If you run your inspections on Carson Dunlop's Horizon, you have probably heard the news by now. Horizon is being retired. The software thousands of inspectors have used for years is going away on December 15, 2026.
Your reports, your wording, and your whole workflow live inside that tool, so a shutdown is a real disruption. The good news: you have time, you have options, and nothing you built has to be lost. This guide covers what is happening and what to do first.
What is actually happening
Horizon is closing down. Carson Dunlop has pointed customers toward one replacement as their official pick, and a few other software companies are running move-over offers to pull Horizon inspectors their way. That is normal when a tool this big shuts off. Everybody wants those inspectors.
What matters for you is simple. At some point the lights go off, and after that you cannot log in, cannot pull an old report, and cannot get your data out. So the whole game is getting yourself moved before that day, not on that day.
The timeline, in plain terms
- Now through the fall: the shopping window. This is when you look at replacements, ask questions, and run a trial or two. No need to sign anything yet.
- Before the shutoff: the move window. This is when you get your data out of Horizon and get set up somewhere new. Do not leave this to the last week. Exports get slow and support gets buried when everyone moves at once.
- December 15, 2026: the door closes. Horizon's export tools stop that day, and after that anything still inside Horizon is hard or impossible to reach.
Waiting is what makes this harder. Not because any one tool runs out of room, but because moving costs less and goes smoother when you are not doing it the week before the deadline.
What to do first
Work these in order.
1. Locate your data inside Horizon. Find where your past reports, your templates, and your comment library live in the software, so you know exactly what you are moving.
2. Get an export. Pull your data out into a file you keep. Even if you have not chosen a new tool yet, get a copy in your own hands now. A separate guide on exactly how to export from Horizon is worth reading before you start.
3. Protect your comment library above all. More on this below. It is the hardest piece to replace and the most valuable to keep.
4. Try one or two replacements. Run a trial and do a real inspection in it. See whether the report sounds like you at the end, or like a robot you have to fix.
5. Move before the rush. Once you have picked, get set up early, while support has time for you.
The piece that is easiest to lose: your comment library
Your comment library is the years of wording you have written, tuned, and trusted. It is the difference between a report that sounds like you and a report that sounds like a stranger. It is quietly your most valuable asset in that software, and it is the easiest thing to lose in a move.
Here is the trap. Some replacement tools do not bring your library over. They rebuild it. Their system reads your old reports and generates brand new text in its own style, often trained on thousands of other inspectors' reports. What comes out is an average of a lot of strangers, not your voice. Then you spend weeks fixing it back into sounding like you.
Moving your exact words and rebuilding new words that sort of resemble your words are not the same thing. When you shop, ask every tool the same blunt question: do you import my actual comment library, unchanged, or do you rebuild it? The answer tells you almost everything.
How to choose where to go
You will see a lot of noise: free offers, buyouts, discounts, official picks. Cut through it with a few questions that matter more than price:
- Does it keep my words? Does my report come out in my own saved wording, or does the tool write new text I have to edit afterward?
- Will it ever paste the opposite of what I said? If I say "no damage to the roof," can the tool still drop in a "damage observed" line? That is how inspectors get sued.
- Can I get my library in easily? Does it import my existing comments for me, or make me start over?
- Who owns my data and my clients? If the tool is free, ask what the company is doing with your inspections and your client list.
- Does it work with no signal? Crawlspaces, attics, and basements lose signal. Does the tool keep working down there?
A tool that answers those five well is a tool that respects the business you built. Price is real, but it is not the first question.
You are not starting over
Losing Horizon feels like losing years of work. It does not have to be. Your reports can be exported. Your library can be carried with you, word for word, if you pick a tool that imports instead of rebuilds. Your workflow can be rebuilt somewhere that will not turn the lights off on you next.
That is the whole reason we built the Mach One Reports rescue path for Horizon inspectors. We import your existing comment library for you, in your exact words, reading 7 common file types. Your report comes out sounding like you, not like a robot. It is built to tell "no damage" from "damage," so it does not just grab any comment with the word damage in it. Your data and your clients stay yours, and you can export and leave anytime. And it keeps working offline, down in the crawlspace where the signal dies.
If you have proof of your Horizon subscription (a bill, a receipt, or an account screenshot), there is a rescue rate built just for this move: 30 days free to try it on real inspections, then a price you can see today and lock in, lower than what you pay Horizon now. Sign up on either plan and a real person sits with you one on one, during your free 30 days, and moves your library and template over with you.
Your software is shutting down. We import the library you spent years building.