What Does Community Software Cost? A Plain Breakdown
Try to price most community software and you hit a wall. "Contact us for a quote." That alone should make you wary. Here is a plain look at what these tools cost and what drives the number.
- Key takeawaysMost community software vendors hide pricing behind a sales call — assume the real number is higher than the headline.
- Add-ons (voting, e-signatures, payment processing, storage) often cost more than the base fee.
- The honest benchmark is the all-in monthly bill with every feature your board will actually use, turned on.
The common pricing models
Per unit. Most tools charge a monthly fee per unit or door. Rates run from $0.50 to $3 or more per unit. A 100-unit community can pay anywhere from $50 to $300 a month on this model alone.
Tiered plans. Many vendors split features across Bronze, Silver, and Gold tiers. The feature you actually need often sits one tier up. The sticker price and the real price are rarely the same.
Setup and add-ons. Watch for onboarding fees, payment processing markups, and charges for voting, e-signatures, or extra storage. These turn a low headline price into a high bill.
What you should actually pay for
You pay for software that carries real work. Dues tracking and online payment. Work orders. Online voting. Searchable rules and documents. A public website. An audit trail. If a tool charges extra for those, it is unbundling things that should come standard.
How SoShiny prices it
One price. $50 a month base plus $0.50 per unit per month. Every feature is included. No tiers, no per-resident fees, no setup cost, no contract. A 100-unit community pays $100 a month and gets voting, e-signatures, broadcasts, a public website, and the rest, all in.
A custom domain is the only paid add-on, at $99 a year, and most communities run fine on the free public page first.
The question to ask any vendor
Ask for the all-in monthly price for your exact unit count, with every feature you need turned on. If they cannot answer in one number, the price is higher than it looks. Clear pricing is a sign of a tool that respects your board.
You can price SoShiny for your community in seconds on the pricing page, then prove it in a 30-day free trial.
Cheap can cost more
A low headline price is not the same as a low bill. A tool that charges for voting, e-signatures, payment processing, and extra storage can pass a "cheap" tool that bundles all of it. The starting price gets you in the door. The add-ons are where the real number hides.
Do the math the honest way. List every feature your board will actually use over a year. Price each tool with all of those turned on, for your real unit count. Then compare the totals, not the starting rates. The flat, all-in price almost always wins once the extras stack up. A vendor that bundles everything has nothing to hide on your invoice, and that predictability is worth real money to a volunteer board. Ask for that one all-in number, in writing, before you commit to anything.
Frequently asked questions
Why do most HOA software vendors hide their prices?
Because the headline rate would scare off small communities and the real all-in price needs a sales call to negotiate. Transparent pricing is rare in this industry, which is exactly why a board should weight it heavily when choosing a tool.
What is the average cost of HOA software per unit?
Per-unit fees in the industry run $0.50 to $3 or more per month. Below $1 with every feature included is the honest benchmark; anything higher usually means features are unbundled or there are setup fees waiting.
Does SoShiny charge per resident?
No. SoShiny charges per unit (the door, lot, slip, or share), not per resident. A unit with three owners and two tenants is still one unit on the bill.
Are there setup fees or contracts with SoShiny?
Neither. Setup is included, there is no contract, and you can cancel anytime. The only paid add-on is a custom domain at $99/year, and most communities run fine on the free public page first.
How does $50 + $0.50/unit compare to competitors?
For a 100-unit community: SoShiny is $100/month all-in. Comparable per-unit tiered tools land between $150 and $300/month once voting, e-signatures, and a public website are added. Run the math with every feature you need turned on; the flat, all-in price almost always wins.
SoShiny Software Team is the collective byline for posts written by the people building SoShiny — engineers, product folks, and the board members we work with every day.
We write about what actually works for community associations: governance that holds up under scrutiny, communication that residents read, and software that doesn't fight the people using it.
SoShiny is association management software for HOAs, condominium associations, and housing co-operatives anywhere in the United States. Headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. Built by people who've sat on a board.