Quick answer: as of July 2026, Reserve Study Wizard appears to be gone. Its website, reservestudywizard.com, no longer resolves, and the only places the product still shows up are AI-generated "top 10" listicles. So this article covers verifiable tools to use instead. If you are a credentialed reserve analyst who prepares studies for clients, look at WinReserve ($39 to $79 per month billed annually, as published on their site), PRA System, or Facilities 7. If you are a volunteer HOA board that wants to keep reserve planning current between professional studies, look at uPlanIt ($399 per budget season), SmartProperty (starts at $150 per month), or our own Effortless HOA Reserve Planner ($49 per year).
One disclosure before we go further: we make Reserve Planner, so weigh that when reading our take on the tools below. Every pricing and feature claim here is tied to what each vendor publishes on their own site, and we will tell you plainly when a competitor is the better fit — for professional analysts, that is most of the time.
What Happened to Reserve Study Wizard?
We tried to evaluate Reserve Study Wizard the way we evaluate every product in this space: visit the site, check the published pricing, request a demo. We could not, because the website does not exist. When we checked in July 2026, reservestudywizard.com failed DNS resolution entirely — the domain does not point to anything.
Digging further made the picture stranger. The most detailed descriptions of Reserve Study Wizard live in third-party "best reserve study software" listicles that appear to be AI-generated. Several of them attribute the product to rbha.com — but that domain is a parked page listing itself for sale at $33,750. No product, no company page, no pricing, no support contact. The features those listicles describe — a step-by-step wizard interface, a pre-loaded component library, CAI-aligned reports — cannot be verified against any primary source. The product may be defunct, or may never have existed as described.
This matters beyond one product. Reserve study software is a niche category, and a surprising share of what ranks in search results for it is machine-written filler no human ever verified. Before shortlisting any tool, apply a simple test: does the vendor have a working website, published pricing (or a named sales process), and a way to see the product live? Every alternative below passes, with one partial exception we will flag.
First, Decide Which Job You Are Hiring For
"Reserve study software" covers two different jobs, and mixing them up is the most common way boards waste money here.
- Study-authoring software for professionals. Credentialed reserve specialists need software that produces complete reserve studies: multiple calculation methodologies, component photo addenda, preparer notes, and report formats that satisfy industry standards and state statutes. WinReserve, PRA System, and Facilities 7 live here.
- Planning tools for boards. Volunteer boards need something much lighter: a way to keep the funding plan current between professional studies, model "what if we defer the roof two years" scenarios, and show homeowners the math at budget season. uPlanIt, Reserve Planner, and Thorpia live here. SmartProperty straddles both worlds with a software-plus-services model.
Neither category replaces a professional reserve study where your state requires one — a growing list of states now mandates studies or reserve funding, which we track in our state-by-state reserve study requirements guide. A professional study is a meaningful expense (see our breakdown of what a reserve study costs), which is exactly why software that keeps the plan alive between studies has become its own category.
Alternatives for Professional Reserve Analysts
WinReserve — Best Cloud Platform for Study Providers
WinReserve is the cloud successor to a desktop program that its maker, Advanced Reserve Solutions, says has been used to produce more than 30,000 reserve studies since the firm was founded in 1997. That lineage shows: this is genuine analyst software, built by a reserve study firm for people who prepare studies for a living, and pitched around keeping a study continuously up to date in the cloud rather than as a static annual document.
As published on their site, the Basic plan is $39 per month billed annually (one user, all calculation methods, unlimited scenarios, but "limited reports — just the basics"), Professional is $79 per month billed annually (five users, component photos, the full report suite), and Enterprise (25 users) is contact-for-pricing. Entry is via a free demo request; no trial duration is stated.
- Three built-in calculation methods: Component, Minimum Cash Flow, and Directed Cash Flow
- Unlimited "what-if" scenarios with versioning and preparer notes
- Auto-generated PDF reserve study reports in numerous professional summary formats
- Per-component photos plus a Photo Library for building a photo addendum
- Multi-user access with role-based credentialing
What it does better than board tools like ours: professional report production. If you need to hand a client a complete reserve study document with a photo addendum, multiple methodology options, and preparer notes, WinReserve is built for that and Reserve Planner simply is not.
Limitations: the Basic tier is single-user with limited reports, both published tiers are billed annually, and Enterprise pricing is not published.
PRA System — Longest Track Record, Fully Published Pricing
PRA System traces its lineage to what the vendor describes as the first reserve study software, initially designed in 1989. It is Windows desktop software with an internet-connected central database, sold as a single-property Core edition and a multi-property Master edition for reserve study firms and management companies.
Its pricing is the most transparent in the professional category — every number is published on their site. Individual wholly-owned properties pay an initial license of $500 (up to 500 units) ranging to $2,000 (up to 10,000 units), plus an annual subscription of $150 to $450 that includes support and training. Reserve study and management companies pay a $700 initial license covering the first two properties, then $150 per property (3 to 100 units) or $125 per property (100 to 500 units), with a $100 fee that applies only when a reserve study update is done.
- Vendor claims it is the only reserve software basing all reports on monthly rather than annual calculations
- Cash Management module for tracking individual financial instruments and interest calculations
- CPA-evaluated calculation logic; reports meet AICPA CIRA reporting requirements
- Report tools the vendor says can produce complete reports in under 30 minutes
What it does better: calculation rigor and pricing transparency. Monthly-basis calculations and a CPA quality assurance evaluation are distinctive claims that no board-level tool matches, ours included.
Limitations: this is a legacy stack. The vendor's own site lists compatibility with Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7; the software requires an internet connection despite being desktop-based; and per-property licenses plus per-update fees accumulate for firms. The web presence is dated too — when we checked in July 2026, the www version of the site served a mismatched SSL certificate.
Facilities 7 — Deep Component Modeling, Unpublished Pricing
Facilities 7 (F7) is web-based reserve study software from Facilities Advisors, a reserve study consulting firm that says more than a thousand associations use the product. It is sold as an annual license with "no large up front software cost" — but no dollar amounts are published anywhere on the site, so budgeting for it requires a sales conversation.
- Multi-level structure: multiple category levels plus major and minor component levels, with financial calculations attaching at either level
- Funding via regular assessments, special assessments, and loans, with configurable interest, tax, inflation, and contingency inputs
- No limit on components; multiple what-if funding scenarios
- Report builder with Excel, Word, and PDF export, plus a management-company/region/association hierarchy for portfolios
- Marketed as an ICBI-certified product meeting International Capital Budgeting Institute standards
What it does better: component modeling depth. The multi-level component structure and the ability to model loans and special assessments as funding sources go well beyond what board-facing tools offer.
Limitations: no published pricing, and by the vendor's own roadmap page, only one of seven planned modules — the Reserve module — exists today. Like WinReserve, it comes from a reserve study consulting firm rather than a standalone software company; that is not a flaw, but it is worth knowing who you are buying from.
Alternatives for HOA Boards
SmartProperty — The Living Reserve Study, With Services Attached
SmartProperty sells a hybrid: a software subscription it calls the Living Reserve Study, plus optional professional services. As published on their site, the subscription starts at $150 per month with pause-or-cancel-anytime terms, a Financial Update reserve study (no onsite inspection) starts at $800 per year, and onsite inspection studies are custom-quoted. Maintenance tracking and accounting integration are $50-per-month add-ons each.
- Component inventory with photos, geo-tracking to exact locations, document attachments, and GL-code linking
- 30-year capital expense projections with what-if modeling of up to five funding options
- Integrated project management — Kanban, list, and Gantt views — tied to reserve components
- Atlas AI, launched June 2026, drawing on 20 years of reserve study data and regional cost benchmarks
- Integrations with AppFolio, CINC Systems, and Vantaca
What it does better than Reserve Planner: honestly, a great deal — if the budget allows. Geo-tracked components, built-in project management, and the option to bolt on professional study updates make it a far deeper platform than ours. At $1,800-plus per year before add-ons versus our $49 per year, it should be. For large communities and high-rises with active capital projects, that depth can be worth every dollar.
Limitations: "starts at $150/month" is the only published subscription number — the actual tier structure and unit-based scaling are not published — and useful capabilities like maintenance tracking cost extra.
uPlanIt — Best If Association Reserves Did Your Study
uPlanIt is an interactive what-if scenario tool from Association Reserves, one of the national reserve study firms. As published on their site, it is included free with every professional reserve study the firm prepares, or $399 per budget season as a standalone subscription. Boards can test funding changes, adjust replacement costs, or postpone projects against their actual reserve study data, with results in charts and tables — live during a budget meeting if needed.
What it does better: continuity with professional data. Because it runs on the study Association Reserves prepared for your community, there is no re-keying of components and no drift between the professional study and the board's planning numbers. Its centralized database also preserves continuity across board turnover.
Limitations: it is tied to Association Reserves' ecosystem, access is seasonal (through fiscal year end plus three bonus months) rather than perpetual, and subscription sales are final with no refunds. The vendor is admirably direct that uPlanIt "is not intended to replace a Reserve Study."
Effortless HOA Reserve Planner — Our Tool, Built for Boards Between Studies
Reserve Planner is the tool we make, and here is exactly what it is: a browser-based, self-serve workspace for volunteer boards to keep reserve planning current between professional studies. It costs $49 per year (or $6 per month) per association, and $249 per year covers up to five associations for management companies and treasurers who wear multiple hats.
- Start free: our component-based reserve calculator requires no signup
- A 60-item component library with typical useful lives, so you are not starting from a blank page
- Both funding methods following CAI conventions — full/component funding and cash flow funding
- Board-ready PDF output, share links for the rest of the board, and CSV export
- Annual review reminders so the plan actually gets revisited instead of gathering dust
What we are honest about: Reserve Planner is not reserve-study-preparation software for credentialed analysts. There are no site-inspection workflows, no photo addenda, no client report engine. If you prepare studies professionally, WinReserve or PRA System will serve you far better. Reserve Planner is for the years between professional studies — pull the component list from your last study, update balances and costs annually (our DIY reserve study update guide walks through the process), and walk into budget season with numbers the whole board can see.
Thorpia — For Very Small Self-Managed HOAs
Thorpia is an HOA management workspace for small self-managed associations — typically up to 20 units — with built-in reserve planning. As published on their site, it is free up to 10 units and $1 per unit per month beyond that, and it offers a free reserve fund calculator with no signup. The catch, and the partial exception we flagged earlier: the product is in private beta behind a waitlist as of July 2026. Its own disclaimer is refreshingly clear — "Planning tool only. Not a formal reserve study or legal advice."
How to Choose
- You prepare reserve studies for clients: WinReserve for a modern cloud workflow, or PRA System if monthly-basis calculations and fully transparent pricing matter more than a modern stack. Get a Facilities 7 quote if deep component hierarchies and loan modeling are central to your work.
- Your board wants software plus professional updates in one relationship: SmartProperty, if the budget supports $1,800-plus per year.
- Association Reserves already does your studies: uPlanIt is the obvious pick — it is free with your study.
- Your board wants an inexpensive way to keep the plan current between studies: Reserve Planner at $49 per year, starting with the free calculator before you spend anything.
- You run a tiny self-managed HOA: join Thorpia's waitlist, and use free calculators in the meantime.
The Bottom Line
Reserve Study Wizard is a cautionary tale about trusting listicles over primary sources: a dead domain, propped up in search results by AI-generated rankings pointing at a parked page. Every tool above, by contrast, has a working product you can verify yourself — and each genuinely wins for someone. Professional analysts need analyst tools, and WinReserve, PRA System, and Facilities 7 are the real options there. Boards need something lighter, and uPlanIt, SmartProperty, Reserve Planner, and eventually Thorpia cover that spectrum from $49 to $1,800-plus per year.
Whatever you pick, remember that software keeps a reserve plan current — it does not create one from nothing. If your community has never had a professional study, start with our guide to choosing a reserve study company. If you have a study that is a year or two old, an annual update with any of the board tools above — plus a quick health check with our free percent funded calculator — will keep it honest until the next professional visit.