HOA AND CONDO SOFTWARE

FRONTSTEPS alternative for HOA and condo boards

FRONTSTEPS is a suite for community management companies: accounting, resident engagement, payments, back-office management and visitor access, sold together and bought by the manager.

FRONTSTEPS is a management-company suite that publishes no price and sells through a demo. governance.center is bought by the board, publishes every price, and runs the governance year from $348 a year for up to 50 members. If you are a management company with a portfolio and a back office to run, FRONTSTEPS is the right category and we are not in it.

What we do for HOA and condo boards Call or text (512) 222-8191

WHO WROTE THIS

A vendor making its case, and saying so first.

governance.center is from the team behind vote.direct.

vote.direct is operated by Syft8, Inc. and is 100% owned by its founder, Oday Brahem, with no outside investors. Who owns a voting platform is worth knowing before you trust it with an election, so this one is on the record: the person who owns the company is the person who builds the software and answers (512) 222-8191.

Competitors change their pricing and their features without notice, and these are re-read every quarter. If you work at one of these companies, or you are a customer who finds something here that is out of date or wrong, email [email protected] and it will be corrected.

WHAT FRONTSTEPS DOES WELL

Read this part first.

Everything below was read off their own pages on the date this page names. Where they are better at something, that is what this section is for.

It covers the whole management back office in one vendor: FRONTSTEPS Caliber for accounting, Manager for the back office, Community for resident engagement, Payments for money, and Dwelling for visitor access.
It is built for a portfolio rather than for one association, which is the shape of a management company.
Physical access and security are in the product. We have nothing like Dwelling and never will.

THE PRICE, WITH ITS SOURCE

FRONTSTEPS does not publish a price

FRONTSTEPS does not publish pricing. Its site asks you to request or book a demo instead, and frontsteps.com/pricing answered 404 on September 1, 2026.

Read on September 1, 2026 from https://frontsteps.com/. Prices change without notice, so confirm on their page before your board acts. These are re-read every quarter.

WHEN TO BUY THEIRS

Choose FRONTSTEPS when this is you.

These are real situations, not straw men. If one of them describes your organization, buy the other product and do not let this page talk you out of it.

You are a management company, not a board. FRONTSTEPS is built for the portfolio and sold to the manager.
You need gate, visitor and access control alongside the community software. That is FRONTSTEPS Dwelling and we do not do it.
You want accounting, payments and resident engagement from one vendor with one contract.

WHEN TO BUY OURS

Choose governance.center when this is you.

You are a self-managed board with no management company, and a demo-led enterprise suite is the wrong size and the wrong sales process for you.
You want to read the price before you talk to anyone. Ours is published on the pricing page and this page names it.
No member of your organization ever creates a password. They get a link and the link opens their own page. The officers who administer the workspace sign in; nobody else does.
One price for the whole organization. $348 a year for up to 50 members, billed once a year, and every band gets every module. We do not charge by the seat and we do not lock a feature behind a tier.
The paper exists. The meeting notice, the agenda, the sign-in sheet with its signature and proxy columns, the approved minutes, the resolution, the dues statement and the dues reminder letter each render as a PDF a board can put in a binder or drop in the mail.
A phone number that a person answers: (512) 222-8191. Send us your roster and we set the community up for you on that call, and there is no charge for it.

WHAT WE CHARGE

One annual price for the whole organization.

Size, not seats. Every band gets every module, and the annual number is the number your board approves.

Up to 50 members$348 a year ($29 a month)

Up to 100 members$588 a year ($49 a month)

Up to 300 members$1,188 a year ($99 a month)

Up to 1,000 members$1,788 a year ($149 a month)

Pay by card, or ask for an invoice and send a check. Many boards cannot put a card on file at all, and that is a normal way to buy this rather than an exception we grudgingly allow.

WHAT WE DO NOT DO

The limits, before you find them.

A comparison page that lists only the other product's gaps is not a comparison. Here are ours.

No payment processing. Dues and assessments are marks in a record. The money moves between the member and the association, never through us, and no bank account is connected to this software.
No violations. There is no violation notice, no fine ladder and no hearing tracker here. If your board needs one, say so on the phone and we will tell you honestly whether it is coming.
No work orders. Maintenance requests, vendors, bids and work orders stay with your management or accounting software. We run the governance year, not the property.
No legal advice. Where we quote a statute we say it is our reading, to support your review, not legal advice, and we tell you to have your attorney confirm it before the board acts. We never tell a board that it is compliant.
No inspector of elections in California. Cal. Civ. Code 5110(b) disqualifies anyone under contract to the association for other compensable services, and the association pays us for the software. California boards get a published directory of independent inspector firms instead, and we take no part of their fee.

Our reading, to support your review, not legal advice. Confirm with your attorney before the board acts. We never tell a board that it is compliant.

FRONTSTEPS AND GOVERNANCE.CENTER

Answers, before you have to call.

Is governance.center a good alternative to FRONTSTEPS?

What does FRONTSTEPS cost?

FRONTSTEPS does not publish pricing. Its site asks you to request or book a demo instead, and frontsteps.com/pricing answered 404 on September 1, 2026. Read on September 1, 2026 from https://frontsteps.com/. Prices change without notice, so confirm on their page before your board acts.

What does governance.center cost?

$348 a year for a community of up to 50 members, which is $29 a month, billed once a year. The published ladder runs to $1,788 a year for up to 1,000 members. Every band gets every module, and larger organizations pay more only because they have more members.

Do our members need a login or an app?

No. A member gets a link and the link opens their own page. Nobody creates a password and nobody installs anything. The officers who administer the workspace do sign in.

When should we stay with FRONTSTEPS?

You are a management company, not a board. FRONTSTEPS is built for the portfolio and sold to the manager. You need gate, visitor and access control alongside the community software. That is FRONTSTEPS Dwelling and we do not do it. You want accounting, payments and resident engagement from one vendor with one contract.

Who wrote this comparison, and is it independent?

governance.center publishes this comparison and sells one of the products in it, so read it as a vendor making its case rather than as independent research. Every competitor fact on this page was read off that company's own public pages on September 1, 2026, the page says which page each one came from, and where a competitor is the better buy this page says so and says why. Competitors change their pricing and their features without notice, and these are re-read every quarter. If you work at one of these companies, or you are a customer who finds something here that is out of date or wrong, email [email protected] and it will be corrected.

THE SHORTEST WAY IN

Send us your roster. We set it up on the phone.

No form to fill in first, no demo to sit through, and the person who answers is the person who builds the software.

Call or text (512) 222-8191 Set up your organization