Draw a floor plan, or start from the one you already have
People arrive here in three different situations: no plan exists, the plan exists as a photo, or the plan is fine and the furniture is the question. Several tools below do the drawing for nothing — the table says where each one stops.
Decato is for what happens after the drawing: the plan becomes the thing the furniture is measured against, and what comes out is a priced list rather than a picture.
Which of the three you are in
The answer to “which floor plan creator” depends less on the tool than on what you are starting from.
There is no plan at all
An older house whose drawings nobody kept. You measure the rooms once and type the wall lengths, or you describe the layout and correct what comes back. Either way the numbers are yours, which is what every later decision rests on.
The plan exists as a picture
An estate agent listing, a builder PDF, a photo of a printed plan. Tracing keeps the dimensions printed on the drawing; it cannot invent the ones that are missing, so a plan with no numbers on it still needs a tape measure.
The plan is fine and the furniture is the question
A room you are rearranging rather than rebuilding, where the point is trying the desk against three different walls. The drawing is a means here, and most of the tools below stop exactly when this part starts.
What the free ones give you, and where each stops
Every line read off the vendor’s own page in September 2026. “Free” means different things on each of them, and the second column is the part nobody puts in the headline.
| Tool | What is free | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet Home 3D | Free, open source | No paid tier at all, and an interface that looks its age. Installs rather than running in a browser. |
| Canva | Free to use | Drag-and-drop shapes on a canvas. It produces a picture of a plan, not measured geometry. |
| Homestyler | Unlimited projects, unlimited 1K renders | Every free render carries a watermark, and 4K is bought with coins each time. |
| Floorplanner | Five projects kept free | Free exports are standard definition with a watermark; higher resolution is bought in credits from $8.15. |
| Planner 5D | Free, about half the catalogue | Renders and uploading a plan for recognition are on Premium, $59.99 a year. |
| magicplan | No free tier any more | Scans a room with the phone camera. Priced per project now: from $250 a month for ten on the 12-month plan. |
From a drawing to a room
The plan keeps its measurements the whole way through, which is what makes every later step checkable.
Wall runs from your own measurements, or a plan you already have as a PNG or JPG, traced back into geometry.
Doors and windows with their swings, because those decide more of the furniture than the wall lengths do.
Real products matched to the plan, each sized to its catalogue dimensions and refused if it does not clear.
The plan stays editable. Move a wall and the layout, the fit checks and the total move with it.
What happens after the plan
Three steps, three pages. Most rooms need them in this order.
Common questions
Is there a free floor plan creator I should use instead?
If you only need the drawing, yes, several, and the table above says where each one stops. Sweet Home 3D has no paid tier at all; Canva, Planner 5D, Floorplanner and Homestyler all draw a plan in a browser for nothing. This page is only worth the rest of your time if the plan is the first step of furnishing the room rather than the finished product (Checked September 2026).
Can I import a plan I already have?
Yes, as a PNG or JPG: an estate agent listing, a builder drawing, a photo of a printed plan. It gets traced back into wall runs you can correct, so you are not redrawing something that already exists.
Do I need exact measurements?
For the fit checks to mean anything, yes. Wall lengths and door positions are what every later step is measured against, so a plan drawn roughly will place furniture roughly. Measuring one room properly takes a few minutes and is the difference between a picture and a plan.
What can I export?
The layout, a render built from the furniture in it, and a priced list of those products, as a PDF whose rows still open the shop page each piece came from. What it does not produce is a CAD file or a construction drawing.
Is there a floor plan app for my phone?
Planner 5D and Homestyler both run on a phone and are free to start. magicplan is the one that scans the room with the camera instead of asking for wall lengths, but it no longer has a free tier: its pricing is per project, from $250 a month for ten. Decato is a Mac application and there is no mobile version (Checked September 2026).
What is the difference between a floor plan creator and floor plan software?
Mostly the ambition of the thing that made it. Creators and makers draw a plan to look at; software in the fuller sense keeps the plan as live geometry that later work is measured against. If you are exporting a picture, the words mean the same. If you are furnishing the room afterwards, they do not.
Do I get a 3D floor plan?
The plan is modelled in three dimensions and the render at the end is built from it, so yes in the sense most people mean. What it is not is a 3D walkthrough you navigate room by room. The 3D exists to show the result, and the decisions are made on the plan where the measurements are legible.
What does it cost?
Drawing is the free part: the download costs nothing and planning on your own ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini key is unmetered. You start paying when the plan turns into products: matching and renders from $20 a month. It runs on Mac and Windows.