Search “best software for home inspectors” and the same five names keep showing up in Reddit threads and InterNACHI forum posts: Spectora, HomeGauge, Home Inspector Pro, ISN (Inspection Support Network), and Palm-Tech. Four of them charge a flat monthly fee no matter how many reports you write. One of them, ISN, charges per inspection, and that structure flips from “cheapest option” to “most expensive option” once a solo inspector crosses roughly a dozen inspections a month. There’s also a fact that doesn’t show up in most comparison posts: two of these five companies are now owned by the same private equity firm.
The short version: Spectora ($109/month, or $1,090/year on annual billing) and HomeGauge ($89/month) are now both owned by Radian Capital after Spectora acquired HomeGauge, though both continue to operate as separate products with unchanged pricing. Home Inspector Pro is $89/month flat with native desktop and mobile apps. Palm-Tech is the cheapest flat-rate option at $50/month per user ($500/year). ISN bills per inspection ($7.25 each for your first 50 a month, dropping to $5.50 and then $3.75 as volume rises). That’s cheap if you’re just starting out, but it crosses over every flat-fee competitor here once you’re inspecting more than about three houses a week.
Quick Comparison
| Tool | Pricing Model | Starting Price | Free Trial | Mobile App |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spectora | Flat, per inspector | $109/mo or $1,090/yr | Unlimited time, 2 free inspections | Web-based, mobile-first |
| HomeGauge | Flat | $89/mo | 30 days | Companion app; primary writing is desktop |
| Home Inspector Pro | Flat | $89/mo | 30 days, no card required | Native desktop (Win/Mac) + native mobile (iOS/Android) |
| ISN | Per inspection, tiered | $7.25/inspection (first 50/mo) | 30 days | Web + mobile access |
| Palm-Tech | Flat, per user | $50/mo or $500/yr | Yes (length not stated) | Marketed as mobile-capable; desktop app is the core product |
All five companies’ own pricing pages checked directly on August 30, 2026.
Spectora and HomeGauge Are Now the Same Owner
This is the detail most “best home inspection software” roundups skip entirely, and it matters if you’re choosing between the two most-recommended names on every inspector forum. Spectora acquired HomeGauge, with both companies now operated under Radian Capital, the private equity firm that already owned Spectora. Spectora’s own support documentation confirms the two platforms “will continue to operate independently with full support,” current pricing for both stays the same, and there’s no forced migration for existing HomeGauge customers. But if a HomeGauge user wants to switch to Spectora, that requires a brand new subscription, not an automatic transfer.
Practically, this means the “which is better, Spectora or HomeGauge” debate that fills inspector forums is now a comparison between two products from the same parent company rather than two independent competitors. That’s not a reason to avoid either one, but it’s worth knowing before you treat a forum recommendation for “the other one” as independent advice.
Spectora is priced at $109/month or $1,090/year (the annual plan saves $218 versus paying monthly), with additional inspectors added at $99/month or $999/year each. The free trial has no time limit and includes two full inspections, so you can test it on real jobs before paying. It’s built mobile-first: report writing happens in a web-based app designed for use on a phone or tablet on-site, with offline capability.
HomeGauge runs $89/month with a standard 30-day free trial. Its report writer is desktop-based by design: the workflow is “collect in the field, edit on desktop,” with a companion mobile app available for capturing data on-site. Inspectors who prefer finishing reports at a desk rather than on a phone screen tend to stick with this model; HomeGauge’s own marketing pitches it as the choice for inspectors who “like their process.”
- Who should NOT default to Spectora: an inspector who wants to write and finalize the full report on a desktop at the end of the day rather than on a tablet in the driveway.
- Who should NOT default to HomeGauge: an inspector who wants the entire report done and delivered before leaving the property, with no separate desktop step.
Visit Spectora → · Visit HomeGauge →
Home Inspector Pro: The One With Real Native Apps on Both Platforms
Home Inspector Pro is $89/month flat, with a 30-day free trial that doesn’t require a credit card to start. What sets it apart on the mobile-vs-desktop question above is that it ships genuine native applications for both sides: a desktop app for Windows and Mac, and a separate native mobile app for iOS and Android, rather than one primary platform with a companion tool bolted on. It also includes AI-powered translation for reports and free migration assistance if you’re moving from a competing tool. Annual billing is available at a discount, but the exact annual rate isn’t published. You have to call sales to get the number, which is a minor inconsistency for a company that otherwise publishes clean monthly pricing.
- Who it’s right for: inspectors who genuinely split their work between a desktop workflow and a mobile one and don’t want to compromise on either.
ISN’s Per-Inspection Pricing Is a Trap for Anyone Doing This Full-Time
ISN (Inspection Support Network) is structured differently from the other four: instead of a flat monthly fee, it charges per inspection, with the rate dropping as your volume climbs. The published tiers are $7.25 per inspection for your first 50 in a month, $5.50 each for the next 50 (51-100), and $3.75 each from 101-150. Above 150 inspections a month, you have to contact sales. There’s a 30-day free trial, no setup fee, and no long-term contract.
At low volume, this genuinely is the cheapest option on this list. An inspector doing 4 inspections a month pays $29/month, less than a third of what Spectora or Home Inspector Pro charge flat. But the per-inspection rate doesn’t drop until you cross 50 a month, and that’s where the math turns against ISN for a working inspector:
- At 7 inspections a month ($50.75), ISN already costs more than Palm-Tech’s flat $50/month.
- At 13 inspections a month (~$94), ISN costs more than Home Inspector Pro or HomeGauge’s flat $89/month.
- At 15 inspections a month (~$109), ISN costs about the same as Spectora’s monthly plan, and keeps climbing linearly from there since the discounted 51+ tier is still 15-20 inspections away.
A full-time solo inspector doing 3-4 inspections a week (roughly 13-16 a month) is exactly the person ISN’s own marketing targets, and that’s precisely the volume where the per-inspection model stops being the bargain it looks like on the trial page. The pricing only makes sense again at genuinely high volume (100+ a month), where the tiered discounts bring the effective rate down closer to $4-5 per inspection, but very few solo inspectors are anywhere near that.
- Who should NOT use ISN expecting it to stay cheap: any inspector doing more than roughly 3 inspections a week; the per-inspection cost overtakes every flat-fee competitor on this list well before you’d call yourself “busy.”
- Who it’s actually right for: someone brand new to the business, testing the software against real jobs at low volume, or an inspector who does this seasonally and doesn’t want to pay a flat fee during slow months.
Palm-Tech: The Cheapest Flat Rate, If You Don’t Need a Mobile-First Workflow
Palm-Tech is $50/month per user, or $500/year per user (saving $100 annually), making it the least expensive flat-fee option by a wide margin, nearly half of HomeGauge or Home Inspector Pro’s $89/month. Its own site advertises “write reports, schedule inspections and more with a few quick taps” and AI-assisted tools, but doesn’t clearly state on its marketing pages whether report writing happens through a dedicated native mobile app or is primarily a desktop product used with a mobile companion, the same ambiguity that separates HomeGauge from Spectora above. Anyone choosing Palm-Tech specifically for an on-site mobile workflow should confirm that directly with Palm-Tech before signing up, since the public pages don’t spell it out the way Home Inspector Pro’s do.
- Who should NOT buy on price alone: an inspector who has confirmed they want a fully native mobile app (like Home Inspector Pro or Spectora) and hasn’t verified Palm-Tech meets that bar first.
- Who it’s right for: a budget-conscious inspector, or one adding a second or third inspector to their team, where the per-user savings compound quickly against the $89-109/month competitors.
Who Should NOT Buy Any of These Five
An inspector who hasn’t taken their first paid job yet doesn’t need to commit to a flat $89-109/month subscription before knowing whether the business will stick; ISN’s per-inspection billing or one of the free trials here (Spectora’s trial in particular has no time limit) makes more sense for testing the workflow against real inspections first. On the other end, a multi-inspector franchise or a company managing several offices needs to evaluate team permissions, billing consolidation, and admin controls that go beyond what a single-user comparison like this one can settle. That’s a conversation to have directly with each vendor’s sales team rather than a decision to make from a pricing page alone.
Home inspectors comparing software often work alongside, or refer clients to, other property-side small businesses. If you’re evaluating tools for a related trade, see our guide to property management software for small landlords, which covers a similar per-unit pricing trap.
FAQ
What software do most home inspectors use? Spectora and HomeGauge are the two names that come up most often in inspector forum threads and Reddit discussions, followed by Home Inspector Pro. All three are now viable options, though Spectora and HomeGauge share a parent company (Radian Capital) after Spectora’s acquisition of HomeGauge.
Are Spectora and HomeGauge the same company now? They share the same ownership group but continue to operate as separate products with separate pricing, separate logins, and no forced migration. HomeGauge customers can keep using HomeGauge indefinitely; switching to Spectora requires signing up for a new subscription rather than an automatic transfer.
Is there a free option for home inspection software? None of the five tools here offer a permanent free tier. All five offer free trials: Spectora’s has no time limit and includes two free inspections, Home Inspector Pro’s and ISN’s both run 30 days, and Home Inspector Pro doesn’t require a credit card to start.
Why does ISN get more expensive than flat-fee competitors? ISN charges per inspection instead of a flat monthly rate. The rate only drops once you exceed 50 inspections in a month, so a working inspector doing more than roughly 3 a week ends up paying more overall than they would on Spectora, HomeGauge, Home Inspector Pro, or Palm-Tech’s flat pricing, even though ISN looks cheapest on a trial or a slow month.
Which is the cheapest home inspection software? Palm-Tech, at $50/month per user ($500/year on annual billing), is the least expensive flat-fee option among these five. ISN can be cheaper at very low volume (a handful of inspections a month) but stops being the cheapest once volume rises.
Bottom Line: Which Should You Choose?
- Want the most-recommended, mobile-first option and don’t mind paying the most: Spectora, at $109/month or $1,090/year.
- Prefer finishing reports at a desktop rather than on-site: HomeGauge, at $89/month.
- Want native apps on both desktop and mobile with no compromise: Home Inspector Pro, at $89/month.
- Just starting out or working seasonally at low volume: ISN’s per-inspection pricing, but plan to switch once you’re consistently doing more than 3 inspections a week.
- Budget is the deciding factor, or you’re adding a second inspector: Palm-Tech, at $50/month per user.