Best software to design a wooden house
Most home design tools are made for any house and any interior. If you are planning a wooden house — log, timber frame, post & beam or prefab — here is what each popular tool is best at, and which one also gives you a price and quotes.
| Feature | Geoniks | SketchUp | Sweet Home 3D | Planner 5D | Homestyler |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Made specifically for wooden houses | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Main focus | Wooden houses: design → price → quotes | General 3D modelling | Floor plans & interiors | Floor plans & interiors | Interiors & renders |
| Runs in the browser | ✓ | partly | partly | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free option | ✓ | partly | ✓ | partly | partly |
| Real wooden walls (log, timber frame, post & beam) | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Price estimate for the house | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Quotes from wooden house manufacturers | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Hand sketch / 2D plan → 3D by a team | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Plan & elevation drawing set (PDF) | ✓ | partly | partly | partly | partly |
| Design by talking to Claude / ChatGPT | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Free-form modelling of anything | — | ✓ | partly | partly | partly |
| Large furniture & decor library | partly | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Which one should you choose?
You want a wooden house — designed, priced and quoted
Geoniks. Draw it or send your plan, see a price for your country and get offers from manufacturers that deliver to you. Free for home buyers.
You model many kinds of objects or buildings
A general 3D modeller such as SketchUp (or Blender) is more flexible for free-form modelling.
You want a free offline floor-plan and interior tool
Sweet Home 3D is free and open source (desktop, with mobile and online versions).
You mainly want furnished interiors and nice renders
Planner 5D or Homestyler — both have free tiers; full catalogues and high-quality renders are paid.
You need permit drawings or structural calculations
A licensed architect or engineer with professional CAD/BIM software (AutoCAD, Revit, Archicad, Cadwork…). Geoniks gives them a clear 3D concept and drawing set to start from.
Planning a wooden house?
Draw it in 3D for free, or get prices from manufacturers near you.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best software to design a wooden house?
For home buyers planning a wooden house (log, timber frame, post & beam, prefab), Geoniks is built for exactly that: a free browser-based 3D editor with real wooden walls, a price estimate for your country and quotes from wooden house manufacturers. For free-form 3D modelling of anything, SketchUp or Blender are more flexible; for permit drawings, an architect with CAD/BIM software is needed.
Is there free software to design a log house?
Yes. Geoniks is free for home buyers and runs in the browser, with log, timber-frame and post & beam walls. Sweet Home 3D is free and open source but is a general floor-plan and interior tool, not wood-specific.
Which software gives me a price for my wooden house?
Geoniks shows a planning price for your country from the house size, floors and wood type, and you can request real quotes from manufacturers that deliver to you. We get back to you within 48 hours.
Can I turn a hand-drawn plan into a 3D wooden house?
Yes — on Geoniks you upload a photo of your sketch or architect plan and the team builds it as an editable 3D wooden house, with a price estimate.
Can I design a house by talking to an AI?
Yes. Connect Geoniks to Claude (or ChatGPT in developer mode) and describe the house; the assistant creates and edits the 3D design in Geoniks.
SketchUp is a trademark of Trimble Inc.; Sweet Home 3D, Planner 5D and Homestyler are trademarks of their respective owners. Geoniks is not affiliated with them. See also: Free 3D wooden house design tool · Wooden House Price Index