Home Designer vs SmartDraw
Home Designer
homedesignersoftware.com
SmartDraw
smartdraw.comSide by side
| Figure | Home Designer | SmartDraw |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $41.25/mo | $0.75/mo |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 10 | 5 |
| Spec score · Landscape Design Software | 8.9 (#2) | 8.6 (#3) |
| API and SDK | The public product pages and documentation describe file import/export and viewer sharing but do not provide a public API or SDK. | SmartDraw advertises an Open API and SDK for building custom data visualizers. |
| Founded | 1992 | 1994 |
| Headquarters | LinkedIn lists the headquarters at 6500 N Mineral Drive, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, United States. | The Woodlands, Texas, USA |
| Licence | The EULA grants an individual, non-transferable proprietary licence and prohibits reverse engineering, redistribution and disabling authentication. | SmartDraw is proprietary software: its terms grant revocable, non-transferable access rights and reserve the technology as company or licensor intellectual property. |
| Rating on Capterra | 4.2 out of 5 from 9 reviews | 4.2 out of 5 from 153 reviews. |
| Rating on GetApp | 4.2 out of 5 from 9 reviews | 4.2 out of 5 from 153 reviews. |
| Support | Free online support resources are available 24/7, including a knowledge base, webinars, training materials, and the HomeTalk forum. | SmartDraw offers free in-house email and chat support; enterprise customers receive dedicated support representatives. |
| System requirements | Current Windows minimums are Windows 10/11 64-bit, 16 GB RAM, 4 GB graphics memory, DirectX 12, 5 GB storage and internet; Mac minimums require an M1-or-newer processor, 16 GB RAM, 5 GB storage and internet. | The legacy IT installation guide lists Windows 7/8/10 or Vista, 2 GB RAM and 4 GB free disk space, and documents MSI deployment through Group Policy or Configuration Manager. |
| What it does | Home Designer is desktop software for DIY home design, remodeling, interior, kitchen and bath, deck, landscaping, 2D plans and 3D visualization. | SmartDraw is a visual workspace for creating professional diagrams, drawings, floor plans and data visualizations without specialist CAD training. |
Plans
Home Designer
- Home Designer$79 a month
- Home Designer$495 a year
- Home Designer Pro Rent (legacy)$59 a month
- Home Designer (monthly subscription)$79 a month
- Home Designer subscription (monthly)$79 a month
- Home Designer Suite (legacy)$129, paid once
- Home Designer Architectural (legacy)$249, paid once
- Home Designer (annual subscription)$495 a year
- Home Designer subscription (annual)$495 a year
- Home Designer Pro (legacy)$595, paid once
SmartDraw
- Individual$9.95 a month
- Team$8.95 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
- Team$8.95 a year
- Individual$9.95 a year
In their own words
Home Designer
Home Designer is desktop software for DIY home design, remodeling, kitchen and bath projects, and cost estimation. It runs on Windows and macOS and provides 2D floor plans alongside 3D views, cross-sections, elevations, and real-time ray-trace rendering. Automatic design tools generate roofs, floors, foundations, ceilings, and framing as users work. Users can create scaled construction documents and site plans, produce materials lists, assign prices for estimates, and dimension plans manually or automatically. The software also supports customizable smart cabinets, automatic door and window framing, and materials takeoffs. Virtual tour walkthroughs can be recorded, and interactive 3D Viewer models can be exported to Chief Architect’s cloud for mobile sharing. Core, bonus, and manufacturer library items are available; bonus and manufacturer catalogs are free downloads. Home Designer is compatible with Chief Architect software for project sharing. A trial is available, but trial users cannot save, print, export, or record walkthroughs, and Library Browser functions are restricted. The monthly plan is $79 a month; annual subscription is $495 a year.
SmartDraw
SmartDraw is a diagramming tool for creating scaled floor plans and professional diagrams, from building layouts and evacuation plans to flowcharts, organizational charts, network diagrams, UML diagrams, and mind maps. SmartDraw AI can turn natural-language prompts into editable diagrams and floor plans. Templates and automatic layout adjustment help shape diagrams as users add, move, or delete elements. Teams can edit together, comment, and review version history. The service supports Linux, macOS, Windows, and the web, though its desktop launcher opens the web app and requires an internet connection. Files can be imported from formats including PDF, Visio, Lucidchart, and common image files, then exported as JPEG, PNG, SVG, PDF, or Visio. SmartDraw lists integrations with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Jira, Confluence, Azure, AWS, GitHub, ChatGPT, and Claude. The paid product has a free trial but no free plan; Team requires at least three users. SmartDraw was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.