12 Best Architecture Software Programs for Beginners in 2024

A note from the author, James Anthony, SaaS software expert:

Navigating the landscape of architecture software can be overwhelming, especially for newcomers seeking the ideal platform to kickstart their design endeavors. Being a SaaS software expert with more than 10 years of experience in advising artichtects I have walked this path myself, and all the market reports and research data I’ve studied highlight the significance of user-friendly interfaces, comprehensive toolsets, and intuitive functionalities in software that fosters a strong foundation for budding architects. 

In this guide I want to share with you the results of my comprehensive research and market analysis of current data and trends, compiled into an insightful list of the best architecture software programs meticulously tailored for beginners. 

As virtual reality for architecture finds wide application, it’s easy to point out, in retrospect, that architects should have been the ones to see its massive potential rather than the entertainment and gaming industry. Virtual reality is first and foremost about immersive structures and spaces that you can interact with, precisely what architecture is essentially about. If the gaming and entertainment industry can produce the oohs and aahs about realistic gameplay environments, what more the architects presenting virtual homes and interiors to expectant homebuilders?

But architects seeing the potential of VR technology are never too late seeing the light, and prototypes are coming in faster with the help of this technology. The realistic depiction of structural elements within the presentation allows architects and clients to spot flaws and misses immediately, brought into prominence by Project Correl, for example.

Project Correl is the next level in VR, allowing multiple collaborators in a machine-generated space. With multiple stakeholders able to exist in a virtual structure, issues are ironed out and addressed in the quickest time possible, eliminating the need to pass around multiple documents and proofs for approval and the like. It’s the perfect complement for an outstanding construction management software that informed partners are employing in their own works.

Virtual reality in architecture is also logically connected to smart buildings and structures, which is one of the hottest building technologies in currency. Smart buildings allow people, appliances and buildings to connect in myriad ways, making it possible to regulate operations and the building’s environment for maximum comfort.

It’s infinitely flexible, easily sustainable, and does not get in the way of how residents typically function about the structure. The discreet design follows the traditional idea of home without extraneous intrusions.

Architects who wish to push their names at the forefront of their profession could not afford to miss these continually developing technologies.

12 Best Architecture Software Programs for Beginners

1. Cedreo

Topping our 12 best architecture software programs for beginners, Cedreo is a home designer software that allows you to create 2D and 3D home decor models and floor plans. It’s the ideal floor plan software for home builders and contractors, remodelers, and interior designers. It covers a wide range of features specific for construction and home design businesses, allowing you to create an unlimited number of construction home projects and share them instantly with your team.

Cedreo offers a home decoration tool that lets you and your clients visualize 3D home designs in a few clicks. It is fully customizable, enabling you to match exactly the unique styles and tastes of your clients. You can choose from a large selection of textures, coverings, and materials to build interior decoration.

Cedreo

Try out Cedreo with their free trial

With Cedreo, you can also create realistic 3D renderings that you can easily share and present at client meetings. This way, your clients can visualize home interior designs and floor plans realistically. In addition, Cedreo offers collaborative tools that allow you to work with your clients more closely. For instance, you can use 3D renderings and make changes to home decoration designs instantly.

The software is also handy in remodeling projects. It offers a wide array of furniture selections in 3D, such as bathroom cabinets, bathtubs, tiles, toilets, sinks, and more. This allows you to do full-scale redesigns or expansions in multiple rooms. You can also take advantage of Cedreo’s landscaping features to build realistic exterior landscape designs.

2. ArcGIS CityEngine

ArcGIS CityEngine, formerly Esri CityEngine, is a 3D modeling software that enables users to create large immersive urban settings in five simple steps: (1) choose an area, (2) design, (3) convert into 3D, (4) polish with details, and (5) export. The modeling platform provides users with ready-made templates that they can customize. Users may also create 3D models of real cities with the help of satellite imagery, 3D terrain, and OpenStreetMap.

ArcGIS CityEngine also enables users to add in specific intricate details, such as textures of building facades. You may also build iterations or multiple design versions for comparison and assessment. Results of design analysis may be displayed through dashboards for insights and improvement. Moreover, Land-use regulations may also be applied to your 3D designs.

ArcGIS CityEngine may be used on Windows and Linux devices. It has two types of subscription plans: single use and online for premium features. Notably, both the single-use license level and the online license level provide core ArcGIS CityEngine features, user interface, and development environment.

3. CorelCAD

A venerable name in graphics applications, Corel dives into professional computer-aided design with CorelCAD, which helps architects and other design professionals to create 2D and 3D structures with technical precision. Beginners and experts alike will find the software easy to handle, allowing them to represent their visual ideas faithfully and facilitate faster and more efficient execution and collaboration.

CorelCAD allows beginners to work with 2D materials and transform them into 3D rendering, with easy editing provided by polar guides, object snaps, grips and powerful 3D modeling tools. Beginners will also find helix tools useful for creating 2D spirals, drawing constraints and dimension tools when they need accurate measurements.

Support for DWG file format and other CAD applications allows users to share and collaborate with expert colleagues and stakeholders. You can start using the application for USD 699 per user, with a mobile implementation that you can use to generate quick sketches when you find yourself in a remote location.

4. Floorplanner

Aspiring or new architects who want to get their hands dirty on interior design will like how Floorplanner combines ease of use and thoughtful features to make the most of available interior space in both workplace and home settings. Through the cloud-based application’s flash programming technology, architects and clients can play with wall and flooring ideas, furniture and decorative objects in an interactive dashboard environment.

3D room designs, living room and kitchen plans come alive following precise measurements, free in the basic plan or just USD 14.95 per user per year on the PLUS plan. The application provides a library of objects to go with rich tutorials so users can make the most of the program right away.

It also allows you to export your design ideas to PDF, great for easy sharing and collaboration. It offers branding and comes with an iPhone or iPad app for times you have to work remotely.

5. SmartDraw

Architecture is not all about stunning exterior and interior designs—it is also about technical diagrams and flowcharts for times when architects have to deal with the inner layout of buildings to make them functional and useful for the structure dwellers within. SmartDraw is one such tool, and it also helps beginner architects work out their organizational charts and other visual presentations to give them a complete picture of their projects.

Visual plans from electrical circuits to roof visuals allow architects to plan their strategies carefully and efficiently from the beginning. It helps them communicate their ideas better, and using such tools make their learning process less steep than if they were using simple pencil and paper resources.

With SmartDraw, architects have a choice of schematic diagrams, graph-based diagrams or chart-based diagrams to express their ideas better. If you are going to use this alone, you can start using the application for a one-time license purchase at USD 297 value.

6. Home Designer

Home Designer is simple enough for homeowners and beginner or expert architects to generate simple to stunning 3D home designs and interactive floor plans. Users can try out multiple remodeling ideas, generate and move around furniture any way they like and make the most of 3d modeling for realistic visualization and evaluation.

Beginner architects will find Home Designer a versatile resource for design ideas from their tablets when they are on site or in the comforts of their offices or homes. Full drag-and-drop functionality makes it a perfect complement for the application’s rich library of brand name or generic appliances, furniture, cabinets and fixtures allowing you to see how your final design plans would look after the project works are completed.

Architects and personal designers can start using the application for USD 49 per year under the RoomSketcher VIP plan. More advanced features are available through the Pro and High-Volume plans.

7. Planner 5D

Beginner architects and non-expert designers need no further complex technical skills to prompt Planner 5D to generate lovely 3D and 2D house designs complete with floor and decoration plans, along with other interior design elements. It integrates manufacturer catalogs from the likes of IKEA so you can inject more realism into your idea of a dream house, or just ask your client for input and work it out with them through high-resolution images.

Planner 5D works its powerful engine so you don’t have to sweat it out combing resources for creative floor plans home design ideas. You can start with snapshots and wait for the software to deliver its renders in fantastic 3D models. Joysticks and gridlines make for easy control, while an advanced Augmented Reality (AR) Ruler lets you adjust your plans any way you like.

You will have to go for the free trial run in order to test the application firsthand. If you find the software is just what the doctor ordered, you may contact the vendor and negotiate a quote with them.

8. ARCHICAD

Beginner architects who like to jump ahead and feel like accomplished architects already can get their hands on ARCHICAD and see how a Building Information Modeling (BIM) platform actually works. They will appreciate how a leading architectural software handles projects from start to finish, from planning, through design to actual implementation and facilities management.

Available on Windows, Mac and mobile devices, you can opt to have the software on your premises or access it on the internet. BIM cloud gets you on the front seat of a revolutionary tool that provides real-time BIM collaboration environment. For your mobile device of choice, there’s BIMx that allows for BIM visualization.

Offering a free trial and a quote-based plan, ARCHICAD provides beginner architects the advanced tools that they will need to make it in their chosen profession.

9. Bluebeam PDF Revu

Working on multiple design projects could be a chore for beginner architects. With Bluebeam PDF Revu, they can turn any document in their hands into multi-dimensional PDFs to make it ready for annotations and markups by other team members, ensuring that works progress according to initial plans and specifications.

With support for 2D and 3D PDFs via plugins, any number of users will find it easy to collaborate on works using various file formats. If work involves a large batch of documents, the software lets users create hyperlinks for any batch so documents could be accessed easily.

Revu for iPad, at one-time USD 9.99 value, lets you access the software via your iOS device, while Revu for Mac comes at one-time USD 199 per seat price.

10. SketchUp

SketchUp is an easy-to-use CAD software that provides animations, lighting effects, textures and 2D and 3D models for your interior and other house design needs. The push and pull technology behind the software makes design work as intuitive as working with pen and paper, allowing users to come up with finished projects in the most efficient and timely manner.

Working with SketchUp recalls painters armed with colorful palettes. The application’s versatile palettes are easily customizable, allowing you to rearrange them or add and remove items as you see fit. If you feature list cluttering your workspace and getting in the way you work, you will like how SketchUp instead presents large icons in an orderly manner, letting you focus on the work at hand.

SketchUp is free for personal use, a great value if you are still mastering the arts of your architectural profession. Businesses can choose from the Shop plan at USD 119 per year or the USD 299 per year, the last provided with all the advanced 3D models to produce stunning output.

11. ZWCAD

ZWCAD gives beginner architects familiar ribbon or classic interface, standard alias and CAD commands to eliminate learning costs, support for DWG and DXF file formats for optimum compatibility, and innovative smart tools that incorporate technologies in wide currency today. These include a barcode and QR code conversion tool, Smart Select and Smart Voice modules among others.

Its 2D drafting tools let you insert and work with standard PNG, JPEG and BMP image formats, manipulate blocks as a group, use table for a range of applications or attach multi-leader annotations and more. Users also have access to more advanced tools like Dynamic Block, Match Property, File Compare, Object Isolation or Super Hatch to allow for more options in quickly designing structures.

More advanced users can appreciate the 3D modeling engine with multiple output format support and STB/CTB plot style printing.

These and many more features await clients once they negotiate with the vendor a quote for all the tools that they need in one neat package.

12. CAD Cabin

CAD Cabin is a complete suite of on-premise CAD software solutions designed for users of all skill levels. Equipped with a drag-and-drop environment and a slew of pre-built visualizations, the platform provides basic and advanced tools that will allow you to create 2D and 3D visualizations of floor plans, elevations, cross-sections and various other home design projects. What is more, it comes with a 2D to 3D plan converter as well as virtual walkthrough generators, making it easier to present your design.

In addition to the abovementioned, the platform supports DFX, DWG, 3DS, and PDF files from other tools, making it easy simple for those leveraging multiple design platforms. Moreover, it can integrate with a wide range of other design systems for your convenience. Last but not least, CAD Cabin regularly updates its resources on important specifications, guidelines, and measurements approved by building control authorities. This way, you can ensure that your designs meet industry standards and regulations.

CAD Cabin offers four plans that are priced depending on the features that you require. They have a Basic plan that costs £71.10, an Expert package priced at £134.10, and a Pro plan available at £288. The vendor also offers an Arcon EVO Professional plan that offers a more advanced toolset at £392.

How to choose the right architecture software for beginners?

Choosing the right architecture software can be overwhelming for beginners. Here are some key factors to consider that can help simplify the selection process:

• User-Friendly Interface: Look for software that offers an intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface. A simple design allows beginners to focus on learning the tools without getting frustrated by complex navigation.
• Essential Features: Identify the features you need based on your projects. For instance, if you need 3D modeling, ensure the software supports this. Key features to consider include drawing tools, rendering capabilities, and collaboration options.
• Budget Considerations: Evaluate your budget and consider free or low-cost options first. Many software programs offer trial versions, allowing you to explore their functionalities before committing financially.
• Learning Resources: Choose software that provides ample learning resources, such as tutorials, webinars, and forums. A strong support community can be invaluable for beginners facing challenges.
• Compatibility: Ensure the software is compatible with your operating system and any existing tools you may use. This can prevent technical issues and enhance your overall workflow.
• Scalability: Consider whether the software can grow with you. As your skills develop, you might need advanced features. Opt for software that allows for upgrades without a complete overhaul.

Finding Your Way in Architecture

These 12 best architecture software programs for beginners point you in the right direction, but you should also consider looking up if a free trial is offered and running it until you are convinced that it’s just what you need. It goes a long way seeing how the application runs in real time and delivers what it says on the paper.

As mentioned previously, architecture works closely with other professions. Beginner architects can learn from developments in other fields. For one, they can benefit from the impact of technology in graphic design software, which also incorporates many elements found in architecture software. Here they can pick innovative design ideas and apply them to designing buildings and the spaces within.

Architecture also marches along with advances in artificial intelligence software and robotics, which suggests that smart machines and indeed even robots will find greater presence in the architectural and construction trades, from drafting to actual structure construction.

As a budding architect, you will also find multiple opportunities to grow your practice to an active business later on. Sprawling architectural firms started this way. They did not get there by chance, however. The business can be overly competitive, with multinational companies competing for similar projects. If this is the direction you foresee in your life, a little immersion in business intelligence software can help you find a solid footing when you decide to finally enter the fray.

Key Insights

• Cedreo for Beginners: Cedreo is highly recommended for beginners due to its user-friendly interface, comprehensive toolset, and ability to create both 2D and 3D floor plans.
• Versatility of Cedreo: Cedreo offers tools for home builders, contractors, remodelers, and interior designers, making it a versatile choice for various construction and home design projects.
• Realistic 3D Renderings: The software allows users to create realistic 3D renderings, which are essential for client presentations and visualizing home designs.
• Collaboration Features: Cedreo includes collaborative tools that facilitate real-time changes and close client collaboration, enhancing project communication and efficiency.
• Extensive Object Library: The platform provides a wide selection of textures, coverings, materials, and 3D furniture options, aiding in detailed interior and exterior designs.
• Virtual Reality in Architecture: VR technology is revolutionizing architecture by enabling immersive, interactive designs and real-time collaboration among stakeholders.
• Smart Buildings: The integration of smart technology in architecture is enhancing building operations, making them more sustainable and comfortable for residents.
• Comprehensive List of Software: The article details twelve software programs ideal for beginner architects, highlighting features like ease of use, collaborative tools, and advanced modeling capabilities.

FAQ

1. What is the best architecture software program for beginners? The best architecture software program for beginners is Cedreo. It offers essential tools for creating 2D and 3D floor plans, along with features tailored for construction and interior design firms. The platform also generates realistic 3D renderings for easy presentation.
2. What are the benefits of using Cedreo for beginner architects? Cedreo provides a user-friendly interface, comprehensive toolset, and the ability to create both 2D and 3D floor plans. It is ideal for home builders, remodelers, and interior designers, offering collaborative tools for close client interaction and extensive object libraries for detailed design.
3. How does virtual reality impact architecture? Virtual reality (VR) technology allows architects to create immersive, interactive designs, enabling real-time collaboration and immediate identification of design flaws. VR also enhances client presentations by providing realistic depictions of structural elements.
4. What are smart buildings, and how do they relate to architecture? Smart buildings incorporate technology to connect people, appliances, and the building itself, optimizing operations and comfort. This technology is a growing trend in architecture, offering sustainable and flexible design solutions.
5. Can you name some other architecture software programs suitable for beginners? Other suitable architecture software programs for beginners include ArcGIS CityEngine, CorelCAD, Floorplanner, SmartDraw, Home Designer, Planner 5D, ARCHICAD, Bluebeam PDF Revu, SketchUp, ZWCAD, and CAD Cabin. Each offers unique features that cater to different aspects of architectural design.

By James Anthony

A senior FinancesOnline writer on SaaS and B2B topics, James Anthony passion is keeping abreast of the industry’s cutting-edge practices (other than writing personal blog posts on why Firefly needs to be renewed). He has written extensively on these two subjects, being a firm believer in SaaS to PaaS migration and how this inevitable transition would impact economies of scale. With reviews and analyses spanning a breadth of topics from software to learning models, James is one of FinancesOnline’s most creative resources on and off the office.