Floorplanner is from the same stable as Roomstyler 3D, and it's a more powerful take on the browser-based interior design app. It's very easy to use and its library of models is extensive and useful, which is why its one of the top contenders in our guide to the best interior design software 2020. It falls just behind Virtual Architect Ultimate, which is our top pick.
Floorplanner's interface is broken into two sections: the main window, where you can design and explore your interior and exterior, and a sidebar on the left. This provides quick access to project and lighting settings; multiple floors (if you have the appropriate subscription); structural features such as walls, doors and windows; labels, dimension lines and symbols; and materials, decor and furniture. Because Floorplanner is browser-based, it works on any of the best home computers.
Floorplanner review: Price
Something we've seen a lot in interior design apps is a mix of subscription fees and pay-as-you-go credits for specific features. That's something Floorplanner adopts too, with a pricing model that seems overly complex. In addition to the three tiers of app for individual users – free, the $5 per month Plus and the $29 per month Pro –you can upgrade individual projects by up to three levels in exchange for credits. Plus plans give you four credits per month and Pro 30; additional credits are $1.25 each.
Here's how that works. Projects begin at level one, which gives you all the drawing features, access to thousands of 3D models and the ability to export designs in 2D and 3D at standard resolution (960 x 540 pixels). That's free. And if you want all free, Roomstyler 3D Home Planner is your best option.
The next level, level two, enables you to have multiple floors or designs in your project, export in PDF or FML format, and up the export resolution to HD (1920 x 1080 pixels). That's two credits per project.
Level three adds 3D tours and enables you to specify publishing options. That's ten credits per project. Finally, level four adds photorealistic rendering for 25 credits per project.
As we've said in regard to other apps, we are not fans of this pricing approach: it makes it very difficult to work out what the app will actually cost until you've sunk time into designing something and it also makes it extremely difficult to compare the app's price with similarly specified rivals.
Floorplanner review: Design and features
The app looks very simple but it isn't cut-back: it's easy to create, reshape, decorate and populate a room by applying floor and wall materials and dragging objects from the library into your rooms. Those objects can be viewed in the sidebar in 2D or 3D, and once you've put them in their right place you can adjust their dimensions and rotation and their distance from the floor (useful for shelves, wall units and so on). That means the models are generic rather than specific – if you want to know if a particular IKEA cabinet will fit you'll need to get its dimensions and apply them to one of the models – but it's a more flexible approach than limiting you to specific branded products as some other interior design apps do.
When you've finished the app can create a product list detailing everything from taps to TV stands, although we did find that some of the product links went to pages that are no longer available. The free version doesn't have any export options although you can share a link for others to open your model on the Floorplan website.
To stop things getting too visually cluttered you can prevent Floorplanner from showing things like floor textures or just view your room as a wireframe, which is useful for more complex areas such as kitchens. You can also disable or enable dimension lines, grid markers and symbols, switch between low and high resolution graphics, hide fixtures and furniture and enter Blueprint Mode. Those options make it easy to focus on what you're doing, and they come in handy on lower-powered hardware too. If your PC or Mac is groaning a little under the weight of a complex model, these options can speed things up considerably.
That's not to say that Floorplanner is slow. It isn't, even in 3D mode.
Floorplanner review: Results
Once you've designed your space the next step is to look at it in 3D. You can do this in two ways: by using the mouse, trackpad or keyboard to move the model around and zoom in or out, or by going into walk-around mode and exploring the space much as you would in a video game. You can switch between multiple cameras, all of which can be adjusted for height and field of view, and there's a fun presentation mode that swoops from camera to camera to give you a full tour of the space. You can get Floorplan to remove the ceilings and walls if they block your desired view.
Should you buy Floorplanner?
It's a shame about the convoluted pricing model, because Floorplanner is an excellent app: it goes beyond the basics of interior design and can be used to create very detailed models of entire properties, not just individual rooms. It's nice to have the ability to plan outside spaces as well as inside ones, and while that's obviously not a key requirement for interior design it's useful for designers who like to extend their themes from inside to out.
Floorplanner is very fast, very easy to use and produces excellent results, and the ability to customize the size of the supplied furniture and fixtures is particularly useful. We particularly like the way the app manages to include a lot of powerful features while keeping its interface friendly and welcoming. It's not an app you're ever going to feel intimidated by or lost in, and it's easy to produce attractive and accurate designs for any kind of interior design project.
