Househound vs 3D Inspection System: cost, Windows, forms (2026)

3D Inspection System is sold as a license: Standard is $1,199 and Premier is $1,399, each including a year of subscription. Renewing costs $249 a year and is optional. 3D Mobile is free. Househound is $99 a month for the first inspector, or $990 a year billed annually.

Over time, 3D costs much less. Assumptions: list prices on October 27, 2026, before tax, one inspector, renewing every year, card fees left out.

In the first year Househound's annual plan costs $209 less than 3D Standard. From the second year on, 3D's $249 renewal is the cheaper path.

Other published 3D prices: extra network seats renew at $125 each a year; Cloud3D transfers above 500 per seat a year cost $125 per 500; a 2-year catch-up renewal is $498; upgrading Standard to Premier is $399; the Book of Phrases & Comments is $95. Focus Editions (state or industry form sets) vary in price.

For a crew, 3D sells Premier for multi-inspector firms, but the first-year price of each added seat isn't on its pricing page, so ask 3D for a quote. Househound is $99 for the first inspector and $69 for each added one, so 3 inspectors cost $237 a month ($99 + 2 × $69), or $2,370 a year billed annually. More on category pricing: what home inspection software costs.

No. 3D Inspection System needs a Windows 10 or 11 64-bit computer with an x64 processor. 3D says it doesn't support Macs, that Apple M-series Macs won't work, and that ARM processors and Windows S mode aren't compatible. Older Intel Macs can run Windows through Boot Camp or Parallels, but 3D doesn't test or support that.

3D Mobile runs on Android 10 or later and iOS 15 or later (iPhone or iPad). You create the job on the desktop, push it to the phone through Cloud3D, inspect, and pull it back to finish on the desktop.

Househound has no desktop app. The dashboard runs in a browser on any computer, Mac included, and the iPhone, iPad and Android apps carry the full report editor, so the report can be finished on the phone.

Yes, more completely than Househound. The 3D desktop needs a connection only to activate and for certain features, and 3D Mobile needs one only to transfer a report. Once a job is on the phone you can work it with no signal.

Househound works offline on the phone and tablet: the inspections a week either side of today download automatically with every photo and your comment library, and findings, photos, video and dictation save locally and upload later. But publishing a report, the web dashboard, and the office side (booking, agreements, payments) need a connection. If you work somewhere with no reliable internet at all, even at the office, 3D's model suits you better. More in offline home inspection apps.

3D produces a document; Househound produces a link, with a PDF of the same report.

3D's report writer outputs PDF, print or email, and you can lay out your own forms, contracts and cover pages in Custom Form Studio and the word processor. Premier can merge several inspections into one report. Many clients, agents and lenders are used to exactly that.

Househound publishes a link that opens on any phone with no login. It leads with a count of major, moderate and minor findings and a filter for the major ones, plays video inside the finding, and opens 360° photos in the browser. Each publish is a dated version with its own PDF download, so later edits never change what the client has; the delivery email links to the PDF rather than attaching it. Clients and agents get a portal with reports, agreements to sign and invoices to pay. With translations turned on, the client can switch the report to Spanish or French. The client or buyer's agent can also build a repair request from the deficiencies.

Househound has one report design, and it can't be restyled. If you want your own layouts, 3D's Custom Form Studio is ahead.

3D has been selling inspection software since 1987, and it's ahead on several things that matter to a certain kind of inspector.

• Cost over time. About $249 a year after the first year.
• You keep it. If you stop renewing, the desktop keeps working at the version you have.
• No internet needed. Activation aside, the desktop runs offline.
• State WDO forms. Bonus WDO and WDI packs for Florida, Washington, California (43M-44), Oklahoma (ODAFF-1), North Carolina, Arizona, Texas and Maryland, plus South Carolina's WIR. Househound's only wood-destroying insect form is the NPMA-33. Both have Texas TREC REI 7-6.
• Your own layouts. Custom Form Studio and a word processor, against Househound's single report design.
• Energy forms. RESNET home energy audit forms.
• Countries. 3D Mobile is offered in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Househound takes card payments in the US and Canada.

Househound covers the parts of the job that happen online and on the phone.

• Any computer, any phone. Mac or Windows in a browser; iPhone, iPad or Android in the field.
• One report, live, for the whole crew. Two to five inspectors edit at once and see each other's work in seconds.
• Autodraft. A spoken note becomes a drafted finding from your own comment library, with a suggested severity. You approve every one.
• Media. Video clips up to 60 seconds and 360° photos and video, inside the finding.
• Forms and languages. Florida wind mitigation (OIR-B1-1802 Rev. 04/26) and the Citizens 4-Point beside the home inspection, printed as Househound's layout of the form's questions, and Spanish and French versions of each published report, translated automatically.
• Repair requests and costs. Clients and buyer's agents build a repair request from the report, and you can show your own repair cost ranges, totalled by severity.
• The office side. An online booking page with quotes, crew-size rules and auto-assignment, e-signed agreements sent ahead of the inspection, invoices with a card pay link to your own Stripe account, reminder and follow-up emails, and a client and agent portal.
• Payroll. Per-inspector pay statements with a CSV for your payroll provider.

Switching from 3D moves your report wording into a Househound template, and your past reports as PDFs. Clients and agents come across if you can get them out as a spreadsheet. The schedule starts fresh.

Print or save a long 3D report as a PDF and import it on Househound's Templates page, which rebuilds the areas, items and comments into a template you review. Up to 10 files go in at once, 20 MB each. Word .docx files import the same way; an older .doc file needs opening in Word and saving as .docx or PDF first.

Save the 3D reports you want to keep as PDFs and upload them to the past-report archive (Reports → Archive → Past reports), where they're read-only, searchable and shareable. 3D doesn't publish an export to other software, so a client list has to come out as a CSV or Excel file before it imports (People → Clients or Agents → Import contacts… on the web). Keep your 3D install and backups too; a lapsed subscription still opens old reports on the desktop.

The full checklist is in how to switch from 3D Inspection System.