Dwelly is $9 a month for one home and up to four families, or $19 a month for up to three homes, paid by the one who sets it up, after a 14-day trial that asks for a card. It is built around the handoff between families: a bedroom booked for the weekend, a stocked kitchen, the arrival and departure lists, and the costs split across the families. House Matters is free to run the home, and $10 a month to invite family and track bills and costs, for every home the family has. Pick Dwelly if a few families share one place and nobody else looks after it. Pick House Matters if someone looks after the place between your stays: your caretaker works in the same app, and their reports land on the home’s record. Both prices were read from each company’s own page on October 31, 2026.
What does each one cost?
Dwelly charges the one who sets it up, by how many homes and families. House Matters charges the household, and only for the family and the money. Before tax:
| Your family | House Matters | Dwelly |
|---|---|---|
| One home, you and a spouse: the calendar, supplies and upkeep | $0 | $9 a month |
| One home, up to four families, every cost split | $10 a month | $9 a month |
| One home, five families or more | $10 a month | $19 a month |
| Two or three homes, the whole family | $10 a month | $19 a month |
| Four homes or more | $10 a month | No plan named past three homes |
From Dwelly’s own page: only the person who sets up the property pays, and everyone else joins free. Basic is one property, up to four co-owning families and two read-only viewers; Plus is up to three properties with no limit on families. The trial asks for a card and charges on day 15 unless you cancel. Dwelly shows no yearly price, so a year of Basic is $108. If you cancel, the data is kept for 90 days and then removed.
For one home and up to four families, Dwelly costs a dollar a month less. For you and a spouse alone, a fifth family or a second home, House Matters costs less. House Matters has no trial, because running the home is free for as long as you like; the card comes out the day you invite family or log a bill or a cost.
Where Dwelly is the better tool
The bedrooms. Dwelly books room by room, so two families can share a weekend without wanting the same bed, and a whole-house booking blocks every room at once. House Matters books the whole home and counts beds: you say how many it sleeps, and stays that overlap fit until the beds run out. It has no rooms.
The kitchen. Dwelly keeps a count and an expiry date for each item in the house, flags one that drops under its minimum, and one tap puts it on a shared shopping list sorted into dairy, cleaning and the rest. Its meal plan says who is cooking which meal on which day. House Matters marks each supply OK, low or out, or keeps a count with a low mark, and one list shows what is low or out at every home. It has no expiry dates and no meal plan.
Dates on the calendar. Dwelly’s calendar also carries the days the house runs on, like trash pickup, the cleaning service and pest control, set once to repeat. Every booking emails everyone a calendar file that adds the stay to Apple or Google Calendar in one tap. House Matters puts no date on a job: it rides a stay’s check-in or check-out, or the caretaker’s next visit. A new stay shows in the home’s activity and tells your caretaker, and nobody gets a calendar file.
Notes for the next family. Anyone on the property can post a note with up to three photos, the fridge as you left it, and set it to disappear after the weekend. The Wi-Fi password, the gate code and the trash day sit in one panel, and the plumber and the HOA are a tap away in the contacts. A cost can be logged for the record without splitting it. House Matters has no notes board.
Where House Matters is the better tool
The person who looks after the place. Dwelly’s viewer role, which it suggests for your cleaning crew, can see the calendar, the supplies and the maintenance log and leave a note, and can change nothing else. In House Matters, the caretaker who checks the place while it sits empty, or the cleaner who turns it over, has their own side of the app. Their visit report and photos land on the home’s record as they file it, what you ask them to look at goes on their list for the next visit, a new stay tells them the home is about to be in use, and a cleaner who comes after each stay gets the turnover clean when the stay ends. One caretaker per home at a time.
An app from the store, today. Dwelly runs in the phone’s browser and adds to the home screen; its own page says the App Store and Google Play versions are on the way. The Dwelly app in the App Store today is a Toronto real estate app from another company. House Matters is on the App Store, Google Play and the web, with sign-in by email or mobile number and no password.
Free for real. Dwelly has no free plan, and its trial takes a card. In House Matters, the calendar, the check-in and check-out lists, the supplies, the upkeep and your caretaker’s reports cost nothing for as long as you like.
Every home and every family on one price. The cabin, the lake place and the house in town are all on the $10, with every key in the family. Dwelly’s Basic stops at one home and four families, and Plus at three homes.
The bills. The power, the internet and the plow contract each have someone who pays them, and each statement is marked paid. Dwelly’s pages name no list of bills.
Both have arrival and departure lists for each stay, a maintenance list, and a running tab of who owes whom, with the paying left to you by Venmo, a check or cash.
Which should you pick?
Pick Dwelly if two to four families share one place, nobody else looks after it, and the friction is over bedrooms, groceries and what the last family left behind.
Pick House Matters if someone looks after the place between your stays, the family shares more than one home, or you want an app from the store today.
Weighing OurSharedPlace too? House Matters vs OurSharedPlace has the same side by side. Nine more options, every price dated, are in the comparison of shared cabin apps.
Plain answers
Is Dwelly free?
No. The 14-day trial asks for a card and charges on day 15, then it is $9 a month for one home or $19 for up to three. House Matters is free to run the home with no time limit, and $10 a month to invite family and track bills and costs.
Is Dwelly on the App Store?
Not yet. Dwelly runs in the phone’s browser and adds to the home screen, and its own page says the App Store and Google Play versions are on the way. The Dwelly app in the App Store today is a Toronto real estate app from another company.
Does every family pay for Dwelly?
No. Only the person who sets up the property pays, and everyone else joins free. Basic covers up to four families and two viewers; Plus has no limit on families.
Can House Matters book a bedroom?
No. A stay books the whole home, and House Matters counts the beds against how many the home sleeps. Dwelly books room by room.
Who makes Dwelly?
A family that shares a lake house with two other families. Their son Harris built the first version at 10, and Dwelly launched May 1, 2026.
Sources, read October 31, 2026
Free to run your home.
Stays, supplies, upkeep and your caretaker’s reports and bills, free. Invite family and track bills and costs for $10 a month.
Set up your home - free See how it works →