Planner 5D vs Polycam
Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, and ratings
At a glance
| Dimension | Planner 5D | Polycam |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Homeowners, interior designers, and architects needing quick 3D home design from 2D plans | Professionals needing precise 3D scanning, floor plans, and point clouds |
| Core AI features | AI Floor Plan Converter (2D to 3D), AI Design Generator, AI Room Design, AI Studio (new) | AI photogrammetry, AI 3D model generator (beta), AI texture generator (beta), Gaussian splatting |
| Export formats | CAD, .obj, .fbx, .blend, .stl, 4K renders, 360° panoramas | GLTF, OBJ, FBX, USDZ, PLY, LAS, STL, DAE, ESX, DXF (15+) |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, visionOS | iOS, Android, Web |
| Latest news | AI Studio launched (2026-06); Spaces feature centralizes home project data (2026-04) | HDRI lighting (5 presets) now on iOS/Web; library UI compacted; floor plan editor drag fix (2026) |
If you need precise reality capture for objects, interiors, or drone surveys, Polycam is the clear winner with advanced LiDAR, photogrammetry, Gaussian splatting, and extensive export formats. For home design and renovation visualization from 2D floor plans, Planner 5D offers an intuitive AI-driven platform with new AI Studio and Spaces features. Choose based on your primary workflow: scanning real spaces (Polycam) vs. designing virtual ones (Planner 5D).

Planner 5D converts floor plan images into editable 3D home designs with AI, from blueprint photo to furnished project.
Visit Website
Polycam turns phone LiDAR, photos, and drone footage into 3D models, floor plans, and point clouds.
Visit WebsiteWhat real users say: Planner 5D vs Polycam
Not marketing copy and not our opinion — a structured sweep of public discussion (reviews, forums, communities and video comments), showing what people praise and what they complain about for each tool.
Planner 5D
46 mentions across 4 sources · 38% positive — critical (averaged across 4 sources)
Product Hunt, App Store, Bluesky, Lemmy
What users praise
- • Easy to create 3D floor plans from 2D images with AI.
- • Massive furniture catalog with over 10,000 items.
- • Cross-platform sync works on web, mobile, and desktop.
- • Realistic 4K renders and 360° walkthroughs available.
What frustrates them
- • Impossible to cancel subscriptions without customer support response.
- • Free trial users charged immediately with no refunds.
- • AI floor plan feature often fails or loses conversions.
- • No anchor points or dimension input in feet/inches.
Researched Jul 2, 2026
Polycam
68 mentions across 5 sources · 42% positive — mixed (weighted across 5 sources)
Reddit, Hacker News, YouTube, Product Hunt, App Store
What users praise
- • Produces usable point clouds and meshes from a plain iPhone in a single site visit
- • Genuinely fast — users report scan-to-model turnaround in minutes, not days
- • Broad export coverage: seven mesh formats plus six point cloud formats
- • Fire investigators use it for measurements, 3D models, and Meta Quest walkthrough training
What frustrates them
- • Aggressive trial auto-billing: multiple users report $400/yr charges after 7-day trials
- • Long-standing Pro users report older scans reverting to unprocessable Draft status
- • Measurements and dimensions sit behind an expensive tier above the monthly plan
- • Floor plans described as poor and measurements 'very inaccurate' by paying users
Researched Oct 7, 2026
Who should pick which
- Architect needing on-site floor plansPick: Polycam
Polycam's LiDAR scanning and automatic floor plan generation with measurements allow quick, accurate documentation of existing spaces, with export to CAD and BIM-compatible formats.
- Homeowner planning a renovationPick: Planner 5D
Planner 5D's AI Floor Plan Converter turns photos of existing blueprints into editable 3D models, and the new AI Studio helps visualize changes affordably.
- Interior designer creating client proposalsPick: Planner 5D
Planner 5D enables quick room restyling, 4K renders, 360° walkthroughs, and budget widget—perfect for presenting ideas to clients without complex scanning.
- Forensics team documenting a crime scenePick: Polycam
Polycam's LiDAR and photogrammetry capture detailed, measurable 3D scenes, with exports to point cloud formats (LAS, PLY) for analysis and court presentations.
- Game developer scanning props for digital assetsPick: Polycam
Polycam's high-quality object scanning, AI model/texture generators, and exports to GLTF, FBX, USDZ streamline the creation of game-ready 3D assets.
Frequently Asked Questions
Planner 5D vs Polycam: which should you choose?
If you need precise reality capture for objects, interiors, or drone surveys, Polycam is the clear winner with advanced LiDAR, photogrammetry, Gaussian splatting, and extensive export formats. For home design and renovation visualization from 2D floor plans, Planner 5D offers an intuitive AI-driven platform with new AI Studio and Spaces features. Choose based on your primary workflow: scanning real spaces (Polycam) vs. designing virtual ones (Planner 5D).
Can Polycam generate floor plans from photos?
Yes, Polycam can automatically generate floor plans with measurements from photos and LiDAR scans, usable in architecture and construction.
Can Planner 5D convert an existing floor plan image into 3D?
Yes, Planner 5D's AI Floor Plan Converter recognizes walls, windows, and doors from uploaded images and creates an editable 3D model.
Which tool is better for professional 3D scanning?
Polycam is superior for professional 3D scanning due to its LiDAR support, drone photogrammetry, Gaussian splatting, and 15+ export formats.
Does Planner 5D support VR walkthroughs?
Planner 5D offers 360° walkthroughs and panoramas, but not full VR headset support; Polycam provides virtual walkthroughs for captured spaces.
Can I export Polycam models to CAD?
Polycam exports to DXF and other formats, which can be imported into CAD software; it also supports point cloud formats like LAS and PLY.
Is Planner 5D free to use?
Yes, Planner 5D has a free tier with standard-quality renders; paid plans unlock 4K, AI features, and more.
Does Polycam have AI design features like Planner 5D?
Polycam offers AI 3D model and texture generators (beta), but focuses on reality capture, not interior design generation like Planner 5D's AI Studio.
Which tool is more affordable for casual users?
Planner 5D's Personal plan at $12.99/mo is cheaper than Polycam's Pro at $79/mo, making Planner 5D better for hobbyists and homeowners.
More Planner 5D or Polycam comparisons
Don't cross-shop these. Polycam is a capture tool that turns the physical world — rooms, prototypes, job sites — into 3D models, floor plans, and point clouds you export to SketchUp, Blender, or Unity
These are not competitors and you should never be choosing between them — Polycam is a capture tool that turns a phone, drone, or LiDAR scan into a 3D model, floor plan, or point cloud, and Notion is
These two don't compete — a buyer almost never chooses between them. Polycam is a capture tool: you point a phone, drone or LiDAR at a physical space and get floor plans, meshes and point clouds you c
These two products never meet in a buying decision, and treating them as rivals would mislead you. If your problem is documenting a physical site — rooms, buildings, props, a claims scene — Polycam is
These tools don't compete — they solve unrelated problems, and no buyer shortlists both. If your problem is running open models locally (GLM, Kimi, DeepSeek, Qwen3.8) for private agentic work, LM Stud
You are not choosing between these. Polycam and Sketch solve different problems for different people, and no buyer with one budget and one job shortlists both. Pick Polycam if you need to digitise a p
Explore each tool further
Browse these categories
One email a week — new tools, honest comparisons, no spam.
Last reviewed: July 2, 2026