Cheapest MTD software for landlords UK 2026 | August

MTD-compliant software for UK landlords ranges from £0 to over £40 a month, and the cheapest option is not always the best value. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax became mandatory from 6 April 2026 for landlords whose gross property income exceeded £50,000 in the 2024/25 tax year. The threshold drops to £30,000 in April 2027 and £20,000 in April 2028, bringing most UK landlords into scope within three years. Under MTD, landlords must keep digital records and submit quarterly income and expense updates to HMRC using software on the GOV.UK recognised list. Spreadsheets alone are not compliant. This guide ranks the cheapest HMRC-recognised options available to UK landlords in 2026, explains what each tier actually includes, and flags where price and value diverge.

How MTD software is priced

Before comparing costs, it helps to understand the three pricing models in use across the market.

Flat monthly fee. A fixed charge regardless of how many properties or tenancies you hold. Examples include August (£8.99/month for MTD capability on the Growth plan), Hammock (tiered by portfolio size, from approximately £15/month for single-property landlords), and Landlord Vision (from £19.97/month). These work well for landlords with stable portfolios because cost is predictable.

Per-property or per-unit pricing. A monthly charge that scales with the number of properties. This model suits very small landlords but can become expensive quickly as a portfolio grows. Arthur Online charges per unit, making it unsuitable as a cost-first choice for most self-managing landlords.

Free tier with paid upgrade. Several platforms offer a genuinely free tier with limited functionality, plus a paid tier that adds MTD submission capability. August's Free plan includes rent tracking, expense logging, compliance reminders, and document management at £0, with MTD quarterly submissions unlocked on the Growth plan at £8.99/month. Landlord Studio offers up to three free units, with MTD capability requiring a paid plan. RentalBux offers a free plan with direct HMRC integration, which is unusual in the market.

Bridging software. A separate category: tools that connect your existing spreadsheet to HMRC's API so you can submit quarterly updates without switching to a full property management platform. Bridging software is typically the cheapest paid option, often £3–£10/month or a one-off annual fee, but it assumes you maintain tidy digital records in a spreadsheet independently. Providers include AbraTax, AbsoluteTax, and GoSimpleTax.

The cheapest MTD options ranked

The table below covers the main HMRC-recognised options available to UK landlords in 2026, ranked by the cost of accessing MTD quarterly submission capability. Prices are based on published rates as of May 2026, always verify current pricing directly with each provider before committing.

"Section 24 handling" means the software correctly treats mortgage interest as a 20% tax credit rather than a deductible expense. "Property-level tracking" means income and expenses can be attributed to individual properties rather than recorded in aggregate.

Can I get free MTD software as a landlord?

Yes, but with meaningful limitations. RentalBux offers a free plan with direct HMRC integration, property-level tracking, and Section 24 support, making it the most capable genuinely free option currently available. It is less widely known than the major platforms, which means less third-party support material and a smaller user community.

FreeAgent is free for landlords who hold a personal or business current account with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Mettle, or Ulster Bank. It is a general accounting platform rather than a landlord-specific tool, so property-level tracking requires manual setup using tags or categories. For landlords already banking with NatWest Group, this is a strong cost argument in its favour.

August's Free plan includes rent tracking, expense recording, compliance reminders, and document management at no cost, but MTD quarterly submission capability requires the Growth plan at £8.99/month. The Free plan suits landlords who are not yet within scope of the current £50,000 threshold, or who want to get their records organised before upgrading.

What cheap MTD software sometimes misses

Price is not the same as value. Several low-cost options involve trade-offs that cost more in time or compliance risk than a modest subscription would.

Section 24 mortgage interest. Since April 2020, individual landlords holding properties in their personal name can no longer deduct mortgage interest as an expense when calculating taxable profit. Instead, they receive a 20% basic-rate tax credit on the interest paid. Software that treats mortgage interest as a straightforward deductible, as some general accounting platforms do by default, produces an incorrect tax figure and risks underpayment. This is the most commonly mishandled calculation in landlord tax software. For a full explanation, see our Section 24 dictionary entry.

Property-level income and expense tracking. HMRC's MTD requirements ask landlords to maintain records at property level. Software that tracks income and expenses only in aggregate creates extra work at quarterly submission time and makes it harder to identify which properties are underperforming. Bridging software and many general accounting tools require manual setup to achieve property-level attribution. Landlord-specific platforms handle it by default.

Bank feed quality. Automated bank feeds, where the software connects directly to your current account via Open Banking and imports transactions in real time, remove the largest source of human error in expense tracking. Not all cheap options include one. Bridging software, by design, expects you to maintain your own records. GoSimpleTax imports data but does not offer a live bank connection. Where a bank feed is available, confirm it supports your specific bank before committing.

EOPS and final declaration. Some entry-level pricing tiers include quarterly updates but not the End of Period Statement or the annual Final Declaration that replaces the old Self Assessment return. Read the small print on any plan before assuming full MTD compliance is covered.

From working with self-managing landlords across the UK, the question we hear most often is not "which software is cheapest?" but "which software costs least once I account for the time I spend working around its limitations?" For most landlords with two or more properties, the gap between the cheapest option and one that handles the complete workflow is small enough that the productivity argument alone justifies the step up.

If you want to understand August's MTD tools and how the quarterly submission workflow works in practice, the MTD hub covers it in full.

Is bridging software a good way to keep costs down?

Bridging software is the cheapest paid route to MTD compliance for landlords who are already comfortable maintaining detailed digital records in a spreadsheet. If your records are well-organised, your bank reconciliation is clean, and you understand HMRC's expense categories, bridging software lets you continue working as you already do while meeting the quarterly submission requirement.

It is not the right choice for landlords who currently maintain records informally or who want the software to handle categorisation. Manually rekeying figures from a bank statement into a spreadsheet before each quarterly deadline does not create a valid digital link under the Income Tax (Digital Requirements) Regulations 2021, the digital link must be unbroken from the original record through to the HMRC submission. Bridging software solves the submission end of that chain; it does not solve the record-keeping end.

For a full comparison of bridging software against full MTD platforms, see our guide to the best MTD software for landlords.

August and MTD costs

August's Growth plan at £8.99 per month is one of the lowest entry costs for full landlord-specific MTD software in the UK market. It includes MTD quarterly submission capability, Open Banking rent tracking via Plaid, HMRC-aligned expense categorisation, property-level income and expense records, compliance reminders, and document management, the complete landlord workflow rather than MTD submission in isolation.

The Free plan covers up to two tenancies at £0 and excludes MTD submissions, which makes it a practical starting point for landlords approaching but not yet within the current £50,000 threshold. Landlords who want to model their tax position before choosing a platform can use our rental income tax calculator, which applies the Section 24 credit correctly and estimates when each MTD threshold applies based on your income.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest MTD software for landlords in 2026?

RentalBux offers the most capable free MTD option for UK landlords, with direct HMRC integration and property-level tracking at no cost. August's Growth plan at £8.99/month is the lowest-cost option among full landlord-specific platforms with Open Banking integration. Bridging software providers such as AbraTax offer quarterly submission capability from around £3 per month, though they require landlords to maintain their own digital records separately.

Do I need MTD software if I earn less than £50,000 in rental income?

Not yet, but the threshold is falling. Landlords with gross property income above £30,000 must comply from April 2027, and above £20,000 from April 2028. Setting up MTD-compatible software before you are mandated means your records are already organised when the deadline arrives. The full threshold timetable is covered at augustapp.com/mtd.

Does cheap MTD software handle Section 24?

Not always. General accounting tools and some bridging software treat mortgage interest as a straightforward deductible expense, which produces an incorrect tax figure for individual landlords holding properties in their personal name. Always verify Section 24 treatment before committing to any platform. Landlord-specific tools — including August, Hammock, Landlord Vision, and Landlord Studio, handle it correctly as a default.

What happens if I miss an MTD quarterly deadline?

HMRC's penalty system applies points for late or missed quarterly submissions. Points accumulate over time and trigger financial penalties once a threshold is reached: a £200 penalty at the first trigger point, with further penalties for continued non-compliance. The system tolerates isolated misses but escalates for repeated failures. Penalties apply from the first missed quarter after your mandation date.

Written by the August editorial team. Last reviewed: May 2026. Pricing figures are based on published rates as of May 2026 and are subject to change, always verify current pricing directly with each provider before committing.