The essentials in 30 seconds
- Three free tools hold up to get started: HubSpot CRM (2 users, 1,000 contacts), Notion (solo) and Capsule (2 users, 250 contacts). None of them knows buildings.
- Pipedrive and paid HubSpot are excellent sales CRMs: pipeline, follow-ups, reports. Their pipeline stops where your project begins.
- Axonaut adds generic quotes and invoices to the CRM, all-inclusive from €97 excl. VAT a month for one user; Houzz Pro adds a client portal and a directory at €119 a month.
- The deciding criterion is not the number of features: it is what happens on the day the prospect says yes. Copying, or continuity into the estimate and the client portal?
- Nodal is the only one of the seven designed for interior designers: a record that speaks building, a switch with no re-typing, an estimate linked to a price library. It will not do your email marketing.
Why a "generic" CRM jams in a studio
A sales CRM thinks in leads, deals and email sequences. An interior design studio thinks in enquiries, properties and projects: a floor area, a works budget, a timeline, an old or recent building. We detailed this gap, family by family, in Excel, Notion, HubSpot or a trade tool. Here we move on to named products, with their prices.
The five criteria are those of our guide to CRM for interior designers: a single entry point for enquiries, a client record that speaks building, a pipeline that ends in the client's agreement, a prospect-to-project switch with no re-typing, and a memory of the business (where clients come from, how many convert). Add price, because it matters, and the end point: does the tool stop at the agreement, or continue into the estimate and the client portal?
The comparison table (public prices checked in September 2026)
| Tool | Public price | Free tier | Building-aware client record | Prospect → project | Linked estimate / quote | Client portal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot CRM | Free; Starter from €7 then €20/month per seat | Yes, 2 users, 1,000 contacts | Fields to create | No | Sales quotes, no works | No |
| Notion | Free solo; Plus €9.50, Business €19.50/member/month | Yes, solo | Model it yourself | Manual | No | Shared static pages |
| Capsule CRM | Free; Starter $18/user/month billed annually ($21 monthly), Growth $36 | Yes, 2 users, 250 contacts | Fields to create | No | Via integrations | No |
| Pipedrive | Lite €14, Growth €39, Premium €59, Ultimate €79/user/month; 14-day trial | No | Fields to create | Optional "Projects" add-on | Via integrations | No |
| Axonaut | €97 excl. VAT/month for 1 user, no commitment, up to −30% with commitment; +€29.99 excl. VAT per user; 15-day trial | No | Fields to create | Quote → invoice, no project | Generic quotes and invoices, no works price base | No |
| Houzz Pro | Pro €119/month after a 30-day trial; free Basic profile; Custom on quote | Directory profile only | Geared to renovation projects | Yes | Quotes and invoices; Batiprix library in Custom | Yes |
| Nodal | Monthly subscription, no commitment, 7-day trial (pricing) | No | Native (property, area, budget, timeline) | Yes, the record becomes the project | Estimate linked to a 400+ item price library, time-stamped client approval | Yes, under your brand |
Reading key: "fields to create" means the tool accepts custom properties but you must design and maintain them; "via integrations" means a third-party connector, often paid, is needed. Capsule's prices are displayed in dollars by the vendor. All prices are those of the vendors' public pages at the time of checking and change; links are at the bottom of the page.
What is each tool worth, honestly?
HubSpot CRM: the most complete free tier, for selling
The free tier is generous: contacts, companies, deals, visual pipeline, shared inbox, forms, for two users and 1,000 contacts. For a studio that receives enquiries through its website form, it is a real single entry point, and it is free. The limits come fast: the record speaks "company" and "annual revenue", the pipeline ends with "deal won", and there is neither a works estimate nor a client portal. The functions that make the difference (automations, reports) sit in paid tiers designed for sales teams. For whom: the studio that first wants to stop losing enquiries, with no budget, and accepts copying into its production tools.
Notion: the CRM you build yourself
Notion is not a CRM, it is a workshop. An "enquiries" database, a "projects" database, views by status, record templates: a studio comfortable with the tool builds something respectable in an evening, free solo, €9.50 per member per month as a team. The cost is in maintenance and discipline: nothing fills itself in, no follow-up alerts without third-party automation, and production (estimate, quote, site) happens elsewhere, so everything gets copied. For whom: the studio that already documents everything in Notion and wants light tracking without another tool.
Capsule CRM: simplicity at a low price
Capsule is a deliberately simple small-business CRM: contacts, pipeline, tasks, a little project management. The free tier (two users, 250 contacts) is enough for a studio starting out; paid tiers, displayed in dollars, stay modest. It is quicker to learn than HubSpot and less loaded than Pipedrive. The limits are those of any generic tool: building fields to create, no link to estimating, no client portal. For whom: the studio that wants a clean prospect book, no marketing ambition, and no more than two people.
Pipedrive: the reference sales pipeline
Pipedrive does one thing remarkably well: the visual pipeline, follow-ups, conversion reports. At €14 per user per month on Lite, it is the best features-to-price ratio among sales CRMs. But Pipedrive is built for salespeople who chain deals; a studio handling ten to thirty enquiries a year uses a tenth of the tool. The optional "Projects" add-on gets closer to your trade without ever arriving: no building record, no estimate, no client portal. For whom: the studio that actively prospects (prescribers, developers, professionals) and whose enquiry volume justifies a real pipeline.
Axonaut: CRM, quotes and invoices, all-inclusive
Axonaut approaches the problem from management: CRM, quotes, invoices, accounting, cash flow in one tool, at €97 excl. VAT a month for one user with no commitment, discounts by commitment length and €29.99 excl. VAT per extra user. For a studio the appeal is real: the enquiry becomes a fee quote, then an invoice, without changing tools. The limits: quotes are those of a generic small business, with no works price library or package-based estimate; there is no project in the architectural sense, and no client tracking portal. For whom: the studio that mostly wants to invoice its fees cleanly, and prices its works elsewhere.
Houzz Pro: the all-in-one backed by a directory
Houzz Pro is the closest to the trade among mainstream tools: quotes and invoices, project management, client portal and, in the Custom plan, a Batiprix price library, all tied to the Houzz profile and its directory. The Pro plan is €119 a month after a thirty-day trial; local advertising starts at €299 a month. Its strength is marketing: visibility in the directory and reviews. Its limits, raised in public reviews: a dense, lightly customisable tool, and a client portal in Houzz's colours rather than yours. For whom: the studio for which Houzz is already an acquisition channel and which wants everything in one place.
Nodal: the CRM as the first step of the project
Nodal is a trade tool for interior designers, and we publish it: read this paragraph with that caveat. Enquiries land in a single list, the record speaks building natively (property type, area, works budget, timeline), the pipeline ends with the client's approval, and the same record becomes the project, the estimate linked to a library of over 400 prices, then the client portal under your brand, with no copying. Its limits are plain: no marketing automation, no email campaigns, a base designed for ten to fifty projects a year rather than a thousand contacts. For whom: the studio of one to three people whose real cost is not prospecting but the non-billable hours between enquiry and site.
Which CRM for your situation?
| Your situation | Our recommendation | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Starting out, no budget, a few enquiries a month | Free HubSpot CRM or free Capsule | Single entry point and follow-ups at no cost; you will copy into your production tools |
| You already document everything in Notion | Notion | One tool fewer; provided you maintain it |
| You actively prospect prescribers and professionals | Pipedrive | The best sales pipeline at this price |
| Your priority is invoicing your fees cleanly | Axonaut | Quotes, invoices and accounting in the same tool |
| Houzz already brings you clients | Houzz Pro | CRM, quotes and portal tied to the channel that feeds you |
| Your hidden cost is re-typing between enquiry, estimate and site | Nodal | The record becomes the project; that is its reason to exist |
Methodology and transparency
This comparison is published by Nodal, which appears in it. To limit bias: the criteria are those published in our CRM guide before this comparison was written; every piece of information on a third-party vendor comes from its public pages (pricing, features) or public review listings, checked in September 2026; Nodal's limits are written with the same candour as the others'; no numeric score is given. Prices change: if you spot a gap, write to us and we correct it, citing the date.