Making Tax Digital for Income Tax came into effect on 6 April 2026. If your qualifying income for 2024–25 exceeded £50,000, your first quarterly update must be submitted by 7 August - around 14 weeks later. Although HMRC is not issuing penalty points for late quarterly submissions during 2026–27, the year-end deadline remains fully enforceable.
On the surface, Landlord Studio and Hammock are competing for the same landlord. Both are HMRC-recognised for Making Tax Digital. Both are built for UK property income. Both have native mobile apps. Open either marketing site and you'd struggle to spot the difference. Look closer and they're solving fundamentally different problems.
Landlord Studio is an all-in-one platform: rent collection, tenant screening, rental listings, maintenance tracking, document storage, and MTD bookkeeping all in one tool. Hammock is accounting-first: live bank feeds, real-time reconciliation, investment analytics like loan-to-value and rental yields, FCA-authorised infrastructure, and a deep accountant integration. One tries to be the only tool you need. The other tries to be the best tool for the financial half of the job and lets you bring your own admin stack.
This article walks through what each one was built to solve, where each falls short, what they cost in the real world (with verified 2026 pricing), and which type of UK landlord each one actually suits. By the end, you'll know which side of the all-in-one versus accounting-first divide your portfolio sits on, and which tool wins for landlords like you.
Product Overview: Landlord Studio vs Hammock
Hammock describes itself as the first landlord accounting platform recognised by HMRC for Making Tax Digital, a status confirmed by ICAEW guidance and used by accountancy practices across the UK. It is FCA authorised (Register No. 911254), connects to over 50 UK bank and credit card feeds via Open Banking, and is recognised as an industry supplier by Propertymark. The platform is built around real-time reconciliation, with rent payments and expenses matched to the right property and tenant automatically.
Landlord Studio is a property management platform serving over 100,000 landlords worldwide. It was officially recognised by HMRC as MTD-compatible on 30 March 2026, six days before MTD went live. It combines income and expense tracking with tenant screening, rental listings, maintenance tracking, document storage, and compliance reminders. The platform runs natively on iOS, Android, and the web.
Here's a side-by-side overview before we get into the detail.
Features | Landlord Studio | Hammock |
|---|---|---|
Built to solve | End-to-end management for small UK rental portfolios | Property accounting and MTD through automation |
Best for | Self-managing landlords who want one tool for everything | Landlords whose biggest pain is bookkeeping and tax |
Free plan | Yes, GO plan, up to 3 units forever | First 30 days free trial only |
Entry paid price | £12/month (PRO, includes 3 units) | From £8/month (£5.99 promotional rate until April 2026) |
Annual discount | Discounted annual billing available | Save 20% on annual subscription |
HMRC-recognised for MTD ITSA | Yes (recognised 30 March 2026) | Yes (first landlord platform recognised) |
Open Banking / live bank feeds | Yes (PRO plan and above) | Yes, 50+ UK bank and credit card feeds |
Native mobile app | Yes, iOS and Android | Yes, mobile-first design |
Tenant management & screening | Yes, full feature set | Not a core feature |
Rental listings | Yes, with syndication (US markets strongest) | No |
Maintenance tracking | Yes, with tenant maintenance requests | No |
Investment analytics | Standard tax and income reports | Real-time LTV, rental yields, occupancy rates |
Self-employment MTD filing | Property focus only | Property focus only (QuickBooks integration for hybrid income) |
FCA registered | No | Yes (911254) |
Country availability | UK, US, Australia, NZ | UK only |
Active user base | 100,000+ landlords worldwide | Thousands of landlords and accountants in UK |
What Problems Does Landlord Studio Solve?
Landlord Studio was built for self-managing landlords who want one tool for everything from rent collection to MTD filing. It treats accounting as part of property management rather than a separate workflow. Here's what it actually solves.
The "I want to try MTD software without paying first" problem
The GO plan covers up to 3 units forever, not just for 14 days. For landlords approaching the £50,000 threshold who want a real test before committing, this is a genuine free starting point that no other major UK landlord accounting platform offers.
The "I do everything from my phone" problem
Native iOS and Android apps make receipt capture, expense logging, and rent reconciliation properly mobile. The receipt scanner uses your camera, the mileage tracker logs property visits via GPS, and the entire feature set works on a phone rather than a stripped-down companion app.
The "I don't just need accounting, I need to manage tenants too" problem
Tenant screening, rental listings with one-click generation, application management, lease tracking, tenant communications, and maintenance request handling are all built in. For landlords who self-manage their portfolios end to end, having all of this in one platform avoids the cost and friction of running three or four separate tools.
The "I want to keep my current accountant happy" problem
Landlord Studio integrates with Xero, the most-used accounting software in UK practices. A common workflow is to run day-to-day operations in Landlord Studio and sync to Xero for year-end accounts, which gives self-managing landlords the operational tools they want and accountants the platform they prefer for final returns.
The "I own property in more than one country" problem
Landlord Studio works across UK, US, Australia, and New Zealand jurisdictions in a single account. If you have a UK buy-to-let plus a holiday property in Florida or Queensland, you can run both in one platform rather than juggling regional tools.
What Problems Does Hammock Solve?
Hammock was built around a single belief: landlords should not be doing manual bookkeeping in 2026. ICAEW recognises it as the first landlord software recognised by HMRC for MTD, and the platform is built around live bank feeds and real-time reconciliation. Here's what it solves.
The "I'm drowning in spreadsheets" problem
Hammock connects to your bank accounts via Open Banking and reconciles rent payments and property expenses in real time. Once you've added your properties and tenancies, the system automatically identifies recurring rent payments, categorises expenses against HMRC's SA105 categories, and matches transactions to the right property and tenant. There's no chart of accounts to configure and no monthly reconciliation routine.
The "I want to know my numbers right now" problem
The dashboard delivers real-time investment metrics: loan-to-value ratios, rental yields, occupancy rates, profit and loss per property, and per-tenant arrears balances. Most landlord tools generate a quarterly report and call it a day. Hammock lets you check portfolio performance from your phone at any point in the year.
The "I'm scared I'll be hit with a tax bill I can't pay" problem
Hammock provides a running estimate of your total expected tax bill throughout the year, with an option to set aside funds progressively. For landlords who've previously been blindsided by their Self Assessment bill, this turns tax planning into something passive rather than something to dread.
The "I want financial-grade trust" problem
Hammock is FCA authorised (Register No. 911254) and connects bank feeds via Truelayer (also FCA regulated). It is recognised as an industry supplier by Propertymark. For landlords who want regulated financial infrastructure rather than a property-management app with a bank-feed widget, this matters. Landlord Studio is not FCA registered.
The "I run an HMO and most pricing models punish me" problem
Hammock charges per property, not per tenancy. As one HMO landlord puts it in a Hammock customer testimonial: "because they charge me by property, rather than by tenancy, it's incredible value for money." An HMO with five tenants in five rooms counts as one property under Hammock. Most competitor platforms count it as five tenancies.
The "I work with an accountant and we both need access" problem
Hammock is widely used by UK accountancy practices, from sole practitioners to top 100 firms, and integrates with QuickBooks via a deep integration launched with Intuit in March 2026. Your accountant can access up-to-date data at any time, which removes the year-end scramble of pulling figures together.
What Problems Does Landlord Studio Miss?
Landlord Studio nails its target use case, but the feature gaps matter once you scale or specialise. Here's where it falls short.
The "I want bank feeds without paying" problem
Open Banking sits behind the PRO paywall at £12 a month. Free GO users have to enter every transaction manually, which works for a single property but stops scaling fast. The honest read: GO is good for trying the interface, but most active landlords need PRO within their first week.
The "I want a UK-native experience" problem
Landlord Studio shows its US origins. The rental listings module has the strongest syndication in US markets (Zillow and similar), and some menus, reports, and category structures were designed around Schedule E (a US tax form) before MTD and SA105 arrived. Usable, but not as natively UK as Hammock.
The "I want the deepest UK regulatory tracking" problem
UK-specific compliance is reminder-grade. There's no Section 8 or Form 6A drafter, no Awaab's Law SLA tracking, and limited Renters' Rights Act-specific workflows. As 2026 regulations bed in, landlords who want their software to track legal obligations rather than just send reminders will find the depth limited.
The "I want financial-grade regulation" problem
Landlord Studio is not FCA registered. For landlords who place high value on regulated financial infrastructure, particularly those handling rent collection through the platform, Hammock's FCA authorisation is a more reassuring posture.
The "I want financial-grade regulation" problem
Landlord Studio is not FCA registered. For landlords who place high value on regulated financial infrastructure, particularly those handling rent collection through the platform, Hammock's FCA authorisation is a more reassuring posture.
The "I want real-time investment analytics" problem
Landlord Studio's reporting is solid for tax time, but the platform doesn't surface live LTV ratios, rental yields, or per-tenant arrears balances as a dashboard primary. Investment-focused landlords who care about portfolio performance metrics rather than tenancy admin will find the analytics layer thinner than Hammock's.
What Problems Does Hammock Miss?
Hammock is excellent at what it was built to do, but it isn't a full property management platform. Here's where it falls short.
The "I want to manage tenants in the same tool" problem
Hammock isn't a tenant management platform. There's no tenant screening, no rental listings, no maintenance tracking, and no tenant communications module. As one r/UKLandlords reviewer cited in a Landlord Studio comparison put it: "Hammock is great for the financial side (bookkeeping etc) but not as good for the admin side (property info, paperwork, key dates)." Landlords who want a single tool for everything will run a second platform alongside Hammock.
The "I have self-employment income alongside my rentals" problem
Hammock supports MTD for property income but does not support sole trader (self-employment) income filing as a primary feature. Landlords with hybrid income can use the QuickBooks integration to handle the self-employment side through QuickBooks while keeping property income in Hammock, but that's two subscriptions to manage.
The "I want OCR receipt scanning" problem
Receipts can be attached to transactions manually, but there is no OCR or AI-driven categorisation. Landlord Studio's mobile receipt scanner uses your camera and pulls amounts and dates automatically. For a platform that emphasises automation, this is one of the few manual steps Hammock hasn't yet automated.
The "I want tenant screening and rental listings" problem
Hammock has no built-in tenant screening, application management, or rental listings module. Landlords who handle their own tenant-finding process will need a separate tool for this side of the workflow, or they'll continue using Rightmove, OpenRent, and similar listing platforms outside the software.
The "I want my accountant to file on my behalf" problem
Hammock does not currently support agent filing. The landlord or their accountant must submit directly through the platform itself, rather than the accountant filing from their own software using your data.
Filing a Q1 MTD update: How Each Workflow Looks In Practice
To compare the two products on something concrete, here's how the MTD filing workflow runs in each one. The walkthroughs below combine the documented workflow from each provider with hands-on testing of both products by our team in April 2026.
Test Scenario:
A Manchester landlord with three buy-to-lets averaging £1,500 per month each, gross annual rental income of £54,000 (above the £50,000 MTD threshold). One property is held 50/50 with a spouse. The landlord also receives part-time consultancy income outside MTD scope. Q1 covers 6 April to 5 July 2026, submission deadline 7 August. The £1,500 figure sits within the typical Manchester rental range; ONS reports the average Manchester rent at £1,347 in March 2026, with postcodes such as M14 and M21 averaging significantly above this.
Filing in Landlord Studio: The Workflow
Setup is a self-serve flow on iOS, Android, or web, with the GO plan covering up to 3 units for free. Open Banking connectivity, which is required for automatic transaction import, sits on the PRO plan from £12 per month. Once a bank feed is connected, transactions are categorised against UK Self Assessment categories. Receipts are captured on mobile through the built-in scanner, with mileage tracked separately for property visits. Joint ownership splits are configured at the property record and applied automatically to subsequent transactions.
MTD submissions run through a three-step wizard introduced with the 30 March 2026 release: connect to HMRC via Government Gateway, confirm SA105 category mapping, submit. Acknowledgement is returned through HMRC's API.
What This Means In Practice:
Self-managing landlords running rentals from their phone can complete a quarter's bookkeeping incrementally rather than in one block, with the MTD submission acting as a final review of figures already captured. Self-employment income from outside property activity must be filed separately, since Landlord Studio's MTD module is property-focused.
Filing in Hammock: The Workflow
Sign-up offers a 30-day free trial with full functionality. Bank feeds connect via Truelayer, which is FCA regulated, with support for over 50 UK bank and credit card feeds. Hammock's bookkeeping runs in real time rather than at quarter-end. Once properties and tenancies are added, the system identifies recurring rent payments, categorises expenses against SA105 categories, and matches transactions to the right property and tenant automatically. Joint ownership splits are handled at the property level.
Because reconciliation runs continuously, the MTD submission itself is a review-and-confirm of figures that have already been tracking live throughout the quarter, rather than a quarterly build-from-scratch.
What This Means In Practice:
Landlords whose biggest pain is bookkeeping spend less time at quarter-end because the platform has been working in the background since their bank feed was connected. Like Landlord Studio, self-employment income falls outside Hammock's MTD scope. Hammock's March 2026 deep integration with QuickBooks (announced at Intuit's London Get Connected event) addresses this for landlords willing to run two subscriptions.
Pricing With Worked Examples
Landlord Studio prices on tenancy units: free GO plan covers 3 units forever; PRO starts at £12 a month and includes 3 units, with each additional unit at £1 per month. Hammock prices per property in tiers: £8 a month for 1 to 3 properties, £15 plus VAT (£18) for 4 to 10, and £25 plus VAT (£30) for 11 to 20 (verified directly with Hammock, April 2026). A promotional rate of £5.99 for 1 to 3 properties is available until April 2026. Hammock offers a 20% discount on annual subscriptions and 30 days free.
Profile 1: One buy-to-let, single landlord, £52,000 gross rent
Landlord Studio: Free on GO, but Open Banking requires PRO at £12 a month, which works out at £144 a year. Most landlords at this size will need PRO for bank feeds.
Hammock: £8/month standard = £96 a year on monthly billing. With the 20% annual discount, around £77 a year. The promotional £5.99/month rate brings this lower still until April 2026.
Two-year cost gap: Hammock is £67 to £134 cheaper over two years at this size. Landlord Studio's free GO plan only beats Hammock if you can live with manual transaction entry, which most active landlords cannot.
Profile 2: Three properties, one held jointly, £85,000 gross rent
Landlord Studio: £12 × 12 = £144 a year on PRO (3 units included).
Hammock: £8/month for 1 to 3 properties tier = £96 a year on monthly billing, or roughly £77 with the 20% annual discount.
Two-year cost gap: Hammock is £96 to £134 cheaper over two years. The decision turns on whether you need Landlord Studio's tenant management and listings features, or whether your priority is bookkeeping automation and real-time analytics.
Profile 3: Twelve properties, mixed structures
Landlord Studio: PRO £12/month (3 units included) plus £1 × 9 extra units = £21/month, so £252 a year.
Hammock: 11 to 20 property tier at £25 plus VAT = £30/month, so £360 a year on monthly billing, or roughly £288 with the 20% annual discount.
Two-year cost gap: At a 12-property portfolio Landlord Studio is £72 to £216 cheaper over two years, depending on whether Hammock is billed annually. The decision flips: at smaller portfolio sizes Hammock is cheaper, but Hammock's 11-to-20 tier (£30 inc VAT a month) carries a step up that brings it above Landlord Studio's per-unit pricing. Choose Landlord Studio if you want one tool for everything at a lower cost. Choose Hammock if your bottleneck is finance, not admin, and you'll use the real-time analytics.
Three Things You Won't Read On Either Marketing Site
1. Hammock's promotional pricing of £5.99/month for 1 to 3 properties expires April 2026
Per Latch's 2026 software comparison and Landlord Insider's coverage, Hammock has been running a promotional rate of £5.99/month plus VAT for 1 to 3 properties until April 2026, with the standard price reverting to £8/month afterwards. If you sign up before this changes, you can lock in cheaper pricing on annual billing. Hammock's own pricing page lists from £8/month, so the promotion isn't widely advertised.
2. Landlord Studio cleared HMRC recognition only six days before the MTD deadline
Landlord Studio was officially recognised by HMRC as MTD-compatible on 30 March 2026, six days before MTD went live on 6 April. Hammock has held this status significantly longer and is widely cited (including in ICAEW guidance) as the first landlord software recognised by HMRC for MTD. For landlords already in their first quarter, both products are equally compliant today, but Hammock's longer track record matters if you want a tool that's been through more HMRC technical updates.
3. Landlord Studio's own comparison page acknowledges Hammock is "accountant-led"
On Landlord Studio's own Hammock comparison page, the company describes Hammock as "heavily accountant-led, with most users coming via accountant firms and landlord associations." That's not a criticism, it's a precise positioning. If your accountant is driving your software choice, Hammock is built for that workflow. If you're a self-managing landlord choosing your own tools, Landlord Studio's broader feature set may suit better.
Which Landlord Type Each One Actually Suits
Landlord Studio is the right call for:
Self-managing landlords with 1 to 9 units who want one tool for accounting, tenants, and maintenance
Landlords approaching the £50k MTD threshold who want a genuine free starting point
Landlords whose admin includes tenant screening, listings, and maintenance management as much as bookkeeping
Landlords with property in multiple countries (UK plus US, AU, NZ)
Anyone who'd rather snap a receipt with their phone camera than chase bank reconciliations
Hammock is the right call for:
Landlords whose biggest pain is bookkeeping, reconciliation, and tax compliance rather than tenant admin
Landlords who want real-time investment analytics: LTV, rental yields, occupancy rates
HMO landlords who'd benefit from per-property rather than per-tenancy pricing
Landlords already working closely with an accountant who wants live access to the data
Anyone who values FCA-authorised financial infrastructure and the longer MTD track record
Hybrid-income landlords willing to run Hammock alongside QuickBooks via the March 2026 integration
Conclusion
Landlord Studio and Hammock aren't really competing for the same landlord, even though they're both HMRC-recognised and both built specifically for UK property income. Hammock solves the problem of property accounting through automation: live bank feeds, real-time reconciliation, and investment analytics built in. Landlord Studio solves the problem of running a small rental portfolio end to end, with bookkeeping as one feature among many.
If your weekends disappear into bank statements, manual categorisation, and trying to work out what your tax bill is going to look like, Hammock removes most of that work entirely. If they disappear into chasing maintenance, screening tenants, and keeping track of which property has which paperwork due, Landlord Studio is built for exactly that workflow.
And if your real bottleneck is having both rental income and self-employment income, with eight quarterly updates a year stretching across two systems, neither of these is fully built for that yet. Hammock's QuickBooks integration is the closest stitched-together answer on the market today. A proper end-to-end solution for hybrid-income landlords is still being figured out across the sector.
FAQs
Last updated April 2026. Pricing and feature data verified from primary sources. .
FAQs
Last updated April 2026. Pricing verified directly from each provider's published page. RentalBux is HMRC-recognised for MTD for Income Tax. This article reflects independent comparison in April 2026 and does not constitute financial or tax advice.
