A self-managed HOA board or owner-controlled strata committee has three jobs to cover: the money (dues or levies, and the accounts), the notices sent to every owner, and the two-way mailbox where owners, contractors and insurers write in. An all-in-one platform such as PayHOA in the United States or Our Body Corp in Australia is built for the money, the meetings and the records, and is the right choice when collecting payments and enforcing rules is the hard part. If the money already runs fine and what breaks is the building’s email address, a shared mailbox tool is enough, and it usually costs less.
The three jobs
Before you compare software, separate what the board or committee actually does. Most tools are built for one or two of these jobs, rarely all three.
1. The money. Dues in a US homeowners association, levies in an Australian strata scheme. Invoices, online payments, reminders for owners who are behind, a budget, the accounts the treasurer presents at the annual meeting. In a US association, add fines and the enforcement of the rules (CC&Rs).
2. The notices. One message to every owner: the meeting notice, the water shut-off on Tuesday, the minutes. This is broadcast, one to many. It needs an up-to-date list of owners and their contact details, and sometimes a printed letter.
3. The two-way mailbox. The building’s address, where people write in and expect a reply: an owner reporting a leak, a contractor sending a quote, an insurer’s assessor, a conveyancer with a deadline. This is many to one, and the replies come back from several volunteers. The questions here are different: who is on this email, has anyone answered, and what happens to the history when a member steps down at the AGM.
An all-in-one platform is strong on the money, and PayHOA also sends notices to every owner. The third is often the one nobody chose a tool for, and it is where the shared password lives. We describe that problem in detail in a shared mailbox for self-managed HOAs and strata committees.
All-in-one for a US HOA: PayHOA
PayHOA is software built for HOAs, with a dedicated offer for self-managed associations. Its site describes online payments and autopay, automated invoices for dues, fees and fines, “full HOA accounting”, a violations feature to “enforce CC&Rs”, an owner portal described as “a single hub for your homeowners”, and texts, emails and phone calls sent to owners.
Pricing, as observed in October 2026 on the self-managed tab of its pricing page, depends on the number of units:
- 0 to 25 units: $54 a month, or $49 a month billed yearly;
- 26 to 50 units: $65 a month, or $59 a month billed yearly;
- 401 to 500 units: $275 a month, or $249 a month billed yearly;
- above 500 units: $0.55 per unit per month, with a $275 monthly minimum.
The page says “All features included to your plan”, lists “Text, emails & phone calls” as unlimited, offers a 30-day free trial with “No credit card required”, and charges postal letters separately ($1.25 per letter for USPS First Class, printing and postage included).
Where it fits: an association where dues collection, late payments and rule violations take most of the board’s time. That is precisely the work a shared mailbox does not do.
What to check: its messaging is described as broadcast to owners. A shared two-way inbox, where several board members answer the association’s address with their own access, is not described on the pricing page. If that matters to you, ask during the trial.
All-in-one for an Australian scheme: Our Body Corp
Our Body Corp is an Australian strata management software company. Its Owner Controlled package is built for schemes that run themselves: the site says you can “raise levies”, “manage your financials”, “arrange and conduct meetings” and “issue your minutes”. Elsewhere on its home page, it says “All records and communications are securely stored”.
Pricing, as observed in October 2026:
- Owner Controlled: $7.60 per unit per month, on a 12-month subscription, with 2 hours of free support;
- Admin Support: $11.60 per unit per month, plus a one-off setup cost of $49.00 per unit, for schemes that want levies and bills processed for them while keeping control of meetings and budgets;
- Fully Managed: from $24 per unit per month, on a 12-month contract, plus the same $49.00 per unit setup cost.
The pricing page offers a free trial with a 6-week obligation-free period. It does not mention email or inbox features.
Where it fits: an Australian scheme that wants to stay owner-controlled, without a strata manager, and needs levies, meetings and records in one place built for Australian strata.
What you may already have
Many committees already pay for, or can get, an email service that offers some form of shared address. Before buying anything, check these.
Microsoft 365 shared mailbox. If your association already has Microsoft 365 for business, a shared mailbox costs nothing extra. Microsoft documents that it stores up to 50 GB without a licence of its own, and supports up to 25 users. Two conditions matter for a board: each member who opens it needs their own licensed Exchange Online mailbox, and only people inside your organisation can use it, so a member who only has a personal Gmail address cannot be added. We go through it in the Microsoft 365 shared mailbox for a small team.
Google Workspace native shared inbox. Google Workspace now offers a native shared inbox, still rolling out in phases as observed in October 2026. An admin creates it from the Admin console, under Home > Users > “Set up a shared email address”. It is available on the Business Starter, Business Standard and Business Plus editions, but not in every tenant yet: if you do not see it, Google’s own advice is to use delegated Gmail accounts in the meantime.
Google Groups Collaborative Inbox. A Google Group set up as a Collaborative Inbox lets members assign conversations and mark them complete. It needs Groups for Business turned on and the right moderation permissions for members. It is a group interface rather than Gmail, which some volunteers find confusing. Both Google options are compared in Google Workspace shared inbox for a small team.
These options are free or nearly free if you already have the suite. Their limit is the same: they assume an organisation that owns accounts for its members, which a board of volunteers using personal addresses rarely is.
Only the mailbox: Trupeo
Trupeo covers the third job and nothing else. It connects the building’s existing address, whether that is Gmail, Outlook, Microsoft 365 or any IMAP mailbox, such as the one that came with the website hosting. The address does not change and nothing is migrated.
Each board or committee member signs in with their own login, so the mailbox password is no longer passed around. Every conversation shows who is on it and where it stands (to assign, in progress, done), and members leave team notes that owners never see. When someone leaves after the annual meeting, you remove their access; the address, the history and the emails still in progress stay with the building.
What it does not do: Trupeo does no accounting, no by-law or violation tracking, no owner portal. It does not send mass notices to every owner either. It is the mail layer, and nothing more.
Trupeo charges per connected mailbox, excluding VAT: €10 a month for 2 people, €20 a month from 3 people, whether the committee has three members or nine. There is a 30-day free trial, with no credit card. The details are on our page for strata committees and HOA boards and on the pricing page.
Which tool for which situation
| Your situation | What fits |
|---|---|
| US association where dues collection, late payments and violations take the most time | PayHOA, or a similar all-in-one HOA platform |
| Australian scheme that wants owner-controlled administration without a strata manager | Our Body Corp, Owner Controlled package |
| Board of two who already have Microsoft 365 licences in the association’s name | A Microsoft 365 shared mailbox |
| Committee that just needs one address, several logins and history that survives the AGM | Trupeo |
Nothing stops you from combining them. An association can run its dues in PayHOA and its correspondence in a shared mailbox: the two tools do not overlap.
A worked example: a 40-unit building
Take a 40-unit building with a committee of four, and put the published prices side by side, as observed in October 2026:
- PayHOA, 26 to 50 units: $65 a month, or $59 a month billed yearly.
- Our Body Corp, Owner Controlled: 40 units × $7.60 = $304 a month. With Admin Support instead: 40 × $11.60 = $464 a month, plus 40 × $49.00 = $1,960 once.
- Trupeo: €20 a month excluding VAT for the building’s mailbox, since the committee has three people or more. The price does not depend on the number of units.
Read these figures with care. These are not three prices for the same thing. PayHOA and Our Body Corp handle the money, the meetings and the records, which Trupeo does not. Trupeo handles the shared address with several logins, which their pricing pages do not describe. The real question is which job is causing you trouble today. For a broader look at how shared inbox tools charge, see shared inbox pricing, per user or per mailbox and the best shared inbox for small teams. And when the committee changes, handing over the HOA or strata mailbox lists the steps.
Frequently asked questions
What software does a self-managed HOA need?
It depends on which of the three jobs is hard for you. If collecting dues, keeping the accounts and tracking violations takes most of the board’s time, an all-in-one HOA platform such as PayHOA fits. If the money runs fine and what breaks is the association’s email address, a shared mailbox tool is enough. Many boards need only one of the two.
Do we need HOA software just for email?
No. All-in-one HOA platforms are built around payments, accounting and notices to owners. If the problem is a shared password on the association’s Gmail or Outlook address, a shared mailbox gives each board member their own access to that address, keeps the history and shows who is on each email, without changing how you collect dues.
What does a strata committee use to share one email address?
Usually one of three things: the same password passed around (which breaks when the account locks or a member leaves), a shared mailbox in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace if the scheme already pays for one, or a shared mailbox tool such as Trupeo that connects the existing address and gives each committee member their own login.
Sources:
- PayHOA pricing (self-managed tab): as observed in October 2026, $54 a month for 0 to 25 units ($49 billed yearly), $65 for 26 to 50 units ($59 billed yearly), $275 for 401 to 500 units ($249 billed yearly), $0.55 per unit per month above 500 units with a $275 monthly minimum, “All features included to your plan”, “Text, emails & phone calls” listed as unlimited, 30-day free trial, “No credit card required”, USPS First Class letters at $1.25; no shared or two-way inbox described.
- PayHOA home page: online payments and autopay, invoices for dues, fees and fines, “full HOA accounting”, violations to “enforce CC&Rs”, an owner portal, texts, emails and phone calls to owners, plans for self-managed HOAs.
- Our Body Corp pricing: as observed in October 2026, Owner Controlled at $7.60 per unit per month on a 12-month subscription with 2 hours of free support, Admin Support at $11.60 per unit per month plus a $49.00 per unit one-off setup cost, Fully Managed from $24 per unit per month plus the same setup cost, a free trial with a 6-week obligation-free period; no email or inbox feature mentioned.
- Our Body Corp home page: an Australian strata management software company; the Owner Controlled package lets owners raise levies, manage financials, arrange and conduct meetings, issue minutes; the site also says records and communications are securely stored.
- About shared mailboxes in Microsoft 365 (Microsoft Learn): up to 50 GB without a licence, a maximum of 25 users, each user needs a licensed Exchange Online mailbox, and only people inside the organisation can use it.
- Create a shared inbox (Google Workspace): native shared inbox released in phases on Business Starter, Business Standard and Business Plus, created from Home > Users > “Set up a shared email address”, with delegated Gmail accounts as the fallback, as observed in October 2026.
- Use a group as a Collaborative Inbox (Google Workspace Learning Center): members can assign conversations and mark them complete, once Groups for Business is on and the moderation permissions are set.