IKEA and Home Design 3D compared for scale floor plans and AR furniture previews, with Planner 5D and Houzz covered in the FAQs.
A sofa that will not pass through the front door, or a wall painted in a colour that looked entirely different under shop lighting, is an expensive mistake, and both are avoidable before spending a euro. The phone can draw a room to scale, walk you through it in three dimensions and place a real product at true size on your own floor. The 2 apps in this guide cover the two jobs people actually have: modelling the space itself in minutes, and previewing real, buyable furniture through the camera before committing. The FAQs also weigh Planner 5D and Houzz, which sit at the more powerful and the more visual ends of the category.
The IKEA app places true-scale furniture in your room through AR so you can test the sofa's fit, and checks live stock at your nearest store.
The IKEA app does the one thing generic design software struggles with: it drops real, buyable products into your living room at true scale using augmented reality, so you walk around a virtual sofa and judge proportions in the actual space before ordering. Live stock levels for the nearest store and an in-store product scanner round out the practical side. The boundaries are obvious — only IKEA products appear, AR needs a reasonably recent compatible phone, and the app sends frequent promotional notifications that are worth switching off.
Home Design 3D is the fastest way from blank room to walkable 3D plan — drag walls, drop doors and windows, switch dimensions instantly, no design background needed.
Home Design 3D exists for quick, legible floor plans rather than photorealistic renders. You drag out walls, position doors and windows, adjust each room's measurements precisely and jump from the 2D plan into a three-dimensional walkthrough instantly; the whole tool can be learned in about ten minutes with no prior design experience. That simplicity is the trade-off against Planner 5D, which is more powerful but slower to master. The furniture catalogue is comparatively limited, finished renders look less realistic, and the free version restricts saving projects.
Pros
Learnable in roughly ten minutes
Instant 2D plan to 3D switch
Precise room-measurement controls
Cons
Limited furniture catalogue
Renders less realistic than Planner 5D
Free version restricts project saves
Download price only. In-app purchases and subscriptions may cost extra.
Questions & answers
Can I see furniture in my home before buying?
Yes, with augmented reality. The IKEA app is the most reliable for it because its furniture is modelled at true scale: point the camera at the space, place the sofa and walk around it to check proportions. Houzz offers something similar with products from several brands. Together they are the best guard against the classic scale-and-fit mistake.
Do I need design skills to use these apps?
No. Home Design 3D and the IKEA app are built for anyone and take minutes to pick up; Planner 5D asks for a little more patience when drawing a plan with accurate measurements but needs no technical knowledge either. What genuinely helps is taking real room dimensions with a tape measure before opening anything.
Are home design apps free?
All offer free versions with limits. Planner 5D reserves much of its catalogue and its high-quality renders for the paid plan, and Home Design 3D restricts project saving on the free tier. IKEA and Houzz are completely free, because their business is selling products rather than software.
Can I present an app-made plan to a professional?
As a starting point, yes. Arriving with a measured plan and a rough layout saves time and prevents misunderstandings with an interior designer or fitter. It does not replace a technical project: any work touching structure, plumbing or electrics, or requiring a permit, needs a qualified professional and proper drawings.
More related apps
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