For DIY & first-time landlords
Run your rentals like a pro. For free.
Track rent, expenses, and taxes across every unit — no per-unit fees, no lock-in. And when you’re ready, automate the whole thing with n8n or your own AI agent.
∞
units & properties
API
open & headless
AI
skill for any assistant
No
lock-in, ever
Made for DIY landlords
Just started renting out a place? You’re in the right spot.
You don’t need $30/month software
Most landlord tools charge per unit and lock the basics behind a paywall. BareBones is free — whether you rent one door or twenty.
Simple enough for your first rental
No accounting degree required. Log rent, expenses, and late fees; the categories, totals, and tax buckets sort themselves.
Yours to keep and control
Your data lives behind your own account and API key. Add units as you grow, and automate only when you’re ready.
One clear ledger
Every dollar, across every unit.
Income, expenses, and charges like late fees live in one typed source of truth — filtered by property or unit, categorised for taxes, and receipt-ready. No spreadsheets, no guessing.
- Filter by property, unit, or type
- Attach a receipt to any expense
- Tax categories map to IRS Schedule E
Income (MTD)
$8,450
Expenses (MTD)
$2,180
| Date | Unit | Category | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 01 | Unit A | RENT | 2,400.00 |
| Jul 03 | Unit A | UTILITIES | 180.00 |
| Jul 05 | 4-plex | MAINTENANCE | 420.00 |
| Jul 06 | Unit B | LATE_FEE | 75.00 |
Free & automatable
Your books, on autopilot.
BareBones speaks JSON. Pipe rent, utility bills, and expenses in from n8n, Zapier, or your own AI agent — through one secure API that never exposes tenant details.
Bill · rent · receipt
email / upload
n8n · Zapier · AI agent
parse & map
POST /api/v1/ledger
Bearer <api_key>
Your ledger
reconciled
Works where you already work
Your books, in the chat you already use.
Add one file to your AI assistant and it can read and write your ledger — log a receipt from a sentence, check what a property cost you last quarter, or tidy up a month of entries. No new app to learn, and nothing to install on your phone.
- Claude
- ChatGPT & Codex
- Gemini CLI
- Cursor
You: Log the $240 plumber invoice for 412 Oak, paid last Tuesday. Your assistant: That’s an expense against 412 Oak. Confirm before I post it: $240.00 · EXPENSE · REPAIRS · 2026-08-04. Logged to your ledger: plumber invoice for 412 Oak, minus $240.00.
What you get, free
The essentials, done properly.
Rent & expense tracking
Log income, expenses, and charges like late fees in one place. Running totals per unit and property, always current.
Tax-ready by default
Every entry is categorised against IRS Schedule E lines, so filing is a filter — not a shoebox of receipts in April.
Receipts on every entry
Attach a photo or PDF to any expense. Stored privately behind your account — never a public link.
Multi-unit & RUBS
Track any number of units across properties, and split shared utilities proportionally with your own weighting.
From the blog
