I built this free garden planner for myself, because I couldn’t find one that did what I actually needed.

I was in the middle of renovating my own garden and kept hitting the same wall. Every garden layout tool I found was either expensive software I’d use once and never touch again, or something I’d have to pay for before I could even tell whether it did what I wanted. More than once I imagined buying a program, only to discover after paying that it couldn’t do the one thing I needed: show me my space in the correct proportions.

That detail mattered more than I expected. I was about to order a gazebo, completely confident it would cover the seating area I had in mind. When I drew my garden to scale in this planner and dropped the gazebo in, I could see immediately that it would have left half the table out in the sun. That one moment saved me from an expensive flop and a gazebo I’d have been stuck with.

So I finished building the tool properly, and now it’s free for anyone who wants to plan their yard, patio or garden the same way. No download, no account, no payment — just open it and start.

How to use the free garden planner

It’s designed to be simple enough to use on your first try:

Step 1: Enter the size of your garden

Type in the width and length of your space in feet or metres. The planner draws your yard to scale, so everything you add after that is sized correctly against your real dimensions. This is the part most free tools skip, and it’s the whole reason the planner works.

Step 2: Choose your ground or flooring

Pick what your space sits on: grass, a wooden deck, or solid flooring. If you choose flooring, you can set the colour to match what you’re planning — pale stone, terracotta, grey paving, or anything in between. There are also concrete, gravel and sand options for paths and play areas.

Step 3: Add your furniture and features

Tap any item to drop it onto your plan, then drag it where you want it. You can add:

• Dining tables, round tables, sofas, loveseats, armchairs, benches and sun loungers
• A fire pit, BBQ grill, pizza oven, bar and a full outdoor kitchen
• Shade: umbrellas, a pergola, gazebo, shade sail or awning
• Plant beds, raised beds, trees, shrubs, hedges, flower borders and potted plants
• Pools, plunge pools, hot tubs, ponds and fountains
• Sheds, greenhouses, pathways, steps, outdoor rugs and play areas

Step 4: Move everything around until it works

Drag items to reposition, rotate them, resize them to your exact measurements, and rearrange as many times as you like. Because it’s all drawn to scale, you’ll know straight away whether that sofa actually fits along the wall or whether your shade really covers the table.

Step 5: Download your plan

When you’re happy, download your garden layout as a clean PDF or image you can print, save, or take to the store.

A free patio furniture planner too

If you’re planning a patio rather than a full garden, this works as a patio furniture planner just as well. Set your patio dimensions, choose deck or flooring as your ground (with a colour to match your paving or boards), and arrange your patio furniture — dining set, lounge seating, a fire pit, planters and shade — exactly where it will go. Because everything is shown to scale, you can finally answer the question every patio project runs into: will this furniture actually fit, with room to walk around it? It’s the same idea as a paid patio planner or patio design tool, except this one is genuinely free.

Plan a patio, backyard or full garden

People use this as a backyard design tool, a free landscape design tool for arranging the hard features of a yard, a deck planner for laying out furniture on a new deck, and a garden layout planner for the whole space. Whether you’re starting from bare grass or rearranging an existing setup, the workflow is the same: enter your size, pick your ground, add your pieces, drag them into place.

Why planning to scale matters

It’s easy to eyeball a garden and assume everything will fit. It almost never does. A six-seater dining set needs far more clearance than people expect once you add chairs that pull out. A gazebo or pergola covers a specific footprint — and as I learned the hard way, it’s rarely the footprint you picture in your head. Seeing it all drawn against your real dimensions before you buy anything is the difference between a garden that flows and one that feels cramped or half-finished.

That’s the entire point of this planner: see it to scale first, buy second.

Frequently asked questions

Is this garden planner really free?

Yes. The free garden planner is completely free to use, with no sign-up, no download and no payment. Plan your space, rearrange it as many times as you like, and download your layout at no cost.

Do I need to download or install anything?

No. It runs right in your browser on the page. There’s nothing to install, so you can start planning your garden in seconds on a phone, tablet or computer.

Can I use it as a patio furniture planner?

Absolutely. Set your patio size, choose deck or flooring as your ground, and arrange your patio furniture, fire pit, shade and planters to scale. It works as a patio furniture planner, a patio design tool and a deck planner all in one.

Does it draw my garden to scale?

Yes — and this is the most important part. You enter your real width and length, and every item you add is sized correctly against those dimensions. That’s how you can tell, before you buy, whether your furniture, gazebo or shade will actually fit and cover the area you need.

What can I add to my garden layout?

Tables, sofas, chairs, benches and loungers; a fire pit, BBQ, pizza oven and outdoor kitchen; umbrellas, pergolas, gazebos and shade sails; plant beds, raised beds, trees, hedges and borders; pools, hot tubs and ponds; plus sheds, greenhouses, paths and play areas.

Can I choose grass, deck or flooring?

Yes. You can set your ground to grass, a wooden deck, or solid flooring — and if you pick flooring you can choose its colour to match your real paving or boards. There are also concrete, gravel and sand options.

Can I save or print my garden plan?

Yes. When your layout is ready, download it as a PDF or image. You can print it, save it for reference, or bring it with you when you shop for furniture and plants.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes. The planner works on phones, tablets and computers, so you can sketch out ideas from the garden itself and refine them later on a bigger screen.

Can I use it to plan a backyard or just a small patio?

Both. Enter any dimensions you like, from a small balcony or patio up to a large backyard or full garden. The planner scales to fit whatever space you’re working with.