August vs Landlord Vision: which fits your portfolio in 2026?
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A comprehensive comparison to help you choose the right property management platform for your property portfolio.
Choosing between August and Coho comes down to one question. Are you a self-managing landlord who wants rent, compliance and tax handled from your phone, or are you running a shared-living operation with tenant marketing, staff and suppliers to coordinate? Both platforms track rent at room level and match payments automatically through Open Banking, so an HMO is native territory for each. Coho is purpose-built for shared-living operators: tenant find and onboarding, portal syndication, supplier workflows, client money settlements and unlimited team users, priced per unit from a £30 per month minimum plus VAT. August is built for the self-managing landlord. The same room-level rent tracking plus a guided compliance checklist covering HMO licensing, HMRC-recognised Making Tax Digital submissions on every paid plan, an AI assistant and a free tenant app, from free to £29.99 per month. This guide compares both honestly, with every Coho fact verified against their published pricing and plans on 18 July 2026.
Free for up to 2 tenancies, no credit card required.
The comparison at a glance
Competitor facts verified 18 July 2026. Coho prices are subject to VAT and charged per unit, where a unit is any lettable space including vacant rooms. Confirm current plans with each provider before deciding.
Built for
UK landlords, including HMO landlords
UK compliance built in (England and Wales)
Guided checklist covering gas safety, EICR, EPC, Right to Rent, deposit prescribed information and HMO licensing, with plain-English guidance
AI suggests reminders from your documents
MTD for Income Tax
HMRC-recognised
Quarterly submissions built in on every paid plan
Rent tracking
Open banking feed with automatic payment matching at room level through an FCA-regulated Plaid connection
Tenants pay in-app with no fees
Free tier and entry price
Free for up to 2 tenancies
Paid plans £8.99 to £29.99/mo
Price at scale
£14.99/mo (Portfolio) rising to
£29.99/mo unlimited
Learning curve
Set up in under 5 minutes
Built for non-accountants
Mobile
Purpose-built native iOS and Android apps with full parity
Full web platform
Tenant experience
Free native tenant app, including in-app rent payments, maintenance with photos, in-platform communications, secure documents
Tenant find and onboarding
August starts at the tenancy
Accounting depth
Income and expense tracking with a live Xero integration, CSV and Excel exports, accountant-ready reports
AI assistance
August Intelligence on every plan, including free, including contract scanning, suggested reminders, questions on your own data
Property insights
Auto-pulls valuations, council tax bands, EPC ratings and expiry dates
HMO and room-level reporting
Per-room tenancies with per-tenant rent matching and payment status
Multi-user and team access
On the 2026 roadmap, not yet shipped
Data portability on exit
CSV and Excel export of your data
Pricing: per-tenancy plans versus per-unit rates
August prices by plan, not by unit. Free for up to 2 tenancies, then Growth at £8.99 per month for up to 5 tenancies, Portfolio at £14.99 for up to 20, and Portfolio+ at £29.99 with unlimited tenancies, VAT-inclusive as displayed, with a 30-day free trial and a 14-day money-back guarantee. Coho prices per unit. £30 per month for up to 12 units on Compact, £2.50 per unit per month between 12 and 100 units on Growth, and a custom Scale plan above 100, with a 10% discount for an annual commitment. A unit is any lettable space, a room, a whole single let, even a garage, and vacant units are chargeable.
Two honest caveats before the table. First, Coho's prices exclude VAT, so add 20% to compare what actually leaves your account, and budget for the paid extras where you would use them, including eSigning at £1 per envelope, referencing from £18.50 and FastTrack onboarding at £7.50 per unit. Second, Coho's £30 minimum means there is no cheaper entry point for a small portfolio: a landlord with one HMO of five rooms pays £36 per month including VAT with Coho against £8.99 with August, because August counts tenancies, not rooms plus vacancies.
Portfolio
August
Coho (inc VAT)
2 tenancies
Free
£36.00 (minimum charge)
One 5-room HMO
£8.99 (Growth)
£36.00 (minimum charge)
20 units
£14.99 (Portfolio)
£60.00 (Growth, 20 x £2.50 plus VAT)
40 units
£29.99 (unlimited)
£120.00 (Growth, 40 x £2.50 plus VAT)
Standard monthly rates published on each provider's website as of 18 July 2026, excluding annual discounts and paid add-ons. Full August pricing is on our pricing page.
Where Coho genuinely wins
A comparison you can trust has to say where the other product is better, so here it is plainly.
Tenant find and onboarding
Coho runs the entire journey before the tenancy exists: listings syndicated to Rightmove, Zoopla, OnTheMarket, Placebuzz and Facebook Marketplace, enquiry tracking, viewings, pre-qualification, referencing, holding fees, right-to-rent checks and eSigning, with compatibility matching for housemates. August starts at the tenancy and does not attempt tenant find; if filling rooms is a large part of your workload, this pipeline alone can justify Coho.
Teams, suppliers and client money
Every Coho plan includes unlimited users with no user fees, plus a supplier app for contractors with quotes, photos and invoices flowing into its finance automation and landlord settlements, which handle client money for agents and rent-to-rent operators. August's multi-user access is on the roadmap and has not yet shipped, and it does not offer client accounting.
Rent collection automation
Where August wins
Compliance that guides rather than tracks
Coho tracks certificates, HMO licences and legionella checks, serves documents to tenants and auto-creates renewal jobs, which is genuinely strong. August adds the layer above: a guided checklist that explains what each requirement is, why it applies and what to do next, covering gas safety, EICR, EPC, Right to Rent, deposit prescribed information and HMO licensing in plain English, reflecting the Renters' Rights Act 2025, with August Intelligence suggesting reminders straight from your uploaded documents.
A fraction of the cost at every size
August is free for up to 2 tenancies and £8.99 per month covers a five-room HMO, against Coho's £36 per month VAT-inclusive minimum. At 20 units August is £14.99 against £60, and at 40 units £29.99 against £120, with no charges for vacant rooms, no per-envelope eSigning fees and no paid onboarding.
Filing built in, not handed off
Every paid August plan includes HMRC-recognised Making Tax Digital submissions, with quarterly filing from the web app. Coho includes MTD record-keeping on every subscription, and its MTD page states that submissions are handled by your accountant or compatible tax software, so if you want filing inside one product, August closes the loop and Coho hands it off.
Data that fills itself in
August automatically pulls property valuations, council tax bands, EPC ratings and expiry dates for your properties. Coho's dashboards are good on profit, cash flow, yield and ROI, but they work from the data you enter rather than adding external property data.
AI on every plan
August Intelligence is included from the free tier: it scans tenancy agreements, suggests reminders and answers questions about your own portfolio. Coho applies AI inside its payment matching, but no assistant-style AI is positioned.
Making Tax Digital: both are ready
MTD for Income Tax went live in April 2026 for landlords with qualifying income above £50,000. August is HMRC-recognised for MTD for Income Tax, with quarterly submissions built into every paid plan. Coho's position deserves precision: MTD record-keeping is included on every subscription, generating the categorised income and expense records the rules require, and Coho's own MTD page states that the submission process is handled by your accountant or compatible tax software, while its marketing pages describe MTD functionality as included and HMRC-compliant. Confirm the current position with Coho before relying on it for your filings. For the full market picture including bridging tools, see our guide to the best MTD software for landlords, and our Making Tax Digital hub explains the deadlines and thresholds in full.
Switching: the three questions that matter
How hard is migration?
With August you add your properties, rooms and tenancies, connect your bank, and open banking backfills rent history so the current tax year arrives with you. Smart contract scanning reads your tenancy agreements and does the data entry. Most landlords are set up in under five minutes, with no paid onboarding required.
Am I locked in?
No, in either direction. August exports your data to CSV and Excel whenever you want it, bills monthly if you prefer, and carries a 14-day money-back guarantee. Coho offers one-click exports and accountant-ready packs. Choosing either does not trap you.
Can I trust the smaller product?
August is used by more than 3,000 UK landlords and tenants, is HMRC-recognised for MTD for Income Tax, and runs its rent feed through an FCA-regulated Plaid connection. You can start free and judge it on your own HMO before paying anything.
The verdict
Choose August if you self-manage your portfolio, HMOs included, and want rent tracked room by room, compliance guided in plain English, Making Tax Digital filed from the same product, an AI assistant and a free tenant app, from free to £29.99 per month at a fraction of Coho's per-unit cost. Choose Coho if you run shared living as an operation: you need tenant find with portal syndication, referencing and eSigning, staff and suppliers working in the same system, Direct Debit collection with automated credit control, or client money settlements as an agent or rent-to-rent operator, and the per-unit price earns its keep against the headcount it replaces. August is not the right tool for operators who need tenant marketing, team access and client accounting today; Coho serves those businesses better.
Running HMOs with maintenance staff and contractors? Our comparison of August and Arthur Online covers the other operations-led option. For the wider room-level field, our guide to the best HMO management software for UK landlords sets out how the leading platforms handle shared housing. And if you are evaluating a broader range of tools, our guide to the best property management software for UK landlords covers the leading options side by side.
Start for free. Free for up to 2 tenancies, no credit card required.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between August and Coho?
Both track rent at room level and match payments through Open Banking. August is built for UK landlords, including guided compliance including HMO licensing, HMRC-recognised MTD submissions on every paid plan, an AI assistant and a free tenant app, from free to £29.99 per month. Coho is built for shared-living operators, including tenant find with portal syndication, full onboarding with referencing and eSigning, unlimited team users, supplier workflows and client money settlements, from a £30 per month minimum plus VAT at £2.50 per unit. Facts verified 18 July 2026.
Is Coho more expensive than August?
At every portfolio size, yes. Coho's minimum is £36 per month including VAT, which covers up to 12 units, with vacant units chargeable and extras such as eSigning at £1 per envelope and referencing from £18.50. August is free for up to 2 tenancies, £8.99 for a five-room HMO and £29.99 for unlimited tenancies, VAT-inclusive. What Coho's price buys is operational scope August does not attempt: tenant marketing, team users and client accounting. Prices verified 18 July 2026; confirm current rates with each provider.
Does Coho support Making Tax Digital?
Partially. Coho includes MTD record-keeping on every subscription, and its own MTD page states that submissions are handled by your accountant or compatible tax software. Confirm the current position with Coho. August is HMRC-recognised, with MTD quarterly submissions included on every paid plan, meeting the requirement that applies to landlords with qualifying income above £50,000 from April 2026.
Is August good for HMO landlords, or is Coho better?
Both are genuinely room-level. August runs each room as its own tenancy with per-tenant rent matching and payment status, builds HMO licensing into its guided compliance checklist, and gives every tenant their own app, at £8.99 per month for a typical five-room HMO. Coho adds the shared-living operations layer, including compatibility matching, tenant find, and team workflows. HMO landlords are well served by August.
Does Coho have a tenant app?
Yes. Coho's tenant app covers raising maintenance issues, viewing Direct Debit schedules and payment history, and acknowledging served documents. August's free native tenant app additionally lets tenants pay rent in-app with no fees, report maintenance with photos and access documents securely.
About this comparison: August publishes this page and we have a commercial interest in you choosing August. To keep it useful, we verify every Coho fact against their published pricing and plans, flag where their own pages differ rather than exploiting it, and say plainly where they win. Competitor facts last verified 18 July 2026. Last reviewed 18 July 2026.
