Floor Plan Tools Available Online

If you need a basic floor plan to help with remodeling or decorating, there are number of tools that can make your life easier. You don’t need a technical architectural drawing — just something to show how a room is organized. To save you time, we have prepared a list of online tools that you can use for simple 2D floor plans. (You can also use our free online tool by clicking here. You don’t even need to go through any sign up process. Just start using the tool.)

Step 1: Understand Your Objective

There are many reasons why you might want to draw a floor plan. You may want to help explain the layout to a prospective tenant or buyer, or you may want to think through remodeling options or to figure out where to place furniture. In all of these cases, a a diagram is used to visually explain how the space can be used.

A basic floor plan is not an engineering drawing that an architect or engineer would use. Such a plan will not enable you to build a house or plan extensive remodeling. A simple layout is generally based on a layman’s sketch and can communicate ideas to a contractor or prospect. It could serve as one of the inputs for someone to prepare an architectural drawing. Simple floor plans give a general picture at a high level.

Step 2: Select a Floor Plan Tool that Just Meets Your Objective

If you have time, you can create some very elaborate renderings with elevation drawings and 3D views, but if you just need to show the basic layout of walls, windows and furniture, you should use a simpler tool. You don’t need expensive software just to draw basic shapes and lines.

Some tools will let you collaborate with other people by providing a single web page that everyone can edit, but this is an extra bit of functionality that you don’t need or want to pay for.

In other words, don’t over-engineer your solution, because that adds unnecessary cost and will take up more of your time. By using the simplest solution, you will save time and money.

High Tech Floor Plan Tools

You can convert your smart phone into a floor plan sketcher by buying apps like the following:

• RoomScan is fully automated. You just need to hold your smartphone and walk around the room as it takes videos and then then produces a floor plan. The technology is still evolving.
• MagicPlan is similar to RoomScan.
• Stanley Smart Connect also allows you to take measurements and design floor plans using your smartphone.

Online Floor Plan Tools

If you’d rather do the work yourself, there are a number of online tools that will let you create scale drawings to envision your remodeling and decorating projects—and some of these tools are free:

• DesignPresentation provides a free online floor plan creation tool that requires no registration process or download. It’s simple to use, and after you finish your floor plan you can save it on your own computer; no copy is saved on DesignPresentation’s server or anywhere else.
• Gliffy Floor Plan Creator is a simple online floor plan tool for drawing 2D floor plans, but has no free option. Data is stored on Gliffy’s server.
• SmartDraw is a graphics tool that can be used for floor plans, but has no free option. Data is stored on SmartDraw’s server.
• RoomSketcher allows you to create 2D and 3D floor plans. It has a registration process, and has both free and non-free options. Data is stored on RoomSketcher’s server.
• EZ Blueprint is a simple program for Windows computers, so you have to download it. It has a registration process, and has both free and non-free options.
• FloorPlanner.com is an online floor plan tool. It has a registration process, and has both free and non-free options. Data appears to be stored on FloorPlanner’s server (this needs to be verified).

Step 3: Consider Issues of Privacy and Confidentiality

Many of the online tools listed above are “cloud-based,” which means that the floor plan you design is stored on someone else’s computer, not your own (DesignPresentation is an exception — the data is stored only on your computer).

Almost all the tools require some form of registration that will require you to divulge information about yourself. (DesignPresentation is again the exception).

Also, some cloud-based tools can only be viewed online. If you’d like to print out your floor plan, opt for an app that enables you to download your design onto your laptop or tablet.

You have lots of options, so before you decide which way to go, think about how you want to balance your requirements with issues of cost, privacy, convenience and simplicity.