ArchiBoard vs Design Manager
Design Manager has been around since 1984 and is the accountant's choice: built-in bookkeeping, Agent For (agent vs principal), purchase orders, expediting and receiving. ArchiBoard shares the procurement core — role of the studio, receiving, supplier payments — but adds a shared catalog, timeline-driven deadlines and 8 languages.
Choose Design Manager if your firm runs its books inside the design software and lives in the US tax system. Choose ArchiBoard if you want the sourcing side automated — clipper, shared catalog, supplier crawl — and a timeline that tells the buyer when to order.
Feature by feature
| Feature | ArchiBoard | Design Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Browser web clipper for product pages | Yes | Yes |
| Shared catalog across all users | Yes | No |
| Automatic crawl of supplier websites into the catalog | Yes | No |
| Search by photo and by meaning | Yes | No |
| Line economics: RRP → supplier discount → cost → markup → profit | Yes | Yes |
| Tiered split of the supplier discount with the client | Yes | No |
| Studio role: agent, reseller or consultant | Yes | Yes |
| Tax profile (VAT EU, sales tax US, RU regimes) | Yes | Yes |
| Gantt with dependencies and cascading shifts | Yes | Partly |
| Order deadlines derived from the timeline and lead times | Yes | No |
| Receiving and acceptance with discrepancies and photos | Yes | Yes |
| Client portal with approvals | Partly | Yes |
| Online payments from the client | No | Yes |
| Bookkeeping / QuickBooks integration | No | Yes |
| Mood boards and 3D | No | No |
| Time tracking | No | Yes |
| Mobile app | No | Yes |
| Interface in 8 languages | Yes | No |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Price from, per month | €0 · Pro €20 | ~$65 |
Yes — available out of the box. Partly — via a marketplace, integration or a limited version. No — not found on the vendor's site or help center at the time of review.
Data: public websites and help centers of the vendors, Design Manager trial where available, May 2026. Spotted an error? Write to hello@archiboard.design and we will fix it. www.designmanager.com
Choose Design Manager if
- You need integrated bookkeeping with vendor bills, deposits and financial statements.
- Purchase orders and work orders as formal documents are central to your process.
- Your studio is US-based and wants daily live demos and a long track record.
Choose ArchiBoard if
- You collect products from supplier websites daily and want them shared with the whole team and other studios.
- You need order deadlines and delivery risk computed from the Gantt, not tracked by hand.
- You work in EU or RU tax regimes and need the interface in your language.
FAQ
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