Househound vs HomeGauge (2026): after the Spectora deal

Spectora bought HomeGauge on April 1, 2025, and then retired HomeGauge's browser-based Web Writer on September 30, 2025. The Windows Desktop Report Writer and the Companion app continue, and as of October 27, 2026 no end date has been announced for either.

HomeGauge was founded in 2001 in Asheville, North Carolina. From November 2017 it was a subsidiary of American Family Insurance, until Spectora bought it. Spectora is backed by Radian Capital, a growth-equity firm.

Spectora's own FAQ on the deal, dated March 3, 2026, says the two platforms "continue to operate independently with full support", pricing for both stays the same, both support teams remain, and there's no forced migration. HomeGauge users can move to Spectora, but a new subscription is required.

Web Writer users had the hardest change. Spectora's sunset notice said everything saved in Web Writer, reports and templates included, would become inaccessible after the shutdown, with past reports viewable read-only for 3 months after migrating. It offered 60 days of free Spectora and Spectora Advanced plus free migration help to people who moved. That offer was for 2025.

Today HomeGauge's own pricing page sells Spectora beside HomeGauge, at $109 a month against $89. If you're on HomeGauge Desktop, nothing forces a decision now. The question is whether you want to keep writing on a Windows PC, and which company you want to be with if you don't.

HomeGauge costs $89 a month for one inspector after a 30-day free trial, per its pricing page checked October 27, 2026; the offer is for new customers. The current page doesn't publish a price for added inspectors or an annual plan. HomeGauge's April 2022 pricing notice, still on its site, priced HomeGauge ONE per inspector at $89 a month or $890 a year, with no per-inspection fees and all state and pest forms included. Existing subscribers may pay a different rate, so check your own invoice.

Monthly cost by team size, with Spectora beside it because HomeGauge's pricing page offers both:

Assumptions: HomeGauge's added inspectors are priced like the first, as in the 2022 notice; confirm with HomeGauge. Spectora is $109 + $99 for each added inspector, before its optional $4-per-inspection Advanced add-on. Househound is $99 + $69 × (inspectors − 1). None of the three charges per report for writing, so volume doesn't change these numbers. Websites, card fees and HomeGauge Protect ($11 or $22 per inspection, optional) are left out.

On these numbers HomeGauge is the least expensive for one inspector, by $10 a month. From two inspectors up Househound costs less ($168 against $178 for two), because its added inspectors are $69. On annual billing Househound is $990 a year for the first inspector and $690 for each added one; the 2022 notice priced HomeGauge at $890 a year per inspector, so the same pattern holds: HomeGauge is $100 a year less for one inspector, and Househound is less from two up ($1,680 against $1,780). HomeGauge doesn't publish its card processing rate (the payments page says "competitive rates" and no monthly gateway cost). Househound's is 3.25% + $0.40 per card payment, Stripe's processing included. For the rest of the category, see what home inspection software costs.

No. HomeGauge Desktop runs on Windows 10 or 11 only. HomeGauge's own requirements page says Mac and Linux users must install a Windows virtual machine, and Chromebooks can't run it. It asks for 8 GB of memory at minimum and 16 GB or more for reports with photos and video.

The Companion app runs on iPhone, iPad and Android and is the field tool: you capture during the inspection, upload afterward (HomeGauge suggests Wi-Fi), and finish the report on the desktop. With Web Writer gone, there's no HomeGauge way to write in a browser.

Househound is built the other way round. The iPhone, iPad and Android apps hold the full report editor, so you can finish and publish from the driveway. The web dashboard runs in any current browser, Mac and Chromebook included, for template editing, scheduling, invoices and the rest. The mobile apps work with no signal; the web dashboard needs a connection. Template editing, pricing rules, email wording and agreements are web-only.

You can stay on HomeGauge Desktop, move to Spectora, or move to another product such as Househound. Each involves a trade-off.

Stay on HomeGauge Desktop

It's supported, it's the cheapest of the three on list price, and your templates, reports and habits stay where they are. The cost is the platform: a Windows PC for every writer, and no browser option.

Move to Spectora

Same owner, a new subscription at $109 a month plus $99 per added inspector. Spectora imports HomeGauge template files directly (they're usually in Documents\HomeGauge\Templates). Its import notes say sentence builders become informational, limitation and defect comments you should recheck, location options are dropped, and recommendations and section info are set up by hand. You'd get state forms (Texas WDI among them), summary and full PDFs, SMS, integrations and a repair request builder that sends by email or text. New US accounts also show Fixle insurance, warranty and security offers to clients until you switch them off. Our Househound vs Spectora page covers it in detail.

Move to Househound

Househound can't open HomeGauge's template files. What it can do is read a report. Print a finished report to PDF (Windows 10 and 11 include a Microsoft Print to PDF printer) and drop it on Househound's Templates page. Autodraft reads the areas, items and comments on the page and builds a template, and those comments go into your comment library. A single report holds only the comments used on that job, so drop several reports from different houses, up to 10 files at a time and 20 MB each. Each file becomes its own template while the comments share one library; keep the best template and delete the rest. Review the result before you use it.

A HomeGauge client signs in to the Customer Dashboard with the username and password from the notification email. Once any required agreement is signed and payment made, a View Report button appears. Agents have their own Real Estate Dashboard, and buyers and agents can build a repair list from the full report with Create Request List. The Customer Dashboard also carries a My Offers area with discounts on moving, security and more, and a Privacy Center where clients opt in or out of Home Buyer PLUS.

A Househound client gets a link that opens on any phone with no account. The report opens on a count of major, moderate and minor findings, with a filter for the major ones, and photos, video and 360° media play in the page. Each publish is a dated version that later edits don't change. Clients and agents also get a portal with reports, agreements to sign and invoices. Reports are delivered as a link, with a PDF download of the same report, and the delivery email links to the PDF. If you turn them on, clients can switch the report to Spanish or French (translated automatically, English governs). The client or the buyer's agent can build a repair request from the report and share it as a link, copy it as text, download a CSV or print it. There's no payment lock on the report.

HomeGauge has been around since 2001. Where it leads:

• Report styles. Narrative, Grid and more. Househound has one design and always shows "Powered by Househound".
• Payment control. Lock the report until it's paid.
• Websites. HomeGauge builds and hosts inspector websites; Househound doesn't.
• Price for one inspector. $89 a month against Househound's $99.
• A path inside the same company. If you decide to move, Spectora reads your HomeGauge templates directly.
• Your files on your own PC. Reports and templates live in your HomeGauge data folder, and you can copy that folder to a drive.

Househound's case is the platform and the crew: the whole report on a phone, any computer for the office work, live editing for two or more inspectors, Autodraft, and an independent company.

Templates come across by reading a printed report, contacts import from a spreadsheet, and past reports can go into a read-only archive; your schedule starts fresh. Before you start:

1. Find your data folder. In HomeGauge Desktop, File → Show Data folder (usually Documents\HomeGauge). It holds reports, templates, invoices and contacts.
2. Back it up. Copy the whole folder to an external drive. HomeGauge's "Back Up HG User Settings" covers templates, contacts, logos and settings but not reports, attachments or drawings.
3. Export your report list. Inspector Dashboard → My Reports → Export Report List gives a CSV of past jobs. HomeGauge says uploaded reports are kept at least 5 years.
4. Print reports to PDF for the template import described above, and for the past-report archive: upload the PDFs you need to keep under Reports → Archive → Past reports, up to 50 at a time. They're read-only, searchable by address, client, email and date, and shareable by link, but they don't become Househound inspections.
5. Import your contacts. HomeGauge keeps them in a CSV file (people4.csv) in the data folder. In Househound, go to People → Clients or Agents → Import contacts… on the web, map the columns and preview; a contact whose email is already saved is updated, never duplicated.

Agreements, services, prices, email wording and the booking page are set up fresh in Househound; you can upload your existing agreement file to the signing page. There's no done-for-you migration service. If a file doesn't come through, email hello@househoundusa.com. To cancel HomeGauge, submit the Account Management Request form under Settings → My Subscriptions; HomeGauge says support handles it within a few business days. Full steps: switching from HomeGauge.