Compare · last updated on October 19, 2026

Havn vs HOAlife

HOAlife is built around violations and architectural review, with GPS-guided inspections and AI that reads the governing documents, and it leaves the books to QuickBooks Online. Havn runs the whole office on one record: a ledger with funds, bank feeds, bills, a portal where owners pay and vote, texts and calls, and resale documents, at a published $1 per home.

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Feature by Feature

A feature HOAlife's pages do not mention says so. Prices are as published and change; check hoalife.com before deciding.

55 homes, a month

Havn

$59

HOAlife

From $199

Accounting

Havn

Built in

HOAlife

QuickBooks

Free trial

Havn

30 days

HOAlife

A demo

For owners

On par on the portal, requests, and documents. Havn adds published payment fees, a receipt the moment a payment lands, votes weighted with proxies and paper ballots, and amenity reservations.

Online payments and autopay
Published fees, 3.25% + 30¢ on cards and 1% by bank, shown before paying, and the association picks who pays per method. HOAlife bills the fee to the homeowner and does not publish the rateCard or ACH with autopay and saved methods; fees billed to the homeowner; rates not published; reminders before, on, and after the due date
Voting
Weighted by the allocated interests on the record, with proxies and paper ballots counted beside online votes, sealed until close. HOAlife adds in-person totals to online votes; weighting is not statedMotions, polls, surveys, and elections, blind or open, online totals combined with in-person results; weighting and proxies not stated
Amenity reservations
Rules, fees, deposits, approve or decline, with the fee charged through the owner's ledger. Not on HOAlife's pagesNot stated
Where they match (4)▾
Owner portalSame
On par on notices, requests, balances, and votes. Havn adds a sign-in for every co-owner, amenity reservations, and a manager who can open an owner's portal as them, auditedSign in by email, text, or a property PIN; see and answer notices, submit requests, update contact details, view balances, pay, vote, message the board; an AI chat answers from the governing documents
Receipts and statementsSame
On par on invoices, balances, and reminders. Havn also sends a receipt to everyone on the home the moment a payment landsInvoices for dues, fines, and one-time charges with balances and invoices in the portal; branded reminders at every stage
Requests and work ordersSame
On par: custom forms, committee review, decisions on record. Havn keeps the thread on the owner's record beside their email and textsCustom ARC forms with design guidelines, committee review and votes, messaging, decision letters; work orders for common areas
DocumentsSame
On par on folders and permissions. Havn also reads every file so it is searchable inside, and attaches it to resale ordersFolders partitioned board-only, homeowner, or public; property files; a document widget for the public website

For the office

HOAlife keeps the books in QuickBooks Online and leads on field inspections. Havn's ledger is its own, with operating and reserve funds, bank feeds, reconciliation, and bills with approvals and mailed checks, and its violation ladder starts from each state's statute.

General ledger
A ledger of its own, cash or accrual, with reports a treasurer can read without a CPA. HOAlife syncs with QuickBooks Online or leaves accounting to youTwo-way sync with QuickBooks Online for owners, balances, invoices, and payments, or bring your own accounting; no ledger of its own
Operating and reserve funds
Operating, reserve, and special assessment on every entry from the first. Not on HOAlife's pages; in QuickBooks it is classes you set up yourselfNot stated
Bank sync and reconciliation
Feeds with suggested categories that show their confidence, and reconciliation to the statement; nothing posts on its own. Not on HOAlife's pagesNot stated
Bills and payables
Approvals, vendor pay, mailed checks, and emailed bills read into the vendor's record. On HOAlife, vendor bills live in QuickBooks OnlineVendor bills are entered in QuickBooks Online; HOAlife tracks work orders and syncs their costs
Where they match (1)▾
Violations and noticesSame
On par on photos, notices, and certified mail. HOAlife's field app leads on inspections; Havn's ladder starts from each state's statute, with cure periods and late-fee and lien rulesGPS-guided mobile inspections that work offline, timestamped photos, repeat-offender history, notices by email, mail, or hand, heatmaps; AI builds violation types from the governing documents

Reaching owners

Both send tracked email and certified mail. Havn adds two-way texts and recorded calls on the same ladder; HOAlife lists SMS as a delivery option and does not mention calls.

Texts
Two-way from a number the community owns, with consent recorded and replies beside email. HOAlife lists SMS as a delivery option and describes email and mailListed as a delivery option; the page describes email and postal mail
Calls
Recorded calls to owners who consented, one step on the same ladder as letters and texts. Not on HOAlife's pagesNot stated
Where they match (2)▾
EmailSame
On par on templates, tracking, and two-way replies. Havn's land in one inbox with texts and letters, with saved replies and internal notesTemplates, filterable recipient lists, delivery tracking, two-way replies, every message tied to the property
Mailed lettersSame
On par on certified mail from the screen. Havn files each letter on the person's record and flags returned mail on the rosterFirst-class or certified mail sent through HOAlife, or mailing labels to do it yourself; price not published

Closings

Havn drafts resale certificates, estoppels, and lender questionnaires from the record with the state's cap and deadline checked. HOAlife offers a public page where realtors can request documents.

Resale documents
Resale certificates, estoppels, and lender questionnaires drafted from the record, with the state's cap and deadline checked and the requester paying. HOAlife gives realtors a public request pageA public page for realtor requests and a document widget; no certificate, estoppel, or lender questionnaire

Buying

Havn publishes $1 per home with a $59 minimum and a 30-day trial. HOAlife starts at $199 a month, scoped in a demo, month to month, with free setup and training.

Published price
$1 per home with a $59 minimum, published for any size. HOAlife starts at $199 a month and is scoped in a demoFrom $199 a month, scoped in a demo by size and needs; month to month
Free trial
30 days on a real community, no card, no contract after. HOAlife offers a demo, then setup and trainingNot stated
  • The site says it has it
  • Part of it, or coming soon
  • Not offered
  • The pages say nothing

Why Havn over HOAlife

12 ahead · 7 on par

  1. 1A published price at every size, $1 per home with a $59 minimum, and a 30-day trial. HOAlife starts at $199 a month, scoped in a demo: a 55-home community pays $59 on Havn and at least $199 on HOAlife.
  2. 2A ledger of Havn's own, with operating, reserve, and special assessment on every entry, bank feeds, reconciliation, and bills with approvals and mailed checks. HOAlife syncs owners and balances with QuickBooks Online, or you bring your own accounting.
  3. 3Published payment fees, 3.25% plus 30 cents on cards and 1% by bank, shown to the owner before paying, with the association choosing who pays. HOAlife bills the fees to homeowners and does not publish the rates.
  4. 4Resale certificates, estoppels, and lender questionnaires drafted from the record, with the state's cap and deadline checked and the requester paying. HOAlife offers a public page where realtors can request documents.
  5. 5Two-way texts and recorded calls on the same ladder as letters and email. HOAlife lists SMS as a delivery option, describes email and postal mail, and does not mention calls.
Get Started FreeSee Pricing

Every HOAlife statement is from its own pages, last updated on October 19, 2026: hoalife.com/pricing, hoalife.com/features/accounting-with-quickbooks-online, hoalife.com/features/payments, hoalife.com/features/owner-portal-public-websites, hoalife.com/features/online-voting, hoalife.com/features/communications

Havn vs HOAlife, in Plain Terms

How much does HOAlife cost compared with Havn?

HOAlife: "Starting at $199/month"; final pricing scoped in a 30-minute demo by community size and needs; month-to-month; onboarding and training included; payment fees billed to homeowners, rates not published. Havn: $1 per unit per month with a $59 minimum and $0.60 past 200 units, the same for boards and management companies; $0.70 per unit with no minimum once a company's portfolio passes 1,000 doors; 10% off yearly; no setup fee. Havn's trial is 30 days with no contract; HOAlife's trial, as its site puts it: not stated; a demo, then free setup, training, and ongoing support.

Is Havn a HOAlife alternative?

For a community that wants the owner side and the office side on one record, yes. Who HOAlife says it is for: "Tools for self-managed HOAs", association managers, accountants, and golf communities, "from 100 to 5,000+ homes". Havn serves self-managed boards, management companies, and condominiums, with an owner portal every owner signs into, fund accounting, texts, calls, and letters from one inbox, and resale documents drafted from the same record.

When is HOAlife the better answer?

A community whose work is violations and architectural review, with a field team doing inspections and the books already in QuickBooks Online. Scale it claims: "Trusted by hundreds of HOAs". Every statement here comes from hoalife.com, last updated on October 19, 2026.

How do we switch from HOAlife to Havn?

Start a 30-day trial on one community, bring the roster as a spreadsheet, and run both side by side. There is no contract and nothing to move until you decide. Owners sign in with the email the association has on file, with no invite codes, and co-owners each get their own login.

More comparisons

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Try Havn on one community before you leave HOAlife.

HOA management software with a homeowner portal owners actually use. Resale documents are included; the requester pays for each one.

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