 a month, Airbnb fees are $5,208 and software is $724.76. Lump them together and a 1.5% stack looks like 12%.

  2. 02Paying for a flat plan you could replace

    QuickBooks Online Plus at $140 a month against Xero Early at $27 is $1,356 a year, if Xero's plan limits fit your volume.

  3. 03Not pricing the next 10 doors

    The sample stack is $60.40 per door at 12 doors and $51.62 at 25. Per-door tools stay the same; flat ones get cheaper.

Channel fees are not software

From the sample

Software

Per month
$724.76
Share of gross
1.5%

Channel fees

Per month
$5,208

Airbnb's and Vrbo's fees are a cost of revenue, charged on every booking. Add them to the software line and the stack looks many times bigger than it is, and the subscriptions you can actually change disappear inside it.

This calculator reports channel fees in their own table. Judge each tool on whether it saves at least an hour of someone's time per door per month.

What good looks like

Software share of gross, with channel fees kept out.

OutputWeakOkayGood
Software share of grossRule of thumb used by this calculator's verdict.Over 4%2% to 4%Under 2%

How this calculator reads your total

Software share of grossFrom the sample

The scale shows how this calculator reads your software share of gross, from lean to worth a review. The top band usually means two tools doing one job.

Cut from the top of the per-door column first. A tool billed per listing that nobody opens every week costs a little more each time you add a door.

How operators use it

  1. Operator at 12 doors

    Annual renewals are coming up for four tools.

    Checks hours-to-save for each and drops the one that cannot plausibly save 8 hours a month.

  2. Operator planning to double

    Moving from 12 to 25 doors next year.

    Prices the stack at 25 doors and budgets software per door.

STR software costs, worked through

How does STR software cost change as you add doors?

Per-door tools grow in a straight line and flat tools get cheaper per door. The sample stack costs $85.58 per door at 5 doors, $60.40 at 12 and $47.26 at 50.

Per door is the figure to budget with when growing, because it tells you what each new listing costs to run. A flat accounting plan spread over 50 doors costs almost nothing per door; a per-listing pricing tool costs the same at 50 as at 5.

The table prices each plan as published at each count. It does not check plan door limits, so a plan capped below your target needs a different plan or a quote.

Sample stack at other door counts
  • 5 doors$428 a month, $85.58 per door
  • 12 doors$724.76, $60.40 per door
  • 25 doors$1,291, $51.62 per door
  • 50 doors$2,363, $47.26 per door

How many hours does my STR software need to save?

Its monthly cost divided by what an hour of your time is worth. At $25 an hour, the sample's $724.76 stack has to save 29 hours a month.

That is about 2.4 hours per door per month. A PMS that automates messages and a cleaning tool that schedules turns can clear that easily. A tool you open twice a month probably does not.

Raise the hourly figure if your time is worth more. At $50 an hour the same stack needs to save half as many hours.

Sample, hours each tool has to save at $25 an hour
  • Breezeway Host Essentials9.6 hours
  • Wheelhouse Pro Flat8.2 hours
  • OwnerRez Standard5.6 hours
  • QuickBooks Online Plus5.6 hours

Is there a cheaper accounting option than QuickBooks for an STR business?

On published prices, Xero Early at $27 a month against QuickBooks Online Plus at $140 saves $1,356 a year on the sample. Check that the cheaper plan's limits fit your transaction volume.

Entry plans are often capped on invoices, bills or users. A 12-door business with daily payouts and card spend may outgrow one quickly, and a plan that does not fit is not a saving.

Prices here are as each vendor published them on Oct 11 2026, without promotional discounts.

Which STR software is priced per door and which is flat?

In the sample stack, Wheelhouse and Breezeway are per door, QuickBooks is flat and OwnerRez is tiered by door count. The billing column in the line-by-line table shows each one.

Pricing models matter more than list prices once you grow. At 50 doors, the sample's two per-door tools cost $36.98 per door between them while the flat accounting plan costs $2.80.

Percent-of-revenue pricing is a third model. It grows with bookings rather than doors, so it rises fastest on your best-performing listings.

Sample, per door at 10, 25 and 50 doors
  • OwnerRez Standard (tiered)$12.70, $9.04, $7.48
  • Wheelhouse Pro Flat (per door)$16.99 at every count
  • QuickBooks Online Plus (flat)$14.00, $5.60, $2.80
  • Breezeway Host Essentials (per door)$19.99 at every count

Where it fits in your year

  1. Before renewals

    Enter every tool. Check the hours each must save and the cheapest published alternative in its category.

  2. When planning growth

    Price the stack at your target door count and budget per door.

  3. When cutting manual work

    Bookkeeping is often the biggest time sink. MagicBNB's Bank sync keeps PMS and bank data in one system so books reconcile without exports.

Terms on this page

Per-door pricing
A price per listing per month. Scales in a straight line.
Flat pricing
One price regardless of door count. Gets cheaper per door as you grow.
Percent-of-revenue pricing
A share of bookings. Grows with revenue, not doors.
Channel fee
What Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com take per booking. Not a software cost.
Payback hours
Hours a tool must save each month, at your hourly value, to cover its price.

Questions

How much does short-term rental software cost per listing?

It depends on how each tool bills. Per-listing tools scale with doors, percentage-of-revenue tools scale with bookings, and flat tools get cheaper per door as you grow. The table of door counts in the results shows where each billing type overtakes the others.

What software does an Airbnb host need?

Most portfolios start with a PMS for calendar, messaging and channel sync, then add dynamic pricing, cleaning scheduling and accounting as the door count grows. Each tool should save at least an hour of someone's time per door per month at your loaded hourly cost.

Are channel fees a software cost?

No. Airbnb's and Vrbo's fees are a cost of revenue, charged on each booking. Adding them to software makes the stack look many times larger than it is and hides the subscriptions you can change, so this calculator reports them in their own table.

What share of revenue should go to software?

There is no published benchmark. This calculator reads under 2% of gross as lean, 2% to 4% as worth a line-by-line check, and over 4% as a sign that two tools may be doing one job.

How much does Guesty or Hostaway cost per listing?

Guesty publishes its Lite plan at $9 per listing per month for 1 to 3 listings. Pro and Enterprise are quote only. Hostaway does not publish prices and asks for contact details first, so choose the vendor and enter your quote.

Is my STR software worth what it costs?

Divide each tool's monthly cost by what an hour of your time is worth. That is how many hours a month the tool has to save to pay for itself. The results do it line by line at the hourly figure you enter, and show the cheapest published price in each category, so you go into a renewal knowing what to ask.

Why doesn't the calculator estimate Hostaway or Guesty prices?

They do not publish a price, so it never estimates one. Enter the quote you were given. The same goes for Lodgify, Turno, PriceLabs and Hospitable's paid tiers.

Does an annual plan lower the cost?

Enter the plan as you pay it, monthly or annually, and the calculator converts it to a monthly figure. Promotional discounts are not applied.

How is a vendor counted if I use two of its products?

Once. Vendors are counted by vendor, not by line, because one contract and one login is what makes a stack simpler.

Should payment processing fees count as software?

No. Like channel fees, they scale with bookings and belong with the cost of each booking, not with the software line.

See all 20 free calculators

Formulas last checked .

Bank sync

Both sides of the money in one system

A stack is worth what it saves. MagicBNB's Bank sync connects bank accounts and your PMS in one place, so reconciling payouts against deposits stops being a monthly spreadsheet job.

Two more places this shows up in MagicBNB

  • PMS connectionConnects to Hospitable and Hostfully, syncing properties, reservations, guests and payouts, with history backfilled on first connect.
  • Monthly Portfolio Report BuilderOwner statements built and exported as PDF and Excel, which removes one of the most common reasons to keep a spreadsheet.
Connect bank and PMS together
Go deeper

Judge your stack against real profit, live

This calculator is the quick look at what the stack costs. MagicBNB runs the profit behind it in depth and in real time, property by property, in its Portfolio Overview.

Run the numbers in depthBack to the calculator