14 Best Floor Plan & Home Design Software For Mac of 2024 (Free & Paid)

If you want to draw up a new floor plan for your home, office or any kind of space, we’ve taken a look at the best paid and free floor planners and home design software for Mac of 2024.

Home renovation and office remodeling can run into tens of thousands of dollars and unless you’re a professional designer that knows how to use CAD software or specialist rendering software, most people need something easy to turn ideas into reality.

That’s where floor planners and home design apps come-in as they allow anyone including home owners, real estate agents, builders, remodelers, and interior designers to bring a dream home or office to life.

All of the software we looked at have a free trial and some even offer a free forever version too.

We’ve also included user reviews where available to give you some real-world opinions of the products – don’t just take our word for them.

Whichever software you choose, all of the tools featured here will save you thousands of dollars making mistakes further down the line.

They also all work with the latest versions of macOS including Sonoma, Ventura and Apple Silicon M-series Macs unless specified.

In our testing, we found that SmartDraw is the best floor planning software for 2D designs and LiveHome 3D the best floor planner for creating 3D designs.

Floor Planners vs Home Design Software

It’s important to be aware that there’s a slight difference between floor planning and home design software which you should consider when choosing which tool to use.

Floor planners are usually for designing layouts of home or offices in 2D.

They are generally very easy to use and allow you to quickly identify problems, save time on costly errors and visualize your ideas more clearly.

They are ideal for mapping-out layouts for homes, offices, real estate etc.

Home designers on the other hand are usually aimed more at visualizing your house designs in 3D with far more interior design tools included.

They usually allow you to visualize interiors in 3D, choose furniture materials and even do Virtual Reality walk-throughs of redesigned homes.

With this in mind, here is our selection of the best Mac compatible floor plan creators and home design software in order of ranking.

1. Live Home 3D

If you need something that goes beyond just floor planning to redesign your home or office, Live Home 3D (formerly known as Live Interior 3D) is by far the best home design software for Mac we’ve tried.

There are many things that make Live Home 3D stand out from the crowd and the developers have clearly put a lot of thought into how to make external and interior design easy, visually striking and fun.

The interface to Live Home 3D is perfect for beginners as it’s so clear and logically laid-out without being overwhelming so its suitable for beginners too.

The graphics in general are also superb with high quality 2D objects and highly realistic 3D rendering. You can switch between 2D and 3D at any time and with no waiting around to see how your designs look close up.

You can design in 2D and 3D with a selection of furniture and objects from the vast Trimble SketchUp 3D Warehouse which allows you to download thousands of objects and models.

Live Home 3D is also one of the only apps to allow terrain editing. This allows you to create a house on a hill for example or a property surrounded by mountains, slopes and other elevations.

Live Home 3D is also very hot at keeping-up with the latest Macs and versions of macOS.

In fact it was one of the first interior design software that was optimized for the latest Apple Silicon M-series Macs and macOS Sonoma.

Live Home 3D is available in two versions – Standard and Pro but the Standard version is very basic.

We strongly recommend going for Live Home 3D Pro for $49.99 as it includes essential features like unlimited floor levels, furniture, terrain editing and impressive full HD walkthroughs.

This entitles you to a lifetime license too whereas all the other Live Home 3D versions are subscription based.

You can find full details on Live Home 3D pricing here and there’s a 30 day money back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with it.

You can also read our full review of Live Home 3D for a more detailed look.

Pricing: Starting at $29.99

Pros:

• Mac desktop app
• Powerful yet easy to use
• Huge choice of interiors, furniture and materials
• Impressive 3D rendering and walk-throughs
• Terrain editing functionality
• Excellent value lifetime license if you buy direct from the developer
• Native version for Apple Silicon Macs

Cons:

• Limited landscaping tools
• No support for layers
• No direct support line

G2 User Review:

Easy to create designs. Not as complex as Autocad. Visually appealing with lot of objects to place while designing. Multiple views and angles supported. Availability on multiple platforms

2. SmartDraw

If you just want to create a straightforward floor plan in minutes and don’t need any flashy 3D tools, SmartDraw is the best floor plan software for Mac for creating 2D floor plans quickly and easily.

In fact we also voted SmartDraw as the best 2D CAD software for Macs too because it makes the normally complex business of architectural planning easy enough for beginners.

Because SmartDraw is Cloud based, it works on any Mac so it is compatible with both Intel and the latest Apple silicon M-series chip Macs.

One of the things that’s really impressive in SmartDraw is the sheer number of floor plan templates available.

There are literally thousands of Quick Start templates and symbols including a huge number of ready-made floor plans which you can personalize very quickly.

These include detailed templates for office floors, conference floors, event floors, warehouse floors and reception floors.

SmartDraw’s floor plan creator allows you to quickly add structures like walls, windows, doors and then decorate them with furniture, appliances and fixtures.

This includes bathroom fixtures, lighting fixtures, cabinets, office furniture, wiring, plumbing, HVAC, security systems, plants, landscape elements and many more.

There are also plenty of textures to choose from for flooring, countertops and different types of furniture.

You can share designs easily via a link online, PDF or transfer it to Microsoft Office and Google apps.

If you want to import a floor design created in Visio on your Mac, SmartDraw can even import Visio VSD and VSDX files which is useful as Visio does not exist for macOS.

Other things that really stand out that make SmartDraw so easy to work with are the ability to:

• Set angles just by typing
• Show the distance between a corner and openings like doors and windows
• Change scales from architectural to metric instantly
• Draw and print to scale
• Adjust dimension lines
• Adjust wall dimensions easily
• Easily adjust the rotation of shapes attached to walls

You can start using SmartDraw for free now to judge for yourself.

You can also read a more in-depth look in our SmartDraw review.

Pricing: $9.95/single user or $8.25/5+ users

Pros:

• Very fast and easy to use
• Automated templates do the hard work for you
• Exports to Microsoft Office, PDF, Google apps and Visio VSDX format
• Very versatile, can be used for many different types of diagrams
• Ideal for collaborating with others
• Simple, cost effective pricing policy
• Works on all platforms including on Apple Silicon Macs

Cons:

• No mobile app (although works on mobile via browser)
• No 3D planning

G2 User Review:

We use SmartDraw to create design layouts for remodeling projects, room layouts, and just to dream about future projects. It is easy to learn, works pretty well, and is a significant upgrade from our old pencil and graph paper methods. Start-up was incredibly simple and we had useful drawings the first night. We love having the projects on the cloud and accessible from any location. We use it at least weekly.

3. SketchUp

If you’re looking for the HGTV home design software used by Chip and Joanna Gaines in the show Fixer Upper, then SketchUp will look very familiar.

That’s because Chip and Joanna Gaines use SketchUp to redesign houses in the HGTV show Fixer Upper although they use the rather more expensive Sketchup Pro.

SketchUp (formerly Google Sketchup) has evolved from a free online 2D design tool that was once owned by Google to a very powerful 2D and 3D modelling software that produces professional interior and architectural designs.

SketchUp was known as Google Sketchup until 2012 when Trimble Navigation bought it and turned it into a powerful, professional 3D architectural software.

The professional version of SketchUp costs $349 per year and there’s a more limited version SketchUp Go which costs $119 per year.

However, there is also a basic free version for non commercial use called SketchUp Free which works online allows you to model in 3D for free with a generous 10GB of online storage.

The free version is perfect for hobbyists although professionals in architecture, construction, engineering and commercial interior design will need SketchUp Pro.

There are also far fewer templates in the non Pro versions of Sketchup to get you going although it’s very easy to create them from scratch.

One thing that SketchUp Pro really excels in is furniture and objects. There’s an enormous database of 3D models of just about any type of furniture or object and for chairs alone there are 35,000 choices.

The more advanced SketchUp Pro isn’t cheap at $349 per year but it’s a very powerful professional house planning and interior design tool. 

You can check out our review of SketchUp for more.

Pricing: Starting from $119/year

Pros:

• Does both 2D and 3D design
• Draw freehand if you want
• Lots of objects and items to design with
• Lots of extensions to enhance functionality
• Limited free version

Cons:

• Advanced features only available if you upgrade to the Pro version

G2 User Review:

I had been using CAD software for a couple years before I tried SketchUp. I’ve since completely stopped using those other programs. SketchUp is the best, most intuitive piece of software that I’ve ever used. All of the other programs that I’ve used seem to use the same basic principals- and they’re… Okay. SketchUp seems to have been built from the ground up, on a completely new foundation. At first use I was a little confused, five minutes later I was amazed. Two weeks after I started using SketchUp I had completed a full house rendering and kitchen remodel. It took me a year to get to that point with other software and the end result wasn’t anywhere close to what SketchUp was able to offer.

4. Cedreo

Cedreo is an increasingly popular design software which claims to help you design an entire home in less than 2 hours.

It’s aimed more at professionals that want to sell a home building or remodeling project although it can be used by individuals that want to design their own home.

It supports creating photo realistic 2D or 3D interiors and allows you to furnish them easily thanks to a database of over 7000 interiors.

Cedreo allows housing professionals to trace the plot in a few clicks, add the elevation lines to get a scaled ground plan and visualize the terrain slopes on the 3D renderings.

You can also import existing plans, add roofing automatically and select a huge range of walls from Cedreo’s library.

Rendering is extremely fast in Cedreo with 3D models of your designs available in little more than 5 minutes.

Cedreo can be used for free by one user per project but plans start at $99 for full design capabilities.

You get started with Cedreo for free.

For more, you can check out our full Cedreo review.

Pricing: Plans starting from $99/month.

Pros:

• Creates 2D blueprints and site plans with dimensions & symbols
• 3D realistic plans to understand interior & exterior flow
• Generates interior & exterior photorealistic 3D renderings in quickly
• Extensive library of 3D products to customize (color & texture) to create unique projects
• Easy to learn for reduced drafting time

Cons:

• No DWG file export
• Limited features in free version
• Tutorial videos, email/phone support only in Pro & Enterprise versions

G2 User Review:

Precise and intuitive controls, with easy 3-D object placement. The wide variety of materials, floor coverings and outside items for renderings is comprehensive.

5. Planner 5D

Planner 5D is an easy to use but powerful 2D and 3D tool that has both a Mac desktop app and Cloud version.

There’s a huge catalog of over 5000 items both interior and outdoor landscape furnishings which you can view from any angle.

You can apply custom surfaces, choose the upholstery of furniture and experiment with different lighting sources.

If you don’t want to start from scratch, there are templates you can customize and the mobile app even allows you to take a photo of your room and import it into Planner5D.

The 3D renderings are as good as you’ll get in any app on this level and can be done in real time as you tweak your designs.

You can use the Basic Plan of Planner5D for free to test it for yourself. The catalog of furnishings is limited in the free version and there’s no HD rendering but its enough to evaluate the product.

The Premium Plans include full catalog access, AI plan recognition and access to Design School which is Planner 5D’s own interior design learning program.

You can read our full Planner 5D review for more.

Pricing: Basic plan free / Premium pricing based on catalog access and renderings required starting from $7.99.

Pros:

• Mac desktop app
• Huge catalog of furnishings
• Very easy to use

Cons:

• Confusing pricing system
• Can’t change furniture sizing or textures in free version

G2 User Review:

Planner 5D is pretty simple and easy to use once you get the hang out it and watch the tutorials. The live chat experts are super helpful if you get stuck on anything or need further help with the software. I would recommend this to anyone who is needing to create something fast and simple.

6. Floorplanner

Floorplanner is a very slick dedicated online software that’s used by everyone from home owners to professional interior designers to create impressive 2D and 3D designs.

The tool is particularly popular with Real Estate professionals that need to create professional plans on a Mac quickly.

This is partly because Floorplanner can use your phone or iPad to capture rooms and then aggregate floor designs thanks to integration with Magicplan.

Floorplanner is easy to use and conveniently snaps items and objects into place to keep your designs both geometrically correct and tidy with minimal effort.

There are also convex tools to help you create complex rounded walls and dividers.

It allows you to create designs in 2D but you can render them in 3D. This is a really nice touch as it allows you to better visualize what your idea will look like if you were standing in the room.

The good thing is that you can use Floorplanner on your Mac for free although this only entitles you to one saved project.

The pricing policy for advanced Floorplan features is complex but works on a subscription plus credits system starting at $5 per month for individuals and $59 per month for teams.

Floorplanner is great for beginners and professionals alike and although it’s not the cheapest option available.

You can check out our full Floorplanner review for more.

Pricing: Plans starting from $5/month

Pros:

• Slick easy to use interface
• Can render 2D plans in 3D
• Uses your phone or iPad to capture rooms
• Specialized tools for Real Estate Professionals
• Convex tools to create complex rounded walls

Cons:

• Expensive cost per design unless you subscribe
• Confusing credit/subscription pricing policy

G2 User Review:

What I liked most was the ease of creating walls of the correct size, placing windows and doors and making measurements. The displacement also becomes very easy, including the approach and distance. It is an online tool that works very fast and has many options. I always need a tool like this to immerse myself in a professional program.

7. Homestyler

Topping Homestyler (formerly Easyhome Homestyler) is a user friendly, yet powerful tool that allows you to redesign your home.

Although it was originally based on project Dragonfly by Autodesk in 2009 (later renamed Autodesk Homestyler), it has nothing to do with Autodesk Homestyler which was discontinued in 2017.

The surprising thing is that the Basic version of Homestyler is free but feels like a commercial interior design app. The only requirement is that you sign-up for a Homestyler account although if you want to render designs in HD, you must pay.

Creating interiors in Homestyler is simply a case of dragging and dropping elements in your web browser.

You can add small details like grass, gravel and water elements to add realism to your blueprints. It even allows you to import and export DWG files.

There are other nice touches such as 3D video walkthroughs, an enhanced furniture library and mobile apps with Augmented Reality.

These allow you to take a photo of a room and then start decorating it with products immediately from the catalogs of various furniture product vendors which really brings things to life.

You can also share designs made in Homestyler to social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc.

Although it’s not suitable for professional house design, we think Homestyler is once of the best free interior design software for Mac and if you just want some fun redesigning your home, you can’t go wrong with the free Basic version.

You can check out our full Homestyler Review for more.

Pricing: Free / Plans starting from $4.90/month

Pros:

• Easy to drag and drop interior design elements
• Huge catalog of over 50,000 objects
• Panorama views of designs
• HD and Ultra HD rendering in paid version

Cons:

• HD & Ultra HD rendering costs extra
• Can be very slow and unresponsive when dragging and dropping
• Not suitable for professional designing
• Complicated credit based pricing policy

8. Roomle

Roomle is a very attractively made 2D and 3D room planning app for Mac, iOS and Windows PCs that makes it very easy to redesign your home or office.

The app was originally aimed more at business that want to plan where to place Point of Sales (POS) in shops although it can now be used by anyone from professional interior designers to laymen that want to create a mock-up for their dream home.

The smart thing about Roomle is that it’s integrated with the furniture catalogs of major manufacturers such as Ikea, Samsung and Vitra meaning you can use (and purchase) objects from these brands in your designs.

Roomle has a minimal interface with very few visible tools. You can very easily change floorings, wall colors and add furniture from Roomle’s extensive catalog of objects and materials.

You can plan in both 2D and 3D and use the 3D orbit view to get a birds eye or ground level view of how your redesigned home or living space would feel like for real.

The Roomle iOS app is one of the best mobile planning apps we’ve tried allowing you to pretty much everything you can do in the web version.

You can also use the Augmented Reality (AR) tools in iOS which enable you to take a photo of a room and its objects and Roomle will automatically create an outline from it.

There’s even a VR app which allows you to view rooms with any VR viewer on iPhone.

You can check out our full Roomle review for a more in-depth look at Roomle.

Pricing: Starting from $150/month

Pros:

• Impressive VR walkthroughs
• Simple, clean interface
• Use your iPhone or iPad to map out and edit a room
• IKEA catalog integration

Cons:

• Focused more on professional interior designers
• Expensive pricing plans
• Exports limited to JPG

9. Ikea Home Planner

It’s hardly surprising that furniture giant Ikea has gone into the world of interior design software and Ikea Home Planner is Ikea’s way of helping you re imagine your home (and then buy its furniture of course).

Ikea Home Planner works in any browser including Chrome, Safari and Firefox and allows you to create 2D and 3D blueprints in your browser.

Although it’s nowhere near as advanced as most of the other software featured here, it is completely free to use and fine for creating simple mock-up plans.

Ikea Home Planner allows you to place objects around a floor space to rearrange your home in 2D and 3D. The smart thing is you can “look” around the room at ground level in 3D mode to see exactly how your new home would feel.

Of course, because it’s an Ikea product, you can get pricing for all of the objects so that you can order them in store or online where available.

Of course, you are limited to objects and furniture in the Ikea catalogue although as anyone that has been to an Ikea will know, that’s pretty extensive. It’s also limited to lounge and kitchen planning.

You can check out our full IKEA Home Planner review for more.

Pricing: Free

Pros:

• Free To Use
• Easy to get started

Cons:

• Only allows you to use Ikea furniture and objects
• Very basic toolset

10. Sweet Home 3D

Sweet Home 3D is a simple free interior design application for remodeling your home. If you’re looking for something free and suitable for total beginners, it’s ideal.

The app allows you to arrange the design of your home or office in 2D and then view them in 3D.

It can be used online for free although you can’t save anything. However, you can pay $13.99 for the Mac desktop version from the Mac App Store which allows you to redesign your home or office and save the designs offline.

Sweet Home 3D is easy to use and has an active community of users to share ideas and get feedback on your designs from.

One useful touch to Sweet Home 3D is that you can also do landscaping although we’d generally recommend using landscaping design software for this anyway.

Sweet Home 3D is quite dated nowadays and is only suitable for basic interior design but it has recently been updated to work on M1/M2/M3 Macs too.

Pricing: Free

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Works online and on desktop
• Good value for money
• Includes landscaping tools
• Updated for Apple Silicon Macs

Cons:

• Feels very dated
• Can be unstable and crash at times

11. Lucidchart

Lucidchart is another easy to use cloud diagramming software that makes designing new floor layouts very easy on all platforms.

The Cloud based tool is suitable for everything from home and office designs to planning the most efficient traffic flow at an upcoming convention.

Lucidchart is similar to SmartDraw although it has a Chrome extension which allows you to work offline as well.

Although it has far less templates than SmartDraw, it still has plenty to complete designs quickly and easily including for offices, homes, events, receptions and warehouses.

You can also import and even export to Visio format although it doesn’t export to the latest Visio VSDX format and you’ll need a Team subscription or higher in order to do this.

You can share files online via link, export to PDF and use a special presentation mode which strips away the interface and just leaves your outlines of a new floor layout.

Lucidchart also has an iPad app which allows you to create designs on the move.

You can read more in our full Lucidchart review.

Pricing: Free / Plans starting from $7.95/month

Pros:

• Slick mobile app
• Works offline with Chrome extension
• Good for team collaboration
• Easy to adjust scale

Cons:

• Many features require a Team plan
• No automated templates

G2 User Review:

Lucidchart was incredibly helpful for creating the floor plan of the new Coffee shop that we are building. We hired an architect to do our floor plan, but in the end, we needed to make some changes, and with Lucidchart, it was super easy to modify and update this to keep working on our project.

12. Virtual Architect Home Design

 

Virtual Architect Home Design covers absolutely every aspect of interior and exterior design from door handles to hot tubs.

The design wizards in Virtual Architect make it easy even for beginners to start designing everything from extensions and outbuildings to home offices and patios.

The design wizard quickly takes you from foundations to roof whether you’re building a new home from scratch or remodeling an existing one.

Virtual Architect also allows you to take photos of your own furnishings and upload them for added interior design details.

There are even 7,500 plants in the Virtual Architect Catalog for different climates and soil types giving you an idea of just how complete it is.

You can also take photo-realistic 3D tours of your designs at any point to see how they will look and feel in real life.

Note that this software is called “Virtual Architect Home Design with Landscaping and Decks” on Windows but that version is not available for Mac.

Pricing: Starting from $79.99

Pros:

• Does both interior design and landscape design
• Incredible attention to detail
• Supports your own photos
• 3D photo-realistic walk-throughs

Cons:

• Cost
• Phone support costs extra
• Doesn’t work with Apple Silicon Macs

13. Dreamplan 3D Home Design Software

Dreamplan 3D for Mac allows you to model your dream home in 3D.

If you just want to sketch out a basic idea of your home to give to an architect or structural engineer, then Dreamplan 3D is easy to use on macOS and Windows.

Dreamplan 3D allows you to switch from 2D blueprints to 3D renderings of how your home will look.

You can even trace existing blueprints in PDF and other formats in Dreamplan 3D.

The software covers not only exterior design but also interior design and landscape design too. For landscaping, it has templates for decking, gardens and pools.

Dreamplan 3D isn’t very good when it comes to defining dimensions, establishing zero points but it you’ve ever played The Sims, then the results with Dreamplan 3D are very similar.

There’s a free version of Dreamplan 3D for non-commercial use available from the Mac App Store but a license costs $35.

Pricing: Free for non commercial use

Pros:

• Supports both 2D and 3D designs
• Mac desktop app
• Traces blueprints in PDF
• Includes landscaping tools
• Supports DWG and DXF import

Cons:

• Windows inspired interface
• No Cloud version
• No team collaboration tools

14. Home Design 3D

Home Design 3D is a surprisingly powerful beginners 2D and 3D software at a fraction of the price of professional products.

You can download and use Home Design 3D for Mac free but there is a catch – you can’t save designs in the free version.

However, for a modest subscription fee starting at $6.99 for the Classic version, you can upgrade to one of the paid plans and save anything you create in this easy to use 3D application.

Home Design 3D is an interior design application which can be used for designing multi-story houses including lofts and roofing designs.

You can design in both 2D and 3D and control everything from the thickness of the walls the joinery on the doors and window.

It supports both interior and exterior design with a choice of over one thousand pieces of furniture and accessories.

You can edit the dimensions and properties of any fitting and copy and paste any items you want to duplicate across your home multiple times.

If the texture, color or design you want to use is missing, you can import your own images too.

You can render your designs in 3D to do walkthroughs of your property and even use a compass tool to see exactly where the light will fall at different time of the year and day.

There’s even a VR export tool to view your designs with a Meta Quest VR headset too.

You can share projects via e-mail or Cloud storage services such as Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive.

You don’t need an internet connection to use it either so you can use it offline on your Mac desktop.

Pricing: Free / $6.99 for Classic version / $9.99 Gold version / $17.99 Gold Plus version

Pros:

• Works across platforms including Mac and iPad
• Easy to design in 2D and 3D
• Customize materials and colors
• Import your own textures and colors
• Suitable for both interior and exterior design
• Shows light by time of day and year

Cons:

• Free version doesn’t allow you to save designs
• Many features restricted to Gold or Gold Plus version

Is HGTV Home Design Software For Mac Available?

If you want to know which software Joanna Gaines uses to layout her designs in HGTV Fixer Upper then the answer is SketchUp Pro.

SketchUp Pro is the professional version of the SketchUp Free but will be beyond the capabilities and budget of most home owners.

However, you can use SketchUp Free which is the closest thing to having HGTV Home Design software on your Mac without paying a cent.

If you’re also looking for the HGTV home design software used by HGTV’s Property Brothers to renovate run down homes, then the answer is a powerful 3D CAD tool by Neezo Studios.

Again, this costs thousands of dollars and although you won’t get quite the same photo-realistic 3D walk-throughs you see in Property Brothers, many of the software we’ve featured here support 3D rendering.

How To Draw a Floor Plan

Although the tools here make it possible to draw professional looking floor designs on your Mac, you’ll get the most out of them with a certain amount of advance planning and a structured approach.

Here’s a few tips on how to draw a floor plans on your Mac.

• Outline What You Want To Achieve

Decide on what you want to get out of the plan including a list of features, requirements and maximum dimensions.

• Get The Right Dimensions In Place

It’s important to make sure you measure the dimensions of the room or space you’re targeting not forgetting dimensions of the furniture and features you want to put in it.

• Make A Rough Draft

Drag & drop basic structural elements like walls or rooms onto your canvas. You must then ensure that your design is drawn to scale.

• Add Furniture & Interior Elements

You can then get down to the more interesting job of adding furniture and appliances. Some planners also allow you to upload your own custom images and items if you can’t find them in the library.

• Get It Checked

Always get someone else to cast a fresh pair of eyes over your floor designs to double-check them for errors and get a second opinion on things.