Compare · 6 min read

Planner 5D vs Homestyler: Which Home Design App Should You Use?

Planner 5D and Homestyler are two of the most widely used free home design apps. Both let you draw floor plans and visualize rooms in 3D without installing software. Planner 5D is more feature-complete for floor planning; Homestyler leans into room decoration and AR visualization. Here is how they compare.

The short version

• Planner 5D: A cross-platform home design app with strong 2D floor planning, 3D walkthroughs, and AI-powered room design features. More capable overall, with better floor plan control and a larger user base.
• Homestyler: A design-focused app built around room decoration, photo rendering, and AR placement. Better for visualizing furniture and decor in an existing room; less capable for drawing floor plans from scratch.

Planner 5D vs Homestyler: at a glance

What Planner 5D does well

Planner 5D is the more complete home design tool. If you need to plan an entire home -- draw rooms, add walls and windows, design multiple floors, and walk through the result in 3D -- Planner 5D handles all of it in a single project. The floor plan drawing tools are precise, with snapping, dimensioning, and support for custom room shapes.

The AI room designer is a standout feature: describe a style, pick a room, and Planner 5D auto-furnishes it. For homeowners who are not sure how to start decorating, this removes the blank-canvas problem.

Planner 5D also has a much larger community of shared designs -- you can browse and remix hundreds of thousands of projects from other users, which is useful for inspiration.

Where Planner 5D falls short

• Free plan is restrictive. The free tier limits how many items you can place and locks HD renders behind a paywall. You hit the ceiling quickly on a real project.
• No AR furniture placement. Planner 5D's strength is 3D design, not augmented reality. If you want to point your phone at your living room and see how a sofa looks in the actual space, Homestyler does this better.
• Interface can feel clunky on mobile. The browser version is polished; the mobile app is functional but feels like a port rather than a native experience on smaller screens.

What Homestyler does well

Homestyler's AR mode is genuinely useful for renters and homeowners who want to visualize furniture in their actual space before buying. Point the camera, place a sofa, walk around it virtually. The photo-quality renders also look impressive for sharing on social media or sending to a partner before committing to a purchase.

Homestyler has a generous free tier compared to Planner 5D -- you can do a lot without hitting a paywall. For casual users who just want to try things out, this lowers the friction significantly.

The community features are strong too -- Homestyler has an active design community with millions of public projects, making it easy to find inspiration for specific room types or styles.

Where Homestyler falls short

• Floor plan drawing is limited. Homestyler is not built for precise floor planning. If you need accurate room dimensions for a renovation or need to draw a multi-story home, the tool is too basic. Planner 5D is significantly better here.
• Less useful for whole-home planning. Homestyler is better room-by-room than as a whole-home design tool. If you are planning a full renovation or need to see how all rooms connect, Planner 5D handles it better.
• Export quality on free plan. High-resolution exports require a Pro subscription. The free renders are lower quality.

Which should you choose?

Choose Planner 5D if: You want to design an entire home or apartment from scratch -- drawing floor plans, designing multiple rooms, and seeing the whole thing in 3D. Also better if you want AI-assisted room design.

Choose Homestyler if: You primarily want to experiment with room decoration and furniture placement in your existing space, especially with AR. Better free tier, better AR, better for quick decoration experiments.

What neither tool is built for

Both Planner 5D and Homestyler are consumer design tools for drawing and decorating spaces. Neither is designed for uploading an existing floor plan and measuring the accurate gross living area from it -- which is the task real estate appraisers and buyers face when they receive a CubiCasa scan, Matterport export, or floor plan PDF and need to verify the square footage.

Related reading

• How to measure the square footage of a house
• What is gross living area (GLA)?
• Average square footage of a house by type
• Floor plan measurement tool for GLA calculation
• Planner 5D vs HomeByme: comparison
• Planner 5D vs MagicPlan: comparison
• Coohom vs Planner5D: comparison
• Floorplanner vs Planner5D: comparison
• Homebyme vs Planner5D: comparison
• Homestyler vs Floorplanner: comparison
• How to prepare your floor plan before uploading: FAQ
• Can I use phone photos for floor plans?: FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Planner 5D and Homestyler?

Planner 5D and Homestyler are different tools with different strengths. The best choice depends on your workflow, budget, and whether you need features like 3D scanning, floor plan generation, GLA calculation, or design capabilities. This page breaks down a direct comparison.

Which is better for real estate appraisers: Planner 5D or Homestyler?

Planner5d and Homestyler serve different workflows. Planner5d is better suited for one use case while Homestyler fits another: the right choice depends on whether you need field capture or office-based GLA calculation from existing floor plans.

Can Planner 5D and Homestyler be used together?

Planner5d and Homestyler can complement each other in some workflows: for example, using one for field capture and the other for GLA calculation and reporting. Check the comparison table above for specific integration details.

How much does Planner 5D cost compared to Homestyler?

Planner 5D and Homestyler have different pricing models: one may charge per user, per project, or via annual subscription, while the other may offer a free tier or pay-per-use option. Check the comparison table above for current pricing details and which offers better value for your volume of work.

Which is easier to use: Planner 5D or Homestyler?

Ease of use depends on your starting point. Planner 5D tends to fit one type of user or workflow, while Homestyler is designed for another. If you are working from an existing floor plan PDF and need to calculate square footage quickly, a browser-based tool like PlanSnapper may reduce the learning curve entirely: no software installation required.

Do I need Planner 5D or Homestyler if I already have a floor plan PDF?

If you already have a floor plan as a PDF or image, you may not need either tool. PlanSnapper lets you upload the PDF directly and trace walls in your browser to calculate GLA: no software installation required. Both Planner 5D and Homestyler are most useful for creating sketches from scratch or capturing measurements in the field.

Which works better for calculating GLA: Planner 5D or Homestyler?

Both Planner 5D and Homestyler can support GLA calculation, but the workflow differs. One may require field measurement and sketch entry while the other may allow importing existing floor plans. If your starting point is an existing PDF or image floor plan, PlanSnapper provides a faster path: upload, trace, and get the GLA figure without entering either tool's workflow.

How do Planner 5D and Homestyler handle existing floor plan PDFs?

Neither Planner 5D nor Homestyler is primarily designed to import and calculate square footage from an existing PDF floor plan. Both tools are built around creating or capturing floor plans from scratch. If you already have a PDF floor plan, PlanSnapper lets you upload it directly, trace the walls, and get an accurate GLA figure without redrawing anything.

Which is better for occasional users: Planner 5D or Homestyler?

Planner 5D and Homestyler are both specialized tools with learning curves that reward regular use. Occasional users often find dedicated subscription tools hard to justify. For someone who needs to calculate square footage a few times a month, PlanSnapper is designed for exactly that: no training required, no annual contract, upload and measure in minutes.