Alternatives
Chief Architect Alternative
Design the house the way builders do: walls, roofs worked out from the plan, beams and footings, fitted kitchens, electrical and plumbing, and the drawings to build from.
Chief Architect: From $1,995 a year. Home 3D Plan (home3dplan.com): Free.
What Chief Architect does, and where it is here
Automatic roofs
Hipped, gabled, shed and flat roofs over the walls, with pitch, overhangs, caps and gutters. See the tool
Structural members
Timber, glulam, steel and concrete beams, columns, braces and footings, placed on the plan and sent out as IFC. See the tool
Cabinets and kitchens
Eight fitted kitchen layouts sized to the wall, with worktops, corners, islands and NKBA checks. See the tool
Electrical plans
Sockets, switches, lights and boards on the plan, wired into circuits and checked against NEC rules. See the tool
Stairs
23 stairs from straight flights to spirals, checked step by step. See the tool
Terrain
Spot levels, contours and breaklines, terraces and retaining walls round the house. See the tool
Home 3D Plan and Chief Architect, side by side
| Feature | Home 3D Plan | Chief Architect |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Premier $1,995 a year, or $229 a month |
| Free option | Start in the browser with no account | 30 day trial |
| Runs on | Any modern browser: Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, iPad and phone | Windows and Mac |
| Install | None. Can be installed as a web app | Desktop install |
| IFC | IFC4 export of architecture, structure and services | See vendor |
| DWG and DXF | DWG and DXF in and out | DWG and DXF import and export |
| Structure | Columns, beams, braces, footings and gridlines, with a reinforcement bar schedule | Automatic framing of walls, floors and roofs |
| Services (MEP) | Electrical, plumbing and heating, drainage, ventilation, gas and solar PV | Electrical, plumbing and HVAC plan symbols |
| Site and terrain | Survey levels, terraces, retaining walls, roads, paving and planting | Terrain from elevation data |
| Quantities | Takeoff by storey, element, function and material, as CSV or a workbook | Materials list |
| Drawings and sheets | Sections, elevations, 1:5 details and sheet sets to PDF, DWG, DXF and SVG | Construction documents on layout sheets |
| Rendering | Four render tiers, the top one a GPU path tracer on desktop | Real time and ray traced rendering |
| Team work | Organisation projects with discipline roles and live presence | See vendor |
| AI and agents | MCP server with 38 tools for Claude, ChatGPT and other agents | See vendor |
Chief Architect prices as published on 10 October 2026 (https://www.renderahouse.com/blog/chief-architect-pricing). "See vendor" means the vendor does not publish the fact or we could not confirm it. Chief Architect is a trademark of Chief Architect, Inc.. Home 3D Plan is not affiliated with Chief Architect, Inc..
What Chief Architect does that Home 3D Plan does not
- Decades of residential tools and a manufacturer catalogue library builders know.
- Automatic stud framing with a materials list that many builders price from.
- A large community of residential designers, with training and templates.
Moving from Chief Architect
Export the Chief Architect plans as DWG or DXF and open them here; wall lines turn into walls. Or put a PDF of the drawings under the plan as a scaled underlay and trace it.
Send the house back as DWG, DXF or PDF drawings, or as an IFC4 model for anyone working in BIM.
Which one fits your work
Pick Chief Architect when
- You run a residential design business built on Chief Architect templates.
- You price framing lumber from its materials list.
- You rely on its manufacturer catalogues.
Pick Home 3D Plan when
- You want house design in a browser, on any computer or an iPad.
- You want IFC4 out, with structure and services, for engineers and BIM teams.
- You want the site, with levels, roads and paving, in the same model.
How to start
Open the editor
Go to home3dplan.com and open the editor. Nothing to install and no account needed to start.
Bring your drawing
Open a DWG or DXF and turn its lines into walls, or trace over a PDF or a scan set to scale.
Build the model
Draw walls and the storeys, rooms, slabs and 3D model follow. Add roofs, structure, services and the site.
Send it out
Print sections, elevations and sheets to PDF or DWG, and send the building out as IFC4.
Chief Architect and Home 3D Plan, answered
Is Home 3D Plan a real alternative to Chief Architect?
For designing houses with roofs, structure, kitchens, services and drawings, yes, and it runs in the browser. Chief Architect generates stud framing with a materials list, has a longer residential history and a large manufacturer library.
Does Home 3D Plan give a materials list?
It gives quantities: wall area net of openings, wall and slab volume, and openings, by storey, element, function and material, as CSV or a workbook. It does not price them or list framing lumber.
How much does Chief Architect cost compared with Home 3D Plan?
Chief Architect: Premier $1,995 a year, or $229 a month, as published on 10 October 2026. Home 3D Plan is free to use in the browser today.
Does Home 3D Plan export IFC and DWG?
Yes. The building goes out as IFC4, with its architecture, structure and services, and the drawings go out as DWG, DXF, PDF and SVG. DWG and DXF also come in. The editor does not open IFC files.
Do I need to install anything?
No. Home 3D Plan runs in any modern browser on Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, iPad and phones, and can be installed as a web app if you want an icon.
Read on
- Roofs: Hipped, gabled, shed and flat roofs, with pitch, overhangs, caps and gutters.
- Home design software: Plan, build and furnish a house in the browser.
- Home Designer alternative: Plan, roof, kitchen and furniture, with drawings out.
- SoftPlan alternative: Residential plans, services and drawings, in the browser.
- All alternatives: Every product we compare against, with its price.