Best Free Home Design Software 2026: 6 Options Compared
Best free Home Design Software compared: Sweet Home 3D, Planner 5D, Floorplanner, RoomSketcher and 2 more, with free-plan limits, platforms and prices from official pages checked October 24, 2026.
•3 min read•3D & CAD
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sweet Home 3D | Free (Free download; also usable in a browser per search coverage) | Windows, macOS, Linux | Unlimited private planning | Docs only |
| Planner 5D | Free (Free plan: unlimited projects and about half the furniture catalog per third-party reviews) | Web, iOS, Android | Phone and browser design | Docs only |
| Floorplanner | Free (Basic plan free: one floor and one design per project, SD exports with a watermark) | Web | Quick single-floor plans | Docs only |
| RoomSketcher | Free (Free plan: 1 user, 10-project archive, limited furniture library, watermarked 3D snapshots, no measurements or print-to-scale); paid from $12 per month, Pro plan billed annually ($24 billed monthly) | Desktop app, Tablet app | Visual layouts and snapshots | Docs only |
| Homestyler | Free (Basic plan needs no credit card: 10,000+ model library, unlimited 1K renders, watermark stays); paid from $3.9 per month, billing options vary | Web, iOS, Android | Furnished room renders | Docs only |
| LibreCAD | Free (Free, no trial or subscription) | Windows, macOS, Linux | Technical house plans | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You do not want account limits on your design (Sweet Home 3D is the pick)
- You design from a phone (Planner 5D is the pick)
- You want a furnished render of one room (Homestyler is the pick)
- You need a to-scale drawing for builders (LibreCAD is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You need paid-tier features, uptime guarantees or support that these free plans leave out
Home design software splits into planners for your own house and tools for designing a house from scratch, and free versions of both exist. Sweet Home 3D, Planner 5D, Floorplanner, RoomSketcher and Homestyler fall into the first group: draw rooms, drop in furniture and look around in 3D. They are meant for homeowners, renters and people about to hire a contractor. LibreCAD is the exception, a 2D drafting program that suits a dimensioned plan rather than a pretty picture. Free tiers decide most of the choice. Planner 5D's free plan allows unlimited projects, with a larger catalog on the $4.99-a-month Premium plan. Floorplanner's Basic plan is limited to one floor and one design per project. RoomSketcher caps its free archive at 10 projects, and Homestyler leaves a watermark on free renders. Sweet Home 3D has no caps at all and runs on your own computer, which also means no sharing link and no mobile app. The trade-off to weigh is ease against limits: browser tools are quicker and prettier, desktop tools are unlimited and plain. Whichever you choose, export your plan before you pay a contractor or buy furniture from it, so you know the output is usable.
Sweet Home 3D
Free GPL download with no project caps. Draw rooms, place furniture and view the result in 3D; the interface is plainer than browser tools.
Price: Free (Free download; also usable in a browser per search coverage) (Sweet Home 3D pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux. GPL-2.0-or-later (open source).
Best for: Unlimited private planning.
Planner 5D
Free plan with unlimited projects, per its pricing page, and Premium at $4.99 a month. Runs in a browser and as mobile apps.
Price: Free (Free plan: unlimited projects and about half the furniture catalog per third-party reviews) (Planner 5D pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Phone and browser design.
Floorplanner
Basic plan is free, limited to one floor and one design per project, with watermarked exports.
Price: Free (Basic plan free: one floor and one design per project, SD exports with a watermark) (Floorplanner pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary.
Best for: Quick single-floor plans.
RoomSketcher
Free plan has one user, a 10-project archive and watermarked 3D snapshots. No measurements or print-to-scale on the free tier.
Price: Free (Free plan: 1 user, 10-project archive, limited furniture library, watermarked 3D snapshots, no measurements or print-to-scale); paid from $12 per month, Pro plan billed annually ($24 billed monthly) (RoomSketcher pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Desktop app, Tablet app. Proprietary.
Best for: Visual layouts and snapshots.
Compare: RoomSketcher alternatives
Homestyler
Free Basic plan, no credit card, with a 10,000+ model library and unlimited 1K renders. The watermark stays on free exports.
Price: Free (Basic plan needs no credit card: 10,000+ model library, unlimited 1K renders, watermark stays); paid from $3.9 per month, billing options vary (Homestyler pricing, checked 2026-10-24).
Platforms and license: Web, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Furnished room renders.
LibreCAD
Free GPL-2.0 2D CAD for dimensioned plans exported as DXF. Has no furniture libraries or 3D views.
Price: Free (Free, no trial or subscription) (LibreCAD pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux. GPL-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 6.5k GitHub stars · latest release v2.2.1.6 (Oct 17, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Technical house plans.
Worth knowing: 2D only.
Which one to pick
- You do not want account limits on your design: Sweet Home 3D
- You design from a phone: Planner 5D
- You want a furnished render of one room: Homestyler
- You need a to-scale drawing for builders: LibreCAD
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Sweet Home 3D, Planner 5D, Floorplanner, RoomSketcher, Homestyler, LibreCAD: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you commit.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing, license and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-24: Sweet Home 3D, Planner 5D, Floorplanner, RoomSketcher, Homestyler, LibreCAD. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.