Mortar vs Studio Designer for interior design projects
Studio Designer has earned its place: it's the tool accountants recommend, and for a firm that wants its project system and its general ledger to be the same product, it's genuinely hard to beat. This comparison won't pretend otherwise.
But the reviews tell a consistent story about what that power costs — a learning curve measured in weeks, support measured in days, and an interface that makes the day-to-day feel like accounting software because it is accounting software. Mortar is built for the other kind of studio: design-led, client-facing, and happy to keep the ledger in dedicated accounting software. Here's the honest breakdown.
Weighing more options than these two? Start with our full roundup of interior design project management software, or the dedicated Studio Designer alternatives guide linked below.
Written by Darren Clark — Founder of Mortar — 25+ years building software
Last updated July 15, 2026
Quick verdict
Choose Studio Designer if you have (or are hiring) bookkeeping staff and want full general-ledger accounting inside your project tool. Choose Mortar if you want visual budgets, procurement tracking, and a client portal you can set up in an afternoon — with payment fees published, and your accounting staying in Xero or QuickBooks.
Side by side
How they stack up
Mortar
$59/user/mo
Unlimited projects, no onboarding fee
Best for: Designers who want budget and procurement rigor without the month of setup schooling
- Visual, colour-coded budgets that update in real time
- Paste-URL product scraping plus a browser clipper
- CSV/XLSX item import with column mapping
- Branded, no-install client portal with a Pinterest-style board view
- Per-item client approvals with date and activity history
- Supplier quote requests with status tracking and reply threading
- Per-item order tracking — ordered, lead time, expected delivery, received
- Invoicing and client payments via Stripe Connect
Studio Designer
$69–$119/user/mo
Essentials / Enterprise / Premier, annual vs monthly billing
Best for: Established firms with bookkeepers who want project management and full general-ledger accounting in one product
- Full general-ledger accounting on every tier
- Procurement and purchase orders
- Client portal
- StudioPay payments included on all tiers
- Designer-specific financial reporting
Feature by feature
Mortar vs Studio Designer: feature comparison
Feature | Mortar | Studio Designer |
|---|---|---|
Visual, colour-coded budgets | ✓ | Ledger-first; reviewers call the visuals dated |
Full general-ledger accounting | — (keep your ledger in your accounting software) | ✓ — its core strength, on every tier |
Client portal | ✓ — no-install, board view | ✓ — reviewers report tiny product images |
Per-item approvals with activity history | ✓ | — |
Setup | Self-serve, same afternoon | Merchant-style StudioPay application: EIN, owner SSNs, credit check, up to 5 business days |
Card fees | 3.3% + 30¢, published | 3.25% + 60¢, fixed — in help docs only |
Bank transfer / ACH fees | 0.4%, min $1, capped at $15 | 0.5% capped at $25, + $4 return / $10 dispute fees |
Fee transparency | Full schedule on the pricing page, including Mortar's share | Rates in help-center articles; ToS defers to a dashboard fee schedule |
Pricing | $59/user/mo, one plan | $69–$119/user/mo across three tiers |
A closer look at Studio Designer
Studio Designer is the long-standing back-office standard for interior design firms: project management, procurement, a client portal, and — its real differentiator — full general-ledger accounting built for the designer workflow. Every tier includes the full GL and StudioPay payments; CPAs who serve designers recommend it for financials ('the comprehensive reporting can not be beat').
The cost of that depth is the dominant complaint theme in reviews: a steep learning curve one user described as needing 'an entire month of schooling to function properly within it,' support response times reviewers measure in days, and an interface designers call clunky and dated — down to product photos so small clients couldn't tell what each item was. Payments run through StudioPay, Studio Designer's own branded gateway: card 3.25% + 60¢ (fixed, cannot be adjusted), ACH 0.5% capped at $25, with a $4 return fee and $10 dispute fee — rates that live in help-center articles, not on the pricing page.
What are our strengths?
Mortar
- Working the same afternoon you sign up — no merchant-account application, no credit check, no training month
- Budgets and selections your clients can actually read, in a portal that needs no install
- Payment fees published on the pricing page, including Mortar's share
- A cheaper ACH cap: 0.4% capped at $15, against StudioPay's 0.5% capped at $25
Studio Designer
- The only tool in this comparison with full built-in accounting — it can replace outside bookkeeping software
- Financial reporting CPAs who serve designers recommend by name
- Cheap, capped ACH (0.5%, capped at $25) built for large procurement invoices
- Automated card-fee pass-through that can bring the designer's effective card cost to zero
Which one is for you?
When to choose each tool
When to choose Mortar
- You want to be running projects the same day you sign up, not after a month of training
- Your clients should see a live, visual picture of the project without learning software
- You want payment rates on the pricing page, not in a help-center article
- You already run accounting in Xero or QuickBooks and don't want to migrate the ledger
When to choose Studio Designer
- You need full general-ledger accounting inside the same product — Mortar doesn't do your books
- You have dedicated bookkeeping staff who will live in the tool daily
- Your payment volume is dominated by very large ACH invoices where StudioPay's $25 cap is still cheap
- You want the financial reporting depth CPAs recommend Studio Designer for
The verdict
Different tools for different centres of gravity
Studio Designer starts from the ledger; Mortar starts from what you and your client are looking at. If the general ledger is the centre of your business, Studio Designer is the honest recommendation — that's why our Studio Designer alternatives guide includes a 'who should stay' section. For everyone else, the month of schooling, the merchant-account paperwork, and the help-doc fee schedule are costs you don't have to pay: Mortar puts the budget, the selections, and the approvals in front of your client from day one, and puts its fees — including its own margin — on the pricing page.
Ready to go deeper on the switch? Read the full Studio Designer alternatives guide — six tools compared, with honest reasons to stay.
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