Everything You Get on MOA for Free: A Guide for Architects and Interior Designers

The free plan on MOA gives an architect or interior designer seven things: a public profile and portfolio, up to 5 projects, commission-free client enquiries, a place in the Architects or Interior Designers directory, a COA or designer badge, followers with a public view count, and a listing in the sitemap MOA gives to Google. This guide walks through each one on the screen where it happens, so you can set it up today.

Some screens call the free plan "Starter", for example About > Subscription. It is the same plan. If you are new to MOA, our guide to creating a winning MOA profile covers sign-up; this post is the map of what you get once you are in.

1. Your profile and portfolio

Screen: your profile, at memberofarchitecture.com/user/your-name.

Your profile is your home on MOA. Everything you manage as a member is a tab on it, not a separate dashboard. Visitors see All Projects and About; when you are signed in, you also see the tabs only the owner can use. The top of the page shows what a visitor reads first: your name and photo, studio name, the cities you work in, a "Completed Projects" count, your badge, and two buttons, Get a quote and Follow.

Set it up

1. About > General: your name, contact details and a bio. Write three or four sentences on who you design for, where, and what kind of projects.
2. About > Company: studio name, projects completed, the cities your office works in, and your consultation fee per sq ft.
3. About > Services: tick only the services you deliver.
4. About > Social: your website, LinkedIn, Behance, Medium, ArchDaily, Instagram or Twitter.

Empty fields are not hidden from visitors. A missing bio shows "No bio provided" and a missing fee shows "Not specified", so fill them in before you share the link.

Free vs Pro: the profile and portfolio are the same on both plans. Pro adds the MOA Pro row on your card.

2. Up to 5 projects

Screen: /projects/upload, and /projects/<id>/edit to change one later.

Each project gets its own page with a details grid (design style, client, built year, built-up and carpet area, location), a written description and a captioned gallery. Published projects also appear on Explore Projects, which lists them newest first. MOA also features some projects on its home page.

The free plan allows up to 5 projects, and drafts count toward the 5. When you reach the limit, the upload page shows "Project Limit Reached" with how many of your 5 you have used and a "Get MOA Pro" button. To add a new one on the free plan, delete or replace an older one.

Choose your five

• Match the work you want next. If you want more homes, show three or four homes and one other type for range.
• Fill every detail field. Carpet area and location let a client compare your project with their own.
• Say when an image is a render. MOA's terms ask members not to post false or misleading information.
• Ask your client first before you show their home or put their name in the Client field.

Free vs Pro: up to 5 projects free; unlimited while Pro is active. Pro also unlocks the premium Aveno layout, built around a video.

3. Commission-free client enquiries

Screen: the Get a quote button on your profile, then your Inquiries page at /inquiry.

When a client presses Get a quote, MOA asks them to sign in, then shows a short form: a description of the project, up to 2 services and a budget. When they send it, you both land in a conversation on /inquiry, a chat list on one side and the messages on the other. MOA tells you about the new enquiry by in-app notification and email.

There is no fee per enquiry, no commission on the project and no payment inside the chat. You agree your fee and contract with the client directly. Our post on how MOA helps interior designers win clients, commission-free walks through this from the client's side and suggests how to write a good first reply.

Free vs Pro: identical. Enquiries are commission-free on both plans.

4. A place in the directory, with city and budget filters

Screen: /architects or /interior-designers, depending on your role.

Every member with the architect role is listed on /architects, and every interior designer on /interior-designers. You do not apply or pay to be listed. Each card shows your photo, name, studio, cities and a View Profile button.

Visitors have two filters:

• Enter Location: pick one or more cities. The list narrows to members who name those cities on their profile.
• Enter Budget: type an amount, and the list shows studios whose consultation fee is at or below it. That fee is the one you enter in About > Company.

There is no style filter. The list runs newest members first, 24 to a page, and is shuffled within each page.

Make the filters work for you

• Add every city you really take work in, and no others. The city filter reads them straight from your profile.
• Enter an honest fee. It decides which budget searches you appear in, and it shows on your About tab.
• Use a clear photo and the studio name clients know, because that is what the card shows.

Free vs Pro: both plans are listed in the same order. Pro does not move a studio up the directory; Pro cards only carry a small "◆ Pro" badge.

5. Your COA or designer badge

Screen: About > COA.

Architects show a badge on their profile: "COA Verified" in green, or "COA Not Verified" in red. To get the green mark, add your Council of Architecture registration number in About > COA. MOA checks it by hand. Interior designers show an "Interior Designer" badge instead.

The badge matters because, in India, only people registered with the Council of Architecture may call themselves architects. Our post COA explained covers what registration means for the client, who can also look a name or registration number up in the Council of Architecture's Online Directory of Architects. If you are an interior designer without COA registration, call yourself an interior designer in your bio too.

Free vs Pro: identical. The badge is free.

6. Followers and a public view count

Screen: the top of your profile.

Anyone signed in to MOA can press Follow on your profile, and your Followers count sits beside your Profile Views total and the number of projects you have on MOA. All three are public, so they act as a quick signal to a visitor that the profile is active.

What you do not get on the free plan is a breakdown of those views. The Analytics tab shows free members a blurred sample preview with made-up numbers, labelled as a preview. It is not your data.

Free vs Pro: followers and the public totals are free. Pro adds in-depth analytics: where visitors are, how they found you, views per project, who is looking and on which device.

7. A listing for Google

Screen: none. This happens behind the scenes.

MOA publishes a sitemap at memberofarchitecture.com/sitemap.xml. It lists every architect and interior designer profile that has a profile web address, plus their published projects, and it is rebuilt every hour. Google describes a sitemap as a file that tells search engines about the pages on a site, and says plainly that it "doesn't guarantee that all the items in your sitemap will be crawled and indexed".

Each profile page also carries Person structured data (your name, role, studio and city), and each project carries CreativeWork data (its name, description, images, style, year and location). Google says structured data gives it "explicit clues about the meaning of a page".

This helps Google find and read your profile, but it does not promise a ranking or a date. What you control is the words: a studio name, city and project descriptions that say plainly what you do and where.

Free vs Pro: identical. There is no ranking boost from Pro on Google.

What stays free

The free plan has no trial period and no expiry. Everything in the seven sections above stays free for as long as you keep your profile:

• your profile, About tab and web address
• up to 5 projects, each with its own page
• commission-free enquiries and the Inquiries chat
• your listing in /architects or /interior-designers
• your COA or Interior Designer badge
• followers and the public Profile Views total
• your profile and published projects in MOA's sitemap

If you try Pro and later stop, you return to the free plan without losing anything. Projects beyond your first 5 (by upload date) are hidden from everyone and leave the sitemap, but nothing is deleted, and they come back if you renew.

Free vs Pro at a glance

The Pro page puts it in one table. The free column keeps the professional profile and portfolio, commission-free client enquiries and up to 5 project uploads. Pro is ₹99 + GST for the first month, then ₹399 + GST a month. You can cancel anytime from About > Subscription; under MOA's refunds and cancellation policy, a cancellation takes effect at the end of the billing period you have paid for. It adds in-depth analytics, unlimited projects, featuring for signed-in visitors in your state, city promotion credits, the Aveno theme, job posts, a team of up to 20, AI credits when MOA's AI tools launch, and a monthly article about your studio. Our post MOA Pro explained covers each one.

A fair way to decide: set up the free plan fully first. If five projects feel tight, or you want to know where your visitors come from, Pro is worth a look.

FAQ

Is MOA free for architects and interior designers?

Yes. The free plan includes a profile and portfolio, up to 5 projects, commission-free client enquiries, a directory listing, a COA or designer badge, followers and a place in MOA's sitemap. It has no time limit. MOA Pro is optional.

Does MOA take a commission on projects from enquiries?

No. There is no fee per enquiry and no commission on the project, on either plan. You agree your fee with the client directly.

How many projects can I upload on the MOA free plan?

Up to 5, and drafts count toward the 5. Pro allows unlimited projects while it is active.

Do Pro members appear above free members in the MOA directory?

No. The directory lists members newest first, 24 to a page, shuffled within each page, whatever their plan. Pro cards carry a small Pro badge.

Will my MOA profile show up on Google?

Your profile and published projects are listed in MOA's sitemap, which is rebuilt every hour, and carry structured data that helps Google read them. Google does not guarantee that every page in a sitemap is indexed, so no ranking or timing can be promised.

Put your portfolio on MOA, free: create your profile. When five projects feel tight, see what MOA Pro adds.

Sources

• MOA: MOA Pro, price and Free vs Pro table (accessed 21 Oct 2026)
• MOA: Terms and Conditions (accessed 21 Oct 2026)
• MOA: Refunds and Cancellation Policy (accessed 21 Oct 2026)
• MOA: Architects directory (accessed 21 Oct 2026)
• Council of Architecture: Online Directory of Architects (accessed 21 Oct 2026)
• Google Search Central: What is a sitemap (accessed 21 Oct 2026)
• Google Search Central: Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search (accessed 21 Oct 2026)