Househound vs Home Inspector Pro: desktop or phone-first (2026)

Home Inspector Pro costs $89 a month on its one current plan, which includes HIP Desktop, HIP Mobile and the HIP Office back office. Annual discounts are available by phone, and HIP doesn't publish the amount. There are no per-inspection fees. Househound costs $99 a month for the first inspector and $69 for each added one, or $990 a year for the first inspector and $690 for each added one on annual billing.

HIP's pricing page doesn't say whether $89 covers one inspector or a whole company. Its features page says "Multi-inspector businesses get $5 off per inspector after the first five", and subscriptions are assigned per user in HIP Office, which points to per-inspector billing. The team figures below assume that.

Assumptions: list prices checked October 27, 2026; HIP billed per inspector with $5 off each one after the fifth; no HIP annual discount, since the amount isn't published. Neither charges per report, so the totals hold at 25 or 100 inspections a month. Call HIP for a team quote before you rely on the right-hand column.

On those assumptions HIP costs less for one inspector paying monthly ($89 against $99), and Househound costs less from the second inspector on, because each added seat is $69 against HIP's $89. If HIP's $89 turns out to cover a whole company, HIP costs less at every size.

Card processing is the other cost. HIP's payments run through Guardian Inspection Payments, whose HIP page lists 2.75% + $0.30 per transaction, with an asterisk it doesn't explain and an annual PCI questionnaire. On a $400 inspection that's $11.30. Househound's fee is 3.25% + $0.40, which includes Stripe's processing, so the same $400 costs $13.40 and nothing else comes out. If you take a lot of card payments, HIP's published rate is lower.

It's no longer sold. HIP's pricing page in June 2025 offered a "Foundation Package" for $899, paid once for the installed software. By January 2026 it was $999. Both versions said it "Requires" a HIP Office subscription ($50 a month) or Office Lite ($29 a month), and included 2 years of support. The same January page also listed a $74-a-month plan beside the $89 one.

The pricing page checked on October 27, 2026 shows only the $89 plan, with no $74 tier and no Foundation Package. HIP hasn't published what happens to people who bought a Foundation license or are on the $74 plan. If that's you, ask HIP in writing what your license covers from here, and when your support period ends.

Reviewers on Capterra and GetApp have mentioned the move from one-time licenses to subscriptions. That's reviewer sentiment, not a statement from HIP.

Househound has never sold a license. It's $99 a month for the first inspector and $69 for each added one, month to month, or $990 and $690 a year on annual billing, and you can cancel in one click.

Home Inspector Pro is owned by Porch Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRCH). HIP's privacy policy names the company as "Home Inspector Pro Software Inc., a Porch.com, Inc. business", and Porch completed the acquisition in the second quarter of 2022. Porch's 2022 annual report lists HIP and Palm-Tech as its "mobile home inspection report writing tools". Porch also owns ISN, which HIP integrates with.

HIP's privacy policy (last updated January 8, 2026) says:

"We share information with Porch Group Companies for marketing purposes, to allow them to improve their products and services (such as confirming or supplementing information they have about a person, improving algorithms, or to classify a person as a mover)..."

HIP's terms extend the license you grant over your content to "HIP partners, HIP's corporate affiliates", and say HIP "retains all right, title, and interest in Aggregate Data".

Porch runs a homeowners insurance business, and its filings say property data feeds it. The 2025 annual report says the Porch-managed insurance exchange "uses Home Factors and other data points to better assess homes, underwrite risk, and effectively price homeowners insurance policies, with pricing advantages for well-maintained homes and pricing surcharges for homes that are higher risk." The 2023 annual report says "more than 40% of home inspections in 2023 ... are processed through our software" and "This data helps feed our insurance underwriting models." Neither says which details from a report go into which rate, and we don't claim to know. HIP's privacy policy doesn't contain ISN's sentence about collecting property data from inspection reports.

Househound is independently owned, with no investors or parent company. Its privacy policy says client data is never sold and never used to market to your clients. More in who owns home inspection software.

HIP suits inspectors who like control over their reports, and in several places it does more than Househound:

• Price for one inspector: $89 a month against $99 on monthly billing, with annual discounts by phone.
• Desktop and local files: Windows and Mac software that keeps working with no connection, with templates and inspections stored as files you can copy, back up and move between computers. Cloud template sharing (v6.9) syncs templates between devices and users.
• Translation: Reports in 6 other languages, shown beside the English. Househound offers Spanish and French only.
• State forms: TREC 7-6, Citizens 4-Point and Florida wind mitigation form fills, NPMA-33 with the WDO addendum, and the Florida FDACS WDO form. Househound has TREC REI 7-6, the Citizens 4-Point, Florida wind mitigation and NPMA-33, but not the WDO addendum or the FDACS WDO form, and prints its Florida forms as its own layout of the questions.
• Report output: PDF and HTML, multiple summary categories, custom cover designs, glossaries and stationery.
• Getting paid: Reports held until the invoice is paid.
• Office tools: Texts and emails on triggers, Google Calendar sync, coupons, fee schedules, and integrations with Zapier, HomeBinder, RecallChek, Secure24 and ISN.
• Switching in: HIP advertises free conversion from other report writers. Househound's import is self-serve.
• Trial: 30 days, against Househound's 3 free reports.

If your reports are long, form-heavy or bilingual, and you write them at a desk, HIP fits that work well.

Yes. HIP's features page says you can "get your reports done with or without an internet connection", and HIP Desktop keeps your inspection files (.hzf) on your own computer. Since v6.9, HIP Office users also get automatic cloud backup of those files.

Househound works offline in its phone and tablet apps. When you have signal, every inspection in the week either side of today downloads on its own, with photos and your comment library. With no signal you can add findings, photos, video and dictation; they save to the phone and upload later, and dictated notes are drafted when you reconnect. The difference is where the work lives: on HIP it's a file on your computer, and on Househound it's an account you reach from any device. Househound has no desktop app, and its web dashboard needs a connection.

HIP sends a PDF or an HTML report by email to the client and agents, can hold it until the invoice is paid, and can translate it. On site, HIP Mobile can run a slideshow of the findings for the client.

Househound sends a link that opens on any phone with no login. It starts on a count of major, moderate and minor findings with a filter for the major ones, and can hold video and 360° photos. Each publish keeps a dated copy, so a later edit never changes what was sent. Clients and agents also get a portal with reports, agreements and invoices. Each published version has a PDF download of the same report, and the delivery email links to the PDF rather than attaching it. If you turn them on, clients can switch the report to Spanish or French (each with its own PDF) and see the repair cost ranges you entered. The client or the buyer's agent can build a repair request from the deficiencies. Report styling is one design for everyone, with your logo and contact details.

Export before you cancel, because HIP's terms say all charges are non-refundable and that after termination "HIP has no obligation to retain or provide any User Content to you." Past reports in HIP Office need an active subscription to download.

• Templates: Househound can't read .tpz files. Open a finished report from each template, save it as a PDF, and upload it on Househound's Templates page; Autodraft builds a template and comment library you can edit. Up to 10 files at once, 20 MB each.
• Your HIP files: copy the whole Home Inspector Pro folder (with HIP closed) to a backup drive. That keeps your .tpz templates and .hzf inspections whatever you decide later.
• Clients and agents: HIP Office › Data Management › Clients (and Agents) › Export emails you a CSV. Import it in Househound under People › Clients or Agents › Import contacts… (on the web); you map the columns and preview, and a contact whose email is already saved is updated, not duplicated.
• Past reports: download the PDF from HIP Office › Orders › View Reports, one order at a time, while you still have access. Upload the PDFs to Househound's past-report archive (Reports › Archive › Past reports, up to 50 at a time): read-only, searchable and shareable. The archive takes PDFs only, not HIP's HTML reports or .hzf files.
• Signed contracts: download from each order's Contract tab.
• Services, agreements, emails and the booking page: set up fresh. You can upload your existing agreement file.

There's no done-for-you migration. If a file doesn't come through, email hello@househoundusa.com. The step-by-step version is in How to switch from Home Inspector Pro.