HomeExchange alternatives
No annual fee, andyou keep your house.
By Nate Truniger, cofounder · Updated October 2026
Short answer: Adopted Adults is a HomeExchange alternative with no annual membership. HomeExchange is $235 a year for unlimited exchanges; here the app is free for adopters and staying is always free. The larger difference is that nobody moves out. Your guest stays with you while you are home, so there is no deep clean, no house manual and no key handover, and there are no points to buy, so nobody travels without hosting. ID verification is required before any stay is booked and costs nothing, and a person reads every listing before it goes live.
You write an adoption, a plan for what you’d actually do with a guest, and you stay with members anywhere else for nothing. Everyone here puts something in, a home or the pass that pays for the app, so nobody is only taking.
- 98
- countries
- 1,346
- cities
Adopted Adults at a glance
- How it works
- Members host each other in their own homes. You publish an adoption, a plan for what you would do with a guest, and you stay with members elsewhere. Nobody moves out: the host is home while the guest is there.
- Cost
- Staying is always free. Hosting is always free, with no subscription for anyone who opens their home. Members who cannot host can hold a Nomad Pass instead.
- Safety
- Government ID verification is required before any stay is booked, at no cost. Video calls are built into the app. Reviews stay hidden until both sides submit. A person reviews every listing before it goes live.
- Who it suits
- People who want a local host and are willing to host someone back. It is not suitable for anyone who needs a whole place to themselves, or a booking at short notice.
| Adopted Adults | HomeExchange | Kindred | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Membership fee | Free for adopters | $235 a year | None |
| Cost per stay | Nothing. Staying is always free | Nothing beyond the membership | A cleaning fee and a service fee, per trip |
| Are you home? | Yes. That's the whole point | No, you're away | No, you're away |
| Can you travel without hosting? | No. You host, or you hold the pass | Yes. GuestPoints can be bought | No. Credits cannot be bought |
| Cleaning first | Tidy up, like a friend is coming | Clean the house room by room yourself | Arranged by Kindred, paid by the guest |
| Keys and a house manual | Neither. You're there to answer | Yes | Yes |
| Matching | You ask. No swap, no points | A swap, or GuestPoints | Credits, one per night |
| A local who knows the place | Your host, who lives there | No. The home is empty | No. The home is empty |
Where HomeExchange is the better choice
Said before anything else, because it is true. HomeExchange has vastly more homes than we do, in far more places, and that matters more than any feature when you want a specific city on specific dates. You also get the whole house: nobody else in it, the kitchen yours, the kids as loud as they like. And if you swap several times a year, a flat $235 works out cheaper than paying per trip anywhere else.
If that is what you want, go and use it. The rest of this page is for people who looked at the annual fee, or at everything they still have to do around it, and wanted something simpler.
What the membership does not remove
The $235 buys unlimited exchanges, and that is a fair deal. What it does not buy is any of the work: HomeExchange still tells members to clean the house room by room before they leave, you still write the document explaining the boiler and which key is which, you still hand those keys to somebody, and your home still sits occupied by strangers while you are not in it.
None of that exists here, and not because we removed it cleverly. It does not exist because you never left. Tidy up the way you would for a friend who is coming to stay, and answer their questions in person.
Nobody here can buy their way in
GuestPoints can be purchased, which means a HomeExchange member can collect stays without ever opening their own home. That is a reasonable convenience and it changes who is on the network.
You cannot do that here. You can only ask to stay once you have published an adoption of your own, or you hold the pass that pays for the app. The network is small because of it, and everyone on it is someone who will take a person in.
Common questions
What is the best alternative to HomeExchange?
It depends whether the annual fee or the emptying of your house is the part you mind. HomeExchange is $235 a year for unlimited exchanges, which is good value if you swap several times a year, and it has far more homes than we do. Adopted Adults has no membership fee for adopters and staying is always free, but the bigger difference is that nobody moves out: your guest stays with you while you are home.
Is there a home exchange with no annual fee?
This is one. The app is free for adopters, meaning anyone who publishes an adoption of their own, and staying is always free for everyone. There is a paid pass for people who cannot host, so that they are still paying their way rather than taking, but no fee is required to use the app if you host a friend.
Do I still have to clean the house and write a manual?
No, and this is what the $235 does not buy you. HomeExchange tells members to clean the house room by room before leaving, and a swap needs a house manual and a key handover because nobody will be there. Here you are there. Tidy up the way you would for a friend who is coming to stay, and answer their questions in person.
Can someone travel on here without ever hosting?
No. On HomeExchange, GuestPoints can be bought, so a member can collect stays without ever opening their home. Here you can only ask to stay once you have published an adoption of your own, or you hold the pass that pays for the app. That is the whole design: nobody on it is only taking.
Is it safe to have someone stay while you're there?
ID verification is required before any stay is booked, and it is free. Video calls are built into the app so you can meet before you commit, reviews stay hidden until both sides have written one, and a person reads every listing before it goes live. Being home is part of it too: you are not handing keys to somebody you have never met.
If that sounds like your kind of thing, it’s free for adopters. Add an adoption of your own and you’re not charged to use the app.
Create your accountPrices and policies for HomeExchange and Kindred are taken from their own published help pages as of October 2026 and may have changed since. Check theirs before deciding.
