Best Free Garden Planner: 8 Tools Compared (2026)

What to Look for in a Free Garden Planner

Before you spend an evening drawing beds, check whether the tool can do what your garden actually needs. In my experience, these points decide whether a free planner is enough:

• Really free: some popular planners are only free for a few days. GrowVeg, for example, can be used for 7 days, then it costs $35 per year. All tools in this list except Plan7Architect have a free version you can keep using.
• Real dimensions: if you want to buy edging, pavers or soil, you need lengths and areas you can trust. A raised bed of 4 by 8 feet (about 1.2 by 2.4 m) should be exactly that in the plan.
• 3D view: a top-down sketch shows the layout, but only a 3D view shows how a hedge, a shed or a pergola looks from the terrace.
• Plants and garden objects: the free catalog should include trees, shrubs, lawn, paving and garden furniture.
• Your lot and your house: a slope, the terrace level and the position of doors and windows change the whole garden plan.
• Saving and printing: some free versions limit how many designs you can save.

What Free Garden Planners Usually Leave Out

Free garden planners are made for layouts: you place beds, lawns, paths and plants on a flat area and see the result. That is perfect for a vegetable garden or a new planting scheme. They usually leave out the parts that become important as soon as you build something:

• Terrain: most free tools assume flat ground. Slopes, terraces and retaining walls cannot be modeled, or only by hand.
• The house: the house is a photo, an outline or a simple box. Floor heights, terrace doors and roof overhangs are not part of the plan.
• Decks and terraces with railings and stairs: free tools offer decorative deck objects at best, not a deck connected to the house at the right height.
• Plans for a contractor or the building department: sections, elevations, plan sheets and DWG files are not included in free versions.

1. Plan7Architect: Best Low-Cost Option When Free Garden Planners Are Not Enough

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: homeowners who want to plan the house, the lot and the garden together, especially on sloped lots or with a new terrace or deck

Plan7Architect is not free, and it is not just a garden planner. It is a complete house planning program with terrain and garden tools, and that is exactly why it is the next step when a free tool reaches its limits. You plan the lot, the house and the yard in one model, with exact dimensions in feet and inches or meters, and see everything in 2D and 3D at the same time.

The Garden Around Your House

Because the house is part of the project, every garden detail fits the building: the terrace sits at the height of the terrace door, the path leads to the real front door, and the deck is connected to the house with railings and stairs. Walls have real thicknesses, windows and doors create their openings automatically, and the roof is constructed automatically. You can also plan a garden shed, a garage or a greenhouse as a separate building on the same lot, because unlimited buildings fit in one project. Our article 3D Garden Planner Software shows more examples.

Terrain and Sloped Lots

A sloped backyard is where free planners stop and Plan7Architect starts. You model the terrain with contour lines, raise or lower areas, create flat surfaces for a patio, a lawn or a driveway, and plan hills, terraces and retaining walls with exact heights. The house and its foundation sit on this terrain, so you see right away whether the garden steps and the terrace work on your slope.

Plants, Beds and Garden Objects

The extensive object library includes what you need for a backyard or front yard:

• Trees, bushes, hedges and plants
• Lawns, flower beds and raised beds
• Paths, paving stones and driveways
• Ponds, fountains and other water features
• Fences, garden walls and gates
• Pergolas, garden sheds, greenhouses, outdoor furniture and lighting
• Decks, terraces, balconies and railings

Every element can be customized, saved to the catalog and reused, and you can import additional models from the SketchUp 3D Warehouse.

3D Walkthrough and Plans You Can Hand Over

You can walk through the garden in 3D and look at it from the terrace, the kitchen window or the street. For photorealistic images and videos, you export the model to Twinmotion with all textures. If you build a deck, a garden house or an addition, you create sections, elevations and plan sheets with title blocks for the building department, print them to scale, save them as PDF or export them as DWG/DXF for your contractor.

Pricing and Trying It on Your Own Garden

Plan7Architect Pro costs $259.99 Original price was: $259.99.$169.99Current price is: $169.99. once and can be activated on up to 3 PCs. There is no free version, but every purchase comes with a 14-day right of withdrawal: you can plan your own lot and garden, and if the software is not what you expected, you cancel by email within 14 days.

2. Planner 5D (Free Plan): Best Free Garden Planner in 3D

Price: free plan; Premium $59.99 per year
Platform: browser, Windows, Mac, iOS and Android
Best for: homeowners who want a quick 3D picture of a new yard

Planner 5D lets you create 2D and 3D landscape projects at no cost, with thousands of free items including plants, trees, garden furniture, brick patios and decks. You can change the color, width and length of objects, and the house and the interior can be planned in the same project.

Exclusive catalog items need Premium, and CAD export is only included in the Professional plan. There is no terrain modeling, so sloped lots stay flat. Read our Planner 5D alternatives comparison if you need more.

3. GARDENA myGarden: Best for a Quick Garden Sketch

Price: free
Platform: web app, optimized for tablet, laptop and PC
Best for: sketching beds, lawns and paths in a few minutes, and planning a sprinkler system

GARDENA myGarden is a free web app in a friendly hand-drawn style. You draw lawns, beds, gravel and water, add houses, plants and furniture, start from example gardens and save and share your plans. A built-in sprinkler planner helps you choose a GARDENA irrigation system and creates a shopping list.

It is a top-down planner without a 3D view. For exact construction measurements, terrain or structures like a deck, you need a different tool.

4. Sweet Home 3D: Best Free Desktop Program for House and Yard Layouts

Price: free, open source
Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux and a browser version
Best for: simple house layouts with a garden area on a zero budget

Sweet Home 3D works offline, shows the plan in 2D and 3D at the same time and lets you add trees and outdoor objects, and import more models for free. Exact dimensions are easy to enter.

The program is made for interiors. The ground is flat, there is no terrain tool, no deck or railing tool and no real roof construction, and the default catalog has only a few plants. See our Sweet Home 3D alternatives page for comparisons.

5. SketchUp Free: Best Free Tool for Modeling Garden Structures

Price: free web version for personal use only; Go $129 per year; Pro $399 per year
Platform: browser
Best for: modeling a pergola, raised bed or garden bench in detail

SketchUp Free is a flexible 3D modeler in the browser, and the 3D Warehouse gives you access to countless trees, plants and garden objects made by other users.

It does not know what a bed, a path or a lawn is: everything is geometry that you draw yourself. Terrain needs manual tools, dimensioned plan sheets require the paid desktop version, and commercial use is not allowed in the free version.

6. iScape (Free Version): Best for Ideas on a Photo of Your Yard

Price: free basic version; Pro $29.99 per month or $299.99 per year
Platform: iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision
Best for: trying plants and paving on a photo or in augmented reality

iScape lets you design directly on a photo of your yard or in augmented reality, start from Street View or templates and share the design with a landscaper.

The free version saves two designs and offers one texture per category. It is not a tool for exact plans, and it does not run on Windows or Android.

7. Planter: Best Free App for Vegetable Beds

Price: free download; in-app purchases from $4.99 per month or $19.99 per year, lifetime option from $39.99
Platform: iPhone, iPad and Mac
Best for: vegetable gardeners who plan beds with square foot gardening

Planter uses a square foot grid for spacing, shows companion and combative plants, includes a planting calendar for seeds and transplants and has information on more than 100 fruits and vegetables. You can also add your own plants.

It plans what grows in each bed, not the yard itself. Paths, lawns, terraces and the house are not part of the app.

8. GardenPuzzle: Best for Planting Ideas Through the Seasons

Price: free download; Premium access for 6 months $28.99, add-on packs $3.99 each
Platform: iPhone and iPad, plus web and Mac apps
Best for: choosing ornamental plants on a photo of your garden

GardenPuzzle lets you take a photo of your garden as the background, search a plant database by size, type or name, paint lawns, paths and water areas and add benches and fences. Month-by-month views help you see when plants look their best.

The full plant database and the four-season preview are paid add-ons. Like other photo-based apps, it is made for planting ideas, not for exact plans.

How to Choose the Right Free Garden Planner

• You want a free 3D picture of your new yard: Planner 5D on the free plan.
• You want to sketch beds and plan a sprinkler system in minutes: GARDENA myGarden.
• You plan vegetable beds and planting times: Planter.
• You want planting ideas on a photo of your garden: iScape or GardenPuzzle.
• Your lot is sloped, you add a terrace or deck, or you plan house and garden together: Plan7Architect is worth the one-time $259.99 Original price was: $259.99.$169.99Current price is: $169.99.. For more free tools for the house itself, see our list of the best free floor plan software.

Plan Your House, Lot and Garden with Plan7Architect

With Plan7Architect you plan your garden where it really is: on your lot, with its slope, next to your house, with terraces, decks, paths and plants at the right height and with exact dimensions. You see everything in 3D, and when you build, you have the plans for your contractor. No CAD experience, no subscription, and our video tutorials show every step. Every purchase comes with a 14-day right of withdrawal, so you can try it on your own garden and simply cancel by email if it is not what you expected.