House Manager Alternative: Blueprint vs House Manager
A polished, Apple-only indie app that covers the home-record basics, inventory, maintenance, projects, paint, and warranties, with PDF reports and partner sharing. Its full name is House Manager & Planner.
House Manager & Planner is a well-made indie app that covers the home-record basics cleanly: an appliance inventory, recurring maintenance with history, home-improvement projects with checklists and budgets, paint tracking, warranties, and PDF reports, with sharing for a partner or roommate. It is Apple-only, free to download with optional in-app purchases, and already better reviewed than most of this category. Blueprint covers that same home side and adds the parts House Manager does not: AI project plans, contractor quote leveling, CPSC recall checks, appliance age from the serial number, a full web app, and export you can take with you. Competitor pricing and features were checked as of November 2026 and can change, so confirm the current details on their site before deciding.
Blueprint
Pro $7.99/mo or $49.99/yr
House Manager
Free to download; optional in-app purchases (prices not published)
Your records outlast your subscription
Cancel and your records stay in your account. You can still open them and export them as CSV or JSON.
Family sharing included
Up to 5 people, including the owner, share one Pro plan at no extra cost.
The details that decide it
| Feature | Blueprint | House Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Pro $7.99/mo or $49.99/yr | Free to download; optional in-app purchases, prices not published on the site |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial on the annual plan | Free to download; attachments and some features need a purchase |
| Platforms | Full web app plus a native iOS app, one account across both | iPhone, iPad, and Mac (Apple only); no web, no Android |
| AI project planning | 10 AI project plans/mo: steps, materials, tools, cost estimate, schedule | None |
| AI home assistant | Ask Blueprint answers from your own records and links each answer to them; 100 AI questions/mo, shared with photo diagnosis | None |
| Photo diagnosis | Photo of a problem gets its likely cause, severity, safety warnings, and next steps, then a project plan in one tap | Not advertised |
| Maintenance reminders | Recurring schedules with push and email reminders, or one daily digest, plus completion history | Yes: recurring reminders with maintenance history |
| Project tracking | Unlimited projects with steps, budgets, and schedules | Projects with checklists, budgets, and timelines (reviewers note task editing inside projects is limited) |
| Inventory | Tool and supply inventory plus a shareable wishlist | Appliance inventory with receipts, warranties, and attachments |
| Appliance age | Build date read from the serial number for brands that publish date codes (GE, Whirlpool, Rheem, Carrier, LG, Samsung, and more), with age and remaining life | Not advertised |
| Recall checks | Appliances checked daily against CPSC recalls, matched on brand plus model | Not advertised |
| Contractor quotes | Bids compared line by line, flagging what each one leaves out or excludes, outlier prices, and how each total compares to your estimate | Not advertised |
| Paint colors | Paint colors recorded per property | Paint tracking with where each color is used |
| PDF home report | Insurance view grouped by room with serials, photos, and value totals, or a resale view led by maintenance history, on web and iOS | PDF reports for inventory, paints, and projects |
| Shared access | Up to 5 members in one shared workspace, you included, with no per-seat fee | Home sharing with a partner or roommate |
| Your data | CSV files for appliances, maintenance, projects, expenses, contacts, and more, plus a full JSON copy, on web and iOS, even after a subscription ends; CSV import on the web | No web app; data lives on your Apple devices, export not advertised |
Pick Blueprint if you want
- Anyone who wants AI to plan the project, not just record the house.
- People comparing contractor bids line by line against a real estimate.
- Households that also want recall checks and appliance age from the serial number.
- Anyone who needs a web app, not just iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
- People who want their records exportable to CSV and JSON, on web and iOS.
Pick House Manager if you want
- Apple-only households that want a clean, inexpensive home record and nothing more.
- People who prefer an optional in-app purchase to a recurring subscription.
- Anyone who wants inventory, maintenance, projects, paint, and PDF reports in one tidy app.
Bottom line
House Manager & Planner is a genuinely nice home-record app, and if you are all-Apple and want the basics done well for little or no money, it is a fair pick. Blueprint plays a bigger game on the same field: the AI plans the work, bids get leveled line by line, appliances get recall checks and an age read from the serial number, and everything syncs to a real web app and exports when you want it. It is $49.99 a year, and your records are never stuck on one set of devices.
Blueprint vs House Manager FAQ
What is House Manager & Planner?
It is an indie home-management app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that keeps an appliance inventory, recurring maintenance with history, home-improvement projects with checklists and budgets, paint tracking, warranties, and PDF reports, with sharing for a partner or roommate. It is free to download with optional in-app purchases.
Is House Manager free?
It is free to download, with optional in-app purchases for premium features like file attachments. The app does not publish specific prices on its website, so we are not quoting a figure. Blueprint is $49.99/yr or $7.99/mo with a 7-day free trial on annual.
What does Blueprint do that House Manager does not?
AI project plans with materials, tools, a cost estimate, and a schedule; contractor quote leveling line by line against an estimate; CPSC recall checks on your appliances; appliance age and remaining life from the serial number; a full web app alongside iOS; and full CSV and JSON export. House Manager covers the inventory, maintenance, projects, paint, and reports well, but stays on Apple devices.
Does House Manager work on the web or Android?
No. House Manager is Apple-only (iPhone, iPad, and Mac). Blueprint runs as a full web app and a native iOS app on one account, so you can work from a laptop and your phone. Blueprint does not have an Android app today, but its web app works in Android browsers.
Which has the better home inventory?
They are close on the basics: both track appliances with receipts, warranties, and attachments. Blueprint adds a nameplate scan that fills in brand, model, and serial, appliance age from the serial number, owner's-manual lookup, and parts with buy links. House Manager is simpler and cleaner if all you need is the list.
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