Buyer's guide
The best product tools for interior designers
The best product tools for interior designers are Aalto for saving and organising products with their price and source, Programa for full studio management, and Milanote for loose visual boards. Eagle suits organising large image libraries, and Pinterest suits discovering inspiration. The guide below explains what each one is best for, so you can choose for your workflow.
| Tool | Best for |
|---|---|
| Aalto | Saving and organising products, then sharing with clients |
| Programa | Heavy all-in-one studio management |
| Milanote | Loose visual boards and early ideas |
| Eagle | Organising large image and asset libraries |
| Discovering inspiration |
Aalto
Saving and organising products, then sharing with clients
Aalto saves products from any website with their price, source, and specs, organises them by room or project, and shares curated boards and tables with clients. Best for designers who want their sourcing and their client presentation in one place.
Programa
Heavy all-in-one studio management
Programa is a broad studio management suite spanning projects, schedules, invoicing, and admin. If your goal is simply to save and organise products, it is far more than you need, with a steeper setup and a heftier price to match. Many designers run it for operations and still reach for a lighter tool to actually curate.
Milanote
Loose visual boards and early ideas
Milanote is a flexible canvas for notes, images, and early direction. Best for the ideation stage. It does not treat each item as a product with structured price and source, so it is less suited to specification.
Eagle
Organising large image and asset libraries
Eagle is a desktop app for organising and tagging large libraries of images and references. Best for managing visual assets locally on your own machine, with less focus on saving live products or sharing with clients.
Discovering inspiration
Pinterest is where much inspiration starts. Best for open-ended discovery. It is a source of ideas to explore, and many designers pair it with a curation tool that keeps the price and source of what they find.