Programa vs QuotingHub: Which Is Better for South African Interior Designers?

If you are a South African interior designer evaluating business software, Programa and QuotingHub are two of the most commonly compared options. They overlap in some areas — both handle invoicing and purchase orders — but they are built for fundamentally different use cases. This comparison helps you decide which is right for your studio.

Quick verdict

Choose QuotingHub if you are a South African studio that needs professional quoting, invoicing, and supplier purchase orders — and wants a system built for SA pricing, VAT, and currency from day one, at a significantly lower cost.

Choose Programaif your work is FF&E-heavy, you need advanced specification and product scheduling tools, or you work with international clients who expect a global platform.

Overview: what each platform does

QuotingHub

QuotingHub is a South African-built business management platform for interior designers and decorators. It focuses on the commercial and procurement side of running a studio: professional PDF quotes, invoices, purchase orders, supplier price list management, client management, and project pipeline tracking.

It was built with SA-specific requirements from the ground up — ZAR pricing, 15% VAT auto-calculation, deposit management, and direct Sage Business Cloud Accounting integration.

Programa

Programa is an Australian-built interior design platform used globally. Its strengths are FF&E scheduling, product specification, client-facing project dashboards, and a trade product library with international brands. It also handles invoicing and purchase orders, but these are components of a broader design workflow platform rather than the primary focus.

Feature comparison

Quoting and invoicing

• QuotingHub: Core feature — professional PDF quotes and invoices with auto VAT, deposit splits, and branded documents.
• Programa: Available but secondary to FF&E and specification workflows. Requires currency and tax configuration for SA use.

Purchase orders

• QuotingHub: Built for SA supplier workflows — generate POs per supplier directly from accepted client quotes, with supplier net prices automatically separated from client markup.
• Programa: Purchase orders available, integrated into the procurement hub workflow.

South African VAT (15%)

• QuotingHub: Native — auto-applied to every quote, invoice, and deposit with no configuration needed.
• Programa: Configurable but not pre-set for SA. Requires manual tax settings setup.

Currency

• QuotingHub: ZAR by default.
• Programa: Multi-currency, configurable — not ZAR by default.

FF&E scheduling and specification

• QuotingHub: Not available. QuotingHub is a business management tool, not a specification platform.
• Programa: Core strength — detailed FF&E schedules, spec sheets, product approvals, and client dashboards built around specification workflows.

Product library / trade portal

• QuotingHub: Import your own supplier price lists. No built-in product catalogue.
• Programa: Trade portal with international brand catalogues. SA-specific brands are limited.

Client portal

• QuotingHub: Client management with project tracking.
• Programa: Full client-facing portal with product approvals, presentation sharing, and invoice access.

Accounting integration

• QuotingHub: Sage Business Cloud Accounting integration (Agency plan). Xero planned.
• Programa: Xero and QuickBooks integrations.

Pricing

• QuotingHub: R699/month (Solo), R1,499/month (Studio), R2,499/month (Agency). Priced in ZAR.
• Programa: Priced in AUD — equivalent to approximately R900–R2,500/month for most plans at current exchange rates, with pricing subject to currency fluctuation.

Free trial

• QuotingHub: 30 days free, no credit card required.
• Programa: Free trial available.

Where QuotingHub wins for SA designers

• SA-native from day one: No configuration needed for VAT, currency, or deposit terms. It works correctly for South Africa out of the box.
• Cost: QuotingHub is significantly more affordable than Programa for most SA studio sizes, and the cost is in ZAR — no currency exposure.
• Supplier purchase order workflow: Built specifically for the SA pattern of sourcing from local suppliers without the supplier being on any integrated platform.
• Simplicity: If your need is quoting, invoicing, and POs — not FF&E scheduling — QuotingHub does not make you navigate features you will never use.

Where Programa wins

• FF&E and specification: If your projects involve detailed FF&E schedules, specification sheets, and product approval workflows, Programa's tools in this area are significantly more developed.
• Client-facing portal: Programa's client portal and presentation tools are more sophisticated for studios that use digital client presentations as a key part of their workflow.
• International brand access: If you source from international suppliers and want integrated product data, Programa's trade portal is more relevant.

Which should you choose?

For the majority of South African interior design studios — particularly residential designers, smaller commercial studios, and decorators — QuotingHub is the more practical choice. It is built for how SA studios actually operate, costs significantly less, and does not require any setup to handle ZAR and South African VAT correctly.

Programa makes sense for SA designers working on large-scale commercial interiors, hotel and hospitality projects, or high-end residential projects where FF&E specification is a core deliverable and the additional cost is justified by the scope.

Some larger SA studios use both — Programa for the design and specification phase, QuotingHub for the quoting and procurement management phase.

Frequently asked questions

Is Programa available in South Africa?

Yes — Programa is available to SA designers and a number of studios use it. The main practical considerations for SA use are the AUD pricing (which means your subscription cost fluctuates with exchange rates) and the need to manually configure VAT settings for 15% SA VAT.

Does QuotingHub have a free trial?

Yes — all QuotingHub plans include a 30-day free trial with no credit card required. You can access the full platform during the trial period. See QuotingHub pricing for plan details.

Can QuotingHub replace my spreadsheet?

Yes — QuotingHub is specifically designed to replace the Excel quoting workflow that most SA designers start with. See our post on why spreadsheets are costing your interior design studio for a detailed breakdown of the hidden costs.

Does QuotingHub integrate with accounting software?

QuotingHub integrates with Sage Business Cloud Accounting on the Agency plan. This is particularly relevant for SA studios as Sage is the most widely used accounting platform among SA SMEs. Xero integration is planned.