Best interior design project management software (2026)

"Best interior design project management software" is a crowded, noisy search — most of what ranks is either a listicle nobody fact-checked or a vendor's own comparison page grading itself first. This one is neither. We researched nine tools designers weigh against each other — subscription pricing, payment-processing fees, and the real complaints in their own reviews — and we're one of the nine, clearly marked as such.

Every number below traces to a vendor pricing page, a help-center article, or a named review platform, cited in full at the end of this page. Where a figure isn't published, we say "not published" instead of guessing — that gap is itself part of the story for a couple of these tools.

Quick picks, if you know what you're optimising for

• Best fee transparency: Mortar — the only tool here that publishes payment-processing rates, and its own margin, on the pricing page itself.
• Best if you want full general-ledger accounting built in: Studio Designer, with Design Manager as the direct alternative if you want a second vendor to compare it against.
• Best modern, schedule-first workflow: Programa — the highest-rated tool in this list on Capterra.
• Cheapest honest entry point: DesignFiles — lowest published price, month-to-month, and the only competitor passing Stripe fees through at cost.
• Best purpose-built client portal, with a caveat worth reading: Mydoma Studio, now owned by Studio Designer.
• Broadest toolkit plus marketplace lead generation: Houzz Pro — if you're design-build and will use the 3D estimating tools.
• Best visual, floor-plan-anchored workspace, at a premium: Materio — the closest thing to Mortar's concept, at roughly double the price and with the only project caps in the category.
• Best pure FF&E spec tool, if you already have a PM tool: Gather — no budgets, no client portal, no payments; just fast spec-building.

The full pricing + payment-fee table

No tool in this category — ours included, before this page — publishes both subscription price and payment-processing fees in one place. Most publish neither the rate nor the margin; a few publish the rate but not the margin. We think a designer moving five- and six-figure procurement invoices through a platform deserves to see both before a sales call, so we've made "where the fees are disclosed" its own column.

All figures from vendor pricing pages and help documentation as of July 2026 — full citations at the end of this page. Pricing changes; check the vendor's page before deciding.

1. Mortar

Mortar is a visual workspace for interior design studios: budgets, product selections and procurement, client approvals, and team collaboration in one place, organised around rooms, selections, and procurement — the way a real project actually runs.

Budgets are visual — progress bars, colour-coded on-track/approaching/over states, totals that update in real time, visible to your client in the client portal as well as to you. Product research pulls data from a pasted URL or a browser clipper instead of manual retyping, with CSV/XLSX import and column mapping for the library you've already built. Client approvals are recorded per item with a date and an activity history, so "did they approve that?" is a lookup, not a scroll through email. See the budget view and procurement workflow in more depth on their own pages.

Strengths: Payment fees — card and bank transfer, including Mortar's own share — published on the pricing page, not a help article. Per-item order tracking (ordered, lead time, expected delivery, received) and supplier quote requests with reply threading, both close to what the accounting-first incumbents offer and neither of which Programa or DesignFiles currently publish. Unlimited projects, no onboarding fee.

Weaknesses: Mortar is the newest tool on this list, with the smallest track record — we'd rather say that here than have you find out. It doesn't do full general-ledger accounting; it's built to sit alongside dedicated accounting software, not replace it, so if your project tool needs to be your accounting system, Studio Designer or Design Manager are the better fit.

Best for: solo designers and small studios who want budget and procurement rigor their clients can see, and who are comfortable keeping the books in dedicated accounting software.

Pricing: $59/user/month, unlimited projects, no onboarding fee. Payments: 3.3% + 30¢ card; 0.4% bank transfer, min $1, capped at $15.

2. Studio Designer

Studio Designer is the deepest designer-specific accounting in the industry, built for firms that want their project tool to double as their general ledger. Every tier — Essentials, Enterprise, Premier — includes full accounting and StudioPay payments; nothing is upsell-gated. CPAs who work with design firms recommend it for exactly this reason: "the comprehensive reporting can not be beat," according to The Designer CPA.

Strengths: The general-ledger depth genuinely replaces outside bookkeeping software for firms that use it that way. StudioPay's ACH rate — 0.5% capped at $25 — is competitive for large procurement invoices, and card fees pass through to clients automatically. Financial-consultant partners get a 50% user discount, which tells you how seriously the accountant ecosystem around it is treated.

Weaknesses: The learning curve is the dominant complaint in reviews — one user wrote they'd need "an entire month of schooling to function properly within it" (per a SoftwareWorld review summary). Others describe it as "very cumbersome" (Lauren P., Capterra), and support response times draw repeated criticism ("customer support takes half a week to get a response to simple questions," per Slashdot/SourceForge review summaries). One firm president warned it's "almost impossible to leave this company without losing a huge amount of data" (Daniel C., Capterra).

Best for: established firms with (or training) staff who want their project tool and their accounting system to be the same product. We go deeper — including named review complaints and a full comparison table — in Studio Designer alternatives, and head-to-head in Mortar vs Studio Designer.

Pricing: $69–$119/user/mo depending on tier and billing cycle.

3. Design Manager

Design Manager is the other accounting-first incumbent: project management, purchasing, and full accounting, US-centric, aimed at firms that run on reports and ledgers rather than mood boards.

Strengths: Reporting that the accountants who see it consistently praise — "all of my clients that use DM love the reporting features," per The Designer CPA. Payments run through the designer's own Stripe account (DesignPay), so the firm holds the merchant relationship rather than the platform, and a built-in surcharge feature passes processing fees to clients.

Weaknesses: The same CPA source notes the trade-off: "in order to review comprehensive reporting, data input can take longer to enter." Its public review footprint is remarkably thin — 2.8/5 on G2 from just two reviews — so independent sentiment is hard to gauge either way. Payment rates (3.1% card, 1.2% ACH) appear only in a marketing blog post; the help-center rates link is dead.

Best for: established, accounting-driven firms directly comparing it against Studio Designer, for whom comprehensive reporting outweighs data-entry overhead.

Pricing: $79/user/mo (teams over 10 go through sales).

4. Programa

Programa is the polished modern option: FF&E schedules, pinboards, client dashboards, and invoicing, built by an Australian team with global reach. Its Capterra rating is the strongest in this category — 4.8/5 across 73 reviews — with consistent praise for the interface: it's "thoughtfully designed for creative professionals and presents beautifully in meetings," per reviewer Emily B.

Strengths: Fast, beautiful schedule building; strong client-facing presentation; Programa Pay and procurement ordering bundled into the single plan rather than sold as add-ons.

Weaknesses: No native mobile app, and reviewers note the mobile/iPad web experience needs work — "sometimes parts of pages are cut off or buttons are hidden." Some report save/sync glitches: "sometimes it is not saving changes like reordering items in schedules so having to repeat tasks is frustrating." Multi-currency invoicing has been broken for some users, and payment-processing rates aren't published on the pricing page — Programa's feature pages use "no surprise fees" language without printing an actual rate.

Best for: designers whose practice lives in schedules and client presentation, working mostly at a desk, who pair the tool with Xero or QuickBooks for the books. Full head-to-head: Mortar vs Programa.

Pricing: $71/mo including one seat, +$31 per additional seat. Unlimited projects, 7-day trial.

5. DesignFiles

DesignFiles is the value pick: mood boards, floor plans, sourcing, a client portal, and invoicing at the lowest published price in the category, with month-to-month billing and a 90-day money-back guarantee. It also deserves specific credit: it's the only tool in our research that passes Stripe's card and ACH fees through at cost, with no platform markup.

Strengths: Affordable and easy to start — one designer-blogger calls it her top pick for its "user-friendly interface that's great for small to medium-sized businesses" (Spaces by Dee). Fee honesty, even if the rate itself is buried in a help doc rather than the pricing page.

Weaknesses: Reviewers report "numerous glitches within the system, mostly with the browser clipper and the floor design feature," and note "the moodboard and floor design feature cannot communicate with each other." Cross-project visibility is weak — you open each project individually to see where it stands. ACH payments and full invoicing are reserved for the $75 Full Service tier. And Ashley B., a Capterra reviewer, flags that clients lose access to their files if you pause your account.

Best for: e-designers and full-service solos watching costs, with modest procurement complexity, for whom month-to-month flexibility matters.

Pricing: e-Design $55/mo, Full Service $75/mo, +$30/user.

6. Mydoma Studio

Mydoma built a loyal following as a purpose-built platform for solo and small-studio designers, with a client portal reviewers single out by name. Two things have reshaped it since: the "Mydoma Next" rebuild, and its July 2024 acquisition by Studio Designer.

Strengths: The client portal remains a real strength — "contractors and clients can have access into the Portal to see everything they need," per The Designer CPA. One plan, no feature-gating.

Weaknesses: The Next migration hurt trust: reviewers describe "issues/glitches almost weekly," proposals and moodboards lost in the transition, and a redesign that "way overcomplicated things unnecessarily" (per a Capterra review from a Principal Designer). Reviewers also report no data export if you leave, and that only paid invoices sync to QuickBooks Online. There's now a $300 onboarding fee on top of the subscription, and Mydoma Pay adds roughly 1% on top of Stripe's rates — disclosed in help docs, not the pricing page.

Best for: designers for whom the current, post-Next product already fits, who value the community, and who see a future upgrade path into Studio Designer's accounting stack as a plus rather than a risk. We've written a fuller, more empathetic piece on what the acquisition means for Mydoma users.

Pricing: $58/user/mo billed yearly, + $300 one-time onboarding.

7. Houzz Pro

Houzz Pro is the broadest toolset here — estimates, invoicing, 3D floor plans, takeoffs, CRM, selections, marketing, and lead generation from the Houzz marketplace — serving designers and contractors together, with Ivy's former user base absorbed into it. Its Capterra rating sits at 4.3/5 across more than a thousand reviews, and clients like the polish: "clients say the software looks beautiful compared to other options," per The Designer CPA.

Strengths: Genuine breadth — the 3D floor planner and takeoffs have no equivalent on this list. Marketplace lead generation is a channel none of the other eight tools offer.

Weaknesses: Pricing isn't published; tiers are quote-gated, and the only public figure is $60/user/mo for extra seats (its advertising packages separately "start at $499/month"). Reviewers report serious billing and support problems, including a $700/month charge sent to collections despite a requested cancellation, and rates raised 30% on auto-renewal. The QuickBooks Online integration is described by The Designer CPA as "wonky at best." Payment rates are published only inside an image file, with a $5 minimum per transaction and ACH fee caps that vary by subscription package. And there's the structural issue one designer called a dealbreaker: Houzz also sells products directly to your clients (Dee, Spaces by Dee).

Best for: design-build practices that will genuinely use the 3D tools and estimating suite, and for whom marketplace lead generation outweighs fee and contract clarity. Full head-to-head: Mortar vs Houzz Pro.

Pricing: Not published — you'll need a sales call.

8. Materio

Materio is the closest existing embodiment of "visual-first, plan-anchored, everything-in-one-place" — selections, approvals, budgets, and communication tied together with Floor Plan Mapping™, which pins selections to their location on the plan. Materio says it serves 1,500+ design and design-build pros. One customer, quoted on Materio's own site, put it this way: "We now have ZERO spreadsheets for design because Materio has given us one centralized place."

Strengths: The most direct positioning overlap with Mortar's concept, and the deepest plan-anchored visual workflow in this list. QuickBooks sync and its own MaterioPay for retainers, deposits, and invoices.

Weaknesses: Entry pricing at $115/mo is roughly 1.5–2x Programa or Studio Designer's per-seat cost, and Materio is the only tool in this category with project caps — plans default to 5 projects, with paid packs required to add more (exact pack pricing isn't published). MaterioPay's card rate, 3.65%, is the highest of any tool in our research, and the fee schedule lives in Materio's help center rather than its pricing page. Independent review data is thin — we could not locate a substantial third-party review base to weigh against the vendor's own testimonials.

Best for: design-build studios that want the deepest visual, plan-anchored workflow available today and can absorb both the entry price and the project caps.

Pricing: Pro $115/mo (2 seats), Team $249/mo, Team Plus $495/mo — 5 projects included, paid project packs beyond that.

9. Gather

Gather is a focused FF&E specification tool for interior design and architecture teams — fast spec-building and shared product libraries, not a full project-management workspace.

Strengths: Intuitive spec building and shared libraries speed up the sourcing side of the job specifically.

Weaknesses: Reviewers say it "can be slightly glitchy and requires double-checking work," and note they want better client-approval tools — several pair Gather with Basecamp for the project-management layer Gather doesn't provide. There's no budget engine, no client portal, and no payments: invoices push one-way to QuickBooks Online (US only), and purchase orders are PDF exports rather than trackable orders.

Best for: teams that already run project management, budgets, and client communication somewhere else and want a dedicated, fast FF&E spec tool to plug in alongside it.

Pricing: Spec Lite $99/mo, Spec Pro $199/mo (+$39/seat), Spec Premium custom.

A note on this list

Nine tools, not the whole market. We left out Spoak (a DIY/prosumer visualization tool, not built for pro procurement or budget workflows) and Fohlio (now enterprise/hospitality-tilted, with no public pricing at all — a fair comparison isn't possible without a number to compare). Ivy no longer exists as a standalone product; Houzz absorbed it and migrated its users into Houzz Pro, so it's covered under that entry rather than its own.

What to check before you commit to anything

1. Get the full price in writing. Subscription and payment rates and any caps or minimums — not just the one figure a pricing page chooses to show.
2. Can you get your data out? Ask every vendor — including us — how export works before you import a single project.
3. Does the trial feel like your studio? Load a real project into the trial, not a toy one. You'll know within a week whether the tool matches how you work.

Mortar's pricing — subscription and payment fees, including our share — is published in full: $59 per user, per month, card payments at 3.3% + 30¢, bank transfers at 0.4% capped at $15. If you'd like to see the client portal, budget tracking, and procurement working on a real project, start a trial or book a walkthrough.