Vane opens November 15. Sign up before then and pay $169 a month for your first year. Hold my spot
Vane Hold my founder spot
Vane Studio, for design studios

Know which projects make money.

Quotes, project boards, billable time, invoices and profit in one place your studio shares. Every project shows what it has earned and what it has cost. One price for the whole team, not a price per seat.

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$199 a month flat for 10 people. The demo opens in a new tab as the owner of a sample studio.

Vane's Profit report on the Studio demo: $198,740 invoiced, $49,704 cost, $149,036 profit at a 75% margin this month, then every project with its pricing, budget used, hours, invoiced, cost, profit and margin.

From our Studio demo, a sample studio called Northlight Design Co.: this month's Profit report.

Four tools, and still no answer.

  • Tasks in Asana, hours in Harvest, invoices in QuickBooks. Every project gets typed in three times, and none of them talk to each other.
  • Approvals live in email. "Which version did they sign off on?" means digging through a thread.
  • Scope creep never gets billed. The extra round of revisions gets done, and the hours never reach an invoice.
  • Nobody knows which projects made money. You find out at tax time, from a spreadsheet, if at all.
  • The agency suites don't fit. They're built for 50-person agencies, priced per seat, and take weeks to learn.

How Vane runs a studio.

From the accepted quote to the last invoice, on one project page. Every screen below is the real app, from our Studio demo.

  1. 1

    Projects on your own board

    Send a quote and the client accepts it online. The work moves across a board with your columns, like Brief, Concepts, Client review, Revisions and Final files. Every card shows the client, the project, who's on it, the due date and the hours logged.

    The task board on the Studio demo: To Do, In Progress and Done columns, each card tagged with its client and project, a stage like Brief, Concepts, Client review or Revisions, the due date, hours logged and who's on it.
  2. 2

    Time turns into invoice lines

    Designers run a timer or log time after the fact. Each person has a billing rate, and a client can have its own. The Unbilled time card on every project adds it up, and one click puts it on an invoice. Once it's billed, it can't be billed again.

    The Unbilled time card on a project: 27 hours worth $3,570, by person with each person's hours and rate, and an Add to an invoice button. The new invoice that button opens: one line per person, with hours and rate filled in from the time, totalling $3,570.
  3. 3

    Fixed fees, billed on schedule

    Most studio work is a fixed fee. Split it into a deposit, milestones and a final payment. Each step shows whether it's been invoiced or paid, and Invoice now bills the next one when you get there.

    A project's payment schedule: a 50% deposit on signing, paid, and 50% for final files on delivery, not invoiced yet, with an Invoice now link. The schedule covers 100% of the accepted quote.
  4. 4

    Budgets that warn you early

    Give a project a budget in hours or dollars. Burn bars fill as time is logged, and you get an alert at 80% and again at 100%, while there's still time to talk to the client. Each project shows what's invoiced, collected, its cost at your team's pay rates, and the profit left over.

    A project's Budget and profit card: 27 of 64 hours used, $3,570 of an $8,400 fee, $4,200 invoiced and collected, $867 cost, $3,333 profit at a 79% margin, an effective rate of $311 an hour.
  5. 5

    Hours and Profit reports

    See profit by project, by client and by service, so you know which kinds of work pay. The Hours report shows billable time and the value of everything not billed yet. Utilization shows each person's billable hours against the hours they had.

    The Hours report for October: 240 hours, 180 billable, 75.5 billed, and $13,380 not billed yet, broken down by project.
  6. 6

    On every designer's phone

    Vane installs on a phone like an app. Each designer sees their day, their tasks and the board, runs timers, and talks about a project in its own chat thread instead of a group text.

    My Day on a designer's phone: today's studio planning and a client meeting, an overdue task, one due today and five more this week.
    The designer's own tasks on their phone, in To Do, In Progress and Done tabs, each with its client, project and due date.
  7. 7

    Clients approve designs on a link

    Upload a round and send the client a link. No login, no account: they tap the design to pin a comment, look back at earlier rounds, and approve or ask for changes. Every round stays on the project, and the quote's included rounds are counted for you.

    A proof in Vane: round 2 of 3 included of the Hazy Hollow beer label, with the brewer's pinned comment asking for a bigger brewery line.
    The same proof on the client's phone: the label with a numbered pin, the comment, and a box to add their own.
  8. 8

    Extra work becomes a change order

    When the client asks for more than the quote covered, or a fourth round of revisions, send a change order. They approve it on a link, it lands on the next invoice, and the project's budget grows with it. Scope creep gets billed.

    A change order on the client's phone: an online booking page for $1,200, with a box to type their name and approve.

Screens from our Studio demo, a sample studio called Northlight Design Co.

  • Online paymentsClients pay invoices by card through your own Stripe account.
  • QuickBooks OnlineInvoices go over, and payments recorded there come back.
  • RetainersMonthly plans, billed every month.
  • CalendarClient meetings and shoots, for the whole team.
  • Team chatChannels, direct messages and a thread on every project.
  • Your own websiteA site builder for the studio's site, with a contact form that lands in Vane.

One price for the whole studio.

Vane is $199 a month for up to 10 people, with every feature. Here's what a 10-person studio pays elsewhere.

Founder rate: sign up before November 15 and it's $169 a month for your first 12 months.

10 people, per monthPriceHow it's priced
Vane Studio$199Flat. 10 people included, then $50 for each 5 more.
Function Pointabout $530–680Per user, by plan
Workamajigabout $490Per user
Scoroabout $290–570plus add-onsPer user, by plan

Other products' prices are approximate, from their published pricing, Oct 2026, for 10 users a month. Their plans and features differ from Vane's; check their sites for current prices.

See your studio's numbers in Vane.

Look around the Studio demo first. It's the real app, with a sample studio's month in it. When you're ready, hold your spot and we'll help you move your clients over.

Hold my spot Try the studio demo

Questions

Is this the same Vane as for trades?

Yes. It's one product. The Studio edition uses studio words (projects, not jobs), turns on the agency features like billable time, budgets and payment schedules, and hides the field-service ones like dispatch and drive times.

Can I import my clients?

Yes. Bring them in from a CSV or a spreadsheet, or straight from QuickBooks Online in one click. We'll help you move them over.

Do my clients need an account?

No. Clients accept quotes and pay invoices from a link in their email, without logging in.

How many people can use it?

10 people are included in the $199 a month. After that, add people in packs of 5 for $50 a month.