The growing popularity of home design software has made it possible for anyone with a computer to literally build their dream home plan. There are many tools available online which you can use to create your ideal house, however, browsing through all of these options can be overwhelming. However, the following software will help you simplify the entire process.
Here are the most popular, good looking, sophisticated house plan softwares that will really keep you smiling.
Planner 5D
This floor planner is aimed at non-professionals. It allows you to create home plans and interior designs. Planner 5D boasts of 17 million users who share a vast collection of design ideas on the site. This software works online and can also be downloaded on IOS, Android, and OSX.
You can draw your project and render it into a 3D representation with a photorealistic high definition. The only issue with this software is that it has some complexity that makes it a bit difficult to use for users without prior experience.
Planner 5D is free but you may be required to pay to have access to the full catalog of items. The app allows for in-app purchases and doesn’t have a price list.
Sweet Home 3D
Sweet Home 3D can be downloaded as an app or used directly on the web browser. It allows you to design floor plans and render them in 3D. It is commonly used by homeowners and rookies. The software has limited capability and is not popular among professionals. It is useful for quick 2D floor planning.
Sweet Home 3D has a library of various furniture and allows customization such as color, texture, size, and many others. It enables you to start your sketch from a single room.
The floor plan software has four sections:
- The furniture catalog allows you to choose a component name and drag it into the place
- The home furniture section displays a list of dimensions of each piece
- The home plan section shows you 2D formats of the position of walls, windows, furniture, and doors
- The home 3D view shows your plan in three dimensions
The software is free but login information is required.
SketchUp
This software is one of the most popular 3D modeling and design tool. It is very famous because it is easy to use.
SketchUp has a 3D tool that helps you to draw plans and visualize how space will look from different angles. It allows you to import reference images and documents that paint a holistic picture of a particular area.
SketchUp gives you templates that help you get started after which it allows you to get creative with the tools. This software is not for drawing alone; it also provides a tool called Layout, which enables you to craft a presentation for your contractor or client.
SketchUp comes with a free trial and has cloud storage, integration capabilities, and mobile viewing. It is suitable for novices and professionals.
Foyr Neo®
Foyr Neo doesn’t need an introduction when it comes to enlisting the best floor plan creator. It enables designers in the automatic calculation of room to create impeccable floor plan designs. The features of this software are incredibly easy, as you can draw the floor plan from scratch.
It is compatible with sketch apps that can send Bluetooth laser meters and values to an Android smartphone and mobile devices. It makes your app purchases worth it and gives you enough room to create a perfect house plan or home design.
All you need is to add the description and details of walls, doors, and windows and let Neo do its work. The 3D button will take your client on the digital tour and show them their home or office’s future look.
With Neo, you can begin with 14-day free trials to understand the features and make the most of them. Once you know how it works, you can start with the basic package that costs only $49 a month.
Vectorworks®
This is a 2D/ 3D CAD and BIM software that can be used in both Windows, and Mac-based platforms. This software is faster, with an increased number of tools that are used for floor plan conversion, 2D to 3D conversion, and for creating various designs in 2D and 3D. This software can be used to sketch a model in a fully integrated BIM workflow. It is mainly used for making floor plans, landscape designing, and industrial planning.
Although this is a fairly popular tool among architects, it requires a comprehensive technical knowledge of BIM concepts. This software is not ideal for users who have no technical education in architecture or BIM and is not built for easy use for first-timers.
Cost: starting $198/ month. Free Trial not available
Ease of Use: 3/5
Value for Money: 3/5
Price: 3/5
Overall Score: 3
Read also – Best Home Design Software
Smartdraw
Smartdraw is an org chart maker that offers a web floor plan creator layout tool for easy use, sharing, and collaboration. SmartDraw’s chart and diagram templates are used to create visuals for companies that are simple to visualize. Its floor plan creator may be used by anybody with the internet and geared up with architectural design symbols and file-sharing programs. It is a viable option as a floor plan maker and it is fairly simple to create quick floor plans.
However, users who would like more features or a highly intuitive and engaging interface with heaver features like 3D designing or rendering post-creating floor plans may not prefer Smartdraw. It is perfect for drawing up floor plans and downloading them in png, svg, or pdf format for further planning. Users who prefer more technical and niche architecture and design software should choose from other software listed here
Cost: starting $9.95/ month. Free Trial available
Ease of Use: 4/5
Value for Money: 4/5
Price: 4/5
Overall Score: 4
Read also – Best 3D Rendering Software
Roomle®
Roomle is another great choice when it comes to buying free floor plan software. It is best for office managers and homeowners to lay out floor plans, especially with decoration and furnishings. The software is an excellent option to help clients visualize the space. It can modify spaces and objects to make them more customized.
Like Planner 5D, the basic version of this floor plan software is free. However, the company directly quotes you the price of Roomle’s business version.
Roomle is a viable option for first-time users and design experts alike. While it is not too hard to create and export a floor plan in PDF format to process on other software, Roomle also offers an array of features for product and furniture designers. Users can upload their product files and configure them with a visual configurator built into the platform, thus combining functions for quick first-time basic users as well as design and modeling veterans.
Cost: starting $176/ month. Free Trial available
Ease of Use: 3/5
Value for Money: 3/5
Price: 3/5
Overall Score: 3
Read also – Best 3D Visualization Software
PlanningWiz®
Planningwiz floor planner is a 2d/3d floor planning software for interior designers, real estate agents, property builders, and furnishings retailers. It is an easy-to-use floor plans design tool that enables users to deliver floor plan ideas to clients. The answer is available on each free and paid variation. Its restrained free plan allows you to create 2d/3d projects and, relying on the kind of the project; you may no longer print or even export the plans.
Planningwiz is a good tool for beginners and small-sized boutiques or interior design firms and architects as well. The interface is simple enough to be used by homeowners and designers who are not adept with BIM technologies and concepts. Users don’t need to have extensive expertise and experience with complicated CAD software. They can immediately log in for free and start creating floor plans, convert them to 3D and communicate the designs and ask for feedback from clients. However, there are more advanced tools listed here that would suit a design professional with large or prestigious clients.
Cost: Not Listed. Free Trial available
Ease of Use: 3/5
Value for Money: N.A
Price: – N.A
Overall Score: 2
Read also – Best 3D Modeling Software
RoomSketcher®
RoomSketcher is the first choice of many real estate agents to create, print, and show accurate floor plans to wow their customers. Its detailed 3D walkthroughs and designs are ideal for demonstrating the features of a property. It can work with GLM floor plan app and compatible with all Google devices.
If you don’t want to draw a floor plan with this software, upload a blueprint and let its expert illustrator draw it for you.
The free version of Roomsketcher is available for basic designs, but you need to pay $49 to design 2D and 3D floor plans.
It is ideal for users who just want to create floor plans for free. Paying users can create 3D designs as well but the feature set and interface are not too premium or powerful. While beginners and designers on a budget would greatly benefit from the software, high-end boutiques and designers would generally opt for software with high-end rendering capabilities.
Cost: starting $49/month. Free Trial available
Ease of Use: 4/5
Value for Money: 2/5
Price: 2/5
Overall Score: 2.5
Read also – Best Kitchen Design Software
Floorplanner
This user-friendly software has over 20 million users including freelance interior designers and estate agents. It helps contractors to create a quick understanding of how a remodel will look to clients. The software creates space for 2D and 3D designs.
Floorplanner makes designs well-detailed and realistic with its unique auto-furnish ability. The software, which has a massive library of furniture images, can do VR walkthroughs and provide photo-realistic drawings.
Its free version doesn’t allow collaboration and lower resolution output images.
Generally, Floorplanner is an excellent choice if you wish to develop a plan for your contractor. It is easy to use and provides a demo that helps you learn how to utilize its features efficiently.
SmartDraw
SmartDraw floor plan software has a large number of templates for kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms, and other parts of the home. It is popularly known as a flow chart tool and less known for its floor plan features. It allows you to use architectural symbols and customize on a beginner and professional level.
The software enables you to modify the measurements of your home. It automatically adjusts other areas of the plan when you edit a particular segment. This accessible software can run on smartphones and any browser. You can easily share files on Microsoft Office and G Suite.
Smartdraw is a multi-functional software program that can be used for 70 other types of diagrams such as flow charts, hierarchy charts, organization charts, and network diagrams. This tool is ideal for individual homeowners and real estate business owners who do not wish to spend too much on design.
Roomle
Roomle is a favorite floor plan design software amongst real estate agents and interior designers because it produces high-quality output. It is a free floor planner that helps clients to visualize their space and also helps homeowners to design their taste and furnish it.
Roomle has a 3D catalog that helps users to easily modify objects to make a well-customized design. This software appeals aesthetically to floor plans 2D and 3D designs with cross-platform use. It allows for easy collaboration and sharing. Roomle makes it possible to create business branded online portals for clients to view hosted floor plans.
It is available on smartphones and can be easily accessed.
RoomSketcher
This software was built specifically for floor plan and home design. It has a click-and-drag editing tool that makes it a special software for sharing adjustments with buyers and contractors on the spot. The interface is friendly to both professionals and novices. On this software, you can upload a blueprint, sketch, or an existing floor plan, and professionals will do the floor planning for you.
With RoomSketcher, your floor plans can be presented in several formats, depending on your preference. You can show your design in 360-degree views or interactive 3D walkthroughs. You can also download in JPG, PNG, or PDF format.
RoomSketcher is useful for homeowners, interior designers, and many other branded businesses. It has a free trial that comes with free options.
AutoCAD Architecture
AutoCAD is mainly built for architects and professionals. It helps to render realistic projects into floor plans. This software comes with standard features and has an extensive database that allows you to create realistic renders. AutoCAD supports the Revit grid to aid modeling.
It has over 8,000 intelligent styles that enable you to complete tasks faster than usual. This 2D design software has been useful to engineers and construction professionals. You can access it on any device.
AutoCAD has several collaboration tools, some of which are sheet set managements, external image references, and geographic information. It also has a draft comparison capability that makes it possible to toggle between old and new layers without closing the window. AutoCAD has a free trial that you can quickly use for your design project.
HomeByMe
HomeByMe has a community where you can discuss with other planning fans. You can view other people’s project gallery for inspiration. The software was majorly built to help users create a virtual representation of a home.
It is an online 3D planning tool that makes planning and managing home projects easier. It is easy to use and beneficial for homeowners to design a home creatively. With HomeByMe, you can create your first three projects for free – but online. After this, you will have to purchase additional projects for $10. It is an online 3D planning tool.
Transforming a 2D plan to 3D and creating realistic photo images and 360 degree comes with another additional fee.
MagicPlan
This is commonly used by contractors and other professionals. It has a room scanner that takes not more than 30 seconds to scan a room. This scanner can be paired with Bluetooth laser distance meter to help achieve accuracy.
MagicPlan allows you to add notes directly to your floor plan and match the notes to specific properties and objects. It is very useful if you are thinking of renovating your home design or floor plan. You can point out features that need to be replaced or need extra attention.
SmartDraw
SmartDraw is another powerful tool in the world of floor planning. It’s easy enough to learn so no one is excluded from using it, while being advanced enough to facilitate intricate designs for more advanced designers.
With a seemingly endless selection of furniture, cars, building materials and thousands of templates and floor plan examples, you’ll be able to explore an infinite amount of possible designs and layouts for your new space. The only downside to this tool is that it’s only free for the first seven days, so if you plan on using it for longer or for multiple projects, it may be worth the upgrade.
START DESIGNING WITH SMARTDRAW
Planner 5D
Planner 5D is the best-looking home design tool. Like the free version of Sketch Up, this tool is immersive, which means you are able to explore your design with your feet virtually on the ground.
With Planner 5D you’ll be able to start from scratch or use a template which is perfect for throwing together a quick floor plan if you don’t have the time or don’t want to make a complex design. What’s especially great about this software is that it works on iOS, which means you can create plans on your phone or iPad while you’re on the move.
Getting started couldn’t be easier. Start by adjusting the floor shape, size, materials and colours. Then add furniture and accessories, switch to 3D and add windows and doors. Add a second floor if you want to, and then the roof. The only downside is that if you want to use the in-app furniture, it can get expensive for anything other than the most basic beds, chairs or sofas.
All aspects of the design can be changed in terms of colour and texture and, when you’re ready to share your plans, it can be printed in a photorealistic format.
START DESIGNING WITH PLANNER 5D
Conclusion
With these free house plans software can save you a ton of time and money. The only caveat is they only generate the basic floor plan layouts for a house. You basically have to anchor all or most of the walls and ceilings on your own and download Building Plans and Company Blueprints for more complete house plans.