PayHOA vs HomeHerald (2026): Price, AI and Features

HomeHerald vs PayHOA: An Honest Comparison for Self-Managed HOA Boards

Shopping for a PayHOA alternative rather than a head-to-head comparison? See the dedicated PayHOA alternative guide.

If you are researching HomeHerald and PayHOA, you are already solving the right problem. Both platforms exist because managing an HOA from a shared spreadsheet, a personal email inbox, and a group chat is not sustainable. Board members burn out. Dues go uncollected. Violations get enforced inconsistently. Something has to change.

PayHOA has been serving self-managed communities for close to a decade, and it has kept shipping: online voting and surveys in September 2025, amenity scheduling in February 2026, resale documents through a HomeWiseDocs integration in April, and an AI assistant, Gable, sold as an add-on. HomeHerald is the newer entrant, built from the ground up around AI that is included in the plan rather than sold on top of it. The two platforms overlap in the basics - dues invoicing, violation tracking, resident communication, amenity reservations - and they diverge sharply on price, on mobile, on collections automation, and on how the AI is priced and where residents can reach it.

This page breaks down both platforms honestly so you can decide which one fits your community. We will be straightforward about where PayHOA has real advantages, and there are several.

The headline difference is reach, and how the AI is bought. PayHOA’s published starting price is $49 a month billed yearly, or $54 monthly, for 1 to 25 units, and its Gable AI is free for 3 months and then a paid add-on ($24.50 a month on that plan). HomeHerald is from $65 to $500 a month by community size, up to 1,000 homes, with Herald included - see pricing. Both assistants work from the community’s own records. Herald also works inside your board’s private group chat, over text message, and on your community’s own phone line; PayHOA’s site does not describe Gable answering a phone line or text messages.

Who Is Each Platform Built For?

PayHOA

PayHOA targets self-managed HOAs and condo associations that want serious bookkeeping in a clean, straightforward package. Its accounting depth is the real draw: cash and accrual, a customizable chart of accounts, journal entries, 40 to 50 reports, Plaid bank sync across thousands of institutions, lockbox deposits with check images, and automated 1099 e-filing. Boards that want a human to do the books can buy that too, as a paid add-on service.

HomeHerald

HomeHerald is designed for self-managed boards that want AI to handle the repetitive work that burns volunteers out - answering the same CC&R questions, categorizing complaints, chasing late payments, fielding phone calls, and cross-referencing payment notifications from PayPal, Venmo, and Zelle with the ledger. It is particularly well suited for communities where residents call and text more than they email, where violation enforcement has been inconsistent, or where board members are simply stretched too thin.

Pricing Comparison

PayHOA Pricing

PayHOA has one plan with every feature, priced by unit count, with a discount for paying yearly. Its pricing page publishes these points:

Units	PayHOA billed monthly	PayHOA billed yearly
1-25	$54	$49/mo
26-50	$65	$59/mo
401-500	$275	$249/mo
Over 500	$0.55 per unit	$0.55 per unit

PayHOA does not publish a price for the sizes in between, so a community of 51 to 400 units should get its number from payhoa.com/pricing. Management companies pay $0.55 per unit a month with a $275 monthly minimum. Gable AI is an add-on: free for the first 3 months, then $24.50 a month on the $49 yearly plan or $27 on the $54 monthly plan, and $0.27 per unit a month above 500 units or for management companies.

Payment processing on PayHOA is passed through separately: $2.45 per bank transfer and 3.5% plus $0.50 per card payment. Checks PayHOA mails to vendors are $2 each. Always check PayHOA’s pricing page before a board vote, since published tiers change.

HomeHerald Pricing

Community Size	Monthly Price	Users	AI Queries	Highlights
Up to 105 properties	$65	Unlimited	Unlimited	Herald and all its agents, Dues Chaser automation, Herald Shield, Stripe Connect, physical USPS mail
Up to 205 properties	$125	Unlimited	Unlimited	Everything above; the size band changes the price, not the feature set
Up to 400 properties	$250	Unlimited	Unlimited	Everything above; the size band changes the price, not the feature set
Up to 600 properties	$325	Unlimited	Unlimited	Everything above; the size band changes the price, not the feature set
Up to 800 properties	$400	Unlimited	Unlimited	Everything above; the size band changes the price, not the feature set
Up to 1,000 properties	$500	Unlimited	Unlimited	Everything above; the size band changes the price, not the feature set
More than 1,000 properties	Talk to us	Unlimited	Unlimited	Everything above, on custom terms

Pricing is set by property count, not per unit, and there is one plan. Automate carries the entire platform, including Herald Phone - your community’s own local number that Herald answers 24/7 once the board turns it on - conversational texting with residents, a community website, and a monthly pool of talk minutes (500, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 or 5,000 by size band). Every new community starts with 14 days free and no credit card. Adding a card at any point - during those 14 days or after they end - starts a full 30-day free trial on Automate, so a board that waits gets up to 44 free days. Nothing is charged until that trial ends, apart from the one-time $5 for your own number, and you can cancel before then and pay nothing more. The phone line and your community’s own number need a card on file before they can be turned on, because they provision your community a real phone number.

HomeHerald’s payment convenience fee is 4% plus $0.30 per card transaction or 2% per ACH transaction, and your board can pass it to residents or absorb it. Physical USPS letters go standard first class on letter credits bought in bundles - 25 letters for $50, 60 for $100, or 150 for $200 ($2.00 down to $1.33 a letter).

What the Pricing Means in Practice

At the smallest sizes, PayHOA is the lower bill. A 25-unit community pays PayHOA $54 a month, or $49 if it pays for the year, and pays HomeHerald $65. From 26 to 50 units PayHOA is $65 a month, even with HomeHerald, and its yearly rate of $59 is lower. Those PayHOA figures leave out AI: on the 1-25 unit plan, Gable adds $24.50 to $27 a month once its 3 free months end, while Herald, the phone line and the community website are inside HomeHerald’s price.

Between 51 and 400 units PayHOA does not publish a price, so the honest comparison is to put your unit count into both pricing pages - homeherald.ai/pricing and payhoa.com/pricing - and to add Gable to PayHOA’s number if your board wants its AI. At 401 to 500 units PayHOA publishes $275 a month, or $249 yearly, before Gable; HomeHerald is $325 a month up to 600 properties with Herald included.

For communities above 1,000 properties, or management companies overseeing multiple associations, talk to us. PayHOA publishes $0.55 per unit a month above 500 units, and the same rate with a $275 monthly minimum for management companies.

Feature Comparison Table

Feature	HomeHerald	PayHOA
Starting Price	$65/month (up to 105 properties)	$54/month, or $49 billed yearly (1-25 units)
Price at ~100 units	$65/month	Not published - quote at payhoa.com/pricing
Free trial	14 days no card, then 30 more with a card - 44 total	30 days, no credit card required
AI	Herald: Chat, Group Chat, Voice, Shield, plus Dues Chaser, Email Integration, Pet Protect and Herald Welcome - all included	Gable AI - free for 3 months, then a paid add-on ($24.50/mo on the $49 yearly plan)
AI wired to live account data	Yes - balances, tickets, ledger, bookings, violations	Yes - Gable answers from documents, finances and homeowner records, with sources
AI on the phone and over SMS	Yes - Herald answers your community’s own number and texts back, 24/7	Not described on PayHOA’s site (Gable opens in chat)
AI in the board’s group chat	Yes - @Herald answers from live data, reads attached photos and PDFs, files contracts	Not listed
AI CC&R Analysis	Yes - reads and cites your specific CC&Rs, then acts on the result	Gable answers from your documents, with sources
Mobile App	iOS + Android native apps	None - browser only
Violation Management	AI-powered with configurable, time-based escalation ladder	Manual status progression with templates that send on status change
Repeat Offender Detection	Automatic, tracked by address	Manual
Dues Collection Automation	Five-channel Dues Chaser (in-app, email, SMS, push, physical mail) with an auto-apply-fine step	One past-due reminder email at one configurable interval, plus pre-due and statement emails
Real Estate Listing Monitor	Yes - Herald Welcome gives every community the full real-estate agent portal (covenants, welcome letter, current HOA balance, private AI chat, document downloads) plus Automatic Listing Detection with preemptive outreach to the listing agent as soon as a home goes on the market	Resale documents through HomeWiseDocs
Payment Processing	Stripe (credit card + ACH)	Credit card + ACH, lockbox and check images through Alliance Association Bank
Resident AutoPay	Yes - Dues AutoPay charges the due balance automatically	Yes - homeowner-initiated autopay
Payment Notification Matching	Email Integration smart-matches PayPal, Venmo, Zelle notifications	Not available
Accounting Depth	Cash-basis books and banking, expense categories, audit trail	Cash and accrual, customizable chart of accounts, journal entries, 40-50 reports, Plaid sync, OCR payables, 1099 e-filing
Physical USPS Mail	Yes - with delivery tracking, and it can run as an automatic step inside a collection sequence	Yes - Mailroom, first class $1.25 and standard $1.05 with tracking, sent manually
Communication Channels	In-app, email, SMS, push notifications, physical mail, plus a phone line Herald answers	Email, SMS, voice broadcast, physical mail, message boards - all manually initiated broadcasts
Receipt/Invoice AI	Yes - photo upload with auto-extraction	OCR on payables with approval workflows
Resident Financial Reports	A live budget-vs-actual view on every resident dashboard, plus P&L and AR Aging reports the board can share	Board reports available
Amenity Booking	Yes, with auto deposit refunds and a one-time smart lock code per booking	Yes, scheduling only
Document Storage	Yes	Yes
Onboarding	Explore a working sandbox instantly, then import a roster from a spreadsheet, PDF, or a photo of a printed list	Guided setup with free data migration
Florida HB 1203 Records Portal	Yes - governing docs, budget, financials, contracts, bids, insurance, and meeting notices in one members-only portal	Document storage only
Community Voting + Audit Trail	Yes - board and community-wide ballots, instant tally, printable PDF audit	Yes - online voting and surveys
Meeting Notices + Agendas	Yes - posting-proof timestamp on every notice, agendas, executive sessions	Message boards and mailings
Member-Visible Budget	Yes - live budget shared to resident dashboards, planned vs actual on a cash basis	No
Community Website	Yes, included in Automate	Website builder at every tier
Insurance / COI Tracking	Yes - policy register with COI PDF and traffic-light expiration alerts	No
Contracts & Competitive Bids	Yes - contracts on file (terminated never deleted), bids grouped by project with the low bid flagged	No
Market Maturity	Newer platform	Nearly a decade in market

Detailed Feature Breakdowns

Gable vs Herald: An Add-On Assistant, or AI Included and on the Phone

PayHOA does have AI, and any comparison that says otherwise is out of date. Its assistant is Gable AI, built into PayHOA. As PayHOA describes it, Gable answers questions from the community’s documents, finances and homeowner records, with sources; helps with letters, budgets, bid comparisons and board decks; and runs an Autopilot that triages requests and answers homeowners around the clock. Each community can configure it with its own instructions, skills and workflows.

Here is the honest line between the two products. Gable is a paid add-on: free for the first 3 months, then $24.50 a month on PayHOA’s $49 yearly plan or $27 on the $54 monthly plan, and $0.27 per unit a month above 500 units. Herald is included at every HomeHerald size. And PayHOA’s site describes Gable as an assistant in chat; it does not describe Gable answering the community’s phone line or replying to text messages, which is where Herald spends much of its day.

Herald Chat starts from your CC&Rs, bylaws, and policies, with answers that cite the specific rule, and keeps going into the live system. It knows the individual resident’s property address, their current balance, their community’s amenities, and it can crawl an external site like the city’s trash schedule when the answer is not in your documents. On the board side, Herald reads tickets, the ledger, year-to-date expenses, and open votes.

And Herald acts. It sends a resident a pay link. It sends a password reset link. It files a contract from an attachment. It hands off a complaint to Herald Shield for CC&R analysis. It issues a one-time lock code with an amenity booking. Both assistants can read the community’s records. The differences are what the board pays for the AI, and where residents can reach it.

Herald Answers Your Community’s Phone

This is the clearest gap. PayHOA can send texts and phone calls to a list as mass communication, but its site does not describe an AI that answers the community’s phone line or replies to text messages.

With Automate, your community gets its own local phone number once the board turns the line on, and Herald Voice answers it 24 hours a day. Residents are recognized by caller ID. They can check a balance, hear the latest announcement, ask what the pool hours are, report a problem, book a callback with a board member, or work through move-out steps, all by talking. The same number takes text messages, so a resident who would rather type gets the same Herald in a thread on their phone, including pay links and password reset links sent straight to them.

Verified board members get a bigger version of the same line. Herald will discuss per-property balances, vendors, and work orders with them by phone, and it is aware of what the board has been discussing in its group chat. Talk minutes are included by community size: 500 a month up to 105 properties, 1,000 up to 205, 2,000 up to 400, 3,000 up to 600, 4,000 up to 800, and 5,000 up to 1,000.

For a volunteer board, the practical effect is that the community’s phone stops ringing at the treasurer’s house.

The Board Group Chat With Herald In It

Automate includes a private, board-only group chat in the app. It works the way a board already communicates, except one of the participants is Herald.

Mention @Herald in the thread and it answers from live data right there: which tickets are open, what the ledger says, what the community has spent year to date, how a vote is tracking. It reads what you drop into the chat, including photos and PDFs. Attach a signed vendor agreement and ask Herald to file it, and the contract goes into the contracts register without anyone leaving the conversation.

The alternative, on any platform without this, is the same board text thread you already have, with someone volunteering afterward to go type it all into the system. PayHOA has message boards for the community, and Gable opens from an assistant button inside PayHOA; its site does not describe an AI participant in a board group chat.

Violation Management: Time-Based Escalation vs Manual Progression

PayHOA provides violation tracking with custom statuses, photo attachments, and letter templates that send automatically when a board member changes a violation’s status. For boards that handle a manageable number of violations, this works fine. The important detail is that a human still has to advance every violation to the next stage.

HomeHerald’s Herald Shield takes a fundamentally different approach. When a resident submits a complaint, the AI:

Classifies the request into one of four types (general question, architectural review, complaint, or neighborhood request)
Asks clarifying questions before the board ever sees it - up to three follow-ups, plus suggesting when a photo would help and explaining why
Analyzes complaints against your CC&Rs and returns a verdict: violation found, no violation, or unclear
Cites the specific rule that was matched
Recommends an action: warning, fine (with a suggested dollar amount based on your covenant), or dismiss

From there, HomeHerald’s configurable escalation ladder takes over on a schedule you define:

1st offense at an address: in-app warning
2nd offense at the same address: formal warning via in-app and email
3rd offense and beyond: fine (auto-applied or flagged for admin review)

The system tracks violations by address, not by resident name, so repeat offender detection persists even when a property changes hands. You set the channels, the timing, and whether fines auto-apply or require board approval. When the AI applies the same analysis to every complaint and the ladder enforces the same consequences without waiting on a volunteer, the process becomes defensible and fair.

Dues Collection: A Sequence vs a Reminder

Late dues are the single biggest operational headache for most self-managed HOAs, and this is the sharpest functional difference between the two platforms.

PayHOA’s collections automation is a reminder email. You can set a pre-due reminder, a past-due reminder at one configurable interval, and recurring statements. That is the extent of it. There is no automated SMS, no automated letter, no multi-step ladder, and no automatic fine step. Escalating past the reminder means a board member opening the Mailroom and sending something by hand.

HomeHerald’s Dues Chaser is a fully automated, five-channel collection sequence. You configure the steps:

Day 1: Dues applied, in-app notification sent to all residents
Day 5: Email reminder to residents with any balance
Day 15: Late fee auto-applied, email + SMS sent to residents with no payment
Day 30: Formal notice via email, push notification, and physical USPS letter with delivery tracking
Day 45: Final notice across all channels, with the fine step repeating monthly until the balance is paid

Each step is configurable - timing, channels, recipient filters (all residents, any balance, no payment, partial payment), and message templates with merge fields for resident name, amount due, due date, and late fee.

The key difference: Dues Chaser does not just remind. It escalates, and it does the escalating itself. When email is not enough it sends an SMS. When digital channels fail it sends a physical letter. When nothing works it applies the fine your covenants allow and keeps applying it. Residents are automatically removed from the sequence when they pay. For chronically delinquent owners who long ago learned to ignore one monthly email, that difference is the whole ballgame.

Payment Flexibility: How Residents Actually Pay

Both platforms take credit card and ACH online, and both offer resident-initiated autopay. HomeHerald’s Dues AutoPay lets a resident save a card or bank account once and have the due balance charged automatically on every due date, with an itemized heads-up three days ahead. If a charge fails, AutoPay retries and then pauses itself with a notice to update the payment method, and the property flows back into Dues Chaser. PayHOA’s homeowner autopay covers the same core need. Call this one a tie.

Where HomeHerald diverges is in recognizing how residents actually behave off-platform. Many send dues via PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, or check. Those payments land in the HOA’s email inbox as notifications, and somebody on the board has to manually match each one to the right resident.

HomeHerald’s Email Integration automates this. It connects to the HOA’s Gmail inbox, categorizes incoming emails with AI, and when it identifies a payment notification from PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, Cash App, or a bank, it extracts the amount, payer name, and transaction details, then smart-matches the payment to the correct resident. The admin confirms with a single click. Email Integration also handles vendor invoices (extracting vendor name, amount, due date, and invoice number) and converts resident inquiries into support tickets.

To be clear: HomeHerald integrates with Stripe for payment processing. It does not directly integrate with PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle. But it helps your board manage payments from wherever residents actually send them.

Communication Channels: Broadcast vs Conversation

PayHOA is well equipped for broadcasting. It sends email, SMS, and even recorded voice calls to a list, plus physical mail through the Mailroom and message boards on the community website. If your board’s need is “tell 180 households the water is off Thursday,” PayHOA does that well.

HomeHerald covers the same broadcast ground - in-app messages, email, SMS, push notifications, physical USPS mail, color-coded announcement banners, and audience filters that let you send to all residents, only those with late dues, only those with no payments, or a custom list.

The difference is what happens when a resident replies. On PayHOA, a text or phone broadcast is a one-way send, and its site does not describe Gable replying by text. On HomeHerald, the same channels are two-way and Herald is on the other end of them, so a text message back gets an answer with the resident’s actual balance in it, at 11pm, without waking anyone up.

Mobile: An App on the Phone vs a Browser Tab

PayHOA has no mobile app. Not a limited one, not an app for residents only: there is no native iOS or Android application, and their customers have been asking for one publicly for years. Residents and board members use the site in a phone browser.

HomeHerald ships native iOS and Android apps. Residents get push notifications, which matters more than it sounds like it should: push is the channel that reaches the people who never open HOA email, and it is a step inside Dues Chaser sequences. Board members can photograph a violation, file a ticket, or approve an expense from the sidewalk.

If you plan to ask 200 households to adopt new software, whether it lives on their home screen is not a footnote.

Budget Transparency Residents Can Actually See

Accounting trust is the thing HOA residents fight about, and it is worth being precise here. PayHOA’s books are deeper than HomeHerald’s on the accountant-facing side. What PayHOA does not do is show the membership a live budget.

In HomeHerald, the board publishes the annual budget, and from that moment every resident’s dashboard carries a budget-vs-actual report computed server-side on a cash basis. A homeowner can expand “Landscaping” and see what was budgeted against what has actually been spent this year, with the percent of the year elapsed for context. The plan is fixed when you share it; the actuals move as transactions land. HomeHerald also gives the board a ready P&L and AR Aging report to share with residents.

The board meeting where someone asks “where is our money going” gets a lot shorter when the answer has been on every homeowner’s phone since January.

Onboarding: Getting Started

PayHOA offers a 30-day trial with no credit card, no contract, no onboarding fee, and free data migration - a genuinely low-friction way to look at a product, and still the longer of the two cardless windows. HomeHerald now gives you 14 days with no card as well, and adding one at any point starts a full 30-day trial on top, for up to 44 free days in total. Longer overall on our side; longer before the card question comes up on theirs.

HomeHerald’s onboarding starts even earlier: you can explore a working sandbox community immediately, with no sales call and nothing to install. When you are ready to use your own data, AI Import takes your roster from a spreadsheet, a PDF, or a photo of a printed list, and a CC&R upload gets every covenant rule extracted automatically so Herald Chat and Herald Shield can cite your actual documents from day one. Boards with no clean data can start on practice data instead. A QR code is generated for residents to scan and join from their phone in seconds.

Where PayHOA Has the Advantage

Honesty matters, and PayHOA has genuine strengths:

Accounting depth. Accrual as well as cash, a customizable chart of accounts, journal entries, and 40 to 50 reports. If your treasurer is a CPA who wants to post journal entries, PayHOA is built for that and HomeHerald is not.
Banking integrations. Plaid sync across thousands of institutions with rules-based auto-categorization, lockbox deposits with check images through Alliance Association Bank, OCR payables with approval workflows and auto-mailed vendor checks, and automated 1099 e-filing.
Optional human services. PayHOA will sell you bookkeeping from $199 a month and tax filing from $399 a filing. If your board wants to hand the books to a person, that is a real offering.
A longer cardless window. Both platforms now let you start without a card, but PayHOA’s no-card trial runs 30 days against HomeHerald’s 14. HomeHerald is longer in total once you add a card, at up to 44 days, though a board that never wants to enter a card at all gets more runway from PayHOA.
A lower bill at the smallest sizes. PayHOA is $54 a month ($49 billed yearly) against HomeHerald’s $65 up to 25 units, and $65 ($59 yearly) from 26 to 50, before any Gable add-on. Its website builder and a hosted HOA website are included in the plan.
A configurable AI assistant. Gable reads documents, finances and homeowner records, and can be set up per community with instructions, skills and workflows, for boards willing to pay for the add-on after 3 free months.
Resale documents. PayHOA integrates with HomeWiseDocs for resale and closing packages.
Market maturity. Close to a decade in market means a polished product, an established user base, and years of feedback-driven refinement.

Where HomeHerald Has the Advantage

AI included in the price. Herald comes with every size, from $65 to $500 a month by community size, up to 1,000 homes - see pricing - with the phone line and community website in the same plan, where PayHOA’s Gable is a paid add-on after 3 free months. Up to 44 free days let your board prove it out before you are charged.
AI that acts on the live account. Herald answers with balances, tickets, ledger figures, and booking status, then takes the action: a pay link, a lock code, a filed contract.
Herald answers your community’s phone and texts. A real local number, staffed 24/7, with included talk minutes. PayHOA’s site does not describe its AI answering a phone line.
@Herald in the board’s group chat. Live data, image and PDF reading, and contract filing without leaving the thread.
Native iOS and Android apps. PayHOA has no app at all.
Five-channel automated collections with an auto-fine step. Dues Chaser escalates through in-app, email, SMS, push, and physical mail on its own, against PayHOA’s single reminder email.
Configurable violation escalation. Time-based, with automatic repeat offender tracking by address and AI CC&R analysis attached to every complaint.
A live budget on every resident’s dashboard. Planned against actual, on a cash basis, updating as money moves.
One-time smart lock codes with every amenity booking. A unique 9-digit code that works at the lock during the booked window only, delivered in the booking pass an hour ahead, with no shared community code and no key handoff.
Email Integration for inbox payment matching. Catches PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, and Cash App notifications and smart-matches them to residents.
Florida HB 1203 compliance: every record the statute requires lives in one members-only portal. See the HB 1203 guide.

Who Should Choose PayHOA

PayHOA is a solid choice if your community:

Needs accrual accounting, a custom chart of accounts, journal entries, or 1099 e-filing
Wants bank feeds, lockbox deposits, or the option to buy bookkeeping and tax filing as a service
Is 50 units or fewer, where PayHOA’s published price is lower or even ($49 to $65 a month), and wants a public community website included at that price
Wants a configurable AI assistant and is comfortable paying for it as an add-on
Wants the longest possible stretch to evaluate before entering a card at all, at 30 cardless days against HomeHerald’s 14
Values a platform with a longer track record in the market
Does not need an app, a phone line, or collections that escalate without a volunteer driving them

Who Should Choose HomeHerald

HomeHerald is the better fit if your community:

Wants AI included in the monthly price rather than added on
Wants an AI that acts on the account - sends the pay link, issues the lock code, files the contract - not only answers
Wants the community’s phone answered and texts returned around the clock
Needs residents and board members to have an actual app on their phones
Has residents who ignore email and need SMS, push notifications, or physical mail to reach them
Receives dues payments through a mix of methods (Venmo, PayPal, Zelle, checks) and needs help matching them to accounts
Struggles with inconsistent violation enforcement and wants a defensible, automated process
Needs collections that escalate on their own, all the way to a mailed letter and an applied fine
Wants homeowners to see the budget against actual spending without asking

Competitor details checked November 2026; verify current pricing on their site: payhoa.com/pricing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I try HomeHerald for free?

Yes. Every community can try HomeHerald free - no card needed. Every new community gets 14 days free with the Automate plan turned on: Herald and all its agents, Dues Chaser, Email Integration, physical USPS mail, and the mobile app. Add a card at any point and a full 30-day free trial starts on Automate, which is up to 44 free days in total, and nothing is charged until that trial ends, apart from the one-time $5 for your own number. After it, Automate is $65/month for up to 105 properties, $125/month for up to 205 properties, $250/month for up to 400 properties, $325/month for up to 600, $400/month for up to 800, and $500/month for up to 1,000 properties, and that price includes Herald Phone, your community’s own local number, and a community website. See all plan details.

Does PayHOA have AI features?

Yes. PayHOA’s assistant is Gable AI, built into PayHOA. As PayHOA describes it, Gable answers questions from the community’s documents, finances and homeowner records, with sources, helps with letters, budgets, bid comparisons and board decks, and runs an Autopilot that triages requests and answers homeowners around the clock. Gable is a paid add-on: free for the first 3 months, then $24.50 a month on the $49 yearly plan or $27 on the $54 monthly plan. HomeHerald’s Herald is included at every plan size, and it also answers your community’s own phone line by voice and by text, which PayHOA’s site does not describe Gable doing.

Does PayHOA have a mobile app?

No. PayHOA has no native iOS or Android application; residents and board members use it through a phone browser, and PayHOA customers have been requesting an app publicly for years. HomeHerald ships native iOS and Android apps, which is also what makes push notifications available as a resident communication channel and as a step inside Dues Chaser collection sequences.

Can HomeHerald handle payments from PayPal and Venmo?

HomeHerald does not directly integrate with PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle as payment processors. It integrates with Stripe for credit card and ACH payments. However, the Email Integration monitors your HOA’s Gmail inbox and catches payment notification emails from PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, Cash App, and banks. It uses AI to extract the payment details and smart-match them to the correct resident. The admin then confirms with one click. This bridges the gap between how residents actually pay and how your board tracks it.

How does PayHOA’s pricing compare with HomeHerald’s?

PayHOA’s published starting price is $49 a month billed yearly, or $54 monthly, for 1 to 25 units, and $59 yearly or $65 monthly for 26 to 50 units. It does not publish a price between 51 and 400 units, so a 100-home community needs its number from PayHOA, and Gable AI is a paid add-on after 3 free months. HomeHerald’s Automate plan is $65 a month for up to 105 properties and runs from $65 to $500 a month by community size, up to 1,000 homes, with Herald, five-channel Dues Chaser collections, physical USPS mail, the native mobile apps, and a phone line Herald answers included. Compare both pricing pages for your unit count: homeherald.ai/pricing and payhoa.com/pricing.

Can I switch from PayHOA to HomeHerald?

Yes. HomeHerald’s onboarding is built around imports, so you can export your property and resident data from PayHOA and bring it in from a spreadsheet, a PDF, or even a photo of a printed roster. Your CC&Rs can be uploaded as a PDF and the AI will extract the rules automatically. The transition does not require manual re-entry of your community data.

Does HomeHerald send physical mail?

Yes. HomeHerald can send physical USPS letters directly from the app with delivery tracking (statuses: Ready, Printed, In Transit, Delivered). It is included in Automate and is used primarily for formal violation notices and final-step dues collection. Printing and postage come from letter credits bought in bundles, $2.00 down to $1.33 a letter. PayHOA also mails letters through its Mailroom, at $1.05 standard and $1.25 first class. The functional difference is that HomeHerald’s letters can fire automatically as a step inside a Dues Chaser sequence, while PayHOA’s are sent by hand.

Try HomeHerald Free - No Card Needed

The most reliable way to compare two platforms is to use them. You can open a working HomeHerald sandbox community right now with no sales call. When you are ready, 14 days free with no credit card turn on the whole Automate plan - Herald and all its agents, Dues Chaser, Email Integration, physical USPS mail, and the mobile apps. Add a card whenever it suits your board and a full 30-day free trial starts on top, for up to 44 free days, with nothing charged until it ends, apart from the one-time $5 for your own number.

Bring a spreadsheet of your properties and a PDF of your CC&Rs. Your community will be live in minutes.

Start free - no card needed - 14 days free, 30 more when you add a card, cancel any time, no contracts.