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What "free" usually means in this space
In 2026, software marketed as free warehouse design software is almost always one of three things:
- A trial that expires after 7 to 30 days, after which you pay or lose the work.
- A free tier that can't finish the job — one file, a watermark across the screen, a save button that opens the pricing page — so the real work happens on the paid plan.
- A demo you can't open until a salesperson has called you.
We build RackCity AI, so the test is applied to it first and hardest. Its Free plan does the design job in full — the building, the racking, the pallet count, an AI draft, a saved project — with no expiry; what it charges for is getting the finished drawing out to someone else. That line is stated in its own card, and every other tool gets the same treatment: what the free tier does, and exactly where it starts charging. Nothing here needs a sales call.
Quick comparison table
| Tool | Genuinely free? | Pallet rack-aware? | Browser-based? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RackCity AI | Yes — layout + count, no expiry (exports paid) | Yes | Yes | Pallet rack layout + counts |
| SketchUp Free | Yes | No | Yes | 3D concept models |
| AutoCAD Web (Free) | Viewing only | No | Yes | Viewing .dwg files |
| SweetHome 3D | Yes (open source) | No | Desktop | Small floors, no account |
| Floorplanner | 1 project, watermarked | No | Yes | One quick 2D plan |
| Lucidchart Free | 3 docs, 60 objects | No | Yes | Slide-deck diagrams |
RackCity AI
The only racking-aware tool on the list. The whole design job is free; sending the drawing out is paid.
RackCity AI is browser-based pallet rack layout software. On the Free plan you draw the building — or upload its flyer and have it read — place racking zones, and watch the pallet-position count update as you change beams, levels and aisles. You get a limited number of AI layout requests (describe the warehouse in a sentence, or hand Forky AI the flyer) and one saved cloud project. That doesn't expire.
It is the only tool here that knows what pallet racking is: it places back-to-back pairs with a flue between them, buries columns in that flue, sizes the aisle to the truck, counts positions per bay, and works in feet or metres with a real rack catalog behind every dropdown. Every other entry on this page is a drawing app you would be fighting to make into a racking tool.
Where it starts charging: the exports. The floor plan PDF, the elevation drawings, the bill of materials and the Pricing Summary are on Solo ($29 a month, watermarked) and Warehouse Pro ($99, clean), along with more projects, versions and AI requests. If the job is "how many pallets fit here and what would it look like?", the Free plan finishes it, and you can keep coming back to it. If the job is "send the customer a drawing", that's the paid one.
Pros
- Built for pallet racking; counts positions for you
- AI drafts a layout from a sentence or a flyer
- Imperial and metric, with a catalog for each
- No install, no card, no expiry
Cons
- Exporting the drawings and the quote is paid ($29/mo)
- One saved project on Free
- All six rack systems are included, and mezzanine footprints, stairs, staging, pick-and-pack and cold rooms are drawn as floor areas; pallet flow, mobile racking and pallet rack on a mezzanine deck are not supported
- 2D floor plan; the 3D bay view requires a paid plan, and a stamped engineering set still comes from an engineer
SketchUp Free
Good free 3D modelling. No idea what a warehouse is.
SketchUp Free is the no-cost, browser-only version of SketchUp, with basic 3D modelling and cloud storage under a Trimble account. For a rough concept model of a building — a massing study for a stakeholder, a walkthrough to show a client the feel of a mezzanine — it does the job, and it stays free.
What it can't do is anything racking-specific. It won't place rows, size an aisle or count a position; you draw every frame as a box and count by hand. No .dwg export and no extensions on the free tier, and large models slow down. It is a modelling tool you can use for a warehouse, not warehouse software.
AutoCAD Web (Free Tier)
Free to view and mark up .dwg files. Not free to draw one.
Autodesk's free web tier opens .dwg files in the browser for viewing, commenting and light edits. If your part in a project is marking up the drawings the engineer produces, that is enough, and it saves a $2,000-a-year seat that would open a file twice a month.
It is not a tool for designing a warehouse. The drafting commands you would need are on the paid subscription. The brand on the tab does not change what the free tier does.
SweetHome 3D
Open-source 2D/3D layout software. Built for houses; the geometry doesn't care.
SweetHome 3D is open source, runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, and is free with nothing attached — no account, no tier. It was written for residential interiors (hence the name), but the engine underneath — draw walls to scale, place objects, view in 2D or 3D — will draw a warehouse if you are patient.
You will import or draw the rack shapes yourself, count positions by eye, and put up with a Java desktop interface from another decade. In return it is free forever and the files are yours. For a first pass on a small floor with no software budget at all, it is a fair choice.
Floorplanner
One free project, watermarked. Enough to try, not enough to run on.
Floorplanner is a browser-based 2D/3D floor-plan tool with a friendly interface and a short learning curve. The free tier gives you one project and low-resolution export. It is aimed at real estate and homes, and small operators do use it for a quick warehouse mock-up.
The limits arrive fast: one project, watermarked and low-resolution output, and anything unmarked is paid. Useful for a single throwaway sketch; not a workflow.
Lucidchart Free
Three documents, sixty objects each. An org chart, not a warehouse.
Lucidchart is a browser diagramming app with a free tier that includes basic floor-plan and warehouse shape libraries. For a zoning diagram in a leadership deck — receiving here, storage there, shipping at the far end — it is quick and looks tidy.
The free tier's limits are the problem: three documents and sixty objects per document. A real rack layout passes sixty objects in five minutes. Treat it as a slide tool.
Which one should you actually use?
If the job is to lay out pallet racking and know how many positions you have, the list collapses to one: RackCity AI is the only entry that knows what a rack is, and its Free plan covers the whole design job. When you need the drawing in a customer's hands, that is $29 a month — the one thing on this page we'd rather you knew before you started than after.
If you don't need racking logic — an outline of the building for a presentation, a rough 3D massing — SketchUp Free in the browser or SweetHome 3D on the desktop will do it, free, for as long as you like.
Whatever "free" tool turns up in your search, try this: lay out one 50,000 sq ft warehouse with a few hundred pallet positions and try to get a result out the other end. Note where you were asked to pay, and whether the tool ever told you how many pallets you had. That is the whole review.
If you want the rows placed, the columns buried and the positions counted without teaching a drawing app what a flue space is, this is the one. If you would rather do the arithmetic by hand and pay nothing ever, SketchUp Free is the next-best browser option.
Free warehouse design software FAQ
Is there free warehouse layout software that counts pallet positions?
RackCity AI's Free plan does: you draw the building and the racking in the browser and the pallet-position count is live, with a limited number of AI layout requests and one saved project. Exports (the floor plan PDF, the bill of materials, the Pricing Summary) are on the paid plans. No other free tool on this list knows what a pallet rack is.
What is the best free 3D warehouse design software?
SketchUp Free, for a concept model or a walkthrough for a presentation. It draws no racking for you and counts nothing, so it is a drawing tool, not a planning tool. SweetHome 3D is the open-source alternative if you want desktop software with no account.
Can I use AutoCAD for free to design a warehouse?
Only to view and lightly mark up existing .dwg files. AutoCAD Web's free tier does not include the drafting commands you would need to lay out a warehouse; the paid seat is around $2,000 a year. It is a good free viewer for the drawings someone else made.