RunHOA for a Self-Managed HOA

Updated July 13, 2026 · By the CommonKeel editorial team

RunHOA is the budget anchor of the self-managed HOA software category: one flat price of $399 per year for every feature, unlimited units, and unlimited users. That single pricing decision makes it worth understanding, because almost every competitor charges by unit count. This page is a documentation-based assessment: what RunHOA includes, where a board should look closely before committing, what the flat price really means as your community grows, and the kind of association it fits. We have not run a hands-on trial; everything below is drawn from RunHOA’s public documentation and pricing and from published third-party listings and reviews, verified July 13, 2026.

What RunHOA is

RunHOA is an all-in-one, web-based community-management platform built exclusively for self-managed associations, boards that run their own community without a professional management company. It does not market a separate product line for management firms, which keeps its focus narrow: the recurring administrative and financial work a volunteer board handles itself.

The platform bundles the core modules a self-managed board needs into one subscription:

• Accounting and budgeting. An HOA-oriented general ledger with budgeting, plus generation of the 1120-H tax form many associations file, useful for a treasurer who wants the numbers and the return in one place.
• Dues collection and payments. Online assessment collection processed through Stripe, with owners paying by card or bank transfer.
• Member directory and portal. A homeowner directory plus a member portal where owners see balances, pay dues, and submit requests, which takes routine “what do I owe?” email off the treasurer’s plate.
• Governance and operations. E-voting for elections and motions, a shared calendar, online requests and approvals, expense forms, violation-adjacent request handling, amenity reservations, and access-controlled security roles so each board seat sees only what it should.
• Communication and web presence. Email and text messaging to owners, a built-in website builder, and document storage for governing documents, minutes, and financials.

In short, it covers roughly the same functional ground as the mid-market all-in-one platforms, at a fraction of the sticker price, but from a much smaller company.

The flat price, and why it matters

RunHOA’s defining feature is not a module; it is the pricing model. At a flat $399 per year for unlimited units and users, the effective cost per door falls as your association grows. Because most competitors price by unit count, RunHOA and a per-unit platform can look similar for a tiny community and then diverge sharply as the unit count climbs. The comparison below uses RunHOA’s published flat rate against PayHOA’s published unit-count tiers (both verified July 13, 2026) to show the shape of that gap. It is an illustration of the pricing structure, not a feature-for-feature verdict; the platforms differ in maturity, support, and capability.

The takeaway is not “RunHOA is always the better buy.” It is that RunHOA’s flat structure makes it most compelling for larger self-managed communities that would otherwise pay per-unit fees, and simply the cheapest option for small ones. What you should weigh against that saving is everything in the next section.

Where RunHOA does well

• Price, plainly. No credible all-in-one we track costs less than $399/year with no unit cap. For a board whose alternative is a spreadsheet plus a separate payment app, the whole platform costs less than many single tools.
• Predictable, simple billing. One line item, one renewal, no tier to outgrow and no per-unit math at budget time. That predictability is genuinely useful for a volunteer treasurer building next year’s operating budget.
• Built only for self-management. The feature set is scoped to what a volunteer board does itself, rather than being a trimmed-down version of a management-company product, so there is less enterprise clutter to navigate.
• Fast website setup. Reviewers highlight that the built-in website builder can stand up a basic association site quickly, which matters for states that now require associations of a certain size to post records online.

Where boards should look closely

An honest assessment has to weigh the price against the risks a small, lower-profile vendor carries. None of these is disqualifying, but each is worth confirming during the free trial:

• Vendor maturity and track record. RunHOA has a much thinner public footprint than the larger platforms: relatively few third-party reviews and a smaller apparent team. That means less independent validation of reliability at scale and, potentially, a smaller support and development bench. For software that will hold your association’s money and records, vendor durability is a real evaluation criterion, not a detail.
• Support depth. A leaner company can offer attentive, personal support or can be stretched thin; published reviews are too few to settle which. Ask directly about support hours, channels, and response times, and test them during the trial.
• Stripe is the payments path. Dues run through Stripe, so Stripe’s standard transaction fees apply on top of the subscription, and your board decides whether it or the paying owner absorbs them. Confirm current card and bank-transfer rates before you model your true cost.
• No dedicated reserve-fund module. Like most all-in-one platforms in this price range, RunHOA does general accounting but is not a reserve-study tool. Boards with active reserve management will keep that plan separate. Our reserve study guide and free reserve contribution calculator fill that gap.
• Limited customization. Reviewers note relatively few website templates and design options. Fine for a functional association site; boards wanting a highly branded presence may find it constraining.

What RunHOA costs

RunHOA sells a single plan at a flat rate. Verified July 13, 2026; confirm the current figure on the vendor’s pricing page before you subscribe.

• Subscription: $399 per year, flat, including all features for unlimited units and unlimited users. There are no Basic/Pro/Enterprise tiers and no per-unit charge.
• Free trial: 30 days, no credit card required, the right way to pressure-test the accounting and dues workflows before committing.
• Payment processing: handled by Stripe and billed separately at Stripe’s standard rates. Budget for these on top of the subscription; for many small associations the processing fees over a year exceed the $399 subscription itself, so model them.

To see how RunHOA’s flat price stacks up against other platforms at 25, 75, and 200 units, use our normalized HOA software pricing table.

Who it fits, and who should look elsewhere

RunHOA fits well when: you are a self-managed board that wants the lowest-cost credible all-in-one; you value a single predictable annual price over per-unit billing; you are a mid-sized or larger self-managed community that would otherwise pay steep per-unit fees; and your needs are the standard volunteer-board set, dues, accounting, a portal, voting, and communication, rather than specialized reserve or election tooling.

Look harder, or look elsewhere, when: vendor scale and a long, well-reviewed track record are important to your board’s risk tolerance; you need deep, well-documented support with guaranteed response times; you require built-in reserve-study integration or formal, contested-election tooling; or you want extensive website branding and customization. In those cases, compare finalists on the specific requirement before deciding, and weigh a more established platform such as PayHOA or, for condos and high-rises, Condo Control.

If you are still building your shortlist rather than evaluating one product, start with the independent best-software comparison, then score your finalists side by side with the free software selection scorecard.

Do this next

1. Start RunHOA’s 30-day free trial and, in week one, set up your chart of accounts and run a dues cycle end to end, the workflows most likely to reveal whether the fit is real.
2. Ask RunHOA directly about support hours and, importantly, how you export your full ledger, owner records, and documents if you ever leave, then confirm you can actually do it.
3. Model your true annual cost: the $399 subscription plus Stripe processing fees at your expected payment volume, and decide whether the board or the owner absorbs those fees.
4. Comparing options? Put RunHOA next to the alternatives in the best-software comparison and the pricing table, and if reserves matter, keep your plan in the free reserve contribution calculator alongside whatever platform you choose.