Horizon is closing. Here is how to think about what comes next.
Carson Dunlop is retiring Horizon effective December 15, 2026, and has named Spectora as its recommended replacement, with a one-click migration. If you have been inspecting on Horizon for years, you now have a decision to make on someone else's schedule.
First, get your reports out
Before you compare anything, export your data and keep your own copy. Horizon is retired effective December 15, 2026, so everything you want to keep has to be out before that day. Confirm the date on Carson Dunlop's own Horizon page: this one is written by a competitor, and their schedule is theirs to change.
This matters beyond convenience. A report you delivered three years ago is evidence if a buyer disputes a finding. It should not live only inside software that is being switched off, and a migration should not be assumed to carry everything across.
The default path, priced in your own currency
Spectora is a serious product and the leader in the United States. Its client-facing reports are genuinely good, and a one-click migration is worth something when you are busy. It may well be the right answer for you.
What we would ask is that you price it in Canadian dollars before you decide. At the figures published on spectora.com/pricing in August 2026:
- $109 USD per month, or $1,090 USD per year.
- Spectora Advanced adds $4 USD per published inspection. At 150 inspections a year, that is $600 USD on top.
- Online payments carry a 3.95% technology fee, added to your client's invoice, under your name.
- Additional inspectors are $99 USD per month each.
Everything there is billed in US dollars, so your software cost moves with the exchange rate without you deciding anything. That is not a criticism of the product. It is a line in your budget that you do not control.
What we built, and who it is for
Habita is inspection software built in Canada, by a developer and a certified building inspector who still works in the field. It is priced in Canadian dollars: $79 or $149 per month per inspector, with no per-inspection fee and no percentage added to your client's invoice.
- CAN/CSA A770 is one of eight standards of practice you can choose. Your report, service agreement and attestation are rewritten around the one you actually follow.
- AI drafts each finding from your notes and photos, then flags it for your review. Nothing generated reaches a client unverified.
- Offline capture, because crawlspaces and rural basements do not have signal.
- A client portal covering intake, e-signature, report delivery and payment through one secure link, with no account for your client to create.
- Invoicing with taxes, a sales journal, and mileage at CRA rates.
- Nothing is ever shown to your client inside your report except your report.
That last line is deliberate. An inspection report is a document your client pays you for and trusts. We do not put anyone else's advertising in it, and we never will.
Where we are honest about being the smaller option
We are new. We do not have a SOC 2 certification, hundreds of reviews, a franchise network or a training school. If any of those decide it for you, they should.
What you get instead is that the person who writes the code is a co-founder and is reachable. When an inspector coming on board needs a field, a section or a template that does not exist, it gets written and shipped. Rebuilding your findings library during the move is guided, and it costs nothing extra.
If you are moving anyway, move deliberately
A forced migration is an unpleasant surprise, but it is also the one moment where switching costs you nothing extra. You are going to rebuild your setup somewhere regardless. It is worth spending an evening comparing rather than clicking the button that is put in front of you.
Questions
When exactly does Horizon stop working?
Carson Dunlop has announced that Horizon is retired effective December 15, 2026. Confirm the current date on their own Horizon page before you plan around it: this page is written by a competitor and their schedule is theirs to change.
What happens to my old reports?
Export them yourself, well before December 15, and keep your own copy. A report you delivered three years ago is evidence you may need if a buyer disputes a finding. Do not leave your only copy inside software that is being switched off, and do not assume a migration carries everything across.
Is Spectora a bad choice?
No. It is the market leader in the United States, it is genuinely good at client-facing presentation, and the one-click migration is real convenience. If you want the largest ecosystem and you are comfortable with US-dollar pricing, it is a reasonable answer. What we would ask you to do is price it in Canadian dollars, including the per-inspection add-on and the payment fee, before you decide.
What does Spectora actually cost a Canadian inspector?
At the prices published on spectora.com/pricing in August 2026: $109 USD per month, or $1,090 USD per year. Their Advanced tier adds $4 USD per published inspection. Online payments carry a 3.95% technology fee that is added to your client's invoice, under your name. All of that is billed in US dollars, so your cost moves with the exchange rate without you deciding anything.
Does Habita support CAN/CSA A770?
Yes. It is one of eight standards of practice you can choose from, alongside CAHPI, ASHI and InterNACHI. Your report, your service agreement and your attestation are rewritten around the standard you actually follow, rather than asserting one you do not.
What does Habita not have?
We are small and we are new. We do not have a SOC 2 certification. We do not have hundreds of reviews. We do not have a franchise network or a training school. If those matter to your decision, they should count against us honestly.
Horizon and Spectora figures reviewed August 12, 2026, from Carson Dunlop's own Horizon Sunset communication and spectora.com/pricing. Prices and dates change: confirm both with the vendors before deciding. Amounts marked USD are in US dollars.