10 Best Free Interior Design Software for 2024
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are Pinterest Homes.
Whether it’s your first rental apartment or your own house (congrats!), decorating your home is a way to express your style, create an inviting space, and optimize rooms and layouts with the right kind of furniture and installations.
We all want our homes to look like something out of Vogue, but knowing where to begin and how to execute all your aesthetic ideas can be overwhelming.
Fortunately, platforms like architectural rendering software and design software make interior designing efficient and enjoyable. Simply put, technology makes home decoration and organization the best of both worlds.
What are the best free interior design tools for 2024?
- Cedreo
- D5 Render
- Draft it
- DreamPlan Home Design
- Floorplanner
- HomeByMe
- Planner 5D
- RoomSketcher
- SketchUp
- SmartDraw
* These are the top free solutions for interior designing at G2 as of February 2024. The tools are ranked alphabetically.
Best free interior design software
If you want to get ideas for re-working a single room or installing a pool, interior design software helps you visualize what your dream home could look like.
The list below contains real user reviews, and in the context of this list, vendors that offer a free trial are also considered free. To be included on this list, a solution must have at least one of the following features:
- Include 2D precision drawing tools.
- Enable users to visualize their structures in 3D.
- Provide rendering features such as shading and texture editing.
- Be customizable and have use cases in multiple industries.
- Offer specialized tools for designing one or more types of diagrams.
*This data was pulled from G2 in February 2024, and the product list is ranked in alphabetical order. Some reviews may have been edited for clarity.
1. Cedreo
Category: Architecture Software
Cedreo is a powerful tool for architects, home builders, remodelers, and interior designers who want to quickly and efficiently create 2D and 3D floor plans, as well as 3D renderings. It enables clients to generate fully furnished photorealistic graphics to help them better visualize their future homes or interior designs before construction begins.
The software platform has a free plan.
What users like best:
“Cedreo was helpful for our company when we created a sales center as a custom project for a builder. It was easy to use, understandable, and user-friendly, giving us a wide range of design options to create the custom look he was going for. We could start with a blueprint and work on furnishing and materials in one afternoon! I was emailed several times throughout our project to check if I needed help, further training, or to answer any questions.”
– Cedreo Review, Vanessa S.
What users dislike:
“I wish some of the accessories would include more US-based items. For example, wall trim (on the entire wall) is very popular here. It would be cool to see if some wall trim was already built out, and we could select and drag it onto the wall.
Also, putting on a roof is difficult to understand with a vaulting ceiling. Many of the homes we are building have vaults in almost every room. I’d love more videos or training on this, along with wall heights.”
– Cedreo Review, Courtney S.
2. D5 Render
Category: Architecture Software
D5 Render allows users to create immersive interiors for residential spaces, commercial interiors, and architectural visualizations. It offers advanced rendering technology with intuitive tools that improve the design process, enabling enthusiasts to bring their vision to life with unparalleled realism.
The software offers a free plan perfect for beginners and individual use.
What users like best:
“D5 Render has become my preferred tool for interior and exterior renderings. It seamlessly translates architectural designs into visually stunning and lifelike representations at an impressive pace. It streamlines the workflow and allows for quick iterations and adjustments, making the entire design process more dynamic and efficient.”
– D5 Render Review, Artan J.
What users dislike:
“It is the long rendering times and occasional software glitches. In addition the limited number of assets it provides. It would be great if they included path tracing capabilities for more realistic results indoors.”
– D5 Render Review, Betsegaw A.
3. Draft it
Category: Architectural Rendering Software
Draft it software provides architects with an efficient 2D CAD drawing solution. The application includes dynamic editing functions, various design components, and symbols architects use to create detailed and accurate drawings. Draft it also comes with a comprehensive help system, making it easy for users to learn and master the software.
The software offers free versions.
What users think:
“Draft is a user-friendly 2D architectural CAD platform. It has basic floor plan diagramming capabilities and is great for non-technical persons to acquire practice in the architectural design field since it has varying metrics and units to work with.
Layering tools are not intuitive. The automatic 3D Model Viewer is not exactly automatic.”
– Draft it Review, Corrine H.
4. DreamPlan Home Design
Category: Other Design Software
DreamPlan Home Design is a home and landscape design program for creating floor plans in minutes, designing kitchens and bathrooms, adding furniture and appliances, and customizing paint and textures. The program includes design features for both the exterior and interior of homes or apartments and enables users to plan multiple stories, build walls, and design the slope and style of their roofs.
The solution offers a free version available for download.
What users like best:
“The freedom of creativity of the program is AMAZING. It has allowed me to create house models that my clients (who are not as technology-inclined) love.”
– DreamPlan Home Design Review, Shamira A.
What users dislike:
“The number of objects is really limited. The basic application only has single house layout support.”
– DreamPlan Home Design Review, Sachin A.
5. Floorplanner
Category: Architectural Rendering Software
With Floorplanner, creating an accurate 2D drawing is effortless. The software automatically sets the correct scale for your plan, making it easy to drag and drop doors, windows, and furniture into your design to see what fits and what doesn’t. By clicking on 3D, you can view your plan from every angle and create stunning 2D and 3D images with minimal effort.
The platform offers a free plan.
What users like best:
“FloorPlanner is a great tool for quick, easy designs with many features. Its Google Chrome and iPad apps are a great addition to the web tool. The drag-and-drop function in the design view is amazing; the navigation between design features, floors, and view options is a big benefit of the software.”
– Floorplanner Review, Margie A.
What users dislike:
“You can not customize the size/measurements of tables/chairs, etc. I cannot tell you how many arguments we had between our operations team and planners because of these floor plans. I would like to be able to import furniture and objects to add to the plans instead of having to choose from their limited catalog.”
– Floorplanner Review, Fernanda M.
6. HomeByMe
Category: Architectural Rendering Software
HomeByMe is an online service offering 3D interior design tools for easy design and furnishing. The software generates 4K and HD images, enabling professionals to see the final layout. Interior designers can easily present their work to clients with the tool’s sharing options.
The application offers a free plan.
What users like best:
“I love using the HomeByMe platform for all my home design projects! I’ve not only been able to help numerous clients using this program, but I’ve also been able to design my house using the vision that we gained through the tool. It’s such an easy program to use, and it is so helpful in transforming properties.”
– HomeByMe Review, Lissa A.
What users dislike:
“The app simulates almost everything except custom pools or water effects. It can add pool templates but doesn’t allow you to create a custom shape pool. The roof system is a little hard to simulate with the web application, and the rain/snow/or sky effects are unavailable on the web design option.”
– HomeByMe Review, User in Construction
7. Planner 5D
Category: Other Real Estate Software
Planner 5D is a user-friendly tool for designing living spaces like apartments and offices. The software lets you experience your dream interior through virtual reality (VR), bringing your designs to life. Whether redecorating, reorganizing, or decorating a new house, the tool makes the designing process efficient.
The software has a free app version with VR mode.
What users like best:
“What I like best about Planner 5D is its vast library of pre-made models, furniture, and decor items that make it easy to create realistic designs quickly. The drag-and-drop interface is intuitive, and the ability to view designs in both 2D and 3D is beneficial. Additionally, it offers an augmented reality feature, a great way to see how a design will look in real life. The software is an excellent tool for anyone looking to design and visualize their dream home.”
– Planner 5D Review, KJ H.
What users dislike:
“It is annoying how you have to pay to use everything, so maybe the devs could use ads to support it or make the limit less strict. An ad while a project loads would help to lower the cost so that they could update the pricing limit.”
– Planner 5D Review, Joseph P.
8. RoomSketcher
Category: Architecture Software
RoomSketcher is a robust and user-friendly software for creating floor plans and home designs. The app is handy for real estate and home design professionals who must generate floor plans and 3D visualizations for their clients.
The application has a free plan.
What users like best:
“RoomSketcher has many user-friendly features and options. Some of my favorites are the blueprint upload option to trace floorplans, the floorplan generators and 360° view generators, the options of adding your logos and disclaimers on plans, and the adding measurement tools. Also, the customer support is prompt and thorough.”
– RoomSketcher Review, Nicole F.
What users dislike:
“I wish I could look at the elevation view of each wall without taking a picture. Taking a picture at the end is great so I can include it in the client’s file, but having to take pictures throughout just to check the progress of the design makes the process a little lengthy.”
– RoomSketcher Review, Claire E.
9. SketchUp
Category: Architectural Rendering Software
SketchUp is a user-friendly 3D modeling software that empowers architects and designers to transform their concepts into reality. The software is suitable for designing projects of any size, from the smallest to the most extensive, and offers a range of tools to support you throughout the design process, ensuring that your ideas come to life.
The software has a free version.
What users like best:
“Sketchup’s ease of use is unrivaled in my experience with various 3D modeling software. The push/pull nature of the modeling is easy to teach to people and can lead to quick modeling in experienced hands. Setting up scenes for review and rendering in another software is a breeze, without the need to fiddle around with complicated controls.
The program’s support for extensions is an excellent feature for more advanced users, who can install various scripts and extra tools tailored to their field, such as tools to create topo maps or layout wall and roof framing for architectural design. Sketchup’s commitment to providing a free version for hobbyist and student users is a welcome sight in today’s rampant subscription paywalls.”
– SketchUp Review, Sergio C.
What users dislike:
“Does not have parametric and data-driven features (BIM). Not a solids-based modeler, so issues can occur with reversed faces if not modeled carefully. If used for conceptual design, over-modeling makes transitioning for BIM difficult (vertical faces become walls, horizontal faces become floors or roofs, etc.)”
– SketchUp Review, Eric B.
10. SmartDraw
Category: Diagramming Software
SmartDraw is a diagramming software that offers a blend of simplicity and power and can be used across industries. It provides thousands of diagram templates and integrates with Google Workspace™, MS Office®, the Atlassian stack, and other similar platforms.
The platform is free to use online.
What users like best:
“SmartDraw has come in handy for both business uses and personal. The program does a great job with general business charts, etc., making it nice for presentations and proposals. We also used the program to redesign our garage layout and convert a room in our home to a formal dining room.”
– SmartDraw Review, Mike M.
What users dislike:
“Switching back and forth between the home and design tabs is complicated. Adding a shape and moving it forward and back would be more efficient if those two options were also on the same tab.”
– SmartDraw Review, Ralph A.
Coming to an Architectural Digest near you
Creating a warm and welcoming home to return to after a long day goes beyond imagination and envy of a neighbor’s layout. Interior decoration requires time, effort, and the right tools to guide your vision for your space. So, when you’re ready to start, review this list so you’re not wasting money while sprucing up your house.
Homes that are fashionable and sustainable begin with a strong foundation. Explore the best free floorplan software to build your aesthetic from the ground up.
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