30 Best Interior Design Tools and Platforms

When you are buying a new home or you just want to redecorate and change the decor, you need to make it visual. You need a tool to quickly design and decorate floor plans so you can visualize it before buying furniture, flooring, painting the walls, etc.

So in order to make this job as easy as possible, you need to use a room planner with design features like drag and drop furniture, along with doors, windows, and colored flooring. In this way, you will layout your home and be able to buy the proper things which will fit your space and style.

PlanningWiz turns the unattractive task of remodeling a space into an exciting process through its game-like environment transformation and design features. Easy-to-use floor planner which is fun to use and for which you don’t need special technical skills, just an internet connection.

The floor planning projects can be shared by email or on social networks; they can be printed along with an itemized list of products, saved for future retrieval. You can also export it in high-resolution images.

With PlanningWiz you will find an extensive catalogue you can choose from, with the items you need in order to decorate your home. From the basic furniture to staircases, appliances & fixtures to outdoor furniture and decoration items, you can find all the objects you need in order to create a realistic plan of your home.

PlanningWiz is free to use and create up to 5 floor plans, after 5 plans we have 2 plans you can subscribe to depending on your needs. When coming to easily sketch and visualize your plans, home planning begins with PlanningWiz!

Screenshots:

Click here for PlanningWiz

14. SmartDraw Interior Design Software

SmartDraw is another really great interior design software. Why? Because these folks make sure that the software is easy enough to use for any skill levelled designer. It’s friendly to both the pros and the at-home interior design fanatics. 

SmartDraw is a popular software brand with which you can design house plans, kitchens, bathrooms, garages… pretty much any room of a house or the entire house. Using a simple drag-and-drop mechanism, creating spaces has never been easier.

SmartDraw does have to be downloaded, which some people may not mind, but others might mind if they’re used to just using it over the website. The software is free but there is an option to buy a premium package to access even more features, but there’s just so many to begin with you may never need to!

Screenshots:

Watch the SmartDraw Interior Design Software Video

Click here for SmartDraw interior design software.

15. Chief Architect Home Designer

​​Chief Architect software offers a wide variety of programs, but their Home Designer Suite is their most popular product.This software includes templates of all kinds to get started (or design from scratch). It renders in 2D and 3D. 

What makes Chief Architect Home Designer so special is the incredible architectural feats you can design. They allow you to try out super unique designs in terms of shape, style, architectural models for your home. These types of high quality designs aren’t common on other software programs.

Before you go downloading, just know that Chief Architect has a one time cost of $249 with a short, free trial period. That price will get you the download, some back up space, and 24/7 customer support. That’s a pretty good lifetime deal if you ask me!

Screenshots:

Watch the Chief Architect Software Video

=> Click here for Chief Architect Software.

Read our Chief Architect Software review

16. Cylindo

Cylindo is a 3D interior design software that offers a free demo which is fun. It creates 3D designs but takes it a step further. Their focus is taking your furniture and turning it into 3D images that you can incorporate into your room designs so that you get an idea as to how your furniture will appear in the design.

Cylindo really seems like the upper echelon of interior design software. On their website they state that they have upwards of 18 million monthly users, 4 quintillion photorealistic configurations powered (not gonna lie, I have no idea what that means) and over 130 furniture retailers that work with them and let them use their furniture to help you configure your perfect home. 

More than anything else, this is a software for interior designers and home furniture lovers alike who really want to make sure they’ve made the right choice before making a purchase. You can upload your own photos and place potential furniture into the space to get a proper idea of what it will look like. 

This is a paid platform but there is an opportunity for a free demo if you’re not all the way sure if this is the one for you. But just know, there are tons of resources for you, including success stories, blog posts, and photos from other people’s projects! So cool!

Screenshots:

Cylindo Software Video Demo

Click here to try a free demo of Cylindo.

17. Decolabs

​​Decolabs is a very cool software that lets you explore, design, and simulate different ways to decorate a room. It’s just as easy as taking a picture of your room and filling it with all the furniture you could imagine.

Decolabs has partnered with tons of furniture companies so that you can actually place their furniture in the room. This way you can be certain something will work before you buy it. 

Another cool feature is that you can share your room designs with like minded people and interior designers who can comment and give you advice about your designs. Who knew that the interior designing community was so expansive!

Screenshots:

Decolabs Video Demo

Click here for Decolabs.

18. IKEA Home Planning and Room Planner Software Tools 

So you know how you can live out that classic Ikea montage where you run through the display section with a cute person you just met and you have a super adorable afternoon ending with a plate of meatballs? What if I could tell you you could do that in the comfort of your own home!

Ikea has developed a room planner, where you can either design a room with their software similar to the one you’re trying to decorate, or you can upload photos of your own room and place their furniture into that!

This is a simply superb option for folks who are loosely trying to plan out a room. The graphics aren’t the most incredible you’ve ever seen, but it’s completely free, easy to use, and a great way to check and see if Ikea items will fit in your space! It’s almost like playing Sims!

Screenshots:

Ikea 3D Room Planner Video Demo

Click here for the IKEA Home Planning Software.

19. FloorPlanner

With Floor Planner, you can create 1 plan for free. After that you pay for each additional plan. There are subscription plans as well. You can plan your entire home, individual rooms as well as landscaping. Moreover, you can incorporate real furniture into your designs.

Floor Planner works with a “credits” plan, where a certain amount of money buys you credits, or coins, and each different program and perks requires a certain amount of coins. There are a ton of different packages to choose from.

Floor Planner seems to be a great choice for people who are working with a team of people, as it can be shared and others can edit the floor plans if so desired. With a great customer service team and over 25 million customers, it’s clear that this is a company that you can trust!

Screenshots:

Watch the FloorPlanner Video Demo

Click here for FloorPlanner.

20. Space Designer 3D

Space Designer is one of the best home interior designing softwares out there. It is friendly to both casual decorators and professional designers, and especially to big business owners. This software is awesome for designing big conference rooms, apartment complexes, and you can even do an event planning lay out. Crazy! 

They’ve made sure that this program is super easy to use, so that you can focus on being creative, and they can focus on creating beautiful renderings from your ideas. There are also neat sharing options so that you can share with your family, business partners, or potential clients. 

Though there is nothing to download and you can start designing right on the website, Space Designer is a paid program. However, once you see the options and quality of the program you won’t have a problem supporting a company like Space Designer.

Example of a Space Designer 3D design:

Screenshot of the drawing tools:

Real-time 3D Visualization (very useful feature):

Screenshots:

 

Space Designer Demo Video

Click here for Space Designer 3D

21. HGTV Design Software

It’s not surprising HGTV rolled out its own interior, home and landscaping design platforms. However, the good stuff ain’t ever free! You can choose from a variety of software options – home design, landscape design, kitchen design, floor plans, interior design, home remodeling, garden design, bathroom design and 3D home design.

Their software includes a fleet of how-to videos which is a great feature for those casual decorators or designers who are just starting out. HGTV offers their software in DVD and CD rom form. 

Now this may sound funny – since all of us are so used to operating on the cloud and what not – but this is a great option for folks who aren’t so dedicated to skinny laptops and all that. This is great software for folks who aren’t as trained in modern computery, and are just looking to redecorate their wreckroom.

Sample of a design using HGTV Design Software

Screenshots:

HGTV Home Design Software Video Demo

 

Click here for HGTV Design Software.

22. Infurnia 

​​Infurnia Interiors is a cloud-based interior design software with a lot of unique features. Despite being completely browser-based, Infurnia provides features on par or better than most desktop-based software. 

Users can create completely custom kitchens and wardrobes from scratch with a lot of customization available in a very easy to use interface. For loose furniture, users can upload their own 3d models or use Infurnia’s existing catalogue of furniture by different brands. Infurnia also gives an admin tool for store managers using which companies can very easily manage their designers, catalogues, pricing, etc.

Infurmia “Different by Design” as self proclaimed on their website, here is what they are offering on their website: Cloud-based designing  – Access anywhere, anytime; Data backups; Smart Design Technology – Floorplanner; Assisted furniture placement; Collision avoidance; Superior Design Presentation – Photorealistic renders; Panorama renders; VR renders; 3d link sharing. What else do you need?

Screenshots:

Infurnia Demo Video

Click here for Infurnia

23. Punch Software

Saving what is arguably the best interior, kitchen, bathroom and landscape design software for last (for the money). Punch design software offers a great balance of ease-of-use, cost and design quality. They offer several software options, depending on the nature of your project. 

Punch Software is extremely sophisticated; it’s used by professional interior designers because it creates designs that appear like photographs… but it costs money. They offer several software options and packages. With Punch, you can design your entire home, individual rooms and do landscaping designs. The degree of detail is unmatched.

Their software is so easy to use and so satisfying that it almost makes one feel like they’re playing a video game. Punch Software is hard to beat if you are looking to impress your clients and give them the best idea possible of what to expect of their new space.

Check out what you can create…

Screenshots/Video:

Punch Design Software Video Demo

24. Sketchup Pro

If you can stomach spending $695 on interior design software, you can’t go wrong with Sketchup Pro. It’s very powerful and is used by many pros such as Joanna Gaines from HGTV Fixer Upper. Note that in order to get the amazing 3D renders, you must export Sketchup pro designs into something like Lumion or Vray.

Just not that Sketchup Pro is not exactly for beginners. Cost aside, there is a training video that comes before you actually start using the software. I’m only speaking of this because I am obviously not an expert on the matter, but it is clear that this program is for the real professionals. 

We got this recommendation from an interior designer named Ahmet Can Ozkara who we’ve been working with closely for a few months now. Here’s what he had to say about Sketchup Pro:

“Sketchup is the most widely used free 3D modelling program after 3d’s Max. It has its own free “3d Warehouse” library. It is easier to use than 3d’s Max and is frequently used in the market.”

Sketchup Pro seems to be one of the most popular softwares on the market, and Mairead Belcher is here to tell you why it’s one of her favorites to use: 

“Sketchup is a great 3D design tool that has been leading in the industry for years and is still used throughout the design world. It is an easy online software to use and learn, and there are many online tutorials if you ever get stuck. 

It will allow you to create a complete interior design and model up design components. They also have a 3D warehouse where you can find standard elements you need for your design, which can be modified and customized to work in your space. Also, lots of vendors have sketched up downloads for their products.”

Screenshots:

 

Sketchup Pro Software Video Demo

25. Coohom 

Coohom is a free and intuitive interior design platform that balances your desire for a natural and interactive experience for making interior designs.

It offers a web browser tool as well as an iPad app (download from here) that lets you create 2D/3D floor plans, and visualize the end output in seconds in high-quality renders or VR panoramas.

Some pros of Coohom is that it is wonderfully easy to use, it has more than 20,000 models, customizable textures and colors, they offer some of the best renderings, a VR experience (wow) and Coohom has an Enterprise plan which is good for design studios.

Coohom Free plan ($0): Floor planner for web/iPad with limited projects, model uploads, HD or 4K quality renderings, 720-degree tour, and unlimited standard quality renderings.

Coohom Pro plan ($30/mo): Floor planner for web/iPad with much more projects, HD or 4K quality renderings, 720-degree tour, and unlimited model uploads plus unlimited standard quality renderings.

Screenshots:

26. Cedreo 

Cedreo is an online 3D home design software to draw 3D floor plans and create 3D renderings in a matter of minutes. Cedreo has a paid platform that offers a free 14-day trial, but it has also added a free plan.

With Cedreo, users can easily draw floor plans, customize home indoors and outdoors in a few clicks with 7,000 surface coverings and 3D objects (the library is updated every two weeks), and then quickly generate 3D floor plans and photorealistic renderings of the house.

Cedreo is equipped with a wide range of time-saving features specifically designed for non-technical users. It does not require training or experience in 3D modelling: one hour is all it takes to draft a complete home project from start to finish. You can either start from scratch, customize a previous project, or upload a blueprint to trace over.

Screenshots: 

27. 3D Max 

Sometimes the best thing that we can do for a project we’re struggling on, is trusting someone who knows better, and that’s why we asked interior designers about the best designing softwares that they use. We mentioned Ahmet Can Ozkara already, and this is his recommendation for the best paid software: 

“3D Max is the most preferred program on the market, and it is the best program that provides great work when used by experts. It is the program that I use for the first time now that I am an expert. All professionals use 3D Max.

It can be rendered with rendering engines such as V-Ray, Corona, Keyshot, I-Ray, and Arnold. Since 3d’s Max is the most used program on the market, almost all 3d libraries are compatible with 3D Max.”

3D Max was recommended to us several times, and Andrea who you heard from of the beginning of this article, also has a lot of positive to say about 3D Max: 

“The 3D Max program enables modelling of 3D models. One of the leaders and in my opinion the best. It is very complex and there are a lot of functions that need to be studied in order to know when to use them.

3D Max is connected to the software V-ray or Corona, with the help of which renderings are created – 3d visual images of interiors, exteriors, products, etc… Also, V-ray and Corona are separate software whose settings you need to know in order to insert materials, lighting, cameras into you 3D model to get the final version.”

28. Revit 

Now that we’re getting up into the high end softwares specifically designed for the pros, it’s probably best to let the pros take over. Mairead Belcher is a awesome interior designer who we’ve been working with for a while now, and she tells you all that you need to know when it comes to using Revit for your designs: 

“Autodesk Revit software is my favorite software to use. This parametric modeling program is used extensively in the construction sector, allowing all disciplines, from architects, engineers, landscapers and designers, to work together. 

The benefits of using it as an interior designer are that you can completely modify the design of your space and easily switch between 2D and 3D. Honestly, it is pretty much capable of everything as long as you have in-depth software knowledge. 

To get the most out of this software, you need to understand the fundamentals of how it works. Once this is achieved, you can pretty much model up whatever components you want.

Additionally, you can cut views and create photorealistic 3d visuals and sketches relatively quickly once you understand the program, which is excellent for presentation work and clients. Unfortunately, this software programme comes at a high price but is great for professionals.”

29. Spoak 

I’ve learned that interior designers are constantly looking for new ways to create designs, and Tina Martindelcampo (who we mentioned earlier) has discovered a really cool software that is doing stuff that other companies are not. 

They allow you to source furniture and other home goods from anywhere on the internet, so that you’re not limited to companies that they are partnered with! Here is what Tina has to say about Spoak: 

“Spoak is a fairly new interior design site where you can create color filled floor plans and 2D rooms all at the same time, while tracking your design budget. Another great feature is the ability to source and bring items from anywhere on the internet straight into your design project. 

This saves so much time when you can do all the product sourcing together, while you’re building your project, which is a challenge all designers face daily. You can create custom color palettes for each project and even get inspiration ideas from other design communities with a section they call Thingology Feed. The bonus with Spoak software is that you can sign-up and use it for free for the first seven days.”

30. Adobe Photoshop

Now we can’t forget about good old Adobe Photoshop, we’re saving the best known – and probably most underrated – for last. Adobe has been around forever, and I know it by the fact that it constantly tries to download itself on my computer.

Turns out that I probably should have just let it! It’s clear that Tina Martindelcampo is only giving us good advice around here, so hear her out when she says: 

“I’d have to say that I would not be able to create 75% of my interior design projects, without the incredible tools that Adobe Photoshop provides to me. For the price of roughly $20 a month, you can subscribe to Basic Photoshop and have an abundance of creative access at your fingertips, such as editing pictures all the way to creating 2D design boards. 

You also have the option to upgrade to all the Adobe apps, depending on your professional needs, such as illustrator, Adobe Express and Acrobat Pro which will run you about $54.99 a month. 

Adobe Photoshop is used by so many creative professionals like photographers, web designers, digital  and graphic designers as well as interior designers. It’s well known in the creative world for its mind blowing filters and for having the most creative editing software in the world.

By subscribing, you have the ability to draw or paint with a digital brush that feels like you’re working with a real brush. You can also blend photos together to create an entirely new picture using special effects and graphic tools. Overall the biggest draw, to using Adobe Photoshop, is the ability to quickly edit or retouch any picture.”

Visual Comparison of 6 Popular Interior Online Design Software Options

Below showcases visual differences among Space Designer 3D, Homestyler, HomeByMe, Floor Planner, Planner 5d and Archilogic.

Digital Workspace

Below is a visualization how these 6 design software options organize the digital workspace.

2D Visualization

Below is a comparison of the 2D visualization among 6 interior design software services.

Rendered Graphics

Below is a comparison of the 3D rendering of the 6 online interior design software products.

See more of the above 6 software options:

• Space Designer 3D
• Homestyler
• Homebyme
• floor planner
• Planner 5d
• Archilogic

Other:

• Chief Architect

Related Design Software Posts:

• 13 Kitchen Design Software Options
• Free Interior Design Software
• Online Room Painting Visualizer Software Options
• Closet Design Software Options
• Landscape and Garden design software options
• Return to our main design software page.