PayHOA collects your dues. Hivepoint runs your HOA.
PayHOA is a dues-collection platform — it solves one problem well. Hivepoint is full HOA management software: violations, ARC, financial reports, a state-law compliance engine, and an audit trail that survives board turnover.
What PayHOA does well
To be fair: PayHOA solves a real problem. If your HOA has no way for residents to pay dues online, PayHOA is a genuine upgrade from paper checks and manual ledger entries.
- Online dues collection via card or ACH — residents pay without mailing a check
- Automated payment reminders reduce board follow-up on late payments
- Clean, simple setup — PayHOA is a genuine upgrade from paper checks
- Late fee calculation tied directly to payment records
- Good fit for the smallest communities (under 30 homes) with no active covenant enforcement
If all you need is a payment portal, PayHOA may be sufficient. If your HOA has active covenant enforcement, ARC reviews, or a treasurer who needs to produce real financials — you'll hit PayHOA's ceiling quickly.
Where PayHOA runs into walls
PayHOA has no violations tracking
When a neighbor parks in a fire lane for the third time, PayHOA has no violations module. Everything lives in email threads. No logged history, no status tracking, nothing to hand to an attorney if it escalates.
PayHOA has no ARC management
Architectural review requests come in by text, get handled in a personal inbox, and the next board never sees the history. PayHOA doesn't have an ARC workflow. Homeowners follow up repeatedly because there's no status they can check.
PayHOA doesn't produce financial reports
A PayHOA payment log is not a P&L. Your annual meeting, your accountant, and your membership deserve a real balance sheet and cash flow summary — not a CSV someone reformatted in Excel the night before.
PayHOA has no audit trail
When a treasurer leaves mid-term, what transfers? With PayHOA, the answer is usually a data export — if you remember to request one. Hivepoint maintains a permanent, timestamped log of every change, tied to the role that made it.
PayHOA data ownership is unclear
Ask your current PayHOA plan exactly what you get if you cancel — and in what format. Hivepoint provides a full structured data export at any time, including on cancellation. No charge, no hoops.
PayHOA vs. Hivepoint — Feature comparison
| Feature | PayHOA | Hivepoint |
|---|---|---|
| Online dues payment (card / ACH) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automated payment reminders | ✓ | ✓ |
| Late fee calculation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Resident portal at your HOA's domain | — | ✓ |
| Violations & covenant enforcement | — | ✓ |
| ARC / architectural review workflow | — | ✓ |
| Document library (CC&Rs, bylaws, minutes) | Basic | ✓ |
| Financial reports (P&L, balance sheet) | — | ✓ |
| Full audit trail — every change logged | — | ✓ |
| Isolated database per HOA | — | ✓ |
| Custom domain for resident portal | — | ✓ |
| State-law compliance engine | — | ✓ |
| Full data export on cancel | — | ✓ |
Based on publicly available PayHOA and Hivepoint feature documentation. Features vary by plan. Contact us to discuss your specific HOA's needs →
PayHOA has no state-law compliance engine
PayHOA is state-agnostic — it doesn't know whether your HOA is in Georgia, Florida, or California, and it doesn't adapt its platform to your state's HOA law.
For Georgia HOAs: PayHOA won't enforce SB 406's mandatory payment allocation order, doesn't track the January 1, 2027 registration deadline (unregistered HOAs lose enforcement authority), and has no violation notice citation requirement from HB 220.
Hivepoint's compliance engine bakes GA, FL, and CA statutes directly into the platform. See the full compliance engine →
Why boards switch from PayHOA
Three situations we hear from boards that have outgrown PayHOA.
New treasurer, starting from scratch
Your previous treasurer ran dues in PayHOA. When they left the board, the payment history went with their login — or at best, got exported to a spreadsheet that nobody can verify. Hivepoint keeps everything in a permanent, auditable ledger that transfers with the role, not the person.
Covenant enforcement with no paper trail
A homeowner is on their third violation notice. PayHOA has no violations module, so everything lives in email threads. When it goes to an attorney, you have nothing organized to hand over. Hivepoint logs every violation with photos, dates, status, and communication history.
Annual meeting with no real financials
PayHOA shows a payment log. Your annual meeting needs a P&L, a balance sheet, and a cash flow summary. So every year, someone exports to Excel and rebuilds it manually. Hivepoint generates those reports directly from your dues data — no spreadsheet required.
What Hivepoint costs
Hivepoint is priced per home, per year — not per transaction and not with a percentage surcharge on every PayHOA-equivalent payment your residents make.
Board Edition
Internal board tools only
From $1,500/year
Community Edition
Board tools + resident portal
From $2,000/year
PayHOA vs. Hivepoint — FAQ
What does PayHOA do well?
PayHOA excels at online dues collection. If your HOA has no way for residents to pay online, PayHOA is a genuine upgrade from paper checks and manual ledger entries. Their payment reminder system is solid, and the setup is simple enough that boards can self-onboard without help.
What does PayHOA NOT do?
PayHOA does not include violations tracking, ARC management, financial reports (P&L, balance sheet), a full audit trail, or a resident portal at your own domain. It's a payment collection platform — not HOA management software. If your HOA has active covenant enforcement or needs to produce real financials, you'll hit PayHOA's ceiling quickly.
Can I use PayHOA and Hivepoint together?
We don't recommend it. Running dues through two platforms creates reconciliation work and dual-entry risk. Hivepoint includes online dues collection via Stripe — there's no reason to keep PayHOA once you have Hivepoint. During onboarding, we import your PayHOA payment history so you have continuity.
How does Hivepoint handle the compliance requirements PayHOA ignores?
Hivepoint's state-law compliance engine bakes Georgia (SB 406 + HB 220), Florida (fine caps, fining committee, estoppel deadline), and California (Davis-Stirling) requirements directly into the platform. PayHOA has no compliance engine — it's state-agnostic. For a Georgia HOA, that means PayHOA won't enforce SB 406's payment allocation order, doesn't track the January 1, 2027 registration deadline, and has no violation notice citation requirement. Hivepoint enforces all of these automatically.
Is PayHOA cheaper than Hivepoint?
PayHOA's pricing is lower because it does less. If all you need is a payment button, PayHOA may be sufficient. If your HOA has active covenant enforcement, ARC reviews, or a treasurer who needs to produce real financials, the cost of your current setup is much higher than the software subscription — because someone is spending hours per month in spreadsheets that PayHOA doesn't replace.
What does Hivepoint cost compared to PayHOA?
Hivepoint is priced per home, per year — not per transaction and not with a percentage surcharge on every PayHOA-equivalent payment your residents make. PayHOA charges a percentage on each payment in addition to a monthly fee, which compounds as your community collects more. Hivepoint's flat annual rate is predictable and includes setup, onboarding, and support.
Evaluating multiple platforms? See our comparison for other dues-only platforms →
Ready to see the full picture?
The live demo shows exactly what PayHOA doesn't — violations, ARC, financial reports, and the compliance engine in action. No signup required.