Planify vs DesignFiles: Which Is Right for Your Studio in 2026?

DesignFiles has built a strong following among interior designers in the UK and Australia, primarily because of how it handles visual client presentations. If you have come across it as an alternative to Planify - or the other way around - the comparison is worth understanding clearly, because the two platforms make different trade-offs in ways that matter depending on your studio's priorities.

What DesignFiles Does Well

DesignFiles is a Canadian-founded platform that has gained traction in English-speaking markets outside the US, particularly the UK and Australia. Its visual presentation layer is a genuine strength: the platform produces polished client-facing mood boards and product presentations that look professional out of the box.

DesignFiles is priced at $49/user/month - a per-seat model that scales in cost as a studio grows. Client access requires account creation and login. Data is stored outside the EU. The platform's core strength is visual client presentations; its FF&E management, AI features, and client portal model are more limited compared to purpose-built alternatives.

For a designer whose primary frustration is producing presentation-quality client documents and who is not yet concerned with the friction of client login or the overhead of per-seat billing, DesignFiles is a reasonable choice. The issue tends to surface when the studio grows beyond two people, when clients in the EU start asking about data handling, or when the approval process starts generating more back-and-forth than the tool can efficiently handle.

Where the Workflows Diverge

The most consequential difference between DesignFiles and Planify in day-to-day use is client access. DesignFiles requires clients to create an account before they can view project materials or respond to presentations. For a client in a professional context who is already managing multiple accounts and platforms, adding a DesignFiles login is a minor inconvenience. For a residential client who is not particularly tech-engaged, the registration step is a meaningful point of friction that causes first-review delays.

Planify's client portal uses Magic Link. The client receives a single URL by email. They click it and immediately see the full project: products for approval with timestamps, inspiration references, financial proposals, documents, and the work schedule. No account, no password, no app. For a studio managing eight active residential projects, the difference in how quickly clients respond to the first approval request - 24 hours versus five days - is not cosmetic.

AI Product Import - A Fundamental Workflow Difference

The way a specification gets built is where the two platforms diverge most significantly in terms of time spent per project.

Planify includes AI Fetch, which automatically imports product name, price, and image from any vendor URL - paste a link from IKEA, Westwing, Farrow & Ball, Made.com, or any supplier and the item populates in seconds. The Web Clipper Chrome extension adds products from any website with one click while browsing. For a 60-item specification, AI Fetch represents the difference between twenty minutes and a full day of manual data entry. DesignFiles does not offer AI product import from vendor URLs.

This is not a minor feature gap. For a designer who builds four to eight full specifications per year, the cumulative time saved by AI product import is measured in weeks annually. The product sourcing workflow is one of the highest-overhead parts of any interior design project, and it is the area where DesignFiles requires the most manual effort.

Pricing Across Team Sizes

DesignFiles' per-seat model means cost scales directly with studio size. Planify charges a flat rate regardless of team size.

A three-person studio switching from DesignFiles to Planify saves over $1,400 per year while gaining AI product import, a no-login client portal, and EU data storage. For UK-based studios growing from one to two designers, the cost difference at the point of hiring starts to become noticeable on a monthly basis.

GDPR and Data Storage

For UK and European designers, data storage location is a practical business consideration, not just a compliance technicality. Clients in the EU have GDPR rights over their personal data, and a design studio that stores client information on non-EU servers is responsible for ensuring appropriate data transfer safeguards.

Planify stores all data in the EU and is fully GDPR compliant. This is documented and available to share with clients who ask. DesignFiles stores data outside the EU, which creates an additional compliance consideration for UK and European studios.

Full Feature Comparison

The Honest Trade-Off

DesignFiles produces more polished visual presentations out of the box. If the primary driver in choosing a platform is the quality of the visual presentation layer - and the studio is comfortable with per-seat pricing, client login, and non-EU data storage - DesignFiles is a reasonable choice.

Planify's trade-off runs the other way: the workflow integration between specification, client approval, proposals, and scheduling is tighter, the client access model produces faster response cycles, and the pricing is simpler. The visual presentation tools are solid but not the platform's headline feature.

Hugo Fleming, Design Director at CranberryHome in Bedford, describes Planify as "one of the best, most comprehensive and intuitive platforms available" - a studio that evaluated multiple platforms before settling on Planify for the combination of client workflow and pricing.

For designers who have also been comparing Mydoma or Houzz Pro, both of which also require client login and charge per-seat fees, the positioning is consistent: Planify is the flat-rate, no-login-required alternative built specifically for smaller studios.

A 21-day free trial with no credit card is available at planify.design.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main difference between Planify and DesignFiles?

DesignFiles charges $49/user/month, requires client login, and stores data outside the EU. Planify charges ~$29/month flat for the whole studio, uses Magic Link so clients never register, includes AI product import from any vendor URL, and is fully GDPR compliant with EU data storage.

Does DesignFiles require clients to log in?

Yes. DesignFiles requires client account creation to access shared materials. Planify uses Magic Link - clients click a URL and access the project immediately with no registration required.

Is DesignFiles good for UK interior designers?

DesignFiles is popular in the UK for its visual presentation quality. For UK designers with GDPR obligations, Planify offers EU data storage, flat GBP/EUR pricing, and a no-login client portal that DesignFiles does not provide.

How does Planify pricing compare to DesignFiles?

DesignFiles costs $49/user/month. Planify is ~$29/month flat regardless of team size. For a two-person studio, Planify saves over $1,100/year.

Does Planify have AI product import?

Yes. AI Fetch imports product data from any vendor URL automatically. The Web Clipper Chrome extension adds products with a single click while browsing. DesignFiles does not offer AI product import.