Short answer: there is no single best CRM for an art gallery — it depends on your size and workflow. A disciplined spreadsheet is still fine below ~50 artworks and one user. Artlogic wins when you want website + inventory in one place. ArtBase is the veteran for long archives. ArtCloud and GallerySoft are broad vertical suites. A customised Odoo build gives total control at the price of an integration project. Art Gallery CRM by MongeLab (this site) fits galleries that need art-native records, PDF proposals, multi-location stock, an open API and data they own. The table below compares all six on facts.
What is the best CRM for an art gallery? It depends on your gallery's size and workflow — here is the honest breakdown. We run Art Gallery CRM, so read this with that in mind: we will tell you where each option genuinely wins, including where a spreadsheet or a competitor is the better answer. Our own feature claims map to named modules running in production; competitor descriptions come from their public materials as of October 2026 — check their sites for current details.
The baseline: what a gallery CRM must do
Whatever you choose, the tool must cover five jobs without spreadsheets creeping back in:
- Art-native catalogue — one record per work: images, artist, provenance, certificates, editions, location, status.
- Collector records — contact details, purchase history, preferences, the full conversation trail.
- Proposals — branded PDF offers assembled from the catalogue, not rebuilt by hand in Word.
- Multi-user access control — staff, partners and assistants see only what you decide, and changes are traceable.
- Exit path — exportable data in open formats. A system you cannot leave owns you.
The six options, described fairly
1. Spreadsheets — Excel, Google Sheets, Notion
The real competitor number one: most galleries considering a CRM are actually running on a spreadsheet today. Its strengths are real — near-free, infinitely flexible, familiar, fast to change. Its limits are structural, not version-related: no schema enforcement (every row a negotiation), no audit trail, unreliable simultaneous editing, and no way to generate a proposal from the record. Below ~50 artworks and a single user, none of this matters much. We have written an honest piece on where spreadsheets stop being enough.
2. Artlogic — website and CRM under one roof
Artlogic is an established UK vendor with over a decade serving galleries, artists and advisors. Its genuine strength is the integrated website builder with e-commerce and artist sites, plus PrivateViews for sharing works with collectors — a polished, fully managed package. The trade-offs are structural: it is a proprietary platform (exports available, source code is not), pricing scales with plan level, seats, storage and feature unlocks, and its API and exports sit on higher tiers. If your priority is the public site more than internal workflow depth, Artlogic is often the right call. More in our review of Artlogic alternatives.
3. ArtBase — the veteran
ArtBase is one of the longest-established names in gallery database software, with a track record measured in decades. Its heritage is catalogue and collection management: artwork records, provenance fields and long-term archives for galleries, collectors and estates. If your gallery manages a deep historical archive, that lineage counts for something. Pricing is typically quoted per installation. As with any veteran system, check how current the interface and integration options are against your workflow — their site carries the current details.
4. ArtCloud, GallerySoft and similar vertical suites
A family of gallery-management suites — ArtCloud and GallerySoft among them — offer the standard set: inventory, contacts, invoicing, and in some cases a website offering, on a subscription. For a gallery that wants a broad, standard toolset quickly, they are a reasonable middle ground. The consideration is depth: gallery-specific workflows such as edition-level tracking, inter-company transfers or custom proposal pipelines are only as deep as the vendor's template allows — deeper changes depend on their roadmap.
5. Customised Odoo — the build-it-yourself route
Odoo is an open-source business platform (ERP/CRM) that a skilled integrator can shape into a gallery system: multi-warehouse stock, multi-company, multi-currency and access control are native. This is the maximum-control option — you own the code and the database schema outright. The cost is the project itself: someone must build and maintain the art-specific layer (provenance, proposals, fairs), and that is real integrator effort. It is our own approach — which brings us to the last option.
6. Art Gallery CRM by MongeLab — the pre-built Odoo, hardened for galleries
Art Gallery CRM is what that custom build becomes after three years in daily production with leading international galleries: the open-source Odoo 15 base plus dedicated art modules, a React frontend and a secured REST API, privately hosted in the EU (GDPR compliant). Concretely:
- Art-native data model — artists, artworks, price history per deal, opportunity timelines artgallery_custom_fields
- Exhibition and fair lists — curated artwork lists shared with clients, with reminders art_list
- Proposals — multi-artwork proposals and branded server-side PDFs, client-facing portal pages art_proposal artwork_proposal_pdf custom_mail_templates
- Multi-location — multi-warehouse stock, inter-company transfers, multi-currency
- Security and traceability — full audit trail auditlog, granular roles base_user_role, 2FA-protected REST API custom_api_2FA
- Dashboards and images — configurable KPI dashboards ks_dashboard_ninja, high-resolution image handling image_processing
What we do not include: a public website builder — we deliberately focus on internal operations and integrate with your existing site. The full module-by-module detail sits in our Art Gallery CRM vs Artlogic comparison.
Side-by-side comparison (October 2026)
| Criterion | Excel / Notion | Artlogic | ArtBase | ArtCloud / GallerySoft | Odoo custom | Art Gallery CRM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Art data: provenance, certificates, editions | Manual columns; structure drifts as the file grows | Structured artwork records; fields designed by the vendor | Core heritage — catalogue and provenance records | Standard inventory records | Only if built for you | Yes — art-specific model, hardened in production artgallery_custom_fields |
| PDF proposals from the catalogue | Rebuilt by hand for every offer | PrivateViews and shareable sheets; templates within layout options | Document output depends on setup | Offer and invoice documents; depth varies by product | Buildable by your integrator | Yes — multi-artwork proposals, branded server-side PDFs, client portal pages artwork_proposal_pdf |
| Multi-location stock | Copies of the same file; conflicts | Location tracking; inventory features depend on plan tier | Varies by setup | Typically covered; check depth per space | Yes — native multi-warehouse | Yes — multi-warehouse, inter-company transfers, multi-currency |
| Open API | No — files only | Offered on higher tiers | Varies; check current offering | Varies by product | Yes — open-source base | Yes — secured REST API (2FA), the same API that powers our frontend custom_api_2FA |
| Data & code ownership | Yours, but fragile and unauditable | Proprietary SaaS; exports available, source code is not | Proprietary; exports per agreement | Proprietary SaaS | Yours outright | Yours — standard PostgreSQL, documented schema, open-source base, scheduled backups, full dumps on request |
| Price (model) | Near-free upfront; paid in time and errors | Published tiers: plan, seats, storage, feature unlocks | Typically quoted | Subscription tiers | Licence + integrator project | Quote on locations and users — no per-seat metering |
Competitor rows summarise their public materials as of October 2026; capabilities evolve — verify on vendor sites. No invented customer counts, no fabricated reviews, no cherry-picked pricing numbers.
Which solution for which gallery
- Solo gallery or artist, under ~50 works, one user → the spreadsheet, kept disciplined. Migrating later is straightforward (migration guide).
- Small gallery whose priority is a beautiful website with e-commerce, inventory included → Artlogic. That is their strongest game and it is not our market.
- Established gallery or estate with a decades-deep archive → ArtBase deserves evaluation for its catalogue heritage.
- Gallery wanting a broad standard suite in place quickly → ArtCloud / GallerySoft class of tools.
- Gallery whose deals die in the follow-up — proposals, collector history, multi-user trust → a dedicated CRM: Art Gallery CRM for the pre-built, EU-hosted, API-open route.
- Multi-site group with IT resources and unique processes → customised Odoo — or talk to us: our product is that route, already built and in production.
How to decide in one afternoon
Write down your three most repeated tasks — usually sending an offer, checking availability, updating the website — and test exactly those in every trial. Run the same artwork and collector through each system. Ask where the data lives and whether you can export it in open formats. If you want a method rather than an afternoon, use our 12-point buyer's checklist — the question to ask each vendor and the red flag to watch for, per criterion.
FAQ
What is the best CRM for a small art gallery?
It depends on the workflow. Under roughly 50 artworks and a single user, a disciplined spreadsheet is genuinely enough. A small gallery that wants website and inventory in one place is well served by Artlogic. A gallery whose deals die in the follow-up — needing PDF proposals, collector history and multi-user access — should look at a dedicated CRM such as Art Gallery CRM by MongeLab. Test your three most repeated tasks in any trial before deciding.
How much does art gallery CRM software cost?
Pricing models differ more than price levels. Mainstream gallery SaaS vendors publish tiered subscriptions that grow with plan level, seats, storage and unlocked features. Veteran and premium platforms typically quote per installation. A customised Odoo build means a licence plus integrator effort. We quote on your number of locations and users, without per-seat metering. Spreadsheets are near-free but paid in time and errors. Compare total cost of ownership on your real numbers — our cost guide shows the method.
Can I migrate from Excel to an art gallery CRM?
Yes. Every serious gallery CRM imports structured CSV or Excel data. The work is in cleaning the file first: one row per artwork, consistent status vocabulary, edition children split from parent records. Vendors such as Art Gallery CRM handle the import and validate the result with your team during onboarding — see the step-by-step migration path.
What features do art galleries need in a CRM?
The baseline: an art-specific data model (provenance, certificates, editions), collector records with purchase history, PDF proposals generated from the catalogue, multi-location stock, roles and permissions, an audit trail, an open API, and exportable data you own. Reporting dashboards and EU/GDPR-compliant hosting matter for most professional galleries.
Next reads: Artlogic alternatives reviewed honestly, the 12-point buyer's checklist, spreadsheets vs a gallery CRM, and the full module-by-module comparison.
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