10 Best Ivy Alternatives in 2026

Ivy (now Houzz Pro) Essential costs $99/month billed annually with a 12-month contract lock-in. Additional seats cost $60/month each. A 3-person studio pays $2,628/year for procurement and billing without CRM or proposals. Top alternatives: Agiled (free tier, all-in-one), DesignFiles ($49/month), Mydoma Studio ($64/user/month), Dubsado ($35/month).

Ivy is a business management platform built for interior designers, now fully integrated into Houzz Pro. It handles procurement, purchase orders, product sourcing, client billing, and project tracking with workflows designed specifically for design firms that manage vendor relationships and client budgets. The related platform Design Manager charges $79/user/month for similar procurement-focused functionality .

The trade-off is scope. Ivy and Houzz Pro are locked to interior design workflows. There is no CRM with visual sales pipelines, no proposal or contract builder with e-signatures, and no client portal where clients can approve deliverables and pay invoices. Pricing requires a 12-month contract commitment, and many designers report difficulty cancelling before the renewal window . For interior designers who need more than procurement, or who run broader creative businesses alongside design, these 10 alternatives cover the gaps Ivy leaves open.

Quick decision guide:

If You Need	Best Pick	Starting Price
Everything in one platform	Agiled	Free
Interior design-specific procurement	DesignFiles	$49/mo
Custom client workflows	Dubsado	$35/mo
Creative booking and proposals	HoneyBook	$29/mo
Freelance finances and tax prep	Bonsai	$15/user/mo
Solopreneur proposals-to-projects	Plutio	$19/mo
Agency project billing	Teamwork	Free
Accounting-first invoicing	FreshBooks	$23/mo
Photography studio management	Studio Ninja	$16/mo

Why Interior Designers Switch From Ivy

Ivy works well for firms whose primary need is procurement and vendor management. But designers report consistent pain points that push them toward broader platforms.

• Mandatory 12-month contract with opaque pricing. Houzz Pro requires a 12-month commitment and does not publish transparent pricing. Essential costs $149/month billed monthly or $99/month billed annually . Multiple Capterra and Sitejabber reviewers report being unable to cancel before the renewal window and experiencing unexpected price increases at renewal, with some designers seeing 30% increases without notice.
• No CRM with visual sales pipelines. Ivy tracks clients within projects but offers no dedicated CRM with deal stages, lead scoring, activity timelines, or automated follow-ups. Designers managing a sales pipeline alongside active projects need a separate tool.
• No proposals or contracts with e-signatures. There is no built-in way to create branded proposals, send contracts, or collect legally binding e-signatures. Designers typically pair Ivy with Dubsado, HoneyBook, or DocuSign for client agreements, adding $29-55/month in additional costs.
• Procurement-heavy, weak on general business management. Ivy excels at product sourcing, purchase orders, and design-specific billing. But for designers who also consult, stage, or run broader creative businesses, the niche focus becomes a limitation. You cannot manage non-design projects, track consulting hours separately, or run marketing campaigns from Ivy.
• Dated interface with limited integrations. The UI has not kept pace with modern SaaS design. Navigation workflows feel less intuitive than platforms built in the last five years. Integration options are limited to QuickBooks Online, with no native connections to Slack, Google Workspace, or Zapier.
• Additional seats cost $60/month each. Scaling from solo to a 3-person studio adds $120/month ($1,440/year) on top of the base subscription . A 3-person studio on the Essential annual plan pays $219/month ($2,628/year) for procurement and billing without CRM, proposals, or a client portal.

Our Cross-Platform Cost Analysis

We cross-referenced published pricing pages, G2, Capterra, and community feedback across all 10 platforms to build a cost comparison that accounts for what interior designers actually need: CRM, invoicing, project management, proposals/contracts, and client portals. The gap between Ivy's procurement-focused pricing and all-in-one platforms is significant.

A solo interior designer on Houzz Pro Essential (annual) pays $1,188/year for procurement, billing, and project tracking without CRM or proposals. Adding HoneyBook Starter for proposals and contracts adds $348/year, bringing the total to $1,536/year for a two-tool stack that still lacks a dedicated CRM. Agiled's free plan covers CRM, invoicing, PM, proposals, contracts, and a client portal at $0/year. Even Agiled's Pro plan at $7.99/user/month ($95.88/year for one user) saves $1,092/year compared to Houzz Pro Essential alone .

1. Agiled: Best All-in-One Ivy Alternative

Agiled replaces Ivy's procurement-focused workflow with a complete business management stack: CRM, invoicing, project management, proposals, contracts, client portals, HR, and AI agents, all in a single platform with transparent pricing.

The gap between Ivy and Agiled is clearest in the client lifecycle. With Ivy, you manage procurement and billing but still need a CRM for sales, a separate tool for proposals and contracts, and potentially another platform for general project management outside of interior design workflows. Agiled brings this together. A lead enters through CRM, receives a proposal from Documents, signs a contract, becomes an active project in Projects, tracks time against it, and gets invoiced from Finance without switching apps.

AI agents are included at no extra cost. Agiled's AI drafts proposals, summarizes project updates, and generates reports as part of the base subscription. For an interior design studio managing 15-20 active clients, the time saved on proposal drafting and status updates alone justifies the switch.

What sets Agiled apart from Ivy:

• CRM with visual deal pipelines, contact management, custom fields, and activity timelines via CRM
• Invoicing and finance with estimates, recurring billing, expense tracking, and online payments
• Project management with Kanban boards, Gantt charts, task dependencies, milestones, and templates
• Proposals and contracts with e-signatures and reusable templates
• Client portal where clients view project progress, approve deliverables, and make payments
• Time tracking built in, converting tracked hours into billable invoices automatically
• Scheduling with booking pages, availability rules, and calendar sync
• Workflow automation with visual builder, triggers, conditions, and actions
• AI agents for drafting proposals, emails, and reports, included in the base price
• HR and payroll including attendance, leave tracking, and org charts for growing studios

Pricing: Free plan available. Pro plans start at $7.99/user/month .

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2. DesignFiles: Best for Design-Specific Workflows

DesignFiles is purpose-built for interior designers who need project management, mood boards, product sourcing, client portals, and invoicing in one platform. It is the closest alternative to Ivy that retains design-specific functionality while adding features Ivy lacks.

DesignFiles includes mood boards, floor plans, 3D renderings, and a product sourcing library alongside invoicing, task tracking, and client portals. The combination is designed for designers who want industry-specific tools without sacrificing general business management. QuickBooks integration handles the accounting side.

Key features:

• Mood boards, floor plans, and 3D renderings for client presentations
• Product sourcing with specification management
• Client portal with project progress and deliverable approvals
• Invoicing with payment processing and QuickBooks integration
• Task tracking and project management per client

Limitations: No CRM with deal pipelines. No proposals or contracts with e-signatures. Additional users cost $25/month each, so a 3-person studio on Full Service pays $119/month ($1,428/year) . Less robust automation than general-purpose platforms.

Pricing: e-Design at $49/month. Full Service at $69/month. Additional users $25/month each.

3. Dubsado: Best for Custom Client Workflows

Dubsado offers the deepest customization for client management workflows among creative business tools. Interior designers who need branded proposals, contracts, questionnaires, and automated onboarding sequences will find Dubsado's workflow builder more flexible than Ivy's rigid design-specific structure.

The workflow automation uses branching logic: when a client signs a contract, Dubsado can automatically create a project, send a welcome questionnaire, trigger an invoice, and schedule a kickoff call. This level of automation is not available in Ivy.

Key features:

• Highly customizable proposals, contracts, and forms with brand matching
• Workflow automation with branching logic and conditional triggers
• Client portals for document access and communication
• Invoicing with payment plans and automatic reminders
• Scheduler with availability settings and calendar sync

Limitations: No project management boards or Gantt charts. No time tracking. No procurement or product sourcing features. Setup can take 10-20 hours to configure properly. Interface feels dated compared to newer platforms. Additional users beyond 3 cost $25-60/month depending on team size .

Pricing: Starter at $35/month ($335/year). Premier at $55/month ($525/year). Free plan for up to 3 clients.

4. HoneyBook: Best for Creative Professionals

HoneyBook focuses on the booking workflow: proposals, contracts, and invoices combined into a single "smart file" that clients can review, sign, and pay in one step. Interior designers who spend most of their admin time on client agreements will find this streamlined approach faster than Ivy's separate document workflows.

The February 2025 price increase raised the Starter plan from $19/month to $36/month, an 89% jump that pushed many solo designers to reconsider . The platform remains strong for client-facing document workflows but has become significantly more expensive for solopreneurs.

Key features:

• Smart file builder combining proposals, contracts, and invoices in one document
• Online payment processing (2.9% + $0.25 per credit card, 1.5% ACH)
• Automated workflow templates for client onboarding
• Meeting scheduler and client communication tools
• Pipeline view for tracking leads and bookings

Limitations: No project management, time tracking, or HR features. No client portal for ongoing project collaboration. No procurement or product sourcing. Payment processing fees add up: a designer billing $150,000/year through HoneyBook pays approximately $4,600 in processing fees . Pricing increased 89% in 2025.

Pricing: Starter at $36/month ($29/month annual). Essentials at $59/month ($49/month annual). Premium at $129/month ($109/month annual).

5. Mydoma Studio: Best for Client Presentations

Mydoma Studio combines project management with design-specific presentation tools including mood boards, branded client portals, and design packages. It targets interior designers who prioritize client-facing deliverables and visual presentations.

The branded client portal is Mydoma's strongest differentiator versus Ivy. Clients can view design packages, approve selections, sign contracts, and make payments through a portal that matches the designer's brand. Ivy's client-facing experience is more transactional and procurement-focused.

Key features:

• Branded client portals with design package presentations
• Mood boards and visual project presentations
• Contracts and invoicing with Mydoma Pay
• Task management and time tracking
• QuickBooks integration for accounting sync

Limitations: At $64/user/month, a 3-person studio pays $192/month ($2,304/year) . The Mydoma Visualizer costs an additional $30/month. No CRM with deal pipelines. No proposals with e-signatures (contracts only). Limited automation compared to Dubsado or HoneyBook.

Pricing: $64/user/month. Mydoma Visualizer add-on at $30/month. Free single-user plan available for 1 project.

6. Bonsai: Best for Freelance Finances

Bonsai combines client management with financial tools including US tax preparation, making it the strongest pick for freelance interior designers who want proposals, contracts, invoicing, and tax prep in one platform.

Bonsai's tax features are unique in this category. It automatically categorizes expenses, estimates quarterly tax payments, and generates Schedule C data for US designers. No other platform on this list handles tax preparation natively.

Key features:

• Contracts and proposals with e-signatures
• Invoicing with automatic payment reminders
• Expense tracking and US tax preparation
• Time tracking with project budgets
• Client CRM with automated follow-ups

Limitations: Task management is basic with no Kanban boards or Gantt charts. Tax features are US-only. No fully branded client portal. No procurement or product sourcing features. Basic plan ($15/user/month) excludes invoicing and proposals, so most designers need Essentials at $25/user/month minimum .

Pricing: Basic at $15/user/month ($9 annual). Essentials at $25/user/month. Premium at $39/user/month. Elite at $59/user/month.

7. Plutio: Best for Solopreneurs

Plutio connects proposals, contracts, project management, and invoicing in one platform with a unique auto-conversion feature: signed proposals automatically become active projects with tasks, timelines, and invoicing already configured.

For solo interior designers, Plutio's Core plan at $19/month covers CRM, proposals, contracts, invoicing, time tracking, and project management for up to 9 active clients. That is significantly cheaper than Ivy's $99/month (annual) for a narrower feature set.

Key features:

• Proposals and contracts that auto-convert to projects when signed
• Time tracking with billable rates per project
• Client portal with project progress views
• Task management with boards, lists, and timelines
• Integrated invoicing and payment processing with 800 AI credits/month

Limitations: Core plan limits you to 9 active clients. Pro plan at $49/month removes the limit but adds cost. No industry-specific procurement or product sourcing features. No HR or team management beyond basic collaboration. Limited integrations compared to larger platforms.

Pricing: Core at $19/month (solo, 9 clients). Pro at $49/month (unlimited clients, 30 contributors). Max at $199/month (unlimited everything, white-label) .

8. Studio Ninja: Best for Photography and Creative Studios

Studio Ninja is purpose-built for photographers and creative studio owners with client management, job tracking, and workflow automation. Interior designers who also photograph their work, or who run design-adjacent creative studios, will find Studio Ninja's workflow familiar.

The platform's strength is lead-to-booking automation. New inquiries get automatic responses, follow-up sequences, and pipeline tracking without manual intervention. For designers who spend significant time on client acquisition, this automation replaces hours of admin work weekly.

Key features:

• Lead management with automated follow-ups and response templates
• Job tracking through customizable pipelines
• Contracts and questionnaires with e-signatures
• Invoicing with payment schedules and reminders
• Workflow automation for admin tasks

Limitations: Very niche: focused on photography and creative studios. No interior design procurement, product sourcing, or specification management. No project management with Gantt charts or task dependencies. No CRM beyond basic lead tracking. Best for design-adjacent creatives rather than full interior design firm management.

Pricing: Starter at $16/month. Pro at $24.90/month. Master at $36.50/month .

9. Teamwork: Best for Client-Facing Design Agencies

Teamwork targets agencies and client services teams with project management, time tracking, profitability analysis, and client billing. Interior design agencies with 5+ team members who need to track profitability per client and project will find Teamwork's financial reporting deeper than Ivy's.

The profitability tracking is Teamwork's key advantage over Ivy for agencies. It calculates billable vs. non-billable hours per project, tracks project margins, and shows which clients are profitable. Ivy tracks procurement costs but not labor profitability.

Key features:

• Project templates, milestones, and task dependencies
• Profitability tracking per client and project with margin calculations
• Built-in time tracking that flows into invoices
• Client user access for project transparency
• Resource workload management with utilization reporting

Limitations: No built-in CRM, proposals, or contracts. Client access is project-level visibility, not a branded client portal. No procurement or product sourcing features. Grow plan at $25.99/user/month makes a 5-person agency pay $130/month ($1,560/year) .

Pricing: Free for up to 5 users. Deliver at $13.99/user/month. Grow at $25.99/user/month. Scale pricing on request.

10. FreshBooks: Best for Invoicing and Accounting

FreshBooks is a cloud accounting and invoicing platform with project profitability tracking. Interior designers who need solid invoicing, expense tracking, and tax-ready bookkeeping without the complexity of full enterprise accounting will find FreshBooks practical.

FreshBooks handles the financial side better than Ivy: double-entry accounting, automated expense categorization, receipt scanning, and project profitability reports. The trade-off is that FreshBooks lacks design-specific features, CRM, proposals, and client portals.

Key features:

• Professional invoicing with online payments and automatic reminders
• Expense tracking with receipt scanning and bank feed integration
• Time tracking with billable hours per project
• Project budgeting and profitability reports
• Double-entry accounting and tax-ready reports

Limitations: Minimal CRM. No contracts, proposals, or client portal. No project management beyond basic time and budget tracking. No design-specific procurement or product sourcing. Additional users cost $11/month each .

Pricing: Lite at $23/month. Plus at $43/month. Premium at $70/month.

How These 10 Platforms Compare on Core Features

We evaluated each platform across 7 capabilities that interior designers ask about most in community forums and review sites: project management, CRM, invoicing, proposals/contracts, client portal, time tracking, and procurement.

Platform	PM	CRM	Invoicing	Proposals/Contracts	Client Portal	Time Tracking	Procurement	Price From
Agiled	Full	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Free
Ivy (Houzz Pro)	Basic	No	Yes	No	Limited	No	Yes	$99/mo*
DesignFiles	Basic	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	$49/mo
Dubsado	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	$35/mo
HoneyBook	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Limited	No	No	$29/mo*
Mydoma Studio	Basic	No	Yes	Contracts only	Yes	Yes	No	$64/user
Bonsai	Basic	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	$15/user
Plutio	Full	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	$19/mo
Studio Ninja	No	Basic	Yes	Contracts only	No	No	No	$16/mo
Teamwork	Full	No	Yes	No	Limited	Yes	No	Free
FreshBooks	Basic	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	$23/mo

*Ivy pricing based on annual billing with 12-month contract. HoneyBook pricing based on annual billing.

What a Solo Designer and 3-Person Studio Actually Pay

Per-user and per-month pricing obscures the real annual cost. Here is what a solo interior designer and a 3-person studio pay annually for each platform, based on the tier that includes the features most designers need (CRM, invoicing, proposals at minimum):

Platform	Solo Annual	3-Person Studio Annual	Includes CRM + Proposals?
Ivy (Houzz Pro Essential)	$1,188	$2,628	No
Design Manager	$948	$2,844	No
Agiled Free	$0	$0	Yes
Agiled Pro	$96	$288	Yes
DesignFiles Full Service	$828	$1,428	No
Dubsado Premier	$525	$525*	Yes
HoneyBook Essentials	$588	$588*	Yes
Mydoma Studio	$768	$2,304	Contracts only
Bonsai Essentials	$300	$900	Yes
Plutio Core/Pro	$228	$588	Yes
Teamwork Deliver	$168	$504	No
FreshBooks Plus	$516	$780	No

*Dubsado and HoneyBook include 3 users in base pricing at Premier/Essentials tiers; additional users incur extra fees.

The cost math is revealing. A solo designer on Ivy pays $1,188/year for procurement and billing. The same designer on Agiled's free plan gets CRM, invoicing, PM, proposals, contracts, and a client portal for $0. Even Agiled Pro at $96/year delivers 7 business capabilities versus Ivy's 3, saving $1,092/year. A 3-person studio saves $2,340/year switching from Ivy to Agiled Pro ($2,628 vs. $288).

For designers who specifically need procurement and product sourcing, DesignFiles at $828/year (solo) is $360/year cheaper than Ivy while adding mood boards, 3D renderings, and a stronger client portal. The trade-off: DesignFiles lacks CRM and proposals, so the full cost comparison depends on what additional tools you pair with it.

When Ivy Is Still the Right Choice

Not every designer needs to switch. Ivy and Houzz Pro remain the right tool in specific situations:

• Your firm's primary workflow is procurement and vendor management. If 80%+ of your admin time involves specifying products, creating purchase orders, coordinating with vendors, and managing client procurement budgets, Ivy's purpose-built workflows are genuinely faster than adapting a general-purpose platform. No alternative on this list matches Ivy's procurement depth.
• You already have a stable tech stack around Ivy. Design firms that pair Ivy with QuickBooks for accounting, Dubsado for contracts, and a separate CRM, and have spent months configuring this stack, face real migration costs. If the workflow is productive and the team is comfortable, the switching cost may exceed the savings.
• You rely on Houzz Pro's lead generation marketplace. Houzz Pro includes access to the Houzz marketplace where homeowners search for designers. If a meaningful percentage of your new clients come through Houzz, leaving the platform means losing that lead source. No alternative offers a comparable homeowner marketplace.
• You are a larger firm (5+ designers) invested in Design Manager's accounting. Design Manager's double-entry accounting system for design firms, with purchase order tracking, deposit management, and markup calculations, is more specialized than any general-purpose invoicing tool. Firms that have adapted their accounting processes to Design Manager's structure would need significant retraining to switch.

If none of these apply, the cost and capability gap between Ivy and modern all-in-one platforms is significant enough to warrant evaluation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does Ivy cost in 2026?

Ivy is now part of Houzz Pro. The Essential plan costs $149/month billed monthly or $99/month billed annually, with a mandatory 12-month contract . Additional seats cost $60/month each. The related platform Design Manager charges $79/user/month. Neither publishes pricing transparently on their marketing pages; you may need to contact sales for final quotes. Designers in community forums report inconsistent pricing between accounts, with some receiving higher renewal quotes than their original agreement.

Does Ivy have proposals and contracts?

No. Ivy focuses on procurement, purchase orders, and design-specific billing. It does not offer a built-in proposal builder, contract creation, or e-signature collection. Interior designers using Ivy typically add Dubsado ($35-55/month), HoneyBook ($29-109/month), or a standalone e-signature tool like DocuSign ($10-25/month) for client agreements. This adds $120-660/year on top of Ivy's subscription for functionality that platforms like Agiled and Plutio include in their base price.

Which Ivy alternative is best for interior designers specifically?

It depends on your primary need. For the broadest coverage (CRM + invoicing + PM + proposals + client portal), Agiled delivers the most features at the lowest cost. For design-specific tools like mood boards, 3D renderings, and product sourcing, DesignFiles is the closest to Ivy's workflow at $49-69/month. For branded client presentations, Mydoma Studio's client portal is the strongest. For automated client onboarding with branching workflows, Dubsado offers the deepest customization. No single alternative perfectly replaces Ivy's procurement depth, but most designers find they need general business management more than they need specialized procurement.

Can I migrate my data from Ivy to another platform?

Most alternatives support CSV import for contacts, project data, and financial records. Agiled provides import tools for contacts, deals, and projects. Product specifications, purchase order history, and vendor data from Ivy's procurement system will likely need manual migration or custom export/import workflows. Start by exporting your active client and project data, verify the import quality in the new platform, then migrate historical records. Budget 2-4 weeks for a full migration from Ivy, including reconfiguring workflows.

Is Ivy worth it for solo interior designers?

For most solo designers, no. Houzz Pro Essential at $1,188/year delivers procurement, billing, and project tracking but lacks CRM, proposals, contracts, and a modern client portal. A solo designer on Agiled's free plan gets all of those capabilities for $0, or on Agiled Pro for $96/year. Plutio at $228/year and Bonsai Essentials at $300/year also cover more business functions than Ivy at a fraction of the cost. The exception is a solo designer whose practice is almost entirely procurement-driven, buying and reselling furniture and materials with complex markup calculations. In that specific workflow, Ivy's procurement tools are worth the premium.

How does Houzz Pro compare to the original Ivy?

Houzz Pro absorbed Ivy's core functionality (procurement, purchase orders, billing) and added lead generation through the Houzz marketplace, 3D floor planning, mood boards, and a broader marketing toolkit. The trade-off: Houzz Pro's pricing is less transparent, the 12-month contract lock-in is stricter, and designers in online communities report that features previously included in Ivy have been moved to higher pricing tiers at renewal . Some designers who loved Ivy's focused simplicity find Houzz Pro bloated with marketplace features they do not use.

Related Comparisons:

• Agiled vs Ivy
• Best Dubsado Alternatives
• Best HoneyBook Alternatives
• Best Bonsai Alternatives
• Best Studio Ninja Alternatives
• Best Plutio Alternatives
• Best FreshBooks Alternatives
• Dubsado vs HoneyBook
• Bonsai vs Dubsado
• Plutio vs Dubsado

For more resources, browse the Agiled resource hub.