Adult Family Home software can be priced per home, per resident, per bed, per user, per module, or through a private quote. Two products with similar monthly prices may have very different first-year costs after setup, migration, training, required modules, additional facilities, and renewal terms are included.
For a small home, the right question is not simply “What is the monthly price?” It is “What will this system cost for the complete workflow my home needs, what changes the bill, and can I retrieve my records if I leave?”
This guide explains common pricing models, shows how to calculate total cost, summarizes current public examples, and provides a comparison worksheet. Public prices referenced here were reviewed on August 8, 2026 and can change; always verify the vendor's current site and written offer.
Use the companion Adult Family Home software guide to define the modules and workflows that belong beside each price quote.
The common pricing models
Flat price per home
A flat facility price charges one amount for each Adult Family Home, often with a resident or user limit. This model is predictable when the home stays within the included scope. It can also be favorable when all occupied beds use the system.
Ask what counts as a second facility, whether a temporary or test home is billed, and whether multi-facility reporting costs extra. “Unlimited residents” should be confirmed in writing if the price page uses that phrase.
Base fee plus active residents
This model combines a platform charge with a fee for each active resident. Cost can follow occupancy, but definitions matter. Ask when a resident begins billing, how temporary absences are treated, whether discharged records remain accessible, and whether there is a minimum resident count.
Do not compare only the base price. Multiply the resident fee by expected occupancy and include the minimum.
Per bed
Per-bed pricing is calculated from licensed or configured capacity rather than current residents. The bill remains predictable but may not fall when a bed is vacant. Confirm whether respite beds, temporarily unavailable rooms, and future licensed capacity are included.
Per user
A per-user model can be inexpensive for an owner working alone and costly when every caregiver needs an accountable login. Medication and resident systems should not encourage shared credentials to avoid user fees. Calculate the price using owners, caregivers, nurses, administrators, pharmacy users, and other required accounts.
Module or product pricing
Some vendors separate eMAR, care planning, charting, scheduling, billing, family communication, CRM, reporting, and compliance tools. Buying only what the home needs can be efficient. The risk is discovering that a workflow shown in the demonstration requires several products.
Ask the vendor to list every module used during the demo and mark each as included or additional. Confirm whether data moves between the modules without duplicate entry.
Quote-based pricing
Private quotes may make sense for large networks, implementation services, integrations, single sign-on, custom service levels, or unusual migration work. They make public comparison harder. Request a written scope, year-one total, renewal method, cancellation terms, and assumptions about facilities, residents, users, storage, and support.
Current public pricing examples
Public examples demonstrate why the model matters; they are not a ranking.
As of the review date, AFH Manager states that the platform is currently free while platform billing is disabled. Its pricing controls are administered centrally so the public pricing notice and in-product subscription experience can change together when billing is enabled. A provider should verify the current homepage and account billing screen before making a decision.
Marpass publicly describes a base-plus-resident model. Its July 2026 pricing guide lists an Entry base of $49 per home per month plus $10 per resident and an Advanced base of $79 plus $10 per resident, with a three-resident minimum. The vendor states that annual billing receives a discount. Verify the current offer and included features directly with Marpass.
CareHomeHQ publicly presents separate products. At the review date, the site lists Location Scout at $99 per month, Nurture at $149, Chart at $149, CRM at $199, and a full bundle at $499. This illustrates module pricing: the relevant comparison depends on whether a provider needs clinical charting alone, marketing and occupancy tools, or the full suite.
These products do not necessarily solve identical problems. A clinical documentation module, eMAR-focused product, and market-analysis or CRM platform should not be compared from price alone.
Build a first-year cost worksheet
Use one row for every charge and one column for each vendor:
| Cost item | What to verify | | --- | --- | | Core subscription | Monthly or annual amount and included facilities | | Resident, bed, or user charges | Definition, minimum, and when counts change | | Required modules | eMAR, care plans, documents, reports, scheduling, billing, family portal | | Setup and configuration | One-time fee and specific deliverables | | Data migration | Included records, cleanup, attachments, validation, and rejected data | | Training | Live sessions, recordings, role coverage, and repeat training | | Devices or hardware | Tablets, scanners, printers, signature devices, or kiosks | | Integrations | Pharmacy, accounting, payroll, identity, email, or other systems | | Support | Included channels, response expectations, and premium support | | Storage and exports | Limits, archive access, bulk exports, and termination retrieval | | Taxes and payment fees | Applicable additions to the invoice | | Renewal change | Fixed rate, percentage, notice period, or new quote |
Calculate year one and the expected renewal year separately:
Year-one total = subscription + variable charges + required modules + setup + migration + training + hardware + integration + other mandatory fees.
Renewal total = recurring subscription + variable charges + modules + support + expected increase.
Do not subtract productivity savings unless the home has a defensible estimate. A sales claim about hours saved is not the same as an operational measurement in your home.
Example calculations
Suppose a six-resident home evaluates three hypothetical models. These examples illustrate arithmetic and are not vendor quotes.
Flat per home
- $125 per home per month
- All six residents and ten staff accounts included
- No setup fee
Annual subscription: $125 × 12 = $1,500.
Base plus residents
- $50 base per month
- $10 per active resident
- Six active residents
Monthly subscription: $50 + ($10 × 6) = $110. Annual subscription: $1,320 before other fees.
Per user plus eMAR module
- $15 per user per month
- Ten users
- $40 eMAR module per month
- $500 setup fee
Monthly subscription: ($15 × 10) + $40 = $190. Year-one total before training or migration: ($190 × 12) + $500 = $2,780.
The lowest advertised number may not produce the lowest relevant total.
Features that change value
Pricing only makes sense beside the workflow. Determine whether the quoted product includes:
- Resident profiles and contacts
- Assessments and negotiated care plans
- Daily Notes, behavior tracking, ADL records, and tasks
- Prescription entry and medication search
- Scheduled and PRN medication administration
- Late, missed, refused, and held-dose documentation
- Auditable corrections
- Pharmacy orders, facility acceptance, refill requests, delivery, and receipt
- Caregiver accounts, scheduling, and time records
- Incidents, appointments, vitals, and documents
- Alerts that recalculate from current data
- Resident- and date-filtered PDF reports
- Data export, backup, and deleted-item recovery
- Multi-facility boundaries and reports
If a product does not support an essential workflow, the home may need another subscription or continued paper process. Add that cost and effort to the comparison.
Questions about free software
Free access can be a meaningful advantage, particularly for a new or small home. Evaluate the product with the same rigor as paid software.
Ask whether free means a permanent plan, a temporary offer, a trial, or billing that is currently disabled. Confirm resident, facility, user, storage, support, and export limits. Find out how much notice the vendor intends to provide before a pricing change and whether the home can export usable records before deciding to pay.
The public homepage and in-product billing experience should agree. If billing is disabled, an old hard-coded fee should not remain elsewhere in the application. If an administrator enables pricing later, the current amount and access rules should update consistently.
Contract and renewal questions
Before accepting a paid offer, ask:
- Is the commitment monthly, annual, or multi-year?
- Does the agreement renew automatically?
- How much notice is needed to cancel?
- Can the price increase during the term or only at renewal?
- Is renewal capped or determined by a new quote?
- What happens to active users and records after nonrenewal?
- How long is read-only access available?
- What exports are included and in which formats?
- Are implementation fees refundable if migration cannot be completed?
- Which security, privacy, service, and support commitments are written into the agreement?
For significant purchases, have an appropriate advisor review the contract. A pricing guide cannot interpret an individual agreement.
Migration cost is partly a data-quality cost
Vendors may price migration by resident, record type, file, hour, or project. The quote should describe what is moved and what is not. Medication orders, historical MARs, care plans, documents, incidents, notes, staff records, and attachments require different validation.
Duplicate residents, outdated medication lists, inconsistent names, and unlabeled scans increase effort. Cleaning the source data can reduce migration risk even when it does not lower the invoice.
Ask who verifies the imported result, how discrepancies are reported, and when the old system can be retired. A low-cost import that moves unreliable data is not a bargain.
Support and training value
Training should cover owners and caregivers separately. Medication exceptions, late entries, PRN follow-up, corrections, permissions, facility switching, reports, and downtime are more important than a tour of the dashboard.
Support value depends on the response required for the home's workflow. Confirm channels, hours, expected response, emergency definition, and whether help with configuration or data correction is included. “Priority support” needs a written meaning before it can be priced.
Compare the exit as carefully as the entry
Ask for a sample export before purchasing. Confirm that MARs and other reports remain readable without the application and that structured data can be obtained when needed. Determine whether attachments are included, how exports are organized, and whether there is a fee.
Understand deletion and retention. The provider should not discover the process only after submitting a cancellation request.
Frequently asked questions
How much should Adult Family Home software cost?
There is no reliable universal number because products, modules, implementation, and customer scope differ. Compare the complete annual cost for your facilities, residents, users, and required workflows.
Is per-resident pricing better than flat pricing?
Neither is automatically better. Per-resident pricing can follow occupancy, while flat pricing can be predictable. Calculate both using current and expected counts.
Is AFH Manager free?
AFH Manager is currently presented as free while platform billing is disabled. Verify the live homepage and billing screen because the administrator can enable pricing in the future.
Should data export cost extra?
Vendors use different models. Regardless of price, confirm that the home can obtain usable records, what the export contains, and when it is available.
What is the biggest hidden cost?
It varies. Required modules, implementation, migration, training, user fees, and renewal changes commonly alter the total. Duplicate work caused by missing integration can also be substantial.
Make pricing a workflow decision
Create the workflow list first, ask each vendor to demonstrate it, document every required component, and calculate the same two-year scenario. Verify current public prices immediately before deciding.
AFH Manager currently provides its resident, medication, caregiver, document, pharmacy, and reporting modules without a subscription charge while billing is disabled. Providers can test the complete workflow and monitor the live pricing notice before deciding how it compares with paid alternatives.