PayHOA charges by size band, HOA Express starts free, and EffortlessHOA charges per home and was waitlisting both paid plans on the day we read it.
Three tools built for self-managed boards, priced from their own pages on 19 October 2026, with the arithmetic at 25, 100 and 300 homes. We did not use any of them; we read what each publishes.
For a self-managed board choosing between the three:
| Tool | How it prices | 25 homes | 100 homes | 300 homes | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PayHOA | BandedNine bands to 500 units, then $0.55 a unit with a $275 minimum; 30-day trial | $49billed yearly | $99billed yearly | $199billed yearly | Open |
| HOA Express | Free planInform $15, Engage $21 a month billed yearly, up to 25 households | $0 or $15free or Inform | not readable | not readable | Open |
| EffortlessHOA | Per homeStarter $3, Pro $6 a home a month; Enterprise custom; Reserve Planner $49 a year | $75Starter | $300Starter | $900Starter | Waitlist |
Monthly prices on yearly billing where both are published; EffortlessHOA publishes one per-home price. PayHOA's monthly-billing equivalents are $54, $109, $219. Read 19 October 2026.
A banded price is a staircase: flat across each band, then a step. A per-home price is a straight line that rises with every home. The line starts below the staircase and crosses it at 17 homes; above that the staircase stays lower, and the gap widens with size. At 300 homes PayHOA works out to $0.66 a home against EffortlessHOA's $3.
Below 17 homes the per-home price wins; from 17 up the band does, and by 300 homes it is less than a quarter of the per-home bill.
On 19 October 2026 EffortlessHOA's pricing page showed its Starter plan as "At capacity · join waitlist" and its Pro plan with a "Join the waitlist" button; Enterprise was offered through sales. The page describes the company as built in Camas, Washington for single-family home communities across the Pacific Northwest, charges per home rather than per user, and includes its $49-a-year Reserve Planner free with any core plan. A waitlist is a date-stamped fact, so read the page again before you plan around it.
PayHOA prices by community size in nine bands, from $49 a month billed yearly for up to 25 units to $249 for 401 to 500, with a 30-day free trial.
Read 19 October 2026 from payhoa.com/pricingHOA Express is a website-first platform with a free plan, and paid tiers from $15 a month billed yearly for up to 25 households.
Read 19 October 2026 from hoa-express.com/pricingEffortlessHOA charges per home rather than per user, $3 a home a month on Starter and $6 on Pro, and on the read date both plans were showing a waitlist.
Read 19 October 2026 from effortlesshoa.com/pricingManageCasa publishes association plans from $45 a month billed yearly at 25 units and offers bookkeeping as an add-on service.
Read 19 October 2026 from managecasa.com/pricingCondo Control offers separate self-managed and management-company plans and quotes each community by unit band.
Read 19 October 2026 from condocontrol.com/pricingHOA Start's site returned a bot challenge to every automated read on 19 October 2026, so no price is quoted here.
Read 19 October 2026 from hoastart.comFor the band-by-band argument between PayHOA and ManageCasa, which is a different question from this one, see the HOA management software comparison. Florida condominiums of 25 or more units also have a statutory website duty, priced on the Florida condo website page.
$3 a home is below PayHOA's $49 band up to 16 homes. Until it opens, HOA Express's free plan covers a website.
Banded pricing from $49 to $199 a month across that range, with invoicing, payments, accounting and a website on every plan.
A free plan to start, password-protected pages, and paid tiers from $15 a month at up to 25 households.
It is built in Camas, Washington for exactly that kind of community, and its Reserve Planner is included with any core plan.
Homes in our community: ____ PayHOA: find our band (0-25 $49, 26-50 $59, 51-100 $99, 101-150 $129, 151-200 $169, 201-300 $199, 301-400 $229, 401-500 $249 a month, billed yearly) = $____ EffortlessHOA Starter: $3 x ____ homes = $____ a month (check the waitlist) HOA Express: free plan, or Inform $15 / Engage $21 a month up to 25 households; larger sizes: ask = $____ Payment fees we would pass to owners: PayHOA incoming ACH $2.45, card 3.5% + $0.50 Prices read 2026-10-19 from each vendor's page; check again before you sign.
No state counts self-managed associations directly. Virginia registers its associations with a contact address, and 1,668 of 7,056 registrations (23.6%) give a free-mail contact such as gmail, the closest observable proxy for a volunteer board acting as its own manager. The analysis is on who manages Virginia's community associations.
Two of five publish a rate card, and the band edges do not line up.
$45 to $275 ComparisonFlorida condo website requirement: the softwareSince 1 January 2026, 25 or more units must post records online.
25+ units VirginiaWho manages Virginia community associationsManagement portfolios reconstructed from the state association register.
23.6% free-mail MethodHow the Dwellory record is builtWhat we read, what we count, and what we refuse to infer.
methodPrices were read from each vendor's own pricing page on 19 October 2026 and are quoted as published, including where a page contradicts itself. We did not buy, trial or operate any of these products for this page. Prices at 25, 100 and 300 homes are PayHOA's published band for that size on yearly billing, and EffortlessHOA's per-home price times homes. The crossover is the smallest whole number of homes at which $3 a home exceeds PayHOA's band price. HOA Start returned a bot challenge to every automated read, so it is named without a price. The Virginia figure is computed from the DPOR association register, retrieved 2026-10-18.
Dwellory. "PayHOA vs HOA Express vs EffortlessHOA: one banded price, one free plan, one waitlist." Computed from each vendor's own pricing page, read on the date stated, retrieved 2026-10-19. https://dwellory.org/compare/payhoa-vs-hoa-express-vs-effortlesshoa/
Quote the read date with any price. Vendors change their pricing pages without notice, and these figures are as published on that date.
The same method, applied to registers in other professions. FreightProbe, the ELD and carrier-compliance register, read the same way. GrantProbe, public grant programmes, enumerated from the awarding bodies.