Is Garden Planner really free?

Yes, it’s 100% free with no hidden costs and no registration required.

Do I need to install anything?

No. Garden Planner runs entirely in your web browser - there is nothing to download, install or keep updated, and no account to create. Open the page and start drawing straight away.

Do I need any experience to start?

No experience needed! Garden Planner is beginner-friendly and includes snap-to-grid, smart alignment guides and unlimited undo, so nothing you try is permanent. If you would rather not start from an empty canvas, the AI garden generation templates can produce a complete starting layout for you to refine.

Can I access it on mobile?

Garden Planner is currently optimized for desktops and laptops.

How do I plan a vegetable garden layout?

Draw your plot outline first, then add vegetable patch surfaces and raised beds in the sizes you actually have - short, standard and long variants are all in the library. Because everything is drawn to real-world scale, you can check row spacing and path widths with the measure line before you buy a single seed. Fruit trees, berry shrubs, a greenhouse, a compost bin and a water barrel are available too, so the whole productive garden fits into one plan.

Can I design a front yard as well as a backyard?

Yes. Garden Planner is not limited to any particular part of a property. Front yard landscaping, driveways and entrance paths work exactly like a backyard layout - place the house outline, draw paths and lawn areas, then add hedges, flower beds and trees. You can plan the front and the back in the same drawing or keep them as separate projects.

How large a garden can I plan?

There is no fixed size limit. The canvas extends as far as your design needs, so a small courtyard and a large plot with an orchard and a pool are handled the same way. Zoom out for the overall picture, zoom in to position details, and use the minimap in the side panel to move around a big layout quickly.

How accurate are the measurements?

Every plan is drawn to an exact scale - one meter is a fixed distance on the canvas and all dimensions are derived from that single reference, in metric or imperial units. Snap-to-grid and smart alignment guides keep elements straight and evenly spaced, and the measure line tool reports the precise distance between any two points in your plan.

Does Garden Planner support imperial units?

Yes! In addition to metric units (meters), you can switch to imperial units (feet). This makes it easy to plan gardens in both Europe and the United States.

Can I start from the real shape of my property?

Yes. Choose Project → New → Import from Map, find your place by address or GPS coordinates and click the corners of your property on the map - the length of every side and the total area are shown as you go. Garden Planner then creates a garden in the exact shape of your plot at true scale, turned to run along the canvas, with the location and north direction already set for the sun and shadow simulation. Only the outline is imported, never the map picture. The dimensions follow the points you placed, so they are approximate - not a land survey.

How does the sun and shadow simulation work?

Switch on the sun icon in the top bar, pick a date and drag the time of day. Every object with a height - trees, shrubs, hedges, buildings, pergolas, statues - casts its shadow where the real sun would put it for your garden's location and orientation. Each object starts with a typical height that you can adjust in the Inspector, and the shadow follows its shape: a tree casts a crown on a thin trunk, a house a solid block. Set the location and north direction in Project → Project settings, or take them from the map when you import your plot. It is an approximation for orientation, not a professional solar analysis.

Can I design my garden in 3D for free?

Yes. Garden Planner is a free online garden planner with a built-in 3D view - no signup, no download and no separate 3D modelling. Draw your garden in the 2D editor, press 3D View in the top bar, and the whole plan becomes a 3D garden: trees, shrubs, the house, pools, furniture and surfaces at their real size and height. Turn it, pan and zoom to see it from any angle, and switch on the sun to light it for any date and time of day. Back to 2D returns you to your plan exactly as you left it. On an older computer, choose simple models and low quality in the 3D settings.

Can I take a virtual walk through my garden design?

Yes. Garden Planner has a walk mode in its 3D view that puts you in your garden at eye height (1.7 m). Walk with W A S D or the arrow keys, hold Shift to hurry and drag the mouse to look around; Esc takes you back to the view from above. It is the quickest way to check what you will really see from the terrace, the kitchen window or the garden gate - before anything is planted or built.

Does Garden Planner have built-in AI?

Garden Planner never sends your design to an AI service. Instead it generates ready-made prompts that you paste into ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude yourself. There are three of them: analyse an existing layout for safety, maintenance, space use or budget; visualize it as a photorealistic render or architect sketch; or generate a brand new garden as JSON, which you can import straight back into Garden Planner and keep editing.

Can I import a design back into Garden Planner?

Yes. Garden Planner opens its own project files, and it also imports garden layouts in a simplified JSON format. That means you can export a plan, edit it in an external tool or have an AI generate an entirely new layout, and then load the result straight back into the app and carry on designing.

Can I print or save my design?

Absolutely. You can export your plan as a high-quality PNG, PDF or SVG for printing and sharing, and save it as a project file on your computer or to your own Google Drive to continue later.

What export formats does Garden Planner support?

Garden Planner supports PNG, PDF and SVG export. You can also export your layout as CSV or JSON for structured data processing and AI-assisted workflows.

What happens if I close the tab by accident?

Garden Planner writes your work to a dedicated Autosave slot every few minutes, so you can reopen the app and restore the last automatic save. For versions you want to keep for good, use one of the five manual quick-save slots or export the project as a file to your computer.

Can I save my projects to Google Drive?

Yes. Sign in with Google and use Project → Save to Google Drive; Project → Open from Google Drive brings the plan back on any computer. Projects go into a Garden Planner folder of their own, in the same format as a project file you save to your computer. Garden Planner can only see the files it created there - never the rest of your Drive.

Do I need a Google account to use Garden Planner?

No. Signing in with Google is optional and only needed for saving projects to Google Drive. Everything else - designing, quick saves, autosave, export and the AI tools - works exactly the same without an account.

Is my garden design private?

Your design stays with you. Quick saves are stored in your own browser, project files are downloaded to your disk, and if you choose Google Drive, the project goes into your own Drive - the layout is never uploaded to our server. When you trace your plot from a map, the address you search for is looked up with OpenStreetMap; only the outline you click ends up in your project. The AI prompts are copied to your clipboard, so you decide which tool ever sees them. See the Privacy Policy for details on the anonymous usage statistics the site collects.

Free Garden Planner – Design Your Garden Online in 2D & 3D

What You Can Do with Garden Planner

Design with Drag & Drop

Create your layout using a simple and intuitive drag-and-drop editor. No drawing skills needed.

Extensive Garden Element Library

Start designing with a growing collection of over 70 essential garden objects - from trees and patios to pools and furniture. Six categories cover the whole plan: grass, gravel and decking surfaces; fruit trees, shrubs, hedges and flower beds; paths, fences and walls; greenhouses, pergolas, pools and raised beds; outdoor furniture, grills and fire pits; plus text labels and measure lines.

Export & Print

Save your garden as PNG, PDF or SVG - or as a reusable project file. Share or print with one click. You can also export a structured layout prompt for AI analysis (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude).

Trace Your Plot from a Map

Find your property by address or GPS coordinates, click its corners on the map and watch the side lengths and area as you go. Garden Planner creates a garden in the exact shape of your plot at true scale - with its location and north direction already set.

Sun & Shadow Simulation

Pick a date, drag the time of day and every tree, hedge and building casts its shadow where the real sun would put it. Find the sunny spot for the vegetable beds and the shady one for the terrace before you plant or build.

See how it works

Save to Google Drive

Keep your plans in your own Google Drive and open them again on any computer. Garden Planner only sees the files it created there - never the rest of your Drive. Signing in is optional; everything else works without it.

3D Garden View & Walkthrough

One click turns your plan into a 3D model of the whole garden. Look at it from any angle, light it with the sun of any day and hour, then walk through it at eye height - and find out what your garden will feel like before you dig, plant or build.

Explore the 3D garden view

Try Garden Planner online and explore all tools directly in your browser – free and easy to use.

What Will You Design First?

The same tool handles a courtyard the size of a parking space and a plot with an orchard. Here is what it looks like for the four gardens people plan most often - the layout you draw, and the visual you can generate from it.

Backyard layout

Most backyards do not fail because of the planting - they fail because nobody decided where things belong. Garden Planner lets you settle the zoning first: where the lawn ends and the terrace begins, how wide the path to the shed needs to be, whether the fire pit sits far enough from the fence. Draw the plot once at real scale, then move whole areas around until the layout makes sense. It costs nothing to change your mind on screen, and a great deal to change it once the paving is laid.

AI visualization of the same backyard design showing the terrace, lawn and seating area as a realistic garden scene — AI visualization generated from this plan

Vegetable garden

A productive garden lives and dies by spacing. Raised beds that are too wide cannot be reached from the side, paths that are too narrow will not take a wheelbarrow, and a greenhouse in the wrong corner spends half the day in shade. Because every object is drawn to true scale, you can lay out beds, paths and a compost corner and check the real distances before you order a single plank. Fruit trees and berry shrubs are in the library too, so the whole growing year fits into one drawing.

AI visualization of the same vegetable garden showing planted raised beds, gravel paths and a greenhouse — AI visualization generated from this plan

Small garden or courtyard

The smaller the space, the less room there is for guesswork. In a courtyard or a narrow city garden, thirty centimetres decides whether a bench fits or blocks the door. Garden Planner is at its most useful here: place the few elements you have room for, see them at their real footprint, and find out which arrangement actually leaves you space to walk. Potted plants, a compact tree, a small table and a paved corner are often the whole plan - and getting them right matters more than it does in a large garden.

Small courtyard garden plan with paving, potted plants, a compact tree and a seating corner drawn to exact size — Your plan

AI visualization of the same small courtyard garden as a cozy paved outdoor space with pots and seating — AI visualization generated from this plan

Front yard and landscaping

The front of a house is the part everyone sees and the part most people plan last. Garden Planner handles it exactly like a backyard: place the house outline, draw the driveway and the entrance path, then work out where hedges, flower beds and a tree can go without blocking access or sightlines. Export the finished plan as a PDF and you have something to hand to a contractor - or to hold up next to the real thing while you decide.

Front yard landscaping plan with a driveway, entrance path, hedge, flower beds and a tree positioned around the house outline — Your plan

AI visualization of the same front yard landscaping showing the driveway, trimmed hedge and planted entrance — AI visualization generated from this plan

Visualizations are generated from your plan with an external AI image tool of your choice - results vary by tool and by prompt.

Start Your Design – Free

Begin with a blank plot, or let AI draft the first layout for you.

See Where the Sun Falls – Before You Plant

Many garden mistakes are really light mistakes: tomatoes in a bed that gets three hours of sun, a terrace that bakes all afternoon, a new tree that ends up shading the greenhouse. The Sun & Shadow simulation shows how light moves across your plot on any day of the year.

Garden Planner sun and shadow simulation: trees, hedges and a house cast afternoon shadows across a garden plan, with the date and time-of-day slider in the top bar — Drag the time of day and watch the shadows move across the plan

✓Any date, any hour – compare a midsummer evening with a March morning and see how the shade shifts through the seasons
✓Your real location – set where the garden is and which way north points, or take both straight from the map when you trace your plot
✓Shadows shaped like the object – a tree casts a crown on a thin trunk with lighter shade under the leaves, a statue narrows to a point, a house throws a solid block
✓Real heights – every object comes with a typical height, also in your existing projects, and you can change it in the Inspector
✓Light that changes through the day – golden in the morning and evening, dimmer at night

Vegetable beds and fruit trees

Find the part of the plot with the most hours of direct sun and put the raised beds and the greenhouse there.

Terrace and seating

Check whether the patio gets the evening sun you want - or needs a pergola or parasol against the midday heat.

New trees and hedges

See how far a tree's shadow will reach once it is fully grown, and whether a hedge will darken the lawn behind it.

The simulation is an approximation for orientation. It does not account for terrain, weather or buildings outside your plan, and it is not a professional solar analysis.

Try the Sun & Shadow Simulation – Free

Switch on the sun icon in the top bar of the editor.

3D Garden Planner – See Your Garden in 3D and Walk Through It

Garden Planner shows any garden you draw as a 3D scene, free and right in your browser. Every tree, shrub, house, pool and bench appears at its real size and height. Look at the garden from any angle, light it with the sun of any day of the year, then switch to walk mode and stroll through it at eye height.

A plan from above shows you where things go. It cannot tell you whether the hedge will hide the shed, how tall the pergola looks next to the house or what you will actually see from the terrace. The 3D view can - and nothing has to be modelled twice: you draw in 2D, Garden Planner builds the 3D garden for you.

From a 2D Garden Plan to a 3D Walkthrough

2D garden plan in Garden Planner: a house with a wooden terrace, a paved path lined with lavender, a pond with a bench, raised vegetable beds, fruit trees and a hedge around the garden — 1Draw your garden plan

The same garden plan shown as a 3D garden: leafy trees and spruces, a hedge around the lawn, the house with its terrace, parasol and dining set, lavender along the path and raised beds — 2See it in 3D

Virtual garden walkthrough at eye height: walking up the paved garden path between lavender towards the house and the terrace, with trees and a hedge under a blue sky — 3Walk through it

One garden, drawn once in 2D - Garden Planner builds the 3D garden and the walkthrough for you.

✓Your whole garden in 3D, in one click – no separate 3D modelling, no plugin, no download
✓View from any angle – orbit around the garden, pan and zoom from a bird's-eye view down to a single flower bed
✓Realistic sunlight and shadows – pick a date and time of day and see how light falls across the 3D garden, from a summer noon to a winter evening
✓Virtual garden walkthrough – walk through your design at eye height with the keyboard and look around with the mouse
✓Looks like a real garden – green lawns, paved paths, stone walls, wooden fences, leafy trees and hedges, so you can picture the finished garden before you build it
✓Over 50 garden objects in 3D – trees, shrubs, a greenhouse, pools, a trampoline, garden furniture and more, ready to place, and running smoothly on any computer

How to See Your Garden in 3D

1

Draw your garden in the 2D editor - or trace your plot from a map, or let AI draft the layout.
2

Press 3D View in the top bar. Garden Planner builds the 3D scene from your plan.
3

Look around - drag to turn the garden, zoom in, and switch on the sun to light it for any date and hour.
4

Take a walk - turn on walk mode and move with W A S D or the arrow keys. Back to 2D returns you to your plan.

What a 3D Garden View Helps You Decide

What you will see from the terrace

Walk out onto the patio and look around: do you see the lawn and the flower beds, or the compost bin and the neighbour's wall?

Whether everything fits

See how a gazebo, a trampoline or a fully grown tree really sits next to the house - and whether the garden still feels open around it.

How to explain your idea

A 3D view says more to your family, your neighbours or a landscaper than a plan from above. Turn it to the angle that tells the story.

The 3D view is a visual preview of your plan, not a photorealistic render: objects are shown as stylized models at their real size, on level ground. To change the garden, edit the plan in 2D.

Design Your Garden in 3D – Free

No signup, no download. Press 3D View in the top bar of the editor.

Why Gardeners Love Garden Planner

✓Runs directly in your browser – no downloads or updates required
✓Completely free to use – no fees, no registration
✓Fast and focused workspace – plan your garden without distractions
✓5 quick-save slots with thumbnails – save and restore your work instantly
✓Automatic autosave – your design is saved to a dedicated slot every few minutes, so an accidentally closed tab costs you nothing
✓Save to Google Drive – optional sign-in with Google keeps your projects in your own Drive, ready to open on any computer
✓Export as PNG, PDF or SVG – save, share or print with ease
✓AI garden generation – describe the garden you want, let ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude draft the layout, then import it and refine
✓AI garden visualization – turn your finished plan into a quick sketch or a photorealistic render, so you can see the garden before you build it
✓AI garden analysis – get a second opinion on safety, maintenance, space use or budget before you start digging

✓Plan with real-world dimensions – accurate scaling and layout
✓Start from your plot on a map – find your address, click the corners of your property and get its exact outline at true scale
✓Sun & shadow simulation – see where every tree, hedge and building casts its shadow at any date and time of day
✓3D view and walk mode – see the whole garden in 3D from any angle, in the light of any hour, and walk through it at eye height
✓Metric and imperial units – plan in meters or in feet and inches, and switch at any time
✓Snap-to-grid and smart alignment – tidy, precise results
✓Optimized for desktop – fullscreen view, smooth performance
✓Measure Line tool – place exact distance markers anywhere in your plan
✓Object Manager – lock, hide or reorder any element in your design
✓Dark and light theme – work comfortably in daylight or at night
✓Beginner-friendly and powerful – perfect for all skill levels

What's Inside the Object Library

Every element is drawn to real-world scale and ready to place - nothing to download, nothing to configure. The library holds over 70 objects in six categories, covering everything from the ground surfaces up to the furniture on the patio.

Plants – trees, shrubs, flowers and pots

The plant group covers most of what actually grows in a garden. Ornamental trees include ginkgo, maple, palm, pine and spruce, while the orchard side offers apple, pear, peach and plum. Shrubs run from a plain garden shrub to bamboo screening and berry bushes - blueberry and raspberry. For colour there are flowering shrubs, roses and lavender, plus potted flowers and a potted tree for terraces and balconies.

Garden Planner plant library showing tree, shrub, flower and potted plant icons including ginkgo, maple, palm, apple, pear, plum, bamboo, blueberry, rose and lavender

Structures – buildings, water, play and utilities

The largest group in the library. Raised beds come in small, medium and long, alongside a rock garden and loose rocks. Buildings include a house outline, greenhouse, gazebo and pergola. Water features cover round and rectangular pools, a well, a pond, a fountain, a hot tub and a rain barrel. For families there is a swing, hammock, sandbox, slide and trampoline, and the utility corner holds a drying rack, compost bin, heat pump and solar panel.

Garden Planner structure library showing raised beds, greenhouse, gazebo, pergola, swimming pools, pond, fountain, hot tub, trampoline, compost bin and solar panel icons

Surfaces

Grass, sand, soil, gravel, paving stones, wooden decking, water, flower beds and vegetable patches. Draw any shape and it fills with a matching texture.

Paths & borders

Stone and sand paths, fences, walls, hedges, a garden stream and irrigation pipes - drawn as flowing lines that follow the shape of your plot.

Furniture & decor

Bench, chair, table, couch, sun lounger, parasol, barbecue, fire pit, statue and a dog house to finish the outdoor living area.

Shapes & tools

Circles, rectangles, triangles, octagons and free polylines, plus text labels, measure lines and your own uploaded images.

Explore the Full Library – Free

AI Garden Tools

Generate a layout • Analyze your design • Visualize the result

Garden Planner works hand in hand with AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude in three different ways. Every one of them is a ready-made prompt you copy and paste yourself - no accounts, no uploads and no design ever leaves your computer.

1. Generate a garden from a description

You do not have to start from an empty canvas. Describe the garden you want - or pick one of the ready-made generation templates - and let the AI draft the whole layout for you as importable JSON. Load it into Garden Planner and carry on designing from there.

Pick a generation template or describe your own garden

→

Paste the prompt into ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude

→

Save the returned JSON file

→

Import it into Garden Planner and refine

Ready-made generation templates:

Starter Backyard – a simple, balanced first garden
Low-Maintenance Garden – planting and surfaces that need little care
Family Garden – play area, lawn and space to sit together
Outdoor Living Garden – terrace, dining, fire pit and shade
Productive Edible Garden – raised beds, fruit trees and a greenhouse

An AI-generated layout is a starting point, not a finished plan - review it and adjust it in the editor.

2. Analyze a layout you have drawn

Instead of guessing what works best, get instant feedback on your garden design, layout efficiency and potential improvements. Choose the angle you care about - maintenance, safety, space optimization, budget estimate or a general design review.

How AI Garden Analysis Works

Create your garden layout in Garden Planner

→

Open AI Menu → Prompt Generator

→

Copy the generated prompt containing garden layout

→

Paste into ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude

→

Receive detailed analysis and suggestions

What AI Can Help You Evaluate

Garden layout efficiency and space usage
Safety and accessibility of paths and areas
Possible design improvements
Material planning and maintenance considerations
Rough cost estimate before you commit to a build
Alternative layout ideas for your backyard

3. Visualize your finished plan

A top-down plan tells you where things go, but not how the garden will feel. Garden Planner builds a prompt from your layout that any AI image tool can turn into a picture, so you can see the garden before you build it - and show it to the people you are building it with.

Ready-made visual styles:

Realistic – a photorealistic render of the finished garden
Landscape Architect Sketch – a hand-drawn presentation drawing
Cozy Lifestyle – a warm, lived-in scene with atmosphere
Modern Clean – a minimalist contemporary concept
Luxury Garden – a high-end landscaping showcase
Top-Down Game Style – a stylized illustrated plan view

Behind all three tools sits the same idea: Garden Planner generates a structured description of your layout in JSON format and embeds it into a ready-to-use prompt. You copy it and paste it wherever you like. No accounts, no uploads - just copy & paste.

Your data stays fully under your control. Garden Planner does not send your garden design to any external AI service. The work is done only by the AI tool you choose yourself.

Free Garden Planner – Design Your Dream Garden Online