Almost every landlord starts in a spreadsheet. It's free, it's flexible, and for one flat it's genuinely hard to beat. The question isn't whether spreadsheets work — it's how long they keep working as you add units, tenants and tax years.
In short: a spreadsheet is the right tool for one or two properties and simple bookkeeping. It starts to cost you once you're chasing rent by hand, juggling documents, reporting across currencies, or sharing the file with anyone else. PropFlow keeps the parts a spreadsheet is bad at — rent tracking, reminders, documents, reports — in one place, and stays free up to 2 properties.
Where spreadsheets win
Give the spreadsheet its due. It is:
- Free and instant — no signup, no learning curve.
- Infinitely flexible — model anything, your way.
- Familiar — everyone already knows how to use one.
- Fine for one or two units with a handful of transactions a month.
If that's you, a spreadsheet is a perfectly good answer. Don't let anyone sell you software you don't need yet.
Where spreadsheets start to hurt
The cracks show up as the portfolio grows:
- Rent tracking is manual. Nothing tells you a payment is late — you have to notice.
- No reminders. Lease end dates, rent due, boiler service: all in your head or a calendar you forget to check.
- Formulas break quietly. One dragged cell or wrong range and a year of numbers is subtly wrong.
- Documents live elsewhere. Leases, invoices and receipts scatter across folders and inboxes.
- No audit trail. When a number changes, the spreadsheet won't tell you who, when, or why.
- Sharing is painful. Two people in one file means version chaos or overwritten work.
PropFlow vs a spreadsheet
| Job to be done | Spreadsheet | PropFlow |
|---|---|---|
| Rent tracking | Type each payment in by hand | Automatic rent roll, with overdue flagged for you |
| Reminders | None | Email alerts for rent, lease expiry and maintenance |
| Documents | Separate folders and inboxes | Attached to the property or lease they belong to |
| Multiple currencies | Manual FX, by hand | Live FX rates and a consolidated total |
| Reports | Build and maintain your own | Dashboards, profit-and-loss and exports, ready to go |
| Working with others | File sharing and version chaos | Roles (admin / manager) on a shared portfolio |
| Cost | Free | Free up to 2 properties, then €12/month |
"A spreadsheet stores what happened. Software tells you what needs to happen next." — PropFlow
Which should you use?
Be honest about your situation:
- Stay in the spreadsheet if you have one or two units, you're not collecting rent on a schedule, and you're the only person who touches the numbers.
- Move to PropFlow when you're tracking rent month after month, managing more than a couple of properties, dealing with more than one currency, keeping documents and tax records, or sharing the work with a partner or manager.
You don't have to decide forever today. PropFlow is free for up to 2 properties, so you can run it alongside your spreadsheet and switch when it's clearly earning its place.
Key takeaways
- Spreadsheets are free, flexible and genuinely fine for one or two units.
- They start to hurt at rent tracking, reminders, documents, multi-currency and collaboration.
- PropFlow automates exactly those parts and keeps everything in one record.
- Try it free up to 2 properties — create an account or compare the plans first.