Is the Airbnb spreadsheet really free?

Yes — no email gate, no catch. Most hosts start with spreadsheets, so we made a genuinely good free one; Black Cat Analytics is there when you outgrow it and want automated bank-sync tracking.

Is a spreadsheet enough for Airbnb bookkeeping, or do I need software?

For one property and a disciplined weekly habit, a spreadsheet genuinely works. It breaks down with scale: more properties multiply manual entry, and unlogged expenses become missed deductions. Software's advantage is automatic capture from your bank — no typing.

Free Download · Updated for the 15.5% fee

The Free Airbnb Spreadsheet for Profit & Expenses

A complete Airbnb spreadsheet template for Excel and Google Sheets: every dollar in and out, expenses organized by Schedule E category, per-property profit, and a tax report that builds itself.

Download Free Spreadsheet

Downloads as a regular .xlsx file — your own private copy, nothing shared or tracked. Works in Excel, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice. No signup, no email required.

Updated Sept 2026: instructions and sample rows for Airbnb’s new 15.5% host-only fee, including how to log gross vs. net so your books match your 1099-K.

Rather not maintain a spreadsheet? The app does the same thing automatically, free to start →

Revenue & Expense Log

Log every payout and expense with dropdown categories, property names, and tax-deductible flags.

Monthly Dashboard

Auto-calculated monthly revenue, expenses, net profit, and profit margin. Updates as you log entries.

Per-Property Breakdown

See revenue, expenses, profit, and margin for each listing. Find which property is actually making money.

Schedule E Tax Report

Expenses auto-mapped to IRS Schedule E line items. Handles rental-use ratios and deductible amounts.

Cleaning Cost Tracker

Track per-turnover costs, cleaner ratings, and hours. Auto-calculates your average cost per clean.

Sample Data Included

Pre-filled with realistic 3-property sample data so you can see exactly how everything works before entering your own.

Since Sept 15: Airbnb’s host fee is 15.5%, not 3%. See your take-home before and after, and the price that keeps you whole.

Free Fee Calculator →

Get the free 15.5% repricing checklist

One page, seven steps: the break-even math, the fees hosts forget to raise, and the bookkeeping change almost nobody is covering. We’ll email you the PDF.

One email with the PDF. Unsubscribe anytime.

Spreadsheet vs. Full App

Feature	Free Spreadsheet	Black Cat App
Revenue & expense tracking	✓	✓
Per-property profit breakdown	✓	✓
Schedule E tax report	✓	✓
Cleaning cost tracker	✓	✓
Auto CSV import from Airbnb	—	✓
AI-powered profit insights	—	✓
Real-time dashboard	—	✓
Multi-device access	—	✓
Cleaner management & scheduling	—	✓
Price	$0	Free for 1 propertySchedule E tax report from $29/mo

What an Airbnb Spreadsheet Needs to Track (and Why Most Templates Fall Short)

Most free Airbnb spreadsheet templates are a rate column, an expense column, and a sum. That tells you what you spent — not what you earned, and not what to hand your accountant in April. A spreadsheet that actually replaces bookkeeping needs four things, and this template is built around them:

1. Expense categories that map to Schedule E. If your categories match the IRS form lines (cleaning, repairs, insurance, utilities, commissions…), your year-end totals drop straight into your tax return. If they don't, you'll re-categorize everything in April. Every category in this sheet maps to a Schedule E line — the mapping is printed on the Instructions tab. (New to the form? Start with our Schedule E guide.)

2. Gross payouts and platform fees, separately. Your 1099-K reports what guests paid; your bank receives what's left after Airbnb's cut — and since September 15, 2026 that cut has been a 15.5% host-only fee, five times the old 3%. Log both numbers per booking (the sample rows show how) or your records will mismatch IRS data. The full story is in our 15.5% fee explainer.

3. Per-property separation. Schedule E is filed per property, and "which unit actually makes money" is the question this whole exercise exists to answer. One combined pile of transactions can't answer it; the Per-Property tab can.

4. Cleaning economics per turnover. Cleaning is most hosts' largest variable cost, and it hides in totals. Tracking per-turnover cost against the cleaning fee you charge shows whether every booking's cleaning is profit or loss — our cleaning-cost guide covers the method the tracker tab implements.

If you'd rather see the numbers without maintaining a sheet at all, the honest comparison of both approaches is in spreadsheets vs. profit-tracking software.

FAQ

Does it work in Google Sheets? +

Yes. Upload the .xlsx to Google Drive and open with Google Sheets. All formulas and dropdowns work. You can also use it in Excel, LibreOffice, or Numbers.

Do I need to delete the sample data? +

We recommend it. The sample data is there to show you how the spreadsheet works. Clear the "Revenue & Expenses" rows and the "Cleaning Tracker" rows, then start entering your own. All dashboard formulas will update automatically.

Can I add more properties? +

Yes. Just type any property name in the "Property" column. The Monthly Dashboard pulls from all entries. For the Per-Property sheet, add a new row and copy the formulas from the row above it.

Is this really free? What's the catch? +

No catch, no email gate. The spreadsheet is genuinely free. We built it because most hosts start with spreadsheets — and when they outgrow it, Black Cat Analytics is there to upgrade them to automated tracking with AI insights.

What should an Airbnb spreadsheet track? +

At minimum: every payout (gross and after platform fees, separately), every expense with a category that maps to a Schedule E line, which property each transaction belongs to, and cleaning cost per turnover. Those four things turn a spreadsheet from a spending log into real bookkeeping — and they're exactly what this template's tabs are built around.

Is a spreadsheet enough, or do I need software? +

For one property and a disciplined weekly habit, a spreadsheet genuinely works — that's why this one exists. The system breaks down with scale: more properties multiply the manual entry, and unlogged expenses become missed deductions. Software's advantage is capture-at-source — transactions import from your bank automatically instead of waiting for you to type them. When you hit that wall, that's what Black Cat does.

Want an answer faster than a spreadsheet? The free Airbnb profit calculator gives you the monthly profit number in two minutes — the spreadsheet then keeps it current.

Outgrown the spreadsheet?

When manual entry gets old, Black Cat Analytics auto-imports your Airbnb CSV, tracks profit in real-time, and gives you AI-powered insights. Free to start.

Try the App Free Start Free