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Comparison
Commonwell vs PayHOA
PayHOA and Commonwell both serve self-managed communities with a public website, dues, and a resident portal. The differences that matter are how pricing scales, how deep the accounting goes, and how far you can customize.
Pricing: per-unit vs flat
PayHOA's plans start around $54/month and scale with your unit count, so the price grows as your community does. Commonwell is a flat $39/month on Block with unlimited members; you only move up a tier ($99 Neighborhood, $249 Estate) for more capability, never for headcount. Commonwell also takes 0% of dues; only standard payment processing fees apply.
Where Commonwell goes further
- Fund accounting and planning: double-entry journals with funds, a trial balance, budgets vs. actual, reserve projections, and year-end 1099-NEC / 1120-H worksheets. PayHOA also advertises a chart of accounts, bank reconciliation, financial reports, and optional bookkeeping and tax-filing services, so compare the exact workflows you need.
- Reserve-fund study built in: project the reserve years out and catch underfunding early; PayHOA's public pricing page does not advertise a built-in reserve study.
- Custom CSS and a code editor (Neighborhood and up) for per-community branding without a developer.
- A documented REST API with HMAC-signed webhooks and SAML SSO (Estate); PayHOA does not publicly advertise an equivalent developer API on its pricing or product pages.
- Concierge, an AI agent wired into your real data: draft announcements, record payments, schedule events, with every write confirmed by you. PayHOA's Penny is an AI chatbot on its community websites that answers homeowner questions from the documents you upload.
Where PayHOA holds its own
PayHOA also offers a real public website through its built-in website builder (with its Penny chatbot for homeowner questions), dues that deposit to your bank, and voting, and it covers ARC, violations, and maintenance on its standard plans. If your community is small, already comfortable in PayHOA, and doesn't need deeper accounting, a reserve study, custom code, or an API, it remains a credible choice.
Switching from PayHOA
Commonwell imports a PayHOA member roster directly. The built-in member-roster importer currently accepts PayHOA and HOA Express exports. Confirm the scope for balances, documents, history, or any other source with sales before planning a migration. Keep your domain at its current registrar; Commonwell handles routing and the SSL certificate.
Side by side: the full market
| Feature | Commonwell | PayHOA | Buildium | AppFolio | Vantaca | CINC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $39/mo | $54/mo | $62/mo | Quote | Quote | Quote |
| Pricing model | Flat | By units | Tier + per-txn | Plans + minimums | Enterprise | Enterprise |
| Flat regardless of unit count | ✓ | No | Tiered | Minimums | Quote | Quote |
| Public website capability | Custom site | Website builder | Marketing site | Property sites | Branded portal/app | Branded site/app |
| Visual page editing | Drag-and-drop | Website builder | Templates | Property sites | Not advertised | Not advertised |
| Dues settled to connected account | Coming soon | ✓ | Own processor | Own processor | Vantaca Pay | Partner banks |
| Accounting & general ledger | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reserve-fund study built in | ✓ | Not advertised | Not advertised | Not advertised | Not advertised | Not advertised |
| ARC + violations + maintenance | ✓ Neighborhood+ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Voting & elections | ✓ | ✓ | ARC voting | Not advertised | ARC voting | ✓ |
| AI assistant / agent | ✓ Neighborhood+ | Penny AI chatbot | Lumina AI | Realm-X | HOAi | Cephai |
| Custom CSS / code editor | ✓ Neighborhood+ | Not advertised | Not advertised | Not advertised | Portal CSS | Not advertised |
| REST API + webhooks | ✓ Estate | Not advertised | Premium | Plus / Max | Open API | 125+ APIs |
Features and pricing as of October 2026, from public vendor pages. We refresh this comparison annually.
Frequently asked
How does Commonwell's pricing compare to PayHOA's?
PayHOA starts around $54/month and prices by unit count. Commonwell is a flat $39/month on Block with unlimited members; higher tiers add capability (Neighborhood $99, Estate $249), not per-unit fees.
Can I migrate from PayHOA to Commonwell?
Yes. Commonwell has a built-in PayHOA member-roster importer. Confirm any balances, documents, or history migration with sales before relying on that scope.
Does Commonwell include a reserve study? Does PayHOA?
Commonwell includes a built-in reserve-fund study with multi-year projections on every plan. PayHOA's public pricing and feature pages did not advertise a built-in reserve study when checked in October 2026.
Does PayHOA have an API?
PayHOA did not publicly advertise a developer REST API on the pricing and product pages checked in October 2026. Commonwell's Estate plan includes a documented REST API with HMAC-signed webhooks and SAML SSO.
More comparisons: Commonwell vs Buildium · Commonwell vs AppFolio · Commonwell vs Vantaca · Commonwell vs CINC · Commonwell vs HOA Express · All comparisons · Commonwell pricing
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