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

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
/dashboard/ledger

Income (MTD)

$8,450

Expenses (MTD)

$2,180

DateUnitCategoryAmount
Jul 01Unit ARENT2,400.00
Jul 03Unit AUTILITIES180.00
Jul 054-plexMAINTENANCE420.00
Jul 06Unit BLATE_FEE75.00

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

$ curl -X POST /api/v1/ledger \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" \ -d '{"amount":142.50,"type":"EXPENSE","category":"UTILITIES"}'

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.