Buildium is one of the most established names in the Capterra property management category, with thousands of reviews and a long track record serving property managers and landlords. It added community association support over time, so HOAs and condo boards are one of several audiences the platform serves alongside rental portfolios.
Who Buildium is built for
Buildium’s core is accounting and operations for portfolios of rental units and associations managed by a property management company. On top of that base, it offers HOA-relevant tools: violation tracking with photo evidence and automated notices, an owner/resident portal, board and committee access for approvals and reporting, work orders, document storage, and QuickBooks-style general ledger accounting. Architectural review requests are typically handled through its general task and communication tools rather than a dedicated ARC workflow built specifically for that process.
That breadth makes sense for its primary audience — a management company running rentals and associations side by side needs one system that does both. For a single self-managed HOA board, it means paying for a lot of rental-industry functionality (tenant screening, leasing) that a homeowners association will never use.
Reviews: strong on ease of use and support, thinner on accounting depth
Buildium is well-reviewed on Capterra, with reviewers consistently highlighting how easy it is to learn and navigate day to day, and calling out responsive, patient customer support that stays with an issue until it’s resolved. Owners and tenants having their own portal login is another recurring positive, since it cuts down on routine questions to the manager.
The more consistent criticism is that the accounting module doesn’t hold up to the rest of the product for firms with more complex bookkeeping needs, and that some features take time to learn given how much is packed into the platform. A few reviewers also note that owner/resident portal access isn’t always intuitive to set up, and that add-on features can push the monthly cost higher than the advertised plan price.
Pricing: tiered subscriptions plus per-transaction fees vs. no subscription at all
Buildium is sold in tiers priced around unit count, with published starting points around $58–$62/month for its entry plan, scaling up through mid and top tiers as the number of doors and features grows. On top of the subscription, online payments carry their own transaction fees (for example, a flat fee per ACH/EFT transaction), so the effective monthly cost for a portfolio can run meaningfully above the advertised plan price once payment volume is factored in.
BoostHOA takes a different approach: no monthly subscription fee, for any number of properties. The association only pays when money moves through the platform — 3.5% + $0.50 on card payments, or 1% capped at $10 on ACH/bank transfers. Property management, owner requests and ARC review, document storage, and online payments are included at no separate charge, with the full pricing structure visible on the site rather than behind a sales call.
Where the two overlap
For the day-to-day work of running an HOA, both platforms cover the same fundamentals:
- Owner and property records
- Online dues and payment collection
- Violation tracking with photo evidence
- Document storage and owner/resident communication
- A self-service owner portal
Boards researching what to look for in HOA software will find either platform handles these basics.
Where they differ
Buildium’s strength is breadth across property types — a management company running rentals and HOAs together, or a portfolio large enough to need tiered plans and add-ons, will find a mature, well-supported platform built to scale with them. That same breadth is why HOA-specific workflows like architectural review sit on top of general-purpose tools rather than being built for that exact process from the ground up.
BoostHOA is built specifically for HOA and condo association management, not adapted from a rental property platform. It’s aimed at a single self-managed board that wants owner requests, ARC review, violations, and payments to work the way an HOA actually operates, without paying a subscription tied to unit count or layering on tools designed for landlord-tenant relationships.
The honest takeaway
If you’re a property management company handling rentals and associations together, or you value Buildium’s track record and support reputation, it’s a reasonable platform to evaluate. If you’re a self-managed HOA board that wants software built around how associations actually run — without a subscription, a sales call, or rental-industry features you’ll never use — get started with BoostHOA for free and see how it fits your community.