Top 6 Easy-to-Use Programs to Design Your Own Tiny House (2024)

Building a tiny house starts with a plan. Using a tiny house design software can save you time by allowing you to make modifications on the spot.

In this article, we share six of our favorite design software that are especially useful for building tiny houses:

1. Floorplanner
2. Sweet Home 3D
3. HomeByMe
4. DreamPlan
5. SketchUp
6. The Sims

When looking for “easy-to-use” programs, we look for features such as:

• Software that is free or has a free version
• Can be learned in a day
• Accommodates different knowledge level
• Offers customization options
• Exports plan for printing
• Uses 2D and 3D floor plans
• Interface that is friendly for users

Can I Build My Own Tiny Home?

Looking for tiny houses online can be inspiring, but nothing beats making one from scratch. The best part about tiny house living is the complete flexibility over the build; whether you want to use someone else’s design or mock up your own is completely up to you.

There are many ways to go about building a tiny house. You can purchase designs from builders and buy the materials to build it yourself. Other manufacturers will include the framing in their plans so all you have to do is assemble. There are endless options when it comes to DIY-ing tiny homes, but our favorite one has to be creating it from the ground up.

How Do I Design My Own Tiny House?

Tiny houses show that you don’t have to be a master builder to get things in order. In fact, a lot of tiny house DIYers have never done a single carpentry project in their lives prior to building a tiny house.

Professional builder Greg Parham of Rocky Mountain Tiny House breaks down the general process of building a tiny house. The foundational step, whether you’re building it yourself or working with a builder, is to select an aesthetic. “The first attempts are normally about capturing the big-ticket ideas, or the absolute 'must' the design must have,” he says in an interview.

If you have specialized features included in your tiny house (maybe you want a retractable patio or extendable walls), it’s important to factor those in early in the build. Understanding the general design concept of your tiny house also helps lead up to the finished product. Save pictures, plans, and just general ideas that can culminate into a coherent design choice.

Putting ideas to paper can be done through sketches, but Greg recommends using some kind of tiny house design software instead: “Oftentimes I will use CAD to scale things out very quickly and draw the floor plan, and then export into Sketchup, where we start extruding walls up and adding built-ins.”

Looking for a good tiny house design software? Keep reading below to learn about the easy-to-use tools you can use in designing your own tiny house!

Best Tiny House Design Software

1. Floorplanner

Why It’s Great

Floorplanner is a free tiny house design online software that can be used to make floor plans. It’s a great way to get started if you don’t have a background with any design tools. The interface is intuitive and uses a simple drag-and-drop feature. It doesn’t have a high learning curve; any design newbie can spit out a customized floor plan in just a couple of minutes.

Floorplanner allows you to view your floor plan in both 2d and 3d representations. You’ll be redirected to their affiliate site, Roomstyler, for the 3d version.

Export your floor plan to image or PDF format for easier collaboration. You could also import jpg, png, and gif files to give your design some customized flair. Really, Floorplanner is a great beginner tool for designing a tiny house because it’s so easy to navigate around. With a pretty extensive objects library, you can visualize everything from doors to windows to how many rooms you want with just a few clicks.

Who Is It For

Impatient beginners who don’t have any design experience and want a no-frills drag-and-drop software to get started

2. Sweet Home 3D

Why It’s Great

While Sweet Home 3D isn’t as intuitive as Floorplanner, it’s still a great online design software for tiny houses. Navigation to the uninitiated can be challenging at first and you’d have to play around with the tools to get accustomed to their function. However, once you get the hang of it the rest of the process should be seamless.

What we like about this software is that you can create rooms with your desired dimensions. That makes it easier to translate your computer design into a usable blueprint.

Adding objects onto your floor plan is pretty easy too. The objects library responds to drag-and-drop, so you can freely move furniture and fixtures when necessary.

Although it doesn’t have the most extensive range of different fixtures and furniture, the software allows you to customize the floors, walls, roof, and furniture, making it easier to visualize your floor plan into a real tiny house model.

Who Is It For

Builders who don’t mind spending an hour or so tinkering with a software and prefers an easy design to blueprint conversion using just one software.

3. HomeByMe

Why It’s Great

HomebyMe is another great free online option for creating a tiny house design. You start off by creating a 2D floor plan where you can customize the dimensions of rooms and fixtures. Virtually no drawing is necessary. To add a new wall, just click the wall tool and you’ll be asked to input your desired dimensions, then the wall will show up on your design.

HomeByMe switches to 3D when you start incorporating objects. Like in Sims, furniture pieces are sorted out by room which makes it easy to find. On the downside, HomeByMe doesn’t have the most extensive furniture pieces, so you might have to use some placeholders for your design.

If you do like some of the furniture pieces in their objects library, they also sort out the objects by brand, making it easy for you to learn where to get these furniture items in real life.

The “immerse” feature is a fantastic way to get a feel of the space. This software switches from drawings to realistic image rendering, allowing you to “tour” the house. You can even change the sun position so you can see how the light enters your home throughout various times of the day.

Who Is It For

A designer who wants a modern-looking interface and is looking for a software that can help visualize the design in real life

4. DreamPlan

Why It’s Great

DreamPlan is a paid program but DIY builders intending to use their design for non-commercial use can access the free version. The software is downloadable for both Mac and Windows, allowing you to work offline.

DreamPlan is kind of a middle ground between Floorplanner and Sweet Home 3D. The software is straightforward in general but there are several tools you can play with. When in doubt, use the Tip Bar at the bottom of the screen to learn how to get the most out of a selected tool.

If you’re familiar with The Sims building features, you’ll feel right at home with DreamPlan. It’s easy to shape up your home using existing floor plans or by creating your own rooms. Dimensions are also displayed, making it easier to build a design that’s true-to-life.

Who It’s For

Tiny house owners looking for detailed 2D or 3D floor plans with an extensive but easy-to-use software

5. SketchUp

Why It’s Great

Compared to the others, SketchUp is a more advanced tiny house design software, but not so much that beginners will find it impossible. It’s the best option for builders who want to create plans from scratch. Because of this, SketchUp is the choice tool for tiny house builders who want a way to visualize customized solutions.

SketchUp allows users to create anything out of their imagination. This starts by “drawing” a shape and using the push or pull features to change the shape accordingly. On the other hand, this might not be the best option for builders who prefer computer-generated, instant results as opposed to drawing it yourself.

Who It’s For

Patient designers who want unlimited room for creativity and want a software that will allow you to design from scratch.

6. The Sims

Why It’s Great

The Sims might be a popular PC simulation program but it also doubles as a great design software. While you can’t really create a size-accurate floor plan, The Sims allows you to create homes of all shapes and sizes using their extensive build features.

The game offers a considerable range of furniture and fixtures, with some versions (The Sims 3) allowing free reign over color and texture. It might not be a professional builder’s tool, but it’s a great alternative to DIYers who are looking for a way to visualize how their tiny house might look.

Who It’s For

DIYers who want to visualize the interior and exterior of their tiny house with easy-to-use controls

Design the Tiny House of Your Dreams

Among these great (and free!) tiny house design software, we would recommend using Sweet Home 3D because it’s easy to convert your design into a usable blueprint.

For those who want complete reign over the design, SketchUp is really the best software option in this list.

The Sims is another contender in terms of interior design and just visualizing the final product in general.

Since these software are free, we recommend playing with one or two of them to get a feel of their unique features, and how each one can help you manage your tiny house projects. Once you get the hang of it, you can start building the tiny house of your dreams in no time.