Software, SaaS & apps

Books and taxes for API and data businesses.

A metered Stripe invoice that changes every month, a dataset licensing fee paid by wire, a customer credit for an outage, and a bill for the raw data you buy to resell. Your own bookkeeper sorts it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.

Book a call What we handle
  • From $197 a month
  • An accountant on every transaction
  • Cancel whenever
AugustExample month
$24,200
what you made

August made $24,200. A large customer's usage tripled after they launched a new feature on their end, so I flagged that spike as customer-driven, not a pricing change on our part.

  • Stripe metered billing payoutUsage-based revenue
  • Wire, data licensing customerData licensing revenue
  • Data provider invoiceRaw data and third-party feeds
  • Google CloudHosting and compute
  • Customer credit, outageService credits
Money in$54,000
Money out$29,800
Set aside for taxes$6,000
An example month. Yours will have your numbers.

Why your books are different

API and data business books go wrong around usage and outages.

A generalist bookkeeper sees a Stripe invoice and calls it a flat subscription. Your revenue changes every month based on how much customers actually call your API, your costs include buying the raw data you resell, and an outage can mean handing back money you already earned. When the books miss that, nothing adds up.

  1. 1

    Usage-based revenue swings without warning

    One customer doubling their call volume, or a big customer churning entirely, can swing a month's revenue far more than any pricing change you made, and without context that swing looks like the business itself changed.

    What we doNotes when a swing in usage revenue is tied to a specific customer's behavior, so a spike or drop is understood for what caused it.
  2. 2

    The cost of the data you resell hides in with routine bills

    A data provider invoice for the raw feeds or datasets you repackage and resell looks the same as any other software bill, and that hides the real margin on what you are selling.

    What we doKeeps third-party data and feed costs in their own category, separate from hosting and tools, so the true cost of your product is visible.
  3. 3

    Service credits for outages look like ordinary refunds

    A credit issued to a customer after downtime is not the same as a customer simply canceling, but on a bank statement they look identical, and mixing them hides whether outages are actually costing you customers.

    What we doSeparates service credits from cancellations and refunds so an outage's cost is visible on its own, distinct from customer churn.
  4. 4

    Free tier and trial usage still costs real compute

    Every free-tier call still runs on your infrastructure, and without tracking that cost against what free users eventually convert to paying, you cannot tell whether the free tier is worth running.

    What we doTracks infrastructure costs against paid conversions where usage data allows it, so the free tier's real economics are visible.
  5. 5

    A large one-time data licensing deal skews the month

    A customer paying for a one-time bulk dataset export or a one-year data license up front can make a single month look enormous next to the steady month-to-month usage revenue that actually runs the business.

    What we doFlags one-time licensing deals separately from ongoing usage revenue so a single deal is not mistaken for the new normal.

Your categories

The categories Gus keeps for an API or data business.

Set up once for how you get paid and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.

Money in

  • Usage-based revenueMetered Stripe billing tied to actual API calls or data pulled.
  • Flat subscription revenueFixed monthly fees for a base tier, separate from usage charges.
  • Data licensing revenueOne-time or annual fees for bulk dataset access, often paid by wire.
  • Large contract revenueCustom-negotiated deals with larger customers, tracked apart from self-serve usage.

Money out

  • Raw data and third-party feedsWhat you pay other providers for the data you repackage and resell.
  • Hosting and computeAWS, Google Cloud, or a similar provider running your infrastructure.
  • Service creditsKept separate from refunds so outage costs are visible on their own.
  • Contract developmentFreelance or agency work on the API itself or its documentation.
  • Data storage and processing toolsDatabases, data pipelines, and processing services.
  • Compliance and security toolsTools and audits required to handle customer data responsibly.

What we watch for you

  • Usage revenue trend

    Total metered billing month over month, the plainest read on whether customer usage is growing.

  • Data cost ratio

    What you pay for raw data and feeds against what usage revenue brings in, the real margin on your product.

  • Service credits issued

    Credits given for outages or errors, worth watching as a sign of reliability problems.

  • The set-aside

    What you will owe, tracked every month against usage swings, so a big customer's growth never throws off the number.

Ask Gus

Things API and data business owners ask Gus.

Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.

One customer's usage tripled this month and our revenue jumped a lot. Is that a red flag?

I flagged it as tied to that one customer's growth, not a broad trend. Worth watching if it holds, but not a sign anything unusual happened.

We had an outage and had to credit three customers. How is that different from a refund?

I keep service credits separate from refunds and cancellations, so you can see the actual cost of the outage without it looking like customers left.

We buy raw weather data from a provider and resell it processed. Does that count as a normal expense?

It gets its own category, separate from hosting and tools, so you can see the real margin between what you pay for data and what you charge for it.

The tax side

The tax side of running an API or data business.

Most of what matters here is keeping usage revenue, data costs, and one-time licensing deals in their own lines so the return reflects what actually happened.

What your return has to get right

Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.

  • 1099-K from payment processorsStripe and similar processors report payment volume once it crosses $20,000 and 200 transactions in a year, but every dollar earned through usage billing is taxable whether or not a form arrives.
  • The pass-through deductionMost businesses organized as an LLC or S corporation can deduct up to 20 percent of qualified business income before it hits the owners' personal returns, with limits at higher income levels.
  • Equipment and hardware written off in the year boughtServers or hardware bought outright, rather than rented monthly from a cloud provider, can usually be expensed in full the year they are bought.
  • 1099-NEC for contract developersA contract developer or data engineer paid $2,000 or more in 2026, not on payroll, gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps that running total all year.

Deductions API and data businesses miss

Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.

  • Raw data and feed costs
  • Hosting and compute costs
  • Contract development
  • Data pipeline and processing tools
  • Compliance audits and tools
  • API documentation tools
  • Home office, business share
  • Business phone and internet share
  • Business insurance
  • Errors and omissions coverage
  • Legal and contract review
  • Accounting and tax preparation fees

General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.

All year, not just April

An API and data business year, kept every month.

Usage climbs and drops with customers' own businesses all year, not on your schedule. Your team keeps the books current whether the month runs quiet or spikes. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.

  1. January

    Plan the usage year

    Last year's return gets started, the contract developer 1099 list is finalized, and a monthly set-aside gets planned around expected usage growth.

  2. April

    Filed, usage and all

    Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, because the set-aside built from metered billing has been running since January.

  3. July

    Halfway usage check

    Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether a large customer's usage growth changed the year's number enough to matter.

  4. October

    Before the busiest months

    A look at any hardware, data licenses, or tools worth buying before December, timed around your busiest usage months.

What you get

Starts at$197a month

What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.

Book a call
  • Monthly bookkeeping

    Every transaction sorted into categories set up for API and data businesses. You never categorize a thing.

  • An accountant checks every transaction

    Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.

  • Your business tax return, filed

    Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.

  • The monthly number

    What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.

  • Your own bookkeeper

    A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.

  • On your books all year

    Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.

  • Cancel any time

    No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.

Straight answers

Questions API and data business owners ask first.

Our revenue changes every month based on usage. Does that make bookkeeping harder?

No. Gus tracks the metered billing the same way every month and flags when a swing is tied to one customer's behavior, so the number always makes sense.

We buy data from another provider and resell it. Is that treated as a cost of goods sold?

It gets kept in its own category so you can see the real margin between what you pay for data and what you charge, and the accountant handles how it lands on the return.

We issued service credits after an outage last month. Does that count as lost revenue?

It gets tracked separately from refunds and cancellations, so you can see the specific cost of that outage rather than it blending into normal churn.

A large customer paid us a one-time fee for a bulk data license. Does that skew our numbers?

Gus flags one-time licensing deals separately from ongoing usage revenue, so a single big deal is not mistaken for the new monthly normal.

We run a generous free tier. Does Gus track what that costs us?

Where usage data allows it, yes. Infrastructure costs get tracked against paid conversions so you can see whether the free tier is actually worth running.

Our books are behind because we have been focused entirely on scaling the infrastructure. Can you catch us up?

Yes. Send the billing and bank statements you have. Gus sorts through it and the accountant checks it, and most teams know where they stand within a couple weeks.

Is a real accountant checking my books?

Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.

What does it cost, and can I cancel?

It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.

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We keep books for the business next door too.

What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for

Book a call

Pick a time. That's the whole signup.

Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.

  • $197 a month to start
  • An accountant on every transaction
  • Cancel whenever