7 Best Home Design Apps for Mac in 2024

Whether you are an interior design professional or a DIY weekend warrior, visualizing your ideal home doesn't always come easy. Well, forget those worries, because 2024 is booming with Mac-compatible home design apps to give you all the necessary tools for bringing your ideas into life. This article takes you through the top 7 options available for both beginners and experts. We shall delve into their features and power and all concerning the suitability for your needs, so as to help you bring that perfect space—virtually—right before breaking the first brick. So get on your Mac, flex those creative muscles, and let's march toward the world of home design apps!

7 BEST Home Design Apps For Mac

1. Planner5D: The Best Home Design App For Mac. The app offers to create home designs both in 2D and 3D. It allows drag-and-drop interfaces with a rich library of furniture and decor elements. Planner5D is more intuitive and therefore the best for beginners in home design.

2. Live Home 3D: This app has been acclaimed for its powerful feature set and ease of use. It features 2D and 3D design, terrain editing, huge furniture and material libraries, and, in the Pro version, adds unlimited levels of floors and high-resolution walkthroughs, thus being perfect both for pros and novices.

3. Home Design 3D: It is used massively because of the overall ease of designing a detailed floor plan in both 2D and 3D. It offers a free version with limited features, along with in-app purchases for saving projects. Real-time 3D view of design can be seen, and it is shared among a community of users.

4. Sweet Home 3D: This is a really great free app if someone wants only a simple design for their home. It has an easy interface to create floor plans and furnishing/decorating spaces quite easily. Good for the DIY person who wants to remodel without having too much of a learning curve.

5. SketchUp: Versatility and simplicity combine to make SketchUp perfect both for beginners and experts. It is free with basic features and is, in addition, a very popular tool when it comes to 3D modeling. It provides the user with an expansive model library and allows a user to share their designs with a lot of ease.

6. Floorplanner: a browser-based tool with a Mac version, really good for building quick and easy floor plans. It has free and paid options, which enable it to be really effective in designing and visualizing spaces. This tool works well for real estate professionals.

7. Cedreo: Designed for professionals, Cedreo offers end-users the ability to produce 3D home designs at express speeds. At its heart, it contains a robust set of floor planning and interior design tools, making it perfect for contractors and real estate agents. This tool is optimized for speed, enabling users to complete designs efficiently.

#1 Planner 5D: The best home design app for Mac in 2024

Planner5D is definitely the best home design app for Mac. providing designs in both 2D and 3D and hence suitable for all kinds of users, irrespective of their level of skills. That means even those who are new in the area of home design. So, let's learn what makes Planner 5D unique: It is designed with a drag-and-drop interface that makes creating and editing floor plans easy and intuitive, without requiring advanced technical skills.

• Huge catalog of items: Planner 5D contains an enormous library with more than 6,400 furniture and decor items to help users equip and decorate their virtual spaces.

• 2D and 3D visualization: One can easily switch from 2D mode to 3D view and back, which allows for creating floor plans and going through the designs from different angles in 3D.

• Photo-realistic rendering: A "Snapshot" feature in the application makes pictures of projects as real as a photo by adding lights, textures, and shadows. Cross-platform compatibility: One can start working on a project on one device and resume working on it on another. Customization: Editing colors, patterns, and materials for furniture and decorative elements, changing their sizes with respect to a particular space.

• It integrates with the camera to build a digital duplicate of a user's house, making it more possible to start with an already existing space.

• Planner5D is also one of the best free kitchen design software for Mac.

The features mentioned above make Planner 5D the most suitable for beginners in the sphere of home design because it merges the ease of use and powerful design capabilities. The intuitive interface of the app, along with its rich catalog, allows users to tinker around with various layouts and styles without requiring professional skills.

Live Home 3D: Powerful house design app for Mac

Live Home 3D is one of the most powerful and easiest to use home and interior design software available on Mac. This, therefore, will be considered a good Mac option because it has multi-platform compatibility. While it's excellent on a Mac, it's also available for use on Windows, iPhone, iPad, or Vision.

• Intuitive design process: With this software, one can quickly and easily render a detailed floor plan into a 3D format. It is user-friendly, allowing any person to lay out and furnish rooms or even entire houses with precision.

• Comprehensive features: Live Home 3D offers both 2D and 3D design capabilities, terrain editing, and a vast library of furniture and materials. This makes it suitable for various design needs, from simple room layouts to complex house designs.

• Flexibility in project scope: Users can design anything from individual rooms to entire houses, and even exterior spaces like gardens

• Advanced tools in Pro version: More advanced features of Pro edition include unlimited levels of floors, personalized design of roofs, advance material editors and light source controls enhanced. This makes it suitable for more complex projects and professional use

• Realistic visualization: It produces photo-realistic 3D rendering, which enables users to walk through virtually designed architecture and see how it would look in a real-life setting

• Mac performance optimized: As it is Mac-focused, it is optimized to run smoothly on macOS, supporting recent versions like Sonoma and compatible with both Apple silicon and Intel processors.

• Cost-effective: Comparing it with professional-grade design software that costs even hundreds or thousands of dollars, Live Home 3D is very pocket-friendly for home users and hobbyists while quite strong in its feature set.

• Continuous updates and support: The developers frequently update the software and offer excellent support to the users, so one shall always get access to new features and help whenever required.

To sum up, Live Home 3D is a good choice on Mac due to its great balance of powerful features, ease of use, and affordability, making it suitable for both casual home designers and more serious enthusiasts.

Home design 3D: Versatile Home design app

Home Design 3D is a versatile home design application that caters to a wide range of users, from architectural and interior design professionals to home design enthusiasts and students. Here are some key features and benefits that make it a popular choice:

Key Features

1. 2D and 3D Design Capabilities

   • Users can create detailed floor plans in both 2D and 3D, allowing for comprehensive visualization and planning. This includes drawing plots, rooms, and dividers, as well as adding doors and windows with fully resizable joinery.

2. Customizable Templates

   • The app offers a variety of customizable templates, enabling users to create their own designs or choose from pre-loaded options. This flexibility is beneficial for both beginners and experienced designers.

3. Extensive Furniture and Decor Library

   • Home Design 3D provides a rich library of over a thousand pieces of furniture and accessories. Users can customize these items in terms of size, color, position, and altitude on the walls, allowing for personalized interior and exterior designs.

4. Real-time 3D Visualization

   • The app includes a photo-realistic 3D rendering feature that allows users to explore their designs in real-time. This helps in visualizing the final outcome more effectively.

5. Import/Export Functionality

   • Users can import existing plans and export their projects to continue working on other devices, thanks to cross-platform compatibility. This feature supports collaboration and ease of access across different platforms.

6. Augmented Reality

   • For iOS users, Home Design 3D offers augmented reality capabilities through ARKit, enhancing the design experience by integrating digital elements into the real world.

User Experience

• Ease of Use

  • The app is designed to be accessible to everyone, making it easy to use even for those without much architectural experience. Features like the drag-and-drop interface, undo/redo functionality, and the eye dropper tool for color matching contribute to its user-friendliness.

• Community and Sharing

  • Home Design 3D allows users to share their projects with a community of over 90 million users worldwide. This fosters a collaborative environment where users can get inspiration and feedback on their designs.

Support and Availability

• Platforms Supported

  • The app is available on multiple platforms, including mobile (Android, iPad, iPhone), Mac, tablet, and desktop, making it highly versatile and accessible.

• Support Options

  • Home Design 3D offers various support options, including FAQs, forums, and email/help desk support, ensuring that users can get assistance when needed.

Conclusion

Home Design 3D stands out as a comprehensive and user-friendly home design solution. Its robust set of features, including 2D and 3D rendering, customizable templates, and a vast library of decor items, make it suitable for a wide range of users. Whether you are a professional designer, a student, or a home design enthusiast, Home Design 3D provides the tools and flexibility needed to create detailed and personalized home designs.

Sweet Home 3D: Your Easy-Peasy Floor Plan Pal

Ever doodle out dream kitchen layouts on napkins? Sweet Home 3D is like that, but way more powerful. Way less messy, too. This free app's got a super user-friendly interface and is perfect for beginners: You drag and drop furniture and walls to create your ideal floor plan in no time. It's playing digital dollhouse, but way more grown-up, hopefully!

SketchUp: From Beginner Dabbler to Design Master

Want something with a bit more brawn but still user-friendly? SketchUp is your jam. This free program, with a paid upgrade for extra features, allows users to make 3D models of anything imaginable—from your living room to a spaceship. Hey, maybe that is your dream home? Plus, it's got a huge library of pre-made furniture and objects so you can decorate your virtual space with ease. Best of all, sharing your designs with friends is quite painless, so get ready to blow their minds with your mad design skills.

Floorplanner: Best for Floor Planning

This is the web-based counterpart to the Mac version. Wanting to whip up a quick floor plan to show your roommate your brilliant furniture placement ideas? Floorplanner has got you covered. There's a free version and paid plans with more features, so you can use what suits you best. Real estate agents also like to use this for making clear and concise floor plans of listings.

Cedreo: home design app for Mac

All right, so maybe you're a contractor or real estate agent who needs a little something more heavy-duty. Cedreo is your ace up the sleeve. Designed for professionals, this tool still won't scare you off—it's user-friendly—but under the hood lies a ton of power. Think: fancy 3D floor plans and interior design software that allows users to generate striking visuals at record time. Basically, Cedreo makes you a design rockstar without the years of design school.

There you go! From free and user-friendly to powerful and feature-laden, there's a 3D design tool for everyone. No matter your budget or experience level, you can be a home design whiz with the right app. Now, go forth and design your dream living space!