Alternatives to Chief Architect in 2024

What is Chief Architect?

Chief Architect is a computer-aided design solution that targets interior designers and architects as its primary audience. Its primary field of specialization is light commercial and residential projects. The solution can work with two- and three-dimensional architectural designs while supporting floor plans, construction drawings, and elevations.

Chief Architect combines CAD capabilities and BIM techniques, offering many different features from both approaches in a single package. The solution is also uniquely suitable for other tasks in the same industry, including remodeling, home design, interior design, and even cost estimation.

The company’s software has been offered in two separate versions, Premier and Interiors. The former is more of a general CAD-BIM solution, while the latter is mainly made to work on interior design elements. Both versions offer vast libraries of materials and objects for 3D modeling or design processes. However, the Interiors version has recently been discontinued, leaving Premier as the sole focus of Chief Architect with a complete feature set. The solution is also relatively user-friendly, a rare trait in a field as complex as the CAD software market.

The first version of Chief Architect was released in 1992, and the team leader, Dave Carlson, who was the head of the development process, remains the company’s CEO to this day. The original goal of Chief Architect was to create a versatile design solution for residential architecture. It grew substantially over the years, with plenty of new features and technologies to keep it relevant and effective in a highly competitive software market.

Unusual features of Chief Architect

• Ability to provide real-time 3D design navigation, dramatically improving client presentation quality.
• Automatic check for common design errors such as incorrect door swings, misaligned walls, etc.
• Generation of complex 3D models from two-dimensional floor plans, which dramatically reduces the time it takes to create 3D versions of legacy floor plans.
• The material painting capability allows the same material type to be applied to multiple surface elements simultaneously.
• Many of Chief Architect’s 3D objects are “smart,” i.e., capable of understanding their context and purpose within a building model (for example, a window that can create an opening for itself when placed in a wall).
• Chief Architect also offers partial BIM capabilities, such as the performance of cost estimates based on the design’s object information and the production of total material lists when necessary.

Chief Architect is an interesting solution with plenty of capabilities in multiple fields of specialization. It operates as a standard CAD solution to assist with residential project redesign efforts, such as internal or external decoration, and it supports various BIM elements while producing generally competent model renderings and multiple CAD file formats.

Chief Architect’s approach to licensing

• Chief Architect’s pricing model is relatively simple.
• The company’s primary offering is Chief Architect Premier, which costs $199 monthly and has no feature limitations (the Interiors version was discontinued last year).
• The same subscription can be purchased an entire year in advance with a 16% discount, dropping the per-month price to $166.25 (although the whole year must be paid at once).
• Additionally, users who had the legacy version of Chief Architect can purchase the new version of the software for half its cost, with a total price of $995 (for the one-year deal).

Is there a demand for an alternative to Chief Architect?

While Chief Architect offers plenty of interesting capabilities in Premier, the solution is far from perfect. Some of the most noteworthy issues are:

• The software is rather demanding of the end user’s hardware, and handling complex 3D models with an outdated workstation can be very difficult.
• Chief Architect is substantially more accessible than most CAD solutions, but it is still quite challenging to get into it, with a rather steep learning curve.
• The solution is relatively cheap by the standards of this market, especially for middle-sized and large businesses. Still, the starting price tag of $199 monthly might prevent many smaller businesses from committing to a purchase.
• Chief Architect’s built-in rendering engine offers decent quality, but it is nowhere near as detailed and customizable as most dedicated rendering engines on the market.
• Despite its addition of multiple BIM capabilities, Chief Architect is surprisingly rigid regarding collaboration and information sharing, especially considering that exporting or importing files from other CAD software results in errors on a regular basis.

Fortunately, the fact that Chief Architect offers both CAD and BIM capabilities, as well as partial remodeling and design, makes it possible to choose from plenty of potential alternatives. Some software can replace only some of Chief Architect’s features, while others provide a comprehensive solution that might even be better than the original.

Methodology for presenting and evaluating alternatives to Chief Architect

The primary goal of this article is to offer multiple alternatives to Chief Architect while trying to provide as many software options as possible, whether it is CAD software, BIM software, remodeling solutions, etc.

However, the sheer number of potential alternatives makes it difficult to gather information and make informed decisions. Since the primary audience of such services is the B2B market, expecting a single company to try out dozens of solutions manually is highly unreasonable.

To resolve this issue, we have gathered information about many alternatives to Chief Architect. These solutions are divided into two categories: paid and free (“free” means that at least a part of the software can be used indefinitely without payment). Each solution comes with a wealth of information divided into multiple categories.

These categories are the basis for our methodology when evaluating the free and paid alternatives to Chief Architect: customer ratings, key features and benefits or disadvantages, pricing, and the author’s personal opinion.

Customer ratings

Customers tend to believe in genuine user reviews over standardized corporate speeches. As such, customer reviews play a crucial part in a new user’s final decision to purchase a complex product or service. The most basic form of this system is customer ratings, numerical representations of the average customer’s opinion about an entire solution or its specific qualities.

Websites such as TrustRadius, Capterra, and G2 are our primary sources of customer ratings and reviews in this article. Each of these resources has at least hundreds of thousands of verified user reviews and comprehensive frameworks to ensure the validity and authenticity of each review.

Basic numerical scores are not the only information that can be gathered from user reviews. They can also be a tremendously helpful source for the advantages and shortcomings of each solution, explained by the users themselves.

Key features, benefits, and disadvantages

When researching specific software or products, it can be challenging to gather a general opinion about the product without seeing the particular advantages and shortcomings that users encounter. This can be inconvenient from an end user’s standpoint, but it can be a veritable treasure trove of information for articles like ours.

Customer reviews are our primary source of information about each software’s advantages and shortcomings. Of course, every example of this category is checked to ensure it is not the only mention of the issue in users’ reviews.

Unfortunately, not all companies have the same level of presence on the market, and some solutions might not have enough interest in motivating their users to post reviews. In this case, we replace both the “Advantages” and “Shortcomings” categories with the “Key features” category to offer at least some additional information about each software application’s capabilities.

Pricing

Another vital part of a buyer’s decision is pricing information. This rule holds for both the B2B and B2C markets, but the ability to acquire pricing information differs significantly between the two. Many companies do not share their pricing information on public resources, primarily due to the ability to adapt their pricing point to each customer’s needs.

However, this approach also dissuades many smaller businesses from purchasing a seemingly competent solution without public pricing information. We try our best to acquire as much public pricing information as possible, but some elements here are outside our control.

Personal opinion of the author

The last element of our methodology is also the most subjective. An author’s personal opinion about specific software is the somewhat subjective opinion of a single person about the software’s capabilities. Sometimes, this section includes a previously unknown fact or capability not mentioned yet. It may even constitute the entirety of the information about a particular software application in a single paragraph. The primary goal is to offer a subjective opinion on a topic that is mainly reviewed from an objective standpoint.

Paid alternatives to Chief Architect

Considering that the primary field of specialization for Chief Architects is CAD, it should not come as a surprise that most alternatives to it are paid software applications with free trials at best. The list below includes multiple examples of paid alternatives to Chief Architect.

ActCAD

ActCAD tries its hardest to offer a feature set that can rival AutoCAD’s without the tremendous price tag and other potential disadvantages. It is a versatile and powerful 3D modeling solution that also supports 2D drawing, making it suitable for many different situations. ActCAD’s primary target audience is various experts in the AEC field, although it may also be helpful to some more specific professions, such as designers. Its interface is also highly similar to AutoCAD’s, which might be a substantial advantage for a particular user group. Generally speaking, ActCAD can be an excellent replacement for Chief Architect for small-scale architectural drafting, but it will most likely struggle with larger and more complex projects.

Customer ratings:

• Capterra – 4.2/5 points based on 210 customer reviews
• TrustRadius – 8.9/10 points based on 4 customer reviews
• G2 – 4.5/5 points based on 49 customer reviews

Advantages:

• The overall price tag is significantly lower than most markets ask for a similar feature set.
• There are multiple licensing models to choose from, including a perpetual licensing option.
• ActCAD’s interface is deliberately similar to AutoCAD’s to draw potential users to the software while also trying to work within a well-known interface framework.

Shortcomings:

• Most of ActCAD’s capabilities target relatively basic operations, and the number of advanced features is extremely low.
• There is an add-on system included, but some add-ons can cause the app to crash.
• The licensing model may be overly confusing and restrict users who want to use the same license on multiple devices.

Pricing (at the time of writing):

• There is no specific cost attached to any of ActCAD’s licensing options.
• However, the licensing model itself can be viewed on the official website. It is comprised of five separate options:
  • Network Floating License – a separate license necessary to use ActCAD on local area networks (can be activated using either a USB dongle or a license key).
  • Key-Based License – relies on unique serial numbers as its primary license verification method.
  • Live License – a cloud-based model that allows for up to five separate workstations to be activated via the ActCAD Cloud License Server
  • Dongle-Based License – relies on physical USB devices (dongles) that act as activation keys for the software.
  • CAD OEM License – the IntelliCAD engine, which can be acquired only from an official reseller.

My personal opinion on ActCAD:

ActCAD’s primary goal is to offer a small-scale alternative to AutoCAD with a very similar interface and logic. It might not seem like a very big audience, but there are plenty of AutoCAD users who have been unable to work with the software, whether for monetary or other reasons. ActCAD is a great option for architects who primarily deal with basic 3D modeling tasks, and it is also a viable alternative to Chief Architect in that regard. At the same time, it is fair to mention that ActCAD does not have a very clear or concise licensing model. It takes a rather restrictive approach to license management, and some of its add-ons cause full software crashes on a regular basis.

Vectorworks Architect

Vectorworks is a software provider that offers multiple solutions which cover project workflow from start to finish. It has been one of very few solutions which work on Mac devices for a long time, which has earned it plenty of positive reputation that way. It is a great option for customers who are willing to have a single software provider for the entire workflow management process. The ability to perform CAD and BIM operations while also providing rendering, simulation, analysis, and other capabilities makes Vectorworks a very useful multifunctional platform suitable for various use cases. It can also be used as an alternative to Chief Architect, although it is somewhat less case-specific regarding residential and light commercial design.

Customer ratings:

• Capterra – 4.7/5 points based on 3,018 customer reviews
• G2 – 4.4/5 points based on 1,416 customer reviews

Advantages:

• Great value for money for small or medium-sized businesses.
• Convenient interface that is surprisingly user-friendly and not particularly difficult to learn.
• The built-in rendering engine is competent and accurate with its results.

Shortcomings:

• Despite its promotion as a BIM solution, Vectorworks’ capabilities in the BIM field are somewhat limited.
• The significant focus on small and medium-sized projects directly translates into Vectorworks’ inability to handle large projects without lag and slowdowns.
• The software’s update frequency is relatively high. Still, the fact that newer file formats might not be compatible with older versions of the software is odd (even if the “missing features” explanation is rather sensible).

Pricing (at the time of writing):

• There is no official pricing information that can be found on Vectorworks’ website.
• The company uses a worldwide network of distributors to offer its products in different regions, so the final price may vary from one location to another.

My personal opinion on Vectorworks Architect:

Vectorworks Architect can be a somewhat confusing solution. On one hand, it is versatile and feature-rich architectural software with many use cases. On the other hand, the solution does not handle large projects very well, which makes the volume of features rather pointless. Vectorworks is useful to many professions in the AEC industry, even if some of its features are not as detailed and thorough as those of other providers. It is also a viable alternative for Chief Architect, even if it lacks a few more case-specific capabilities for residential design. Vectorworks also has plenty of issues regarding BIM capabilities, and its inability to work with legacy file formats makes it rather difficult to recommend to every potential client.

Autodesk 3ds Max

Autodesk 3ds Max, also known as 3D Studio Max, is a potent 3D modeling solution that shares many features with AutoCAD. However, Its primary target audience is different from that of CAD solutions, because it works best when creating animations or 3D models for video game development, film production, animation, and so on. It is also often used to create stunning architectural visuals using its powerful rendering engine, the primary area of overlap between 3ds Max and Chief Architect. 3ds Max also works well with multiple file formats and supports a variety of plugins that can expand its capabilities in specific fields.

Customer ratings:

• Capterra – 4.7/5 points based on 100 customer reviews
• TrustRadius – 8.6/10 points based on 34 customer reviews
• G2 – 4.3/5 points based on 277 customer reviews

Advantages:

• The outstanding feature set in 3D modeling and animation includes hair simulation, keyframe animation, procedural modeling, particle effect generation, and more.
• Impressive rendering quality with its built-in rendering engine.
• Capability to be integrated with other CAD solutions, and extensive collaborative capabilities with multiple Autodesk software applications.

Shortcomings:

• The necessity of investing a lot of money in a high-performance PC increases the total cost of using 3Ds Max significantly.
• All rendering processes take a significant time to finish.
• The price of the software is rather significant, even by the standards of this market.

Pricing (at the time of writing):

• 3ds Max offers two pricing models.
• The first pricing model is a standard subscription fee with three different periods:
  • $235 for one month.
  • $1,875 for one year.
  • $5,625 for three years.
• The second pricing model is Autodesk Flex, a “pay-as-you-go” program with “tokens” as its own virtual currency. The price of 3ds Max in this service is 6 tokens per day, and there are at least two token bundles that can be purchased:
  • $300 for 100 tokens
  • $1,500 for 500 tokens
• Purchasing custom amounts of tokens (more than 500) is also an option for all users.

My personal opinion on 3ds Max:

3ds Max from Autodesk offers a substantial feature set in the field of 3D modeling software. Its modeling capabilities are outstanding, and the built-in rendering engine can produce renderings of substantial quality. Other capabilities of the solution are simulation, animation, and other features that are necessary in high-value markets such as video game development and film production. The solution’s ability to offer outstanding visualization is also where 3ds Max can be a viable alternative for Chief Architect, although in the relatively small niche of creating project visuals for different audiences. At the same time, 3ds Max is extremely expensive in both its own cost and the hardware it needs. The price tag alone is a rather significant deterrent for many potential users who might not have the funds to afford it in its entirety.

Archicad

A substantial portion of Archicad’s reputation comes from its being widely known as the first commercial BIM solution in history. That is not to say that this is everything Archicad has to offer: it is also moderately versatile BIM software that provides several features in both the CAD and BIM fields, including issue tracking, 3D modeling, workflow automation, and more. Archicad is relatively well-known for its built-in library of objects, energy consumption evaluation, parametric design, and even a system of extensions to improve upon the standard feature set. It has a specific feature overlap with Chief Architect, since they can both work on residential projects of varying difficulty, although Chief Architect is slightly more specialized in its base form.

Customer ratings:

• Capterra – 4.5/5 points based on 278 customer reviews
• TrustRadius – 9.0/10 points based on 26 customer reviews
• G2 – 4.6/5 points based on 257 customer reviews

Advantages:

• Ability to preview models in both two and three dimensions at any moment.
• Substantial CAD feature set for a solution with BIM capabilities as its primary focus.
• Relatively user-friendly interface, which puts it above most solutions in its field.

Shortcomings:

• Updating layout drawings is a very lengthy process because each update takes a long time.
• Since Archicad was made with 3D modeling in mind, its 2D drawing capabilities are somewhat limited and rigid.
• The object library is substantial, but it is not user-friendly and often tricky to work with.

Pricing (at the time of writing):

• Archicad’s pricing model is somewhat simple, especially compared with the rest of the industry.
• Archicad offers three primary pricing tiers:
  • Archicad is the company’s primary offering, with all of its features for a price of $225 for one month (before tax).
  • Archicad Solo provides the majority of features for $200 per month (before tax). Its most significant difference from the others is the inability to share information in most cases.
  • Archicad Collaborate costs $225 for one month (before tax) and offers the entire Archicad feature set in combination with the BIMcloud service, which was created to enhance Archicad’s collaborative options.

My personal opinion on Archicad:

Archicad is a competent BIM solution with a rather versatile CAD-like feature set. Despite its reputation as the first commercial BIM solution, most of its reputation has been earned fair and square. Archicad provides plenty of collaborative capabilities and features, such as issue tracking, task automation, 3D modeling, 2D drawing, and many others. The solution is also challenging to work with regarding 2D drawing, and its object library is relatively rigid regarding customization. It significantly overlaps with Chief Architect, even if that software is more oriented toward more extensive and complex projects.

ArcSite

ArcSite is another oddball on this list of comprehensive CAD software applications. The solution is cloud-centric CAD software with estimating capabilities built from the ground up to work on mobile devices. The primary goal of ArcSite is to provide quick and accurate floor plan generation, estimation, and measurement on-site without a comprehensive toolset to work with. All of its information is stored in the cloud and is easily synchronized with different devices. Many actions can even be automated, including cost estimates and area calculations. The software can generate proposals, customize templates, share information with other team members, and more. It can also serve as a reliable alternative to Chief Architect if the speed of creating a structured plan can be prioritized over the quality and overall level of detail.

Customer ratings:

• Capterra – 4.6/5 points based on 127 customer reviews
• G2 – 4.9/5 points based on 4 customer reviews

Advantages:

• Extensive measuring and estimating capabilities are available from the comfort of a mobile device.
• All of the solution’s features are easy to work with and highly intuitive.
• There is a large number of helpful materials in video format to simplify issue resolution and the learning process.

Shortcomings:

• ArcSite is still a solution that is not built to handle large and complex project models, so some of the features for creating sophisticated models are missing.
• The mobile-centric nature of the solution makes accuracy a somewhat problematic issue.
• The complete lack of a desktop version is a significant drawback for many professionals.

Pricing (at the time of writing):

• ArcSite’s capabilities are separated into two large groups: Draw and Takeoff & Estimate.
• ArcSite Draw offers three pricing plans:
  • Draw Basic for $15 per month, providing unlimited projects and drawings, shape libraries, shareable links, exporting, cloud backups, and more.
  • Draw Pro for $35 per month, offering custom shapes, advanced cloud capabilities, location-based photos, more file formats for export, etc.
  • Draw Elite, with no public pricing, includes SSO support, personalized team training, workspace analytics, adaptable billing, and more.
• ArcSite Takeoff & Estimate offers three separate pricing plans:
  • Takeoff, for $119.99 per month, includes unlimited projects and drawings, as well as a customizable product library, unlimited material takeoffs, vast exporting capabilities, custom fonts, and so on.
  • Estimate, for $159.99 per month, offers unlimited proposals and estimates, a proposal template builder, support for on-site payment, an analytics dashboard, personalized training, etc.
  • Estimate Elite, with no public pricing, adds workspace analytics, advanced security, tailored customizations, and adaptable billing (among other features).

My personal opinion on ArcSite:

ArcSite is an excellent example of an unusual alternative to Chief Architect. It is cloud-centric software that still falls into the CAD category, even if most of its designs are much more basic and not particularly complex. First and foremost, the solution is optimized for smartphones and tablets. The overall mobility of such devices facilitates the most significant advantage of ArcSite: the ability to create estimations and measurements on-site. Other notable features of the solution include seamless information sharing, the easy integration of on-site information into drawings and models, and simple data synchronization between devices. ArcSite can also be used as an alternative to Chief Architect if the project allows for some measurements or drawings to be performed on-site.

Autodesk Revit

Autodesk Revit is one of the most popular BIM solutions on the market. It comes from a well-known software provider that develops and distributes a dozen alternatives for specific fields. Revit’s specialization is to assist different types of specialists within the context of construction projects, including engineers, architects, designers, etc. Revit works well on large and complex construction projects, offering extensive data management, versatile collaborative capabilities, and simplified information coordination. While it does work in the same industry as Chief Architect, their overlap is not particularly large, since the latter is made primarily for smaller projects that revolve around residential design and architecture.

Customer ratings:

• Capterra – 4.6/5 points based on 436 customer reviews
• TrustRadius – 8.9/10 points based on 217 customer reviews
• G2 – 4.6/5 points based on 870 customer reviews

Advantages:

• Extensive integration capabilities allow Revit to operate with many other BIM solutions and multiple Autodesk products from different industries.
• The outstanding versatility of the solution is made possible by the extensive feature set Revit provides.
• Unlike many solutions in the field, Revit combines vast BIM capabilities with a moderately efficient 3D modeling toolkit, making it possible to improve existing models or create new ones from scratch when necessary.

Shortcomings:

• Extremely basic automation capabilities with minimal customization do not allow Revit to perform most repetitive tasks without human involvement.
• The software depends highly on the customer’s hardware capabilities, and the minimum system requirements are quite high.
• Revit’s number of features makes it difficult for most new users to understand, resulting in a moderately steep learning curve.

Pricing (at the time of writing):

• Revit is licensed using Autodesk’s standard pricing model.
• The solution is available as a basic subscription that can be purchased for one month, one year, or three years.
  • 1 Month – $365
  • 1 Year – $2,910
  • 3 Years – $8,730
• There is also an option to purchase Revit’s capabilities on a “pay-as-you-go” model using the Autodesk Flex program. Revit’s cost in this program is 10 tokens per day, and these tokens can be purchased in at least two different bundles:
  • 100 tokens for $300
  • 500 tokens for $1,500
• Purchasing custom amounts of tokens (more than 500) is also an option.

My personal opinion on Revit:

Autodesk Revit is an impressive BIM solution with plenty of features from a well-known software provider. It is an incredible solution that can be helpful to most AEC specialists, making it a worthy competitor to Chief Architect to a certain degree. Revit offers a massive feature set that makes it worthwhile on practically any type of project imaginable, and it absolutely shines when working on large and complex structures. However, Revit can be challenging to work with due to its sheer number of features and capabilities. Additionally, the price of the solution is extremely high, and its hardware requirements are also quite substantial, making it rather difficult to recommend to anyone outside of large enterprises with complex projects.

MacDraft

MacDraft is the only option on this list that does not provide 3D modeling capabilities beyond the most basic form for visualization purposes. Nevertheless, it is still an impressively competent 2D CAD solution native to Mac devices. MacDraft offers vector-based drawing capabilities, as well as support for layers, a dedicated library of objects and symbols, vast annotation capabilities, and more. It is relatively easy to learn (for most of its basic features), has no built-in BIM capabilities, and offers only an extremely basic rendering engine. It is also a surprisingly viable alternative to Chief Architect, even though their primary audiences differ to a certain degree.

Customer ratings:

• Capterra – 4.4/5 points based on 196 customer reviews

Advantages:

• It is a relatively intuitive solution that uses a standard architectural scale.
• Incredibly supportive and helpful customer support team.
• Despite the age of the software, new versions still introduce many new features and improvements .

Shortcomings:

• The infrequent bugs that happen in practically every new version of the software are somewhat annoying.
• The overall experience with additional templates is rather lackluster.
• Most of the software’s capabilities target large and complex projects, and scaling these features down to personal-use variants makes them needlessly complicated.

Pricing (at the time of writing):

• The current version of MacDraft Pro offers four separate pricing plans depending on the content that comes with the software:
  • App Only, $499 for the application and 100+ sample symbols.
  • Home & Garden, $529 for the application and 1,100+ symbols for garden and home plans.
  • Starter, $599 for the application and 3,500+ symbols for many drawing styles.
  • Complete, $699 for the application and the entire library of symbols MacDraft offers (7,500+ symbols for many purposes and room types).
• All pricing tiers include a digital code or a physical DVD for an additional price.
• There is also a separate page for paid upgrades from previous versions of the software.

My personal opinion on MacDraft:

MacDraft Pro remains a rather peculiar option for the CAD market. It is a Mac-native application with Windows support, and it has practically no 3D modeling capabilities. At the same time, it is still reasonably competent for 2D drafting, and the broad feature set makes it possible to create both casual designs and technical drawings. It is not particularly expensive, considering that all pricing tiers offer permanent licensing (without major software upgrades). This approach makes it look somewhat user-friendly, but many users have reported issues upgrading from previous versions of the software. MacDraft is also a potential alternative to Chief Architect, as it can generate technical drawings of practically any complexity.

Free alternatives to Chief Architect

As mentioned above, the modern definition of “free” solutions is somewhat unclear at this point, with many different approaches to licensing and pricing tiers. In this article, we have decided that all solutions offering at least one basic software tier for no price can be considered “free.” With this in mind, we can present several free alternatives to Chief Architect below.

Cedreo

Cedreo represents a rather drastic shift from most of the previous options. It is 3D home design software built entirely in the cloud. It offers plenty of capabilities to interior designers, remodelers, home builders, and more. Cedreo can be used to generate quick and effective visualizations in three dimensions, and its convenient user interface accommodates this goal. It also offers fast floor plan generation, extensive information exchange capabilities, photorealistic 3D rendering, and more. Cedreo also exists in the same industry as Chief Architect due to the ability of both solutions to create designs and visuals for interiors or exteriors in three dimensions.

Customer ratings:

• Capterra – 4.4/5 points based on 44 customer reviews
• G2 – 4.8/5 points based on 4 customer reviews

Advantages:

• Extremely competent support team experience praised by dozens of user reviews.
• Plenty of learning materials to work with in the form of written tutorials and even videos.
• The limited free version can also serve as a free trial for the software.

Shortcomings:

• Some of the more technical elements of interior designs cannot be modeled with Cedreo, such as ventilation pipes.
• The total price of the solution is relatively high compared to what it offers.
• Navigating certain parts of large design models, such as roofs, can be somewhat challenging.

Pricing (at the time of writing):

• Cedreo comes in four licensing plans that differ significantly from one another.
  • Free is a basic version of the software with many significant limitations: one user, one project, five renders, and limited access to the object library.
  • Personal is a package with no time limitation for $49, but it allows only a single project to be worked on. It includes unlimited object access, blueprint download, and up to 20 renderings per single project.
  • Pro, at $49 per month, offers most of the features that Cedreo has to offer, including a higher limit on rendering (40 vs. 20), no-watermark renders, priority support, and more.
  • Enterprise is the most expensive pricing tier from Cedreo, at $69 per user per month. It is created for professionals in the field who deal with ten or more projects per year, and the offer provides features such as permission management, a floor plan catalog, a multi-user workspace, and so on.
• Cedreo also uses a somewhat confusing account strategy.
  • All Free accounts are deleted three years after creation (if they have not subscribed to one of the paid plans in that time).
  • All Personal accounts are deleted ten years after creation (if the user has not subscribed to a Pro or Enterprise plan in that period).

My personal opinion on Cedreo:

Cedreo is a rather peculiar solution, especially in the context of this list. It is cloud-based home design software that primarily targets interior decorators and real estate agents with its feature set. It provides quick and easy visualization capabilities, impressive rendering options, rapid floor plan generation, and the ability to calculate information within a specific project and share it with others. This is also where Cedreo overlaps Chief Architect the most, offering the ability to create and modify design renderings with relatively low effort. At the same time, Cedreo’s overall architectural design capabilities are somewhat rudimentary, so calling it a complete replacement would be out of the question.

pCon.planner

pCon.planner’s primary capability is interior design, which distinguishes it significantly from most of the examples in this article. It is exciting design software that offers an impressive level of in-depth customization for interior design projects, including decorations, lighting, and even a built-in object library. It is fast, precise, can work with multiple file formats, and even supports real-time visualization. It is also integrated with numerous manufacturer catalogs, which makes it extremely useful for a range of interior design tasks. It does differ slightly from Chief Architect due to its focus on different aspects of the design process, but its interior design capabilities are at least on par with what Chief Architect has to offer, if not better.

Key features:

• Impressive performance that can handle most projects with no issues, including even the most complex tasks.
• Substantial set of features in the field of interior design, including customizable room elements, multiple lighting types, etc.
• Capability to be integrated with and used alongside many other tools in the architecture industry.
• Support for many data formats from different solutions (even though DWG is considered the primary format for the software itself).

Pricing (at the time of writing):

• pCon.planner’s official website does not offer much licensing information.
• We know that the software has a basic version that can be downloaded for free and a PRO version with additional features.
• This is the extent of the public pricing information for pCon.planner. More information can be acquired only by requesting a quotation from the company.

My personal opinion on pCon.planner:

pCon.planner can be considered relatively old by the standards of this market, as its first version was launched in 1998. Despite its age, the solution still receives updates to this day, including new features and new models for the model library. pCon’s solution can perform many tasks in the field of interior design, including floor plan drawing, room element manipulation, layer modification, and more. The software is also part of pCon’s larger software package, which makes integration with pCon.box and pCon.cloud straightforward and convenient.

SketchUp

SketchUp is a versatile solution for sketching and modeling that has earned plenty of praise from both the individual and commercial markets. It can work in many different industries, including, but not limited to, architecture, interior design, landscaping, and more. Its baseline capabilities can also be expanded using a system of plugins that are developed and updated by community members regularly. Strictly speaking, SketchUp is not entirely free, but it has a basic pricing tier with no cost. It is also a suitable alternative to Chief Architect, although its capabilities mostly revolve around detailed 3D modeling or quick sketching for design purposes.

Customer ratings:

• Capterra – 4.5/5 points based on 962 customer reviews
• TrustRadius – 8.3/10 points based on 176 customer reviews
• G2 – 4.5/5 points based on 896 customer reviews

Advantages:

• Basic free version of the software that includes a substantial number of features.
• Substantial library of 3D objects and models to work with.
• Impressive user-friendly interface praised by both professionals and casual users.

Shortcomings:

• Separate price tag for many large-scale extensions or plugins.
• No support for data export or import to and from CAD/BIM software.
• There is a limited selection of learning materials available from SketchUp, in contrast to the community effort.

Pricing (at the time of writing):

• The licensing model of SketchUp uses four primary pricing tiers:
  • Free – the web version of the software, with basic 3D modeling capabilities, limited access to the 3D warehouse, rudimentary data import/export features, and limited Trimble Connect cloud storage capacity.
  • Go – adds a dedicated iPad application and several new features, such as Live Components, advanced exporting, and the removal of the limitations on Trimble Cloud storage and 3D warehouse access, all at a cost of $119 for one year.
  • Pro – adds 2D documentation, access to the Extension Warehouse, AR/VR integration for model previews, a dedicated SketchUp Pro desktop app, and more. The package costs $299 per year.
  • Studio –  the complete feature set of SketchUp, with Revit-to-SketchUp file importing, Scan Essentials, photorealistic visualizations, and other features for $699 per year.

My personal opinion on SketchUp:

SketchUp is a well-known 3D modeling solution that can also be used for sketching and many other use cases. Its ease of use and the existence of a free pricing tier do not deter from its versatility when it comes to working with different types of model. SketchUp has a dedicated 3D model library, both web-based and stand-alone applications, and the ability to expand its functionality significantly using a system of plugins. This system is also one of the reasons why SketchUp is considered an alternative to Chief Architect, although the existing 3D modeling capabilities of the former are also substantial on their own, and the solution is often used in the architecture and design industries, even if their use cases are slightly different.

Blender

Blender is a popular free 3D creation suite capable of working with the complete 3D pipeline, including modeling and rendering, animation, rigging, motion tracking, video editing, and more. It is a rather versatile tool that is popular in multiple industries, including animation, architecture, video game development, and more. The existing feature set of Blender can also be extended significantly using a system of plugins and modules, and the software itself supports multiple file formats out of the box. It is much more of a general 3D modeling solution than Chief Architect, but it can still replace some architectural capabilities in addition to architectural modeling with the proper plugins.

Customer ratings:

• Capterra – 4.7/5 points based on 926 customer reviews
• TrustRadius – 9.1/10 points based on 87 customer reviews
• G2 – 4.6/5 points based on 294 customer reviews

Advantages:

• The lack of a price tag is a tremendous advantage for a solution of this scope.
• The active user community is responsible for creating most plugins, add-ons, and learning materials for Blender, with little to no involvement from the software developers themselves.
• Extensive feature set that expands beyond traditional 3D modeling capabilities to offer rigging, animation, rendering, motion tracking, and more.

Shortcomings:

• Blender’s wealth of features might make it somewhat challenging to navigate the software’s interface.
• Substantial hardware requirements are the baseline to use Blender, and resource consumption tends to rise even more in specific cases, such as rendering or modeling.
• The overall learning curve is quite steep, and all users have to rely on user-generated content as their learning material, which tends to make the learning process even more challenging for newcomers.

Pricing (at the time of writing):

• The entire feature set of Blender is free and open-source.

My personal opinion on Blender:

Blender is an extremely well-known 3D modeling solution with an abundance of features. It offers the capabilities to work on the entire 3D pipeline, including rigging, animation, modeling, rendering, and even video editing. The fact that it is a completely free solution makes it even more attractive to newcomers and users with limited budgets. Visualization is also where it offers a lot of the same capabilities as Chief Architect does, although without much specialization in residential design. It would also be fair to mention that Blender can be very difficult to get into, and its hardware requirements are on par with some of the most demanding software on the market, especially during intensive workloads.

FreeCAD

FreeCAD is one of the best-known solutions on the CAD market, and it is also one of the very few options available that are completely free, with no premium features, no subscriptions, and nothing even close to a pricing or licensing model. FreeCAD is a parametric modeling solution that uses a modular architecture that can expand the solution’s basic feature set when necessary. Product design and mechanical engineering are two of the most notable use cases for FreeCAD. Still, it can also replace several capabilities of Chief Architect, especially in the field of architecture. FreeCAD is an excellent option for customers who are willing to learn, since the learning curve of the software is much steeper than that of Chief Architect.

Customer ratings:

• Capterra – 4.7/5 points based on 3,018 customer reviews
• TrustRadius – 8.8/10 points based on 545 customer reviews
• G2 – 4.4/5 points based on 1,416 customer reviews

Advantages:

• It is a free and open-source solution.
• Impressive feature set within the base solution and the ability to expand it using the modular structure of the software.
• Tremendous versatility is made possible by the ability to work with multiple operating systems and file types.

Shortcomings:

• Multiple factors result in an extremely steep learning curve, including the software’s open-source nature, which prevents any company from providing centralized customer support.
• The somewhat basic user interface can make the onboarding process even more challenging.
• Many issues might arise when handling complex project models, such as lag and slowdowns.

Pricing (at the time of writing):

• The free and open-source nature of FreeCAD means that there is no pricing model attached to the solution.

My personal opinion on FreeCAD:

FreeCAD is another exceptional example of a solution which is completely free and open source. At its core, FreeCAD is a versatile CAD solution with a modular structure, leaving much room for customization and feature expansion (which also helps it replace some of Chief Architect’s capabilities, if necessary). At the same time, the lack of a price tag for FreeCAD directly translates into a lack of official customer support and a limited selection of in-house learning materials, which can make the learning curve even steeper than it already is. As such, FreeCAD can only be recommended to users who are committed to learning a single software application in its entirety and are not against spending weeks or even months learning how a single CAD solution operates.

Conclusion

Chief Architect offers impressive architectural software for the residential construction industry. It manages to combine multiple BIM capabilities with a substantial 3D CAD feature set, which makes it a direct competitor with many competent solutions.

At the same time, the specific capabilities of Chief Architect are very difficult to replace with a single solution due to the very peculiar way its features are arranged. This article offers a list of potential alternatives to Chief Architect’s capabilities, but most of them can replace only a portion of the software’s capabilities rather than the whole solution.

Solutions such as MacDraft or ActCAD could cover Chief Architect’s CAD capabilities, while Revit and its competitors should be able to cover most of its BIM capabilities similarly. However, this does mean that it may be necessary to use two or more solutions to replace Chief Architect, which is not an ideal option for many situations.

In this case, our best recommendation is for every potential customer to evaluate their priorities and needs regarding CAD/BIM software. It might be that some users do not need the entire feature set of Chief Architect and would be much more efficient with one of the alternatives.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the primary use case for Chief Architect?

The software is most commonly used for interior design, residential design, landscaping, remodeling, and the generation of construction documentation.

What are the differences between Chief Architect and the rest of these solutions regarding the pricing model?

The best way to describe the licensing model of Chief Architect is “average.” It is a standard pricing model with one pricing tier and a price point that is relatively close to the average market price for both CAD and BIM solution markets.

Is there any significant feature difference between paid and free alternatives to Chief Architect?

The fact that Chief Architect offers a rather unusual combination of capabilities and use cases makes it rather challenging to find a complete 1:1 alternative to this software. In this context, most of the solutions we have presented are at the same level of similarity with Chief Architect, whether they are paid or free, and most of the feature differences are minor at best.