Bricky Bot vs August
Weighing up Bricky Bot vs August? They do different jobs. August is low-cost property management software for self-managing landlords: rent tracked through your bank, Making Tax Digital, a compliance checklist and a free app for your tenants. Bricky Bot is an AI team that does the day’s lettings work, room by room, and waits for your ✅.
Luke AshtonFounder of Bricky Bot and Based Lettings · Updated The short answer
- Choose August if you manage your own properties and want the records, the rent and the tax in one cheap app: Open Banking rent matching room by room, HMRC-recognised MTD submissions, a guided compliance checklist and a tenant app, free for up to 2 tenancies.
- Choose Bricky Bot if you let room by room and the time goes on the work itself: portal enquiries and viewings, WhatsApp groups, repairs, certificate renewals and landlord statements, with nothing sent until a person approves it.
- The honest line: August costs less and does MTD, bank matching and a tenant app, which Bricky Bot doesn’t. August says it doesn’t attempt tenant find; Bricky Bot does the lettings work around the money, and you approve every step.
What August does well
August is run by Augur Technologies Limited, “founded in London in 2021” and backed by angel investors (about us). Its home page says it is used by “3,000+ UK Landlords & Tenants”, and its reviews page shows a 4.5 rating from 53 App Store reviews (reviews). A few things stand out on its own pages:
- Rent that matches itself, room by room. You link your bank through Open Banking (August is an agent of Plaid, an FCA-authorised payment institution) and payments are matched to each tenancy, with arrears flagged. In an HMO you “add individual tenants per room” (HMO landlords).
- Making Tax Digital, recognised by HMRC. Expenses go into HMRC categories, receipts are read from a photo, reports and rent ledgers export to Excel or Xero, and paid plans submit quarterly updates from inside August (August home page).
- A compliance checklist per property. Tailored to England, Wales or Scotland, covering gas, EPC, electrical checks, deposits, right to rent and HMO licensing. Upload a certificate and August reads the expiry date and sets the reminder (compliance).
- A free app for tenants. Tenants report repairs with photos, and urgent ones are flagged as emergencies; messages go direct, to a household or to everyone, with email or SMS for tenants who aren’t on the app (maintenance, messaging).
- AI that reads your paperwork. August Intelligence answers questions about your tenancies and pulls dates and rent from tenancy agreements, with each suggestion for you to approve, edit or reject (AI assistant).
One thing worth knowing: August’s own comparison page says it “starts at the tenancy and does not attempt tenant find” (August vs Coho). Adverts, enquiries and viewings stay with you.
Side by side
August facts are from August’s own website, checked 18 October 2026. “Not stated” means we couldn’t find it there.
| August | Bricky Bot | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Property management software and landlord app, with HMRC-recognised MTD | An AI lettings team of eight specialists, working in a full property CRM |
| Built for | Self-managing UK landlords and HMO operators, “one flat, ten HMOs or… hundreds of units” | HMO landlords, co-living and rent-to-rent operators, and letting agents |
| Who does the day-to-day work | You, in the app, prompted by its reminders and checklist | The AI team drafts and does it; a person approves anything that goes out |
| HMOs and rooms | A tenancy per room, rent matched per tenant, HMO licensing and fire safety on the checklist | Built running HMOs: a record and tenancy per room, the licence and every certificate tracked per house |
| Enquiries and viewings | “Does not attempt tenant find” | Syncs every SpareRoom and OpenRent thread, drafts replies, books viewings, tracks each lead to a signed tenancy |
| Talking to tenants | In-app messaging (direct, group, broadcast), email or SMS for tenants not on the app | Runs the WhatsApp groups you already have, each linked to its house, lead or contractor record |
| Repairs | Tenants report in the app with photos; you track, assign and resolve | Logs the job with photos, suggests a known fix, drafts the booking to the contractor who covers that house for your ✅ |
| Compliance | Checklist per property and nation; expiry dates read from uploads; reminders by push, email or SMS | Tracks every certificate on every property, opens each renewal inside its lead time, suggests the dates from the certificate PDF for you to confirm |
| Rent and money | Open Banking rent matching; optional in-app rent payments; expenses, receipts, reports and rent ledgers; Xero integration | Never holds or moves money. Matches each line of your bank statements to rent, a cost or a payout; spots late and short rent; drafts landlord statements. Not accounting or MTD software |
| Making Tax Digital | HMRC-recognised; quarterly submissions on Growth and up | No |
| Signing | Electronic contract signing listed in its plans | Fills the tenancy from the records, follows every signature, files the signed PDF |
| Where it runs | Cloud: web, iPhone and “a basic Android app”; tenants free on iOS, Android or web | Your own Mac or Mac mini; your team uses any browser or phone, and tenants use WhatsApp |
| AI | August Intelligence: questions about your portfolio, document scanning, receipts | The whole team is AI, on the AI plan you already have (for example ChatGPT); you pay your provider directly |
| Price | Free (2 tenancies); Growth £8.99 a month (5); Portfolio £14.99 (20); Portfolio+ £29.99 (unlimited); 30-day trial; annual saves 20% | See pricing on brickybot.com |
A worked example, by our own arithmetic from August’s published prices: August counts tenancies, and in an HMO each room is a tenancy. One six-room HMO is 6 tenancies, one more than Growth allows, so it’s Portfolio at £14.99 a month. Three six-room HMOs (18 rooms) still fit Portfolio; a fourth takes you to 24 and Portfolio+ at £29.99.
The real difference: keeping the records vs doing the work
Take the first week of the month in a six-bed HMO. In August, the bank connection matches each room’s rent, the tenant who’s short is flagged, and a reminder goes out; the receipts you snap go into the right HMRC category. Room 4’s tenant has given notice, and a tenant reports a dripping shower in the app. The rest is yours: write the advert, post it, answer the enquiries, book viewings, reference the new tenant and set up the next tenancy, and find a plumber.
With Bricky Bot, the team matches the bank lines to each tenant’s month and flags the one who’s short, and any chase it drafts waits for you. The notice is logged against room 4, the Listings Manager builds the advert from the house record for your own SpareRoom and OpenRent accounts, and the Enquiry Manager answers the enquiries, books viewings and follows each lead to a signed tenancy. The shower goes to the plumber who covers that house. You approve each step with a ✅, in the app or straight from the house’s WhatsApp group.
The honest difference runs the other way too: August matches rent through your bank automatically, files MTD with HMRC and gives tenants their own app, and Bricky Bot doesn’t. If tax and records are the job you dread, August is the cheaper fix.
Who does which job
- August: Open Banking rent matching, expenses and reports, Making Tax Digital, the compliance checklist, documents, a tenant app for repairs and messages.
- Bricky Bot: adverts, portal enquiries and viewings, tenancies, shared-house WhatsApp groups, repairs with your own contractors, certificate renewals, rent matching and landlord statements, all prepared for a person to approve.
- Both, in different ways: knowing who has paid in each room, and keeping gas, electrical and EPC certificates in date.
Who each is for
- August suits self-managing landlords, from one buy-to-let to a few HMOs, who want rent, records and MTD handled cheaply, and are happy to find tenants and run repairs themselves (August pricing).
- Bricky Bot suits HMO landlords, co-living and rent-to-rent operators and letting agents who let room by room and want the day’s work taken off their plate, while keeping the final say on everything that goes out. For the money side on its own, see what to look for in landlord software.
Using both, or switching
A landlord who’s happy with August for rent and MTD doesn’t have to switch: August can keep the records and file with HMRC while Bricky Bot does enquiries, WhatsApp, repairs, renewals and statements. Bricky Bot doesn’t connect to August, so each runs in its own account. If you’re moving the lettings side into Bricky Bot, we move your houses, rooms, tenants and landlords, certificates and their dates, and files across. Migration is included, and you can export everything from Bricky Bot in open formats too.
If HMOs are most of what you run, see how Bricky Bot works as HMO management software. Comparing other landlord apps? Read Bricky Bot vs Landlord Studio or Bricky Bot vs Landlord Vision, or Bricky Bot vs COHO for HMO software. Want MTD priced per house, not per room? Read Bricky Bot vs Hammock. Want records that are free for one unit? Read Bricky Bot vs Rentila. Paying an agent instead? Our free property management fees calculator works out the year’s cost room by room.
Questions people ask
What is the main difference between August and Bricky Bot?
August is property management software for self-managing UK landlords: rent tracked through Open Banking, expenses, Making Tax Digital, a compliance checklist, documents, maintenance requests and messaging, with a free app for tenants. You do the work in it. Bricky Bot is an AI lettings team: specialist bots answer room enquiries, book viewings, run WhatsApp groups, chase repairs and renewals, and prepare every message for a person to approve. August keeps the records and the tax; Bricky Bot does the lettings work.
How much is August a month?
August is free for up to 2 tenancies. Growth is £8.99 a month for up to 5 tenancies, with MTD reporting; Portfolio is £14.99 for up to 20 tenancies; Portfolio+ is £29.99 for unlimited tenancies. Paid plans have a 30-day free trial and a 14-day money-back guarantee, annual billing saves 20%, and tenants are free (checked 18 October 2026). August says its prices are VAT-inclusive as displayed. Bricky Bot’s prices are on brickybot.com/#pricing.
Does August work for HMOs?
Yes. August says it tracks HMOs at room level: you add a tenant per room, rent is matched per tenant, and the checklist covers HMO licensing, fire safety and communal areas, on every plan. Because each room is its own tenancy, a six-room HMO needs the Portfolio plan. Bricky Bot was built running HMOs: a record and tenancy per room, with the licence and every certificate tracked per house.
Does August find tenants or handle enquiries?
No. August’s own comparison page says it “starts at the tenancy and does not attempt tenant find”. Adverts, portal enquiries and viewings stay with you or your agent. Bricky Bot syncs every SpareRoom and OpenRent thread in your own accounts, drafts replies, books viewings and follows each lead to a signed tenancy.
Can I keep using WhatsApp with August?
August’s messaging happens inside its app, with email or SMS for tenants who aren’t on it, and its page pitches “no WhatsApp groups”. If your houses already run on WhatsApp groups, Bricky Bot works inside them: each group is linked to its house, lead or contractor record, and replies wait for your approval.
Does Bricky Bot do Making Tax Digital or my accounts?
No. Bricky Bot matches rent and costs, reads invoices and receipts, and prepares landlord statements, but it isn’t accounting or MTD software and doesn’t connect to Xero. If MTD and the books are what you need, August does them; some landlords will want both.
Does Bricky Bot message tenants on its own?
Only the automatic replies you switch on, such as the out-of-hours holding reply. Every other message, advert, booking or payment the team prepares waits for a person’s approval, in the app or straight from WhatsApp.
See the team do the work
A short demo of Bricky handling real lettings work: enquiries, WhatsApp, repairs and approvals, with nothing sent until you say so.
Book a demoSources
- August home page (checked 18 October 2026)
- August pricing for landlords (checked 18 October 2026)
- August for HMO landlords (checked 18 October 2026)
- August compliance (checked 18 October 2026)
- August maintenance (checked 18 October 2026)
- August messaging (checked 18 October 2026)
- August AI property assistant (checked 18 October 2026)
- August about us (checked 18 October 2026)
- August reviews (checked 18 October 2026)
- August vs Coho, August’s own comparison (checked 18 October 2026)
August is a trademark of its owner. Bricky Bot isn’t affiliated with August. If anything here is out of date, email hello@brickybot.com and we’ll correct it.