Habita vs Spectora
The US market leader, priced in US dollars.
What Spectora is
Spectora is the largest home inspection platform in the United States and the replacement Carson Dunlop recommends now that Horizon is closing. It is a serious product: the client-facing reports are genuinely good, the automation saves real time, and the ecosystem is the biggest in the industry. If you are comfortable being billed in US dollars, it is a reasonable choice.
Side by side
| HABITA | Spectora | |
|---|---|---|
| Standards of practice | Habita: Eight to choose from, including CAN/CSA A770, CAHPI, ASHI and InterNACHI. Your report, service agreement and attestation are rewritten around the one you actually follow | Spectora: Customizable templates; no named standard-of-practice selector documented publicly |
| Billing currency | Habita: Your own currency: Canadian dollars in Canada, US dollars in the United States. Either way, your cost does not move with the exchange rate | Spectora: US dollars |
| Per-inspection fees | Habita: None. Unlimited inspections on both plans | Spectora: Spectora Advanced adds $4 USD per published inspection |
| Fees charged to your client | Habita: None. What you invoice is what they pay | Spectora: 3.95% technology fee added to your client's invoice on online payments |
| Third-party content in your report | Habita: Never. Your report carries your brand and nothing else | Spectora: Spectora added a third-party partner (Fixle) shown inside inspectors' client reports in 2026, which drew a public reaction from the community |
| AI report writing | Habita: Yes: drafts each finding from your notes and photos, flagged for your review | Spectora: Yes: AI defect identification, added recently |
| Offline in the field | Habita: Yes. Photos queue on the device and upload when signal returns | Spectora: Yes, offline mobile work is supported |
| Client portal | Habita: Intake, e-signature, report and payment through one link. No account for your client to create | Spectora: Yes, client portal included |
| Invoicing and bookkeeping | Habita: Built in: taxes calculated, sales journal, mileage at CRA or IRS rates | Spectora: Payments and invoicing included; no Canadian sales-tax bookkeeping documented |
| Bilingual | Habita: Yes. Work in one language, deliver in the other | Spectora: Not stated |
| Data hosting | Habita: Canadian cloud infrastructure, managed backups | Spectora: Not stated |
| Price | Habita: $79 or $149 CAD per month per inspector, or $790 and $1,490 per year | Spectora: $109 USD/month or $1,090 USD/year; $99 USD/month per additional inspector (spectora.com/pricing, checked August 12, 2026) |
| Reviews | Habita: New product, few reviews. We are not going to pretend otherwise | Spectora: 4.9 of 5 on 932 Capterra reviews, and 3.7 of 5 on 60 Google reviews. Directory reviews are vendor-solicited, Google reviews are not; the truth is somewhere between the two |
| Security certification | Habita: TLS 1.3 and AES-256 encryption, row-level isolation, Canadian hosting, managed backups. No SOC 2 certification | Spectora: Not stated |
| Free trial | Habita: First month free, no credit card at signup | Spectora: 2 inspections, no credit card |
Based on the competitor's publicly published information, checked August 2026. Prices change: confirm with the vendor before deciding.
What it costs over three years
Converted at 1.4 CAD per 1 USD, the same rate used elsewhere in Habita.
| Item | Rate | 3 years |
|---|---|---|
| Spectora | ||
| Spectora: Software, billed annually | $1,090 USD/yr | $4,578 CAD |
| Spectora: or software, billed monthly | $109 USD/mo | $5,494 CAD |
| Spectora: plus Advanced, at 150 inspections a year | $4 USD/inspection | + $2,520 CAD |
| Spectora annual plus Advanced, 3 years | $7,098 CAD | |
| Habita, all in | ||
| Habita: Essential | $79 CAD/mo, or $790/yr | $2,370 CAD |
| Habita: Unlimited | $149 CAD/mo, or $1,490/yr | $4,470 CAD |
- Spectora prices taken from spectora.com/pricing on August 12, 2026, before taxes.
- This table is calculated for a Canadian inspector, because the exchange rate is what it is about. In the United States, Habita bills you in US dollars at the same figures, $79 and $149 a month, and no conversion applies.
- The 3.95% payment fee is not in this table because it is charged to your client, not to you. On a $600 inspection that is about $24 added to their invoice, under your name.
- Habita Unlimited comes in below Spectora's annual base plan, and well below it once Advanced is added.
- Habita's free first month is not deducted from these totals.
What actually separates them
Three fees, and two of them are easy to miss
The monthly price is the part everyone compares. The other two are not on the pricing card you remember: $4 USD per published inspection on the Advanced tier, and a 3.95% technology fee added to your client's invoice when they pay online. That last one does not appear on your statement at all. It appears on theirs, under your name.
Your software cost moves without you deciding anything
Spectora bills every inspector in US dollars, wherever they are. When the exchange rate moves, a Canadian inspector's software bill moves with it, in the middle of a year they already budgeted. Habita bills you in your own currency: $149 is $149, in January and in November.
Nothing else appears inside your report
In 2026 Spectora placed a third-party partner panel inside inspectors' own client reports, and the community reacted strongly. We take the opposite position, permanently: an inspection report is a document your client paid you for and trusts. It carries your brand, your findings, and nothing else. Not now, not when it becomes tempting.
What Spectora does better
It is the market leader for a reason. The client-facing report presentation is excellent, the automation around follow-ups is mature, the ecosystem and integrations are the largest in the industry, and it has 932 reviews to our handful. If you want the biggest, most proven platform and the US-dollar billing does not bother you, that is a defensible choice and we would rather you make it knowingly.
Choose Habita if
You want Canadian-dollar pricing with no per-inspection fee, nothing added to your client's invoice, nothing advertised inside your report, and a standard of practice you actually follow.
Choose Spectora if
You want the largest ecosystem and the most reviews, you are comfortable with US-dollar billing, and the one-click migration from Horizon is worth more to you than the difference in fees.
FAQ
What does Spectora really cost a Canadian inspector?
At the August 2026 published prices and a 1.4 exchange rate: about $4,578 CAD over three years on the annual plan, or about $7,098 CAD with the Advanced tier at 150 inspections a year. Habita Unlimited is $4,470 CAD over the same three years, and Essential is $2,370 CAD.
What is the 3.95% fee?
Spectora adds a 3.95% technology fee to online payments, charged on your client's invoice. It does not show up on your own bill, which is why it is easy to miss when comparing. On a $600 inspection it is roughly $24 that your client pays, on an invoice carrying your name.
Is Spectora better than Habita?
On presentation polish, ecosystem size and number of reviews, yes, and we would rather say so than pretend. On Canadian-dollar pricing, per-inspection cost, fees charged to your client, standards of practice for Canada, and bilingual delivery, we think we are the better answer. Which set matters more is your call, not ours.
I am moving off Horizon. Does that change anything?
It changes the timing, not the analysis. Horizon is retired effective December 15, 2026, so you are rebuilding your setup somewhere regardless. That is the one moment when switching costs you nothing extra, which makes it worth an evening of comparing rather than clicking the button placed in front of you.
Does Habita work offline like Spectora?
Yes. Photos and findings are written to the device and upload on their own when signal returns, with a visible count of what is still waiting. Both products handle this; it is not a point of difference.