SPEKD vs. Studio Designer
Studio Designer and SPEKD solve overlapping but different problems. Studio Designer is the established project management and billing platform for residential design firms. SPEKD is a cross-vendor AI search layer focused on finding the right product fast. Many firms use both.
About Studio Designer
Studio Designer has been the default back-office platform for mid-to-large residential design firms for years. It handles project management, client billing, proposal generation, purchase orders, and procurement tracking. Its sourcing module is tied to its procurement workflow.
About SPEKD
SPEKD is built for the search part of sourcing — AI-powered natural-language search across a unified catalog of 40,000+ trade products from 20+ vendors. It doesn't handle billing or POs; it finds products and hands off to whatever workflow you already use.
Feature comparison
| Feature | SPEKD | Studio Designer |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-vendor AI search | Yes — natural language across 20+ vendors | Catalog browsing per vendor |
| Similar-item search | Yes — visual + structural similarity | No |
| Project management | No — integrates with others | Full PM + billing + POs |
| Client billing | No | Full invoicing system |
| Vendor catalog count | 20+ vendors, 40,000+ SKUs | Vendor-by-vendor browsing |
| Setup time | Minutes | Days (PM setup) |
Use SPEKD when
- You need to find the right product across multiple vendors fast
- You want to search by natural language ('transitional tight-back sofa')
- You already have a project management tool you like
Use Studio Designer when
- You need full project management and billing in one tool
- You're a larger firm with complex procurement workflows
- You prefer vendor-by-vendor browsing