Best Pole Barn Design Software in 2026: 7 Options Compared

What to Look for in Pole Barn Design Software

A machine shed of 40 by 60 feet (about 12.2 by 18.3 m) or a shop of 30 by 40 feet (about 9.1 by 12.2 m) looks simple on paper, but a good plan answers many questions before the first post goes in: where the doors go, how high the walls must be for your equipment, where the lean-to sits and how the inside is divided. These are the points that matter when you choose a program:

• Post-frame structure: posts, beams and roof framing should be planned as real building parts, so you can see the structure in 3D and check door openings and clear spans.
• Roof and foundation: the roof should be constructed automatically, and the foundation, whether piers, footings or a slab, should be part of the plan.
• Interior use: a shop, a horse barn or a shouse needs interior walls, stairs to a loft, electrical outlets and lights, and sometimes a complete living area.
• Drawings: many building departments ask for a site plan, a floor plan, elevations and a section for a permit, so the program should create them from the model.
• Cost and effort: a one-time project does not need a professional subscription, but it does need more than a sales configurator.

Supplier Designers vs. Planning Your Own Building Model

Post-frame companies offer free online designers that are great for trying out sizes, roof styles, colors, doors and porches and then requesting a quote. They show the shell of the building that the supplier sells. A building planning program creates a model of the complete building, including its structure, interior and drawings, that you can take to any supplier, builder or engineer. In most areas the truss design and post sizes come from the truss manufacturer, the building supplier or an engineer, whichever program you use, so a clean, exact plan is what you bring to that conversation:

1. Plan7Architect: Best Overall Pole Barn Design Software for Complete Plans

Price: $259.99 Original price was: $259.99.$169.99Current price is: $169.99. one-time purchase, lifetime license, no subscription
Platform: Windows desktop software
Best for: farmers, hobby builders, contractors and shouse owners who want to plan the complete post-frame building and hand real drawings to the supplier or the building department

Plan7Architect is a dedicated building planning program that works with real objects instead of lines. Walls have a thickness, layers and a height, doors and windows create their own openings, and the roof is constructed automatically. Every change in the 2D floor plan updates the 3D model, the sections and the elevations at the same time, so you never draw anything twice.

Timber Construction Tools and Custom Beam Structures

For a pole barn, the structure is the building. With the timber construction tools and custom beam structures in Plan7Architect you plan posts, beams and roof framing as real parts of the model, and you see them in 3D exactly where they will stand. That makes it easy to check whether a 12 foot (about 3.7 m) overhead door fits between two posts, how a lean-to connects to the main roof or how much clear height is left under the framing. Our guides Planning a Timber-Framed House Yourself and Designing a Roof Truss Yourself show the workflow.

Roofs, Foundations and the Site

Plan7Architect constructs gable, hip, shed, flat and mansard roofs automatically, including dormers, so a classic gable machine shed with a shed-roof lean-to takes only a few steps. Foundation planning is built in, and with terrain modeling, contour lines and sloped lots you can place the barn on the real site and check drainage and access. These are the building tools you will use most:

• Timber construction tools and custom beam structures for posts, beams and framing
• Automatic roof construction for gable, hip, shed, flat and mansard roofs, including dormers
• Foundation planning, slabs, floors and ceilings
• Custom windows and doors, including wide shop and equipment doors
• Terrain modeling with contour lines and sloped lots
• Electrical, heating and plumbing planning for a shop or living area
• Unlimited floors and buildings in one project, for example a barn next to the house
• Guide lines, virtual walls and detailed layer management

From Pole Barn to Shop or Shouse

Many post-frame buildings end up as more than storage. In Plan7Architect you can add interior walls, a heated workshop, a bathroom, stairs to a loft or a complete apartment, furnish it from the extensive object library and let the program calculate living and usable areas. With plan variants you can compare a pure storage building with a version that includes a shop corner. If you are planning a classic barn for animals, our guide Planning a Barn Yourself with Plan7Architect covers stalls, aisles and doors.

Drawings for the Permit and the Supplier

Sections, elevations and complete plan sheets with title blocks are created from the model, and the creation of building permit drawings is much simpler than drawing them by hand. You can print to scale, save as PDF and export DWG/DXF files for the supplier, the truss manufacturer or an engineer. You can work in feet and inches or in meters and switch at any time. For photorealistic images and videos, export the model to Twinmotion with all textures included.

Pricing

You buy Plan7Architect Pro once for $259.99 Original price was: $259.99.$169.99Current price is: $169.99., with activation on up to 3 PCs. For comparison: Chief Architect Premier costs $1,995 per year, and SketchUp Pro, which you need for LayOut drawings and DWG export, costs $399 per year.

2. Chief Architect Premier: Professional Tools for Post-Frame Builders

Price: $1,995 per year or $229 per month
Platform: Windows and Mac
Best for: professional designers and post-frame contractors who draw buildings every day

Chief Architect Premier has dedicated post-frame features. It places posts and girts automatically at a set size and spacing, generates roof trusses with webbing, adds purlins, and creates framing plans, foundation plans, elevations and material lists from the model.

For a single pole barn, the subscription is the main hurdle: one year costs more than ten times the price of Plan7Architect Pro, and the program is made for daily professional work with a long learning curve. See our Chief Architect alternative page for a direct comparison.

3. Morton Buildings 3D Studio: Free Designer for Morton Buildings

Price: free online tool; the building is priced in a sales consultation
Platform: web browser
Best for: farmers and owners who want to buy a Morton post-frame building

The free 3D Studio lets you start from scratch or from premade designs for farm, garage, storage, equine and commercial buildings, set dimensions and colors and save your ideas. It needs no training, and the finished design goes straight to the local Morton team.

The tool is made to design a Morton building for a quote. Interior planning, foundation, electrical layouts and permit drawings are not part of it.

4. Wick Buildings DESIGN 3D: Best Free Configurator for Shouses and Barndos

Price: free online tool with a free MyWick account; the building is priced by quote
Platform: web browser, with a phone or tablet view on your site
Best for: people comparing pole barn homes, shouses and shops

Wick DESIGN 3D offers dormers, overhangs, wainscot, porches, cupolas, roof pitch, door and window sizes and color combinations. You can design L- or T-shaped buildings, walk around and inside in 3D and view the building on your site with the camera of a phone or tablet.

Like all supplier tools, it shows the shell. The interior layout of a shouse, its electrical plan and drawings for the permit have to be planned elsewhere.

5. FBi Buildings Pole Barn Designer: Step-by-Step Configurator with Interior Basics

Price: no public price for the tool; free quote when you submit a design
Platform: web browser
Best for: buyers in the FBi service area who want a quick, guided design

The FBi designer walks you through dimensions, colors, overhangs, cupolas, eave lights, lean-tos, porches, windows and doors. Widths come in 6 foot (about 1.8 m) steps and lengths in 8 foot (about 2.4 m) steps, and you can add division walls and scaled vehicles or equipment to check whether everything fits.

It is a sales tool with fixed size steps. Exact custom sizes, structure, foundation and construction drawings are outside its purpose.

6. SketchUp: Flexible 3D Modeling with Extensions

Price: free web version for personal use; Go $129 per year; Pro $399 per year
Platform: web browser; Pro also as Windows and Mac desktop software
Best for: hobbyists who like to model every post and truss themselves

SketchUp is quick to start with, and many pole barn builders model their buildings in it. The 3D Warehouse offers trucks, tractors and hardware, and extensions add framing and truss tools.

Because SketchUp is a general modeling program, the building is geometry, not a structure the program understands. Dimensions, sections and plan sheets are manual work in LayOut, which is only included in the paid plans.

7. Walters Buildings Building Designer: Pre-Engineered Plans to Modify

Price: no public price for the tool; custom quote on request
Platform: web browser
Best for: buyers who want to start from a ready-made post-frame design

The Walters designer offers interactive controls for colors, styles, rooflines and layouts, ready-made pre-engineered plans such as a machinery storage building, renderings and a frame layout view that shows the structure without walls.

The tool is connected to the Walters quote process. It does not replace a full plan of the interior, foundation and permit drawings. Menards also offers a Pole Barn/Post Frame Estimator on its website.

How to Choose the Right Pole Barn Design Software

• You want to plan the complete building with structure, interior and permit drawings: choose a dedicated building planning program like Plan7Architect.
• You want a price for a kit or a built building: use the free designer of the supplier you are considering, such as Morton, Wick or FBi.
• You are a post-frame contractor drawing buildings every day: Chief Architect Premier, if the subscription fits your business.
• You enjoy modeling every part by hand: SketchUp with extensions.
• You are planning a shouse: plan the living area, electrical and plumbing in Plan7Architect, then compare supplier quotes for the shell.

For more programs side by side, see our software comparison.

Plan Your Pole Barn with Plan7Architect

With Plan7Architect you plan posts, beams, roof, foundation and interior of your pole barn in one model and get floor plans, sections, elevations and permit drawings from it, without CAD experience and without a subscription. Every purchase comes with a 14-day right of withdrawal: if the software is not what you expected, you can simply cancel your purchase by email, so you can test it on your own building without risk.