Garden Sketchbook vs PRO Landscape+

Garden Sketchbook is a browser-based tool for designing gardens to scale and previewing them in 3D across the seasons. Its 2D drag-and-drop editor lets users arrange plants, while the seasonal view shows how the garden and its colors change through the year. Filters cover hardiness zone, sun, soil, bloom season, color, deer resistance, and drought resistance. Plants are sized automatically, and users can trace a floor plan or aerial photo while drawing beds, paths, and structures. The library contains hundreds of plants with growing information and specific varieties; custom varieties can be made by changing size, color, and bloom time. The software runs in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge without installation. The 2D planner works on any device, but the 3D seasonal view requires WebGL. The free demo needs no account, though gardens expire after 24 hours. Gardener costs $39 a year after a 14-day free trial and saves up to 10 gardens. A one-time $9 add-on provides PDF export in the free demo.

PRO Landscape+ combines landscape design, presentation, material takeoffs, estimating and proposals in a subscription platform. Users can create before-and-after concepts from property photos using a library of more than 19,000 images, or produce scaled CAD drawings and material takeoffs from an object library. The software generates estimates from photo or CAD plans using the user's prices and tax rate. Scaled CAD drawings can be rendered in 3D, viewed from rotated angles, and turned into walkthrough movies; the listed features also include flyovers and night and holiday lighting designs. Planning tools include terrain modeling, planting plans and irrigation design. CAD files can be imported or exported as DWG, DXF or PDF, and the maker says the CAD tools require no prior CAD knowledge. A Companion app transfers designs between a computer and an iPad or Android tablet. The annual plan costs $75 a month billed annually, for one user, one computer and one tablet. Desktop use requires 64-bit Windows 10 or Windows 11; Mac use through Parallels with Windows is described, but that setup is unsupported.