Quick Answer
The best HOA voting software in 2026 depends on the size of your roster, and only one of these six platforms publishes a price for running the election for you: vote.direct, at $199 for a digital election of up to 100 voters.
The six, alphabetically rather than ranked, and what each publishes:
| Platform | Published price, one election | Verification it publishes | Paper ballots | Will they run it for you? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AssociationVoting | Free to 25 voters, $99 for 26–125, $199 for 126–500, $299 for 501–5,000 | Email. Mailed verification announcement is a $100 add-on | Postcards, $2.15–$3.15 each | $250 setup service. The rest is quoted |
| ElectionBuddy | Free to 20 voters, $29 for 21–350, $99 for 351–1,000, from $299 above | Email and access codes. No SMS verification, no government ID | QR postcards, and mailed paper ballots with return envelopes | Not published. Partners handle it |
| Helios Voting | Free. Open source, and you host it | Emailed links, plus cryptographic verifiability of the tally | No | No. Community maintained |
| OpaVote | Free to 25 voters, then $10 for every 125 | Emailed access codes only | No | No |
| Simply Voting | Free to 10 electors, then a calculator on their site. No tiers published | Email and access codes | Telephone voting is a priced extra | Yes, quoted by sales |
| vote.direct | $4.99 for up to 50 voters, to $149.99 for 2,000 | Email and SMS included, government ID $3.00 per voter | $3.00 per letter, or $6.00 per round-trip packet when managed | Yes, published at $199 |
Disclosure: vote.direct publishes this comparison and sells one of the six products in it. Our third-party review record is 6 reviews across Capterra and Trustpilot, which is not a track record. Every competitor figure above was read off that vendor's own pages in August 2026, and where one is cheaper or better, the section below says so.
How These Six Were Chosen
Three rules, so you can check whether it kept them.
Alphabetical, not ranked. A "best of" list written by a vendor that puts itself at number one is an advertisement with a numbered list on it. These six run alphabetically, so vote.direct lands at number six.
Only products that actually run an election. Google Forms and SurveyMonkey turn up in every other list like this one. Neither enforces an eligible-voter roster, keeps a ballot secret from the person who built the form, or leaves a record you could hand an inspector. They are excluded for the reason a spreadsheet is.
Every number is a published number. No "typical" prices, no industry estimates. Where a vendor publishes none, this article says so, which is why Simply Voting's row reads "calculator".
For the framework rather than the vendor list, the audit trail and records guide covers what to ask about verification levels and how to test a security claim.
The Six Platforms
1. AssociationVoting
Priced: flat fee per election by band, or an annual subscription. Free to 25 voters, $99 for 26–125, $199 for 126–500, $299 for 501–5,000. Over 5,000 is quoted. Add-ons include a mailed voter verification announcement at $100, postcards at $2.15–$3.15 each, and a signed certification letter.
Where it beats vote.direct. An association running several distinct membership votes a year can take the annual subscription, $299–$699 for unlimited non-concurrent elections, a shape of pricing vote.direct does not offer. It is also free to 25 voters, where vote.direct is free at no size.
Where it does not. Its setup service alone is $250, more than vote.direct charges to build, run, close and certify an entire managed election. Verification stops at email. And that $299–$699 is the annual subscription, not a per-election price, the number this category misquotes most.
2. ElectionBuddy
Priced: flat fee per election by band, not per voter. ElectionVote, the product comparable to an HOA ballot, is free to 20 voters, $29 for 21–350, $99 for 351–1,000, from $299 above. The $197 / $397 / $797 figures that circulate belong to MeetingVote, a separate live-motions product.
Where it beats vote.direct. In the upper part of that 21–350 band the flat $29 undercuts vote.direct whatever its ladder is doing that week, and it is free to 20 voters. It has been running elections far longer and has the review history to show for it. MeetingVote also runs live motions during a meeting, which vote.direct does not do at all.
Where it does not. Email and access codes are the ceiling: no SMS, no government ID. That is the gap that matters when a seat is contested and someone asks how you know the ballot came from the owner of record rather than whoever the invitation reached.
3. Helios Voting
Priced: free. Open source, and the cost is that you run the infrastructure.
Where it beats vote.direct. End-to-end cryptographic verifiability of the tally, which vote.direct does not offer and does not claim. Helios gives voters ballot trackers and publishes what is needed to recompute the count independently. If your organization has engineers and wants a result anyone can check, Helios is the better answer and no price comparison changes that.
Where it does not. There is nobody to call: community maintained through GitHub issues, needing a server, a deployment and ongoing patching. Voters are verified by emailed link only, which shows the ballot came from an inbox and nothing more. For a volunteer board with a deadline, that is not a product, it is a project.
4. OpaVote
Priced: $10 for every started block of 125 voters, pay-as-you-go, unlimited elections. Free to 25 voters and 10 candidates per election, three at once, data kept ten weeks. Retaining data past three months is $40 a year.
Where it beats vote.direct. Counting methods: OpaVote runs single transferable vote and Condorcet, and vote.direct runs neither, though it does run instant-runoff. If your bylaws name STV, this section is your answer. On price, OpaVote is frequently cheaper outright, and the two sit close enough at most sizes that price should not decide between them.
Where it does not. Emailed access codes are the only verification. No SMS, no government ID, no live quorum tracking, no reminders, no result certificate. Fine for an academic society electing officers. For an association approving a special assessment a member may later challenge, the record it leaves is thin.
5. Simply Voting
Priced: by number of eligible voters, through a calculator on their own site. No tiers published. Ten electors or fewer is free. Managed elections are quoted by sales.
Where it beats vote.direct. Telephone voting, priced as a premium feature, so members with no internet can vote by phone — which vote.direct does not offer at all. It has been in market far longer, and if your vendor review wants a negotiated master services agreement and references before kickoff, Simply Voting wins that outright.
Where it does not. You cannot read a price off the page, and online nominations, weighted voting and voter segmentation are priced separately as premium features, so the calculator's number is not the number. Verification is email and access codes, with no published government ID option.
6. vote.direct
Priced: one flat fee per election, charged when you publish, with email and SMS verification included in every tier.
| Voters | Price per election |
|---|---|
| up to 25 voters | Free |
| 26–50 voters | $4.99 |
| 51–100 voters | $9.99 |
| 101–200 voters | $19.99 |
| 201–400 voters | $24.99 |
| 401–1,000 voters | $69.99 |
| 1,001–2,000 voters | $149.99 |
| Above 2,000 | Talk to us |
Government ID verification is $3.00 per voter. Mailed ballots with PIN codes are $3.00 per letter sent, counted in the same tally as the online ones rather than as a second election. No subscription, no setup fee.
Where it beats the other five. It is the only platform here that includes SMS verification in the base price, the only one that publishes a government ID price, and the only one that publishes what it costs to have the whole thing run for you. It is not the only one that mails paper — ElectionBuddy mails ballots and return envelopes too — but the returns are counted in the same tally as the online votes rather than as a second election.
Where it does not. One public third-party review, which is not a track record, on much the newest platform here. No single transferable vote and no Condorcet: if your bylaws name either, use OpaVote. No telephone voting: use Simply Voting. No free tier at any size, where all five of the others have one: 20 voters on ElectionBuddy, 25 on AssociationVoting and OpaVote, 10 electors on Simply Voting, and Helios free at every size. The published support number, (512) 222-8191, is answered by the founder, who also writes the software, which is exactly why there are so few reviews.
Let's talk money
What's a fair price for a roster-controlled community election with exportable records?
What the Same Election Costs on Each
One self-administered election, at each vendor's lowest published band covering that voter count.
| Eligible voters | vote.direct | ElectionBuddy | OpaVote | AssociationVoting | Simply Voting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | $4.99 | $29 | $10 | $99 | Calculator |
| 80 | $9.99 | $29 | $10 | $99 | Calculator |
| 150 | $19.99 | $29 | $20 | $199 | Calculator |
| 300 | $24.99 | $29 | $30 | $199 | Calculator |
| 500 | $69.99 | $99 | $40 | $199 | Calculator |
| 1,000 | $69.99 | $99 | $80 | $299 | Calculator |
Helios is free at every row, so it is left out rather than beaten.
Read the rows rather than a verdict. The vote.direct column is generated from the same tier table its checkout charges, so it moves when the price moves, promotions included. OpaVote sits close enough at most sizes that nobody should choose between those two on price, ElectionBuddy's flat $29 undercuts vote.direct in the upper part of its 21–350 band regardless of the ladder, and AssociationVoting is the most expensive column wherever its bands apply.
What the table cannot show is what usually decides it: none of the four competitor columns publishes SMS verification, and none publishes a government ID check at any price. The HOA election software cost comparison carries the fuller arithmetic, including two-way postage at the current USPS letter rate. If you are not an association — a club, a professional body, a company — online voting tools compared on price runs the same exercise without the HOA-specific vendors.
What None of Them Publish: The Managed Price
Nobody in this category publishes a managed price: on the vendor pages we checked in August 2026, Simply Voting quotes managed elections through sales and AssociationVoting quotes everything past its election setup service, so a board that wants somebody else to run the vote sits through a call before it hears a number. $199 is vote.direct's published price for that work — a digital election of up to 100 voters — in public, before any call. That gap is wider than any feature difference above.
| Service | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Setup & Launch | $99 | We build the ballot, load the roster, write and send the notices, and hand you a live election. |
| Full Managed Election | $199 | Everything in Setup & Launch, then we run it: reminders, quorum, voter support, close, tally, certificate. |
| Managed + Mailed Packets | $199 plus $6.00 per packet | A full managed election where the members who need paper get a printed packet with a postage-paid return envelope, and their returned ballots land in the same tally. |
| Managed + Inspector of Elections | $499 | A full managed election where vote.direct also serves as your inspector of elections — Colorado, Nevada, Florida, Texas and Arizona only. |
| Above 100 voters | Quoted | Same scope, priced on your roster (the platform itself is quoted above 2,000 voters) |
The $6.00 covers the trip both ways: the packet out, and a return envelope that already has the postage paid on it, so the member never buys a stamp. There is no separate postage line on your invoice.
Two limits. Serving as your inspector of elections is available in Colorado, Nevada, Florida, Texas and Arizona only, at $499, and never in California: Cal. Civ. Code §5110(b) bars anyone under contract to the association for compensable services from serving, and your association pays vote.direct for the platform. And a managed election needs 10 days before ballots open. Setup and launch alone is $99.
Where Your State Law Overrides All of This
No platform here, vote.direct included, can make an election legally binding or make an association compliant. Software runs the ballot; the statute and your governing documents decide whether the result stands. Six states put work on the board that no vendor performs for you:
| State | What the association still has to do itself |
|---|---|
| California | Appoint an independent inspector of elections for every election (Civ. Code §5110(a)), keep ballots secret (§5100), report results within 15 days (§5120). AB 2159 put five requirements on the voting system itself in §5110(c)(4)(B) |
| Florida | Adopt a board resolution authorizing electronic voting, collect member consent, and give each member a way to confirm their device reaches the system at least 14 days before the deadline (§718.128 for condominiums, §720.317 for HOAs) |
| Texas | Electronic voting is authorized under Prop. Code §209.00592, subject to your dedicatory instruments; secret-ballot rules for board elections come from §209.0058 |
| Colorado | Meet quorum and follow the meeting and voting provisions of CCIOA (CRS §38-33.3-309 and §38-33.3-310) before adopting an electronic process |
| Arizona | Absentee voting by mail, email or fax is permitted and proxies are banned after declarant control ends (ARS §33-1812, §33-1250). Absentee and electronic votes count toward quorum under §33-1812(B) for planned communities and §33-1250(D) for condominiums |
| Nevada | Inspector-of-elections practice sits under NRS §116.31034, alongside the notice window in your governing documents |
Read your own state's rules before you shop: the state-by-state electronic voting rules for HOAs covers where electronic ballots are authorized.
How to Run the Comparison Yourself
Six steps, in the order that saves the most wasted calls.
- 1Count eligible voters, not units. Joint ownership, multiple parcels, entity-owned units and weighted rights all change the credential count, and every price on this page is banded by eligible voters, so one voter can move you a whole band.
- 2Write your verification floor down before you look at prices. An emailed link, an access code, an SMS code and a government ID check are four different levels of assurance. Decide which one your governing documents want, then delete every vendor that cannot do it. That usually halves the list before money enters the conversation.
- 3Ask each vendor for a sample records export. Not a screenshot, the file. If they cannot produce one, you have learned what their audit trail is worth. Ask whether the event log is hash-linked and whether you can verify it after it leaves their system.
- 4Price the add-ons, not the headline. Setup fees, SMS as a paid extra, postal notices, retention past ninety days, nomination management and weighted voting are each separately priced somewhere on this list. Send every vendor the same written scope.
- 5Count your real elections per year. One annual meeting with four questions on one ballot is one election, not four. Boards talk themselves into a subscription by counting agenda items.
- 6Run a test ballot on the tier you would actually buy. Vote on your own phone, then have the least technical member of the board vote on theirs. Most of what goes wrong in an HOA election goes wrong in that thirty seconds.
Head-to-head pages for each vendor are at the vote.direct comparison hub. Under fifty units, the small HOA board election guide is a shorter road.
FAQ
Q: What is the best HOA voting software in 2026?
There is no single answer, and any list giving you one is selling something. On prices read in August 2026: ElectionBuddy is cheapest through much of the 21 to 350 voter range at a flat $29, OpaVote at many sizes at $10 per 125 voters, and Helios is free if you can host it. On the annual-plan question the difference is what each vendor will tell you without a call: AssociationVoting publishes an annual unlimited-elections price, and Simply Voting quotes its annual multi-election plan rather than publishing one. Telephone voting is a priced add-on on Simply Voting's page and appears on no other vendor page we checked. vote.direct includes SMS verification in the base price, publishes a government ID price at $3.00 per voter, and publishes a price for running the election for you at $199.
Q: How much does HOA voting software cost?
For one self-administered election, between free and about $299 across these platforms, depending almost entirely on eligible voter count. A 150-voter election is $20 on OpaVote, $29 on ElectionBuddy, $19.99 on vote.direct and $199 on AssociationVoting.
Q: Which HOA voting platforms verify voter identity beyond an emailed link?
Of these six, only vote.direct publishes SMS verification included in the base price and a government ID check at $3.00 per voter. ElectionBuddy, Simply Voting and AssociationVoting publish email and access-code verification, OpaVote emailed access codes only. Helios uses emailed links plus cryptographic verification of the tally, which shows the count was right without showing who cast the ballots.
Q: Can HOA voting software make our election legally valid?
No. Software runs the ballot and keeps the record; it cannot make an election binding or an association compliant. California still requires an independent inspector of elections under Civ. Code §5110(a) whatever platform you use, and Florida still requires a board resolution and member consent under §718.128 or §720.317. Those steps are the board's.
Q: Which platform handles online and mailed paper ballots in one election?
vote.direct mails ballot packets with PIN codes at $3.00 per letter and counts the returns in the same tally as the online votes; on a managed election the packet is a round trip at $6.00 with return postage already paid. ElectionBuddy mails paper ballots with return envelopes and QR postcards; AssociationVoting sells postcard announcements at $2.15–$3.15 each. OpaVote and Helios publish no mail service.
Q: Is it cheaper to pay per election or to buy an annual subscription?
Count your genuinely separate election events first. AssociationVoting publishes $299–$699 a year for unlimited non-concurrent elections, and ElectionBuddy discounts organizations running four or more a year, so a busy association can come out ahead on a plan. An association holding one annual meeting is better off paying per election: on vote.direct that is $19.99 a year for a 150-voter community.
Q: Should we use Google Forms or SurveyMonkey for an HOA election?
Only for something nobody will contest. Neither enforces an eligible-voter roster, keeps the ballot secret from the person who built the form, or leaves a record you could hand an inspector. For a board seat or a special assessment, the cheapest real platform here costs less than the postage on the notices you already have to mail.
The Short Version
Delete the platforms that cannot meet your verification floor. Price the survivors on your real eligible-voter count, add-ons included. Then decide whether you want to run the election at all, because that is the line item this market keeps off its pages.
This article is general information, not legal advice. We recommend you do your own research and confirm anything you plan to act on. Where this article states law, the section is cited so you can read the primary source yourself rather than take our word for it — that is what the citations are for. Election requirements also turn on your own governing documents, which we have not seen, and statutes are amended. For advice about your community, consult a qualified attorney licensed in your state.
We work hard to verify every citation against the primary source, but laws change and errors happen. If you spot an inaccuracy, email [email protected] and we will correct it. See our editorial standards for how these pages are researched and checked.
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Related Resources
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