Society Management App & System Guide 2026: Cost Per Flat

A housing society management system can start free (ApnaComplex lists a Free plan) or cost about ₹10 a flat a month where a vendor publishes a per-flat price, while MyGate, NoBrokerHood and ADDA quote each society on request. Our own society management software is listed at ₹2,999 a month or ₹29,999 one-time, not priced per flat. Residents and guards use the society management app on their phones; the committee runs billing, accounts, visitor logs, complaints and notices from the system's web dashboard.

Disclosure: I run Codingclave in Lucknow (founder-led since 2017, 200+ projects, 4.9 on Google from 92 reviews) and we sell society management software, so treat our row in every table below as a vendor's own claim. Every vendor fact comes from the vendor's own page, a named listing site or NoBroker's blog, and my opinions are labelled.

Prices checked on 2026-10-16. Confirm with each vendor before the committee decides.

To see ours, open the live demo (login details come on WhatsApp) or book a demo for your society. Still comparing brands? Read which app is best for your society.

Society management app, system or software: what is the difference?

Usually nothing: vendors use all three names for the same product. MyGate's homepage title calls its product "society management software" and an "ERP", NoBrokerHood's page is headed "Society Management System for RWAs and Residents", and ADDA calls itself software for residential communities. All three ship a resident app, a guard app and a committee dashboard.

The useful distinction is between the three layers you are buying:

• Resident app (Android and iOS): pay maintenance, approve visitors, raise complaints, read notices, book the clubhouse.
• Guard app (usually a tablet or an old Android phone at the gate): log visitors, scan or type the OTP, photograph the entry, call the flat.
• Committee dashboard (web): generate bills, reconcile the bank, post notices, run reports for the AGM.

When a vendor says "housing society management system", check that all three layers are included in the quote. Gate-only products sell the first two and leave the treasurer on Excel. JioGate, for example, lists visitor passcodes, a digital notice board, mobile intercom, parking and panic alerts on its page, where a customer quote also mentions an admin portal for e-notices and complaints; the page mentions no billing or accounts.

How an online society management system works. The money side runs in five steps:

1. The committee sets the bill heads and rates once, and the system raises every flat's bill on the due date.
2. The bill reaches the resident in the app, by SMS or on WhatsApp, with a payment link.
3. The resident pays by UPI or card, and the payment is matched to the flat.
4. A receipt goes out automatically and the flat's ledger updates, without the treasurer typing anything.
5. Unpaid flats move to the defaulter list, and the same entries feed the monthly collection summary and the AGM accounts.

NoBrokerHood's FAQ uses "society management website" for the whole cloud platform. For the committee, it usually means the web login: the same system opened in a browser on a laptop, where the treasurer runs billing and reports and the secretary posts notices. Residents rarely need it; they use the app.

How much does a society management app cost per flat?

The big vendors quote per society on request, so this table keeps what each vendor publishes apart from what others report. Third-party figures are indicative, not list prices. Prices checked on 2026-10-16.

*NoBroker's blog, updated 6 Feb 2026, is published by NoBroker Technologies, the company that runs NoBrokerHood. Free tiers are covered in the next section.

Illustrative arithmetic with made-up society sizes, not a quote. This compares a ₹10-a-flat monthly plan with our ₹2,999 monthly fee spread across the flats. It assumes the listed ₹2,999 applies at that size; confirm it for your flat count.

Where our flat fee loses. Against a ₹10-a-flat plan, ₹2,999 a month only becomes the cheaper option at about 300 flats (₹2,999 ÷ ₹10). If ADDA's ₹12 per unit were a monthly rate, the break-even would be about 250 flats; SoftwareSuggest does not state the period, so ask ADDA. Below those sizes a per-flat plan costs less each month, and a 60-flat committee should know that before it talks to us.

The one-time licence. ₹29,999 buys the software once: it is self-hosted on your server and comes with source code access. Against a ₹10-a-flat plan, it equals 30 months of fees for a 100-flat society and 15 months for 200 flats. That leaves out what you will pay for hosting and ongoing support, so price those before you compare; see the product page for what each plan includes.

Custom build. If your bye-laws or your builder's handover need workflows no ready product has, a custom build is a separate project. With us, the price is fixed once the scope is agreed; you pay 40% at the start, 40% at an agreed mid-project milestone and 20% at launch; the source code and IP are yours on final payment; and bug fixes are free for 6 months after launch. The development cost guide compares custom builds with renting an app.

Hardware and GST. Guard phones or tablets, boom barriers, RFID readers and intercom links are usually priced separately. ApnaComplex's pricing page says the price of its security hardware "varies from city to city" and that its prices exclude taxes. Ask every vendor, us included, whether a quote includes GST, and get hardware quoted as a separate line in writing.

Free housing society management app in India: what free really covers

The sources disagree about what is free, so here is what each one said when I checked on 16 October 2026:

• NoBroker's blog, written by the company that runs NoBrokerHood and updated 6 February 2026, lists a "Free basic plan" for MyGate and ADDA and describes NoBrokerHood as "Free with ad-ons" [sic].
• Techjockey's MyGate listing says "MyGate does not offer a free trial" and "MyGate is not available for free".
• MyGate's own help centre (updated 9 March 2026) says a committee can upgrade the society to the Mygate Premium Plan for an ad-free app for all residents, or a resident can buy an individual Premium Plan. So ask whether residents on your plan will see ads, and which features residents rather than the society would pay for.
• ApnaComplex lists a Free plan on its pricing page and offers a "Free Edition of Accounting software" for housing societies.
• ADDA's pricing page has a "Get Started Free" button but does not say what the free option includes.

Free usually starts with the gate and the notice board. Before the committee relies on a free tier, get these answered in writing:

• Which modules are free, and which are paid add-ons?
• For how many flats, and for how long?
• Can we export all our data, including bills and receipts, at any time?
• Will residents see ads?
• Will residents be offered paid upgrades inside the app?

We do not list a free plan: our software is ₹2,999 a month or ₹29,999 one-time, and you can try the live demo before paying.

My rule of thumb, which is an opinion and not a formula: if the society collects more than ₹1 lakh a month in maintenance, the treasurer's time is worth a paid plan or a one-time licence. If it collects less, start free and upgrade when the Excel sheet breaks.

Small societies of 10 to 50 flats. The money is small either way. At ₹10 a flat a month, a 10-flat building pays about ₹100 a month and a 50-flat society about ₹500 (illustrative arithmetic, not a quote). Our ₹2,999 monthly fee works out to ₹300 a flat at 10 flats and ₹60 at 50, so it is not the cheap option at this size, and the ₹29,999 licence equals five years of a ₹10 plan at 50 flats, before hosting and support. What matters more here: billing a volunteer treasurer can run alone, receipts that go out without anyone typing them, an export your auditor accepts, and no ads or upsells pushed at residents. Start on a free tier if only the gate and notices need fixing, and pay once the treasurer needs receipts and a defaulter list. For named picks at this size, see the picks by society size and use case.

Housing society management system: the 7 modules

A full suite covers these seven modules; gate-first apps such as JioGate cover fewer. The quality of each module is where products differ, so each comes with one question to ask the vendor.

1. Maintenance billing and collection. Auto-generated monthly bills with every component (maintenance, water, parking, sinking fund), UPI and card payment, auto-debit mandates, instant receipts, partial payments, late interest as per your bye-laws, and WhatsApp or SMS reminders. This module pays for the software, because collection improves when paying takes thirty seconds. Ask the vendor: can each charge head have its own basis, per square foot or per flat?

2. Accounting. Income and expense, a ledger per flat, bank reconciliation, fund-wise reports, budget versus actual, and audit-ready statements. A society charges GST on member contributions only when a member pays more than ₹7,500 a month and the society's annual turnover is ₹20 lakh or more, per the GST Council's housing society flyer. Ask the vendor: will you show a real Tally import or Excel export, and GST invoices if we cross both limits?

3. Visitor and gate management. Pre-approved visitors, OTP entry, visitor photo, delivery and cab handling, domestic help attendance, vehicle log and a panic button. Ask the vendor: what happens at the gate when the network drops?

4. Complaints and helpdesk. Raise with a photo, assign to staff, track status and time to resolve, and let the resident rate the fix. A report showing, as a made-up example, that the lift broke down nine times in a quarter is what gets the AMC renegotiated. Ask the vendor: can we report time to resolve by category and by vendor?

5. Notices, polls and events. A notice board with push notifications, polls for committee decisions, and event pages with RSVP for Diwali or Holi celebrations. Ask the vendor: do notices also go out by SMS or WhatsApp to residents who never open the app?

6. Amenity booking. A calendar for the party hall, gym and pool, with deposit, booking charge and cancellation rules enforced by the software rather than by an argument on WhatsApp. Ask the vendor: are deposits and refunds posted to the accounts automatically?

7. Directory and documents. A resident directory with privacy controls, committee contacts, emergency numbers, approved vendors, and a document library for bye-laws, minutes, share certificates and the registration deed. Ask the vendor, if you are a registered co-operative housing society: does it keep the statutory registers and AGM papers your state's co-operative rules require?

Society maintenance app: what the billing module must do

Many committees search for a "society maintenance app" because money is the problem they feel first. Test these eight things on a real flat before you buy:

1. Bill one flat with four components and a one-time charge for a lift repair.
2. Pay it by UPI from a second phone and watch the receipt arrive without anyone touching the dashboard.
3. Record a cash payment for a resident without a smartphone.
4. Apply late interest at the rate your bye-laws set, say 18% a year, to a bill that is 45 days late, and check the arithmetic.
5. Send a defaulter reminder on WhatsApp and see what the resident actually receives.
6. Export the month's receipts to Excel and hand them to your auditor.
7. Generate a defaulter list by tower.
8. Reverse a wrong receipt and confirm the ledger shows the correction, not a deletion.

If a vendor cannot show you all eight in a 30-minute demo, the billing module is thinner than the brochure says.

The billing side has its own guide: my society maintenance app guide covers how a bill is built, late interest and receipts, the GST two-condition rule (including whether GST applies to the whole amount or only the excess) and Tally and Excel export for your auditor. If you want residents on auto-debit, read how UPI Autopay mandates work first.

MyGate vs NoBrokerHood vs ADDA: the short version

The first two rows quote each vendor's own pages (checked 16 Oct 2026). The last two rows are my suggestions, not vendor claims.

For the other MyGate competitors and a scoring sheet, see MyGate competitors compared.

How to choose a society management application: 8 checks

1. Count your flats, your collection and your society type.
   • Size: under about 300 flats, a ₹10 per-flat plan costs less each month than our ₹2,999 flat fee; from about 300 flats the flat fee costs less. The one-time licence equals 30 months of a ₹10 plan at 100 flats, before hosting and support. Under 50 flats with only the gate and notices to fix, try a free tier first.
   • Collection: see the ₹1 lakh rule of thumb in the free section above.
   • Registered co-operative housing society: you need statutory registers and AGM papers. NoBrokerHood's co-operative module, for example, lists Form I and J registers; Maharashtra amended its co-operative rules in June 2026, including the Form J list of members, so ask whether the vendor's registers follow your state's current format.
   • RWA or apartment owners' association: bye-law billing, AGM records and a clean committee handover matter most.
   • Builder-managed project: plan the handover of data from the builder to the association before you sign.
   • Township: several gates and blocks under one set of accounts.
2. Make the treasurer run the billing demo, not the secretary. The person who reconciles the bank is the one who will abandon the software if it is wrong.
3. Make the guard run the gate demo on the phone the society will actually buy. A basic Android phone must not lag.
4. Ask for the per-flat rate, the minimum bill, the free tier's exclusions and anything residents will be asked to pay, in writing. MyGate's help centre, for example, says residents can buy an individual Premium plan. Verbal demo pricing changes.
5. Ask who owns the data and how you export it. Under the DPDP Act 2023 the society decides why residents' data is collected, so it stays responsible even when a vendor holds that data. The DPDP Rules were notified on 14 November 2025 with an 18-month phase-in for most duties, which puts them around May 2027 (PIB, 17 November 2025). My DPDP Act compliance guide covers what changes in software.
6. Check WhatsApp delivery of bills and notices. In my experience, residents read WhatsApp more than push notifications. Meta charges per message, and from 1 October 2026 it also charges for utility templates sent inside the 24-hour customer service window and for service replies beyond each business number's first 1,000 a month (Meta's non-template pricing page), so ask the vendor who pays for those messages. Our own PayPerWA sends on the Meta Cloud API at ₹0.20 a message on top of Meta's own charges, with no subscription, and any society software should be able to plug into something similar.
7. Check regional language support if your society has elderly residents more comfortable in Hindi, Marathi or Tamil.
8. Ask how a committee handover works and how long old records stay accessible.

Our society management software: ₹29,999 one-time or ₹2,999 a month

I will be plain about where I am the vendor. Codingclave is founder-led and has built software from Lucknow since 2017: 200+ projects, 4.9 on Google from 92 reviews, and 5.0 from 37 Upwork reviews.

Our product page lists these features: maintenance billing and collection, online payment via UPI and cards, complaint and grievance tracking, visitor and gate management, a notice board and announcements, a resident directory, accounting and expense tracking, parking slot management, meeting minutes and polls, and a resident mobile app. It says both plans include all features and modules:

• One-time licence, ₹29,999: self-hosted on your server, with source code access.
• Monthly plan, ₹2,999: cloud-hosted by us, with automatic updates and backups; cancel anytime.

Prices checked on 2026-10-16. The page does not list amenity booking or a document library, two of the seven modules above, so ask before you plan around them.

Who it does not fit:

• A society under about 300 flats that wants the lowest monthly bill: a ₹10-a-flat plan costs less each month. If you would rather own the software, compare the ₹29,999 licence instead; at 100 flats it equals 30 months of ₹10 fees, before hosting and support.
• A small society happy on a free gate tier.
• A society whose guards already run MyGate well. Retraining every shift is the hardest part of any move.

To try it, open the live demo (login details come on WhatsApp, and the demo resets every 24 hours), or book a walkthrough.

Launch plan: the first 90 days

Weeks 1 to 2: data. Pass a committee resolution, collect owner and tenant details for every flat, parking slots, and the current year's opening balances. Decide the bill components and the interest rule.

Weeks 3 to 4: pilot. Switch on billing, visitor management and notices only. Onboard one tower. Train the guards for two shifts and sit with them at the gate on the first evening.

Month 2: first digital bill. Send it to everyone, keep paper in parallel for this month only, and have two volunteers help residents who struggle with the first UPI payment.

Month 3: expand. Add complaints, amenity booking and polls once 70 percent of flats have paid online at least once. Publish the monthly collection summary on the app; in my experience, that is what brings the last late payers in.

Switching from Excel or another app. Most of the work is the data, not the software. Before you give notice to your current vendor, ask in writing for a CSV or Excel export of:

• flats, owners and tenants
• vehicles and daily help
• receipts and complaints
• the dues ledger, with opening balances split into principal and interest

If you are on Excel or Tally, ask your CA to sign off the opening balances before the new system sends its first bill, and run the old and new systems side by side for at least one billing cycle.

MyGate's own FAQ says it supports migration from other platforms, which tells you vendors expect societies to move. If you are leaving MyGate, follow the step-by-step MyGate switching checklist.

Common mistakes

• Launching all seven modules on day one. Residents open the app, see too much, and go back to WhatsApp.
• Not training guards. They are the front line for the gate module and will fall back to the paper register if the tablet confuses them.
• Posting every notice by hand in both the app and the committee's WhatsApp group. Post in the app and, if it can, let the app send the WhatsApp copy, so notices live in one place.
• Expecting 100 percent adoption in month one. Target 70 percent in three months and 90 percent in six.
• Signing without the per-flat rate and the exit terms in writing.

Your next step

Shortlist two per-flat vendors and one flat-fee or custom option, give each a 30-minute demo with the eight billing tests above, and decide in one committee meeting rather than three.

To see a flat-fee product, open the live demo or book a walkthrough of the billing module. We reply within 2 hours (Mon-Sat 10:00-19:00 IST); free quote in 24 hours.

How I checked. On 16 October 2026 I opened every vendor page and listing quoted in this guide and used only what it showed; where two sources disagree, both are shown. A Capterra listing that earlier versions of this guide cited could not be opened, so it is no longer used. If a price or feature here is out of date, tell me through the contact page and I will correct it.