Designing Your Home on a Screen: The Best Interior Design Software in 2026

A guide to the main programs and apps for planning and furnishing a home in 2D and 3D, from free tools like Sweet Home 3D to IKEA Kreativ, which uses artificial intelligence to recreate rooms in augmented reality.

Oct 23, 2026 0 0

Designing Your Home on a Screen: The Best Interior Design Software in 2026

Before buying a new sofa or knocking down a wall, more and more people prefer to test their ideas virtually first. In recent years, home design programs have become far more accessible, moving from simple 2D floor plans to fully navigable 3D rooms, and now to the newest tools built on artificial intelligence. Here is an overview of the main options available today, both free and paid, for computers and smartphones.

The best free programs for PC

For anyone who wants to start without spending a cent, the most popular choice remains Sweet Home 3D, an open-source program available for Windows, macOS and Linux (also as a no-install online version). It lets you draw a floor plan, place doors and windows, choose furniture from a customizable catalog, and switch between 2D and 3D views at any time. It is free to use, with the option to support the project through voluntary donations, though the interface is fairly basic and takes a little practice.

An equally free alternative is Room Arranger, open source and available for Windows, macOS and Linux, aimed at people looking for a simple tool with built-in tutorials, even if its furniture catalog is more limited. Directly from a browser, with nothing to install, you can also use FloorPlanner (in its free version, with some limits on resolution and export) and IKEA Home Planner, the Swedish retailer's tool that lets you import your own floor plan, furnish rooms using the IKEA catalog, and calculate electrical and plumbing points.

Professional and paid solutions

Anyone working in the field, or simply wanting a photorealistic render, can turn to more advanced programs. HomeStyler Pro offers real-brand furniture at 1:1 scale, a detailed interior editor and 360° panoramic views, with real-time rendering that does require a reasonably powerful computer. DreamPlan Interior Design (by NCH Software) is available as a free trial for Windows and macOS, with an annual subscription aimed at professionals, and lets you design both interiors and exteriors, including multi-story buildings. In Italy, ArredoCAD, a locally made program with over 30,000 furniture items in its catalog and the ability to import existing floor plans, is also widely used.

For those with more technical skills, SketchUp (free online in its Free version, paid in the desktop Pro version) remains a standard for 3D modeling from scratch, thanks in part to its huge library of shared models, the 3D Warehouse. On the professional CAD side, Shapr3D (for iPad, Mac and Windows) offers two free projects and a Pro subscription at 29 euros a month, while Autodesk AutoCAD LT is still widely used by architects and interior designers.

Apps for smartphones and tablets

Anyone who prefers working from a smartphone or tablet has several dedicated apps to choose from. Planner 5D, available for Android and iOS (as well as online), lets you sketch freehand on a touchscreen, switch between 2D and 3D views, and create presentations of your project; it is free, with paid premium features such as more advanced photorealistic rendering. Magicplan stands out for automatically measuring rooms through the camera and building floor plans from 360° photos: it is a paid app with a free trial period. For anyone who just wants to quickly sketch a floor plan, Floor Plan Creator (Android) is free, with optional paid projects or extra features, and it also exports files in .obj format for use in other 3D programs.

IKEA Kreativ: furnishing with artificial intelligence

One of the most interesting developments in recent years is IKEA Kreativ, the design tool built into the IKEA website and app, now also available in Italy. Unlike traditional programs, which start from a hand-drawn floor plan, IKEA Kreativ uses a feature called Scene Scanner: you simply take a series of photos of your room with your smartphone, and the system automatically rebuilds it as an interactive 3D replica, with the real dimensions of the space. From there, you can virtually remove existing furniture, try out IKEA catalog products in its place, save the project to your account to access it from other devices, or buy the chosen items directly.

This is made possible by neural networks trained to recognize objects and room geometry, together with stereoscopic 3D vision algorithms and computational photography — a combination of techniques that falls under artificial intelligence applied to graphics. The tool is included free of charge in the IKEA website and app; for the most accurate room scan, it helps to use a recent smartphone with a good-quality camera.

How to choose the right program

The choice mostly depends on three factors: budget, the level of detail you want, and the device you prefer to use.

For a first project with no spending at all: Sweet Home 3D or IKEA Home Planner are the simplest starting points.
For a more realistic render, useful for showing a project to a retailer or a professional: HomeStyler Pro, the premium version of Planner 5D, or SketchUp.
For working quickly from a smartphone, without drawing floor plans by hand: Magicplan for automatic measurements, or IKEA Kreativ if you want to virtually test IKEA furniture in your actual room.
For ongoing professional use: ArredoCAD, AutoCAD LT or Shapr3D offer more complete tools, in exchange for a subscription.

Whatever you choose, trying out several free tools before upgrading to a paid version remains the simplest way to find out what fits your needs best, with no risk at all.