In this article
Key Takeaways
- For management companies running association portfolios, the best HOA and condo management software is Vantaca (AI workflows), CINC Systems (38 direct bank integrations), Enumerate Central (association accounting, formerly TOPS [ONE]) and FrontSteps (gated communities).
- Firms that also manage rentals fit Buildium (from $62/mo), Yardi Breeze Premier ($1 per unit, $400/mo minimum) and Rent Manager. Condo buildings with a front desk fit Condo Control.
- Self-managed communities get the lowest published prices from HOA Express (free up to 50 households), PayHOA (from $49/mo billed yearly) and Unitify (free plan, $1 and $3 per apartment tiers). None of the 12 has a native Albato connector.
The US has roughly 373,000 community associations housing 78.1 million residents, according to the Foundation for Community Association Research. Of the 12 platforms compared here, only 6 publish a price. Vantaca, CINC Systems, FrontSteps, Rent Manager, Condo Control and Smartwebs give a price only on request.
Which HOA and condo management software fits your association?
The right HOA and condo management software depends on who runs the association. Management companies with dozens of communities should shortlist Vantaca, CINC Systems, Enumerate Central and FrontSteps. Self-managed HOA boards should start with PayHOA, HOA Express or Unitify. Firms that also manage rentals should look at Buildium, Yardi Breeze Premier and Rent Manager. Condo Control and Smartwebs sit in between, with security and violation workflows for larger condo and HOA communities.
All prices are as published on each vendor's site on October 23, 2026. "Quote" means the vendor publishes no price.
| Tool | Best for | Key feature | Pricing (as published) | Albato connector |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buildium | Mixed rental and association portfolios | Violations, architectural requests with committee voting | From $62/mo (Essential) | No (Open API on Premium) |
| Vantaca | Large association management companies | HOAi Fleet AI workforce, after-hours HOAi Voice | Quote | No |
| Unitify | HOAs, condos, co-ops, self-managed boards | Assessments via Easybilly, card and ACH through Stripe | Free, Base $1, Pro $3 per apartment/mo | No (API on Pro) |
| CINC Systems | Management companies focused on banking | 38 direct bank integrations, CINC Connect portal | Quote | No |
| Enumerate Central | Accounting-heavy management companies | Association AR, AP, approvals, violations | $500/mo minimum, annual contract | No |
| FrontSteps | Gated communities | Dwelling visitor access plus Caliber accounting | Quote | No |
| Yardi Breeze Premier | Fee managers with mixed property types | Owner and board tracking, violations | $1/unit/mo, $400/mo minimum | No |
| Rent Manager | Rental firms adding HOA, COA, co-op work | Violation stages, board voting on architectural requests | Quote (Basic, Plus, Premium bundles) | No |
| PayHOA | Self-managed HOAs on a budget | Free unlimited texts, emails and calls; online voting | From $49/mo billed yearly (0 to 25 units) | No |
| Condo Control | Condos with front desk and security staff | Package management, key tracking, amenity booking | Quote | No |
| Smartwebs | HOAs focused on violations and ARC | Violation handling, architectural review, work orders | Quote, minimums and implementation fees apply | No |
| HOA Express | Small HOAs that need a website | Website, email and text blasts, documents | Free up to 50 households; paid from $15/mo | No |
How did we pick these 12 platforms?
We kept only platforms that publish an HOA, condo or community association offering on their own website today, checked on October 23, 2026. Rental-only tools for landlords were excluded, and so was AtHomeNet, because its domain now redirects into FrontSteps. TOPS [ONE] appears under its current name, Enumerate Central, after TOPS Software rebranded as Enumerate.
For each platform we compared four things a community association manager asks before a demo: who the product is built for (management company, self-managed board or both), which association workflows it covers (assessments, violations, architectural requests, voting, resident portal), what pricing is public, and how its data can reach the rest of your stack. Vendor claims about time saved or customer counts were left out.
💡 Tip
Ask every vendor the same three questions before a demo: is there a unit minimum, is there a monthly minimum spend, and is there a one-time implementation fee. Yardi Breeze Premier, Enumerate and Smartwebs all mention at least one of these on their pricing pages. For a 40-unit association on Yardi Breeze Premier, the $400 monthly minimum is ten times the $40 that the $1 per-unit rate would produce.
The 12 best HOA and condo management software platforms
1. Buildium: the closest match for mixed portfolios
Buildium is the natural pick for firms that manage rentals and associations in the same account. Its association tools cover violations, architectural requests with committee voting, board and committee management, and online payments through ePay, and board members can approve payables.
The Premium plan adds association bank syncing and Buildium's Open API, which is the route for custom integrations. ePay carries its own fees, as listed on Buildium's association software page: $2.35 per incoming EFT on Essential (no charge on Premium), $0.50 per outgoing EFT and 2.99% per card transaction on all plans. Buildium's public pricing also asks association buyers to call for community association pricing, so treat the listed plan prices as a starting point.
Pricing: Essential from $62/mo, Growth from $192/mo, Premium from $400/mo. A 14-day free trial needs no credit card.
Best for: property managers running both rental units and HOA or condo associations.
2. Vantaca: AI workflows for large association managers
Vantaca is community association and HOA management software aimed squarely at management companies, with separate products for the people around them: Vantaca Home for residents and Vantaca Vendor for vendor payment automation. Its newest layer is HOAi, which includes HOAi Fleet, described as an AI workforce for routine work, and HOAi Voice for after-hours call handling.
Vantaca also sells services next to the software, including implementation and onboarding, accounting services and account management. Managers in the field use the Vantaca Manage app on iOS and Android. The product is built for teams running many associations, so a single self-managed board will likely find more structure than it needs.
Pricing: not published. Vantaca offers a demo and an ROI calculator instead of a price list.
Best for: management companies that want AI to take over routine association tasks across a large portfolio.
3. Unitify: assessments, requests and voting for owner-occupied buildings
Unitify is property management software for HOAs, condominium associations and co-ops, built both for management companies running a portfolio and for self-managed HOA boards running one community. Its US page cites Florida law most often and explains how the state's condominium, cooperative and HOA chapters (718, 719 and 720) apply to association work.
Billing runs through Easybilly, which handles the monthly assessment and reserve contribution as a flat amount per unit, a percentage share of common expenses or a one-off special assessment. Residents pay by card or ACH through Stripe, and Unitify tracks each payment through submission, settlement and return. Violation notices and architectural requests arrive as tickets with a status, an assignee and a history. A resident app, owner voting and a building website for documents and news complete the product. Unitify says it is built for owner-occupied buildings and is not for landlords who rent apartments to tenants, so a firm with residential rental units needs a second system for them, and API access starts on the Pro plan.
Pricing: Free, Base and Pro plans at $0, $1 and $3 per apartment per month, as listed on Unitify's US page. Base and Pro come with a 30-day trial.
Best for: boards and management companies with owner-occupied HOAs, condos or co-ops only, especially in Florida, that want to start on a free plan.
4. CINC Systems: banking-first association accounting
CINC Systems has built community association software since 2005, and its pitch to management companies starts with the money. The platform runs accounting, operations, communication, compliance and community administration, and it lists 38 direct bank integrations for association banking.
Boards and residents use CINC Connect, a branded web and mobile experience with payments and self-service. CINC also packages specific jobs as "skills," including Board Packet, ACC (architectural requests), Invoice, Budget and Resident Self-Service, and adds an AI layer it calls Community Intelligence. CINC sells to management companies, so self-managed boards are not its target buyer.
Pricing: not published. CINC offers a demo and a "Calculate Your Potential" calculator.
Best for: management companies whose biggest pain is bank reconciliation and invoice processing across many associations.
5. Enumerate Central (formerly TOPS [ONE]): accounting depth for management firms
Enumerate Central is the current name of TOPS [ONE], the association accounting platform from TOPS Software, which rebranded as Enumerate. Central covers association accounting, payments and operations, including receivables, payables, reporting, approvals, violations and maintenance. Enumerate Engage handles resident communication, and Numa AI and Enumerate Financial Services complete the lineup.
Enumerate sells to both property management companies and self-managed associations, and it names board members and treasurers among its users. Its pricing page is unusually direct about commitment: an annual contract is required, there is a one-time implementation fee that covers data migration, and pricing depends on association size and the services you choose.
Pricing: $500/mo minimum for software customers, plus a one-time implementation cost and an annual contract.
Best for: management companies and larger self-managed associations that put accounting controls first.
6. FrontSteps: security and payments for gated communities
FrontSteps is a suite for HOA and community management that stands out on gate security. Dwelling is a web-based platform for gated and secured communities that handles visitor access, while Caliber covers association accounting with automated budgeting and financial workflows.
Homeowners pay assessments online through a PCI DSS compliant processor, and the Community apps connect managers, boards and residents on mobile. Manager is the web-based back office, and ALLi is an AI assistant for community management questions and routine work. The AtHomeNet website now redirects to FrontSteps as well. The suite has many modules, so expect a demo to scope which ones you need.
Pricing: not published. FrontSteps offers a demo.
Best for: gated HOAs and the managers who run their gatehouse, payments and accounting together.
7. Yardi Breeze Premier: predictable per-unit pricing
Yardi Breeze Premier is the Yardi tier that supports HOA and condo associations, and it publishes a clear price: $1 per unit per month with a $400 monthly minimum. Yardi lists association pricing only on Premier, not on the entry Breeze plan.
Breeze tracks owners and board members and keeps violations and other compliance issues in view. Premier adds approval workflows, CRM follow-up queues, menu-level user security and customizable owner financials. Because the same account also handles residential, commercial and affordable housing, Premier suits fee managers with a mixed book of business. A small association pays the $400 minimum even when its units would cost less at $1 each.
Pricing: associations at $1/unit/mo with a $400 monthly minimum, on an annual agreement. Yardi states there are no onboarding, training or support fees.
Best for: fee managers with 400 or more association units, or mixed portfolios, who want a published rate.
8. Rent Manager: association modules inside a rental platform
Rent Manager is a rental property platform with a dedicated associations offering for HOA, COA and co-op communities. Its violations functionality supports stages and escalation workflows, and staff can record violations in the field with the rmAppSuite Pro mobile app.
Homeowners submit architectural modification requests through the homeowner portal, and board members log into the same portal to review and vote on them. ePay processes owner payments online in real time, and a community calendar with reservable amenities covers amenity booking for residents. Rent Manager's associations page does not mention assessments by name, so confirm assessment and reserve handling in a demo.
Pricing: quote only. Rent Manager sells Basic, Plus and Premium bundles and publishes no prices.
Best for: rental management firms that are adding HOA, condo or co-op contracts to an existing Rent Manager setup.
9. PayHOA: flat pricing for self-managed boards
PayHOA publishes the clearest price ladder in this list, starting at $49/mo billed yearly ($54 monthly) for associations with up to 25 units. It serves both self-managed associations and property management companies, and its accounting is built for the community association market with cash and accrual reporting.
Homeowners pay online or by autopay, and payments post to the ledger automatically. Boards handle violations, maintenance and architectural requests through built-in workflows, vote online and send texts, emails and phone calls without a message limit. One-click USPS mailings cost extra ($1.25 first class), and payment fees apply: $2.45 per incoming ACH and 3.5% plus $0.50 per card payment.
Pricing: from $49/mo billed yearly for 0 to 25 units, up to $249/mo for 401 to 500 units; above 500 units, $0.55 per unit with a $275 monthly minimum. A 30-day free trial needs no card.
Best for: self-managed HOA boards that want accounting, payments and communication at a fixed monthly price.
10. Condo Control: front desk and security for condo buildings
Condo Control serves condos, HOAs and co-ops across North America, for both property management companies and self-managed communities. It fits buildings with staff on site best: security features include authorized entry, incident reports, key tracking, security patrol logs, package management and visitor parking.
The accounting module covers payables, receivables, billing, bank reconciliation and budgeting. Residents use a portal to book amenities, pay, submit requests, vote and find documents, and boards get agendas, minutes, notices and approvals. Capstan AI answers financial questions and drafts budgets and board reports. Pricing is quote-based across three plans (Standard Living, Modern Living and Premium Living).
Pricing: custom quote. Plans are banded by unit count, from 0 to 99 units up to 500+.
Best for: condo associations and high-rises with a concierge, security desk or package room.
11. Smartwebs: violations and architectural review in the field
Smartwebs focuses on the inspection side of HOA management. Its management tier covers violation handling, architectural review requests, work orders, communications, resident and board portals and online payments, and iOS and Android apps let managers work on site.
The Max Management + Accounting tier adds budgets, receivables and payables, collections, vendor management and bank integrations. Smartwebs sells the platform as one bundle with one login, but its pricing page states that minimums and implementation fees apply without listing amounts. The site addresses HOAs and community associations and does not single out condominium buildings.
Pricing: quote only, for Core Management and Max Management + Accounting. Minimums and implementation fees apply.
Best for: HOA managers who spend most of their time on drive-by inspections, violation letters and ARC approvals.
12. HOA Express: a free website and communication hub
HOA Express is an HOA website builder and communication platform from Sparksuite, and its free plan makes it one of the cheapest ways for a small HOA to get online. Associations get document storage with access controls, email and text blasts with open and click tracking, calendars with RSVPs, custom forms, resident directories and online payments.
HOA Express is not an accounting system. It covers the resident-facing side of association management (website, notices, documents) rather than the ledger, so boards that need assessments and bookkeeping pair it with separate accounting software. There are no setup fees.
Pricing: Free plan for up to 50 households; Inform $15/mo and Engage $21/mo, billed yearly, for up to 25 households. A 30-day free trial needs no card.
Best for: small self-managed HOAs that need a website and a way to reach owners by email and text.
How do you connect an HOA platform to accounting, payments and email with Albato?
You connect an HOA platform to the rest of your stack with Albato by automating the apps around it: forms, payment processors, accounting, email, spreadsheets and team chat. None of these 12 platforms has a native Albato connector, so the practical route is to automate the data that already passes through tools Albato supports, such as Stripe, QuickBooks Online, Mailchimp, Jotform, Gmail, Google Sheets and Slack. Albato is a no-code integration platform with 1,000+ connectors.
🔧 How it works
An Albato automation has one trigger and one or more actions. For an HOA, the trigger is usually something that already happens (a form is submitted, a payment succeeds, an alert email arrives) and the actions are the copies you used to make by hand: the ledger entry, the committee spreadsheet row, the message to the manager. You map the fields once in the visual editor.
Here is how that maps to association work:
- Requests and intake. A Jotform architectural request or move-in form can create a row in Google Sheets for the committee and post a Slack alert to the manager on duty. If you are still choosing a form tool, compare options in our Jotform alternatives roundup.
- Payments and accounting. When a Stripe payment you collect directly succeeds (Albato's Stripe trigger "Succeeded Payment"), Albato can create a matching payment or sales receipt in QuickBooks Online for amenity fees or event charges that sit outside the HOA ledger. Our accounting software comparison covers QuickBooks and Xero in more detail.
- Notifications by email. When your HOA platform emails you about a new request or payment, Albato's Gmail trigger "Email matching search received" can pick up that alert and turn it into a sheet row, a Slack message or a Mailchimp list update.
- Platforms with an API. Buildium (Open API on Premium) and Unitify (API on Pro) list API access on their pricing pages. If your platform or a developer's script can send a webhook, an Albato webhook can receive it directly.
Start with the job that costs your team the most re-typing each month, usually request intake or payment reconciliation, and automate that one first on Albato's free plan.
How do you move an HOA to new management software without losing data?
You move an HOA to new management software safely by exporting every association's financial and operational history from spreadsheets or the old platform before its contract ends, then asking the new vendor to import it while both systems run side by side for one closing cycle. The ledger is the part that cannot be rebuilt from memory, so it comes first.
⚠️ Important
Ask the new vendor whether owner autopay enrollments carry over from the old system. If they do not, send owners a notice about the new payment portal before the first assessment due date on the new platform, so nobody is charged a late fee for a payment they thought was automatic.
Export at least these records for each association: the owner and unit roster with contact details, open balances and payment history, the chart of accounts with year-to-date figures, reserve balances, the vendor list with open payables, open violations and architectural requests with their history, and governing documents. Enumerate includes data migration in its implementation fee, and other vendors scope migration during the demo, so ask who does the import and in what format.
The parallel run is easier to check when both systems report into one place. If both platforms email you about new payments or requests, an Albato automation can copy those alerts into a single Google Sheets log through the Gmail trigger, so the board treasurer can reconcile them line by line before the old system is switched off.
Time the switch around contract terms as well as data. Enumerate and Yardi Breeze Premier both sign associations to annual terms, while Buildium (14 days), PayHOA, HOA Express and Unitify's paid plans (30 days each) offer free trials, so you can test those four before you sign.
FAQ
What is the best HOA management software for management companies?
For management companies that run many associations, Vantaca, CINC Systems, Enumerate Central and FrontSteps are built for community association work first. Vantaca leads on AI workflows, CINC Systems on banking with 38 direct bank integrations, Enumerate Central on accounting (from a $500 monthly minimum) and FrontSteps on gated communities. Firms that also manage rentals usually fit Buildium, Yardi Breeze Premier or Rent Manager better.
What's the best HOA software for self-managed communities?
A self-managed HOA should use software that combines dues collection, a simple ledger and owner communication without a large minimum. PayHOA, Unitify and HOA Express publish prices for small boards, and Enumerate and Condo Control also sell to self-managed associations. Enumerate's $500 monthly minimum and annual contract make it a better fit for larger self-managed communities.
Is there free HOA software?
Yes. HOA Express has a free plan for up to 50 households, and Unitify has a free plan with paid tiers at $1 and $3 per apartment per month. HOA Express covers the website and communication side only, so a board that needs a ledger pairs it with accounting software or chooses a paid tool such as PayHOA, which starts at $49/mo billed yearly for up to 25 units.
Which condo association management software works in Florida?
Florida splits condominiums, cooperatives and HOAs into three statute chapters (718, 719 and 720), so ask each vendor which chapter its voting, notice and payment workflows follow. Of the 12 platforms here, Unitify's US page cites Florida law most often and explains how those chapters apply. Condo Control serves condos across North America; for it and every other platform, put the chapter question to the vendor during the demo.
Do condo associations need different software than HOAs?
Condo associations often need features that single-family HOAs do not, such as package management, key tracking, visitor parking and amenity booking for shared spaces. Condo Control covers those front-desk tasks. Single-family HOAs lean more on violation inspections and architectural review, where Smartwebs and Rent Manager have detailed workflows.
How long does it take to switch HOA management software?
Plan for at least one full month-end close between export and go-live, because the new ledger should reconcile against the old system before you stop paying for it. Larger portfolios take longer since each association has its own bank accounts and reserves. Ask each vendor for its implementation scope during the demo, as Enumerate, Smartwebs and others charge separate implementation fees.
Albato's free plan is enough to try one small flow before you commit to a new HOA platform, such as sending Jotform architectural requests to a Google Sheets committee log or collecting both platforms' payment alerts in one sheet during the parallel run.
Card fees belong in the price comparison too. Buildium's ePay charges 2.99% per card transaction and PayHOA charges 3.5% plus $0.50 per card payment, while an incoming ACH payment costs $2.35 on Buildium Essential and $2.45 on PayHOA.
