Stowly vs HomeZada: A Home Inventory or a Whole-Home Platform?
Updated August 8, 2026
HomeZada is a whole-home management platform: alongside a home inventory it handles maintenance schedules, remodel projects, home finances, and AI design tools, with paid plans at $99 and $189 a year at the time of writing. Stowly does one job — cataloguing what you own and proving it to an insurer — for free with unlimited items, or $39 a year for receipts, exports and sharing. If you want to run every aspect of your house from one system, HomeZada does more. If you want a home inventory you'll actually finish, Stowly is narrower and cheaper.
These two get compared because both start from your house, but they are answering different questions. HomeZada wants to be the system of record for your entire property — what it's worth, what needs servicing, what the remodel will cost. Stowly wants to be very good at one part of that: knowing what you own and being able to prove it. Which is better depends entirely on which job you're hiring for, so here is the honest comparison.
The real difference is scope, not price
HomeZada bundles home inventory with home maintenance, remodel project budgeting, home finances, document storage, and AI design tools. That is a genuinely broad product, and if you want all of it in one place it is doing something Stowly does not attempt. Stowly is a home inventory app. It tracks what you own, what it's worth, what's under warranty, and it produces the document your insurer asks for. It will never help you budget a kitchen renovation.
Both have a real free tier — and HomeZada's includes inventory
This is worth being straight about, because a lot of comparison pages get it wrong. At the time of writing, HomeZada's free Essentials plan does include home inventory and document storage, along with a small allowance of AI chats. It is not a trial. So "they charge for the basics and we don't" would be a false claim, and we're not making it.
Where the plans diverge is what sits behind the paywall. HomeZada's paid tiers unlock the other modules — maintenance, projects, finances, reports. Stowly's paid tiers unlock the things you need once your inventory exists: receipts and documents attached to items, an insurance-ready PDF, CSV export, and read-only links to share with an adjuster.
What it costs
- HomeZada (at the time of writing): Essentials free; Premium $99/year or $15.95/month; Deluxe $189/year for up to three properties, with extra properties $99/year each
- Stowly: free for unlimited items and rooms; Plus $39/year or $4.99/month; Pro $79/year or $9.99/month
- HomeZada states no refunds on either monthly or annual plans
- Both let you cancel at any time
The gap reflects the difference in scope. You are paying HomeZada for a suite; you are paying Stowly for one thing done thoroughly.
Where HomeZada is genuinely better
- Multiple properties — their Deluxe plan covers up to three; Stowly handles one home
- Free family invites — they let you invite family members at no extra cost, where Stowly's household sharing sits on the Pro plan
- Maintenance scheduling, remodel budgeting and home finances — Stowly has maintenance logging but nothing like their project and finance modules
- AI features — they offer AI chats and design tools; Stowly has none
If any of those are what you came for, HomeZada is the better purchase and this comparison should end here.
Where Stowly is better
- Focus — one job, so there's less to learn and less to abandon
- The claim document — an insurance-ready PDF with photos, values and dates, built for handing to an adjuster
- Read-only share links — send your inventory to an insurer or family member without them needing an account
- Warranty and return-window tracking with reminders before they lapse, free
- Price — Plus is $39 a year against $99 for HomeZada's first paid tier
- No app store, no install — it runs in any browser and adds to your home screen
The question that decides it
Ask what you actually want to have finished in a month. If the answer is "a maintenance calendar, a renovation budget, and a picture of what my house is worth," that is HomeZada's territory and Stowly will feel thin. If the answer is "a complete, photographed record of everything I own, ready if I ever have to make a claim," that is the whole of what Stowly does — and doing less is why it tends to get finished.
Frequently asked questions
Is HomeZada free? At the time of writing they offer a free Essentials plan that includes home inventory and documents, with maintenance, projects, finances and reports on paid tiers. Check their current pricing before deciding, since plans change.
Which is better for an insurance claim? Stowly, because that is what it is built around — receipts attached to items, an insurance-ready PDF export, and a read-only link you can send an adjuster. HomeZada holds similar underlying data across a broader system.
Can I use both? Some people do, and there's nothing stopping you — but keeping two inventories current is exactly the kind of maintenance that kills inventories. Pick the one that matches the job you actually care about.