Just like Floorplanner, HomeByMe is an online 3D home design tool. Based on the content of its homepage, the focus appears to be on photorealistic high resolution images of highly detailed 3D plans, and those on display sure are impressive. But is the wow factor merely skin deep or is this one of the best interior design software tools around? Let’s find out.

HomeByMe: Pricing and plans

• An impressive amount of choices, but it all starts with the selection of a subscription plan - even if you opt for the free one. Packs are like add-ons to grant you additional features, and if you want the HomeByMe team to work on your project for you, then explore their Services section

HomeByMe offers a vast array of tiers, which are divided into three categories: ‘Plans', ‘Packs’ and ‘Services’. The most easily recognisable ones are ‘Plans’, which includes the ‘Starter Pack’, ‘Premium’ and ‘Unlimited’.

The former is the most accessible, as it’s free, and is a great way to explore HomeByMe and see if it suits your needs. With it, you can create up to 5 projects, produce 3 high resolution images, 9 standard resolution ones and access to a vast catalog of 3D objects, among others.

Premium and Unlimited and subscription models. You can pay monthly or get the whole year upfront for a 15% discount. Premium would cost you $32 per month, or $329 for the year, gives you unlimited projects, and HD images, and offers you free packs for 4K and 360˚ images.

Unlimited adds unlimited 4K images to the bundle, allows you to remove the HomeByMe logo, gives your a pack of 360˚ images, lets you prevent your projects from being copied, and allows you to keep your models private, for $72 a month, or $704 for the year.

But what are ‘Packs’? Think of them as add-ons. You could for instance buy extra projects for your free Starter Pack (2 new projects would cost you $5.49), or 10 additional HD images (also for $5.49). You’ll also find video Packs, helping you turn your projects into virtual tours. 10 seconds of 720P video would cost you $1.10, or $16.50 if you opt for a 4K version. And as is the case for all these packs, the more you pay in one go, the cheaper each chosen item will get.

And as for ‘Services', you can commission HomeByMe to draw your plans for you (this service starts at $16.49), or get them to decorate your room on your behalf, starting at $75.90.

That’s a lot of options to be sure.

• Score: 4/5

HomeByMe: Getting started

• HomeByMe comes with a good number of tutorials, but the interface is so well designed, you shouldn’t need them to start experimenting with all available features, and you’ll start building your project in no time

Once you’ve created an account (which is free of course), you’ll be taken to your home page, where all your projects and custom furniture will be displayed. If you’ve just started, there won’t be much for you to see, although the ‘Get Started’ menu does offer a good number of video tutorials which go well beyond the basics.

To be honest, ‘the basics’ don’t really need a tutorial, as it’s incredibly easy to understand what you need to do, and how to do it, as you experiment with the service’s features, by building your first project.

The interface is pretty minimalist, with 6 menus top left of the window, and undo, share and save buttons top right. The former are where your building tools are located. Everything from adding a wall, an entire room, decorating your house and furnishing it, taking screenshots, adding annotations, and checking your measurements, it’s all done from there.

Adding anything to your project is pretty much done through clicking and dragging, and you’ll find that everything is fully customisable: you can alter the length of a wall, change the distance between it and others, break it up, extend it, etc. It is all pretty simple. Not quite as intuitive as Floorplanner, but pretty close, and you’ll be recreating your room, or even your entire dwelling virtually, in next to no time.

HomeByMe: Furnishings

• The amount of choice you have to furnish and customise your project is most impressive, from dozens of doors, to hundreds of brand names, you can truly decorate your project in a totally unique way

Adding walls is one thing, but what about doors, windows, and the rest? You’ll find the level of choice available is quite impressive. You can choose from dozens of doors, both internal and external, windows, staircases, garage doors, and so. Much more. All are available through the ‘Build’ submenu.

Everything is organised by category, and there’s a handy search field to quickly find what you’re looking for. The ‘Decorate’ sections lets you paint your walls and choose your flooring, and forget about generic colours: you have hundreds of styles to choose from.

As for furnishings, the sky’s pretty much the limit: thousands of photorealistic items are available, including the ability to browse through hundreds of brand names, although some only have a single item available. Still, the amount of choice and versatility is impressive.

Once you’ve found the item you’re after, click on it to select it, and it’ll appear in your project. Drag it around and rotate it until you’re happy with its position - you can even alter its elevation, although this is easier to do in 3D view. Some objects can be resized, so they fit your space exactly, although many cannot.

• Score: 4.5/5

HomeByMe: Views

• You have three views to help you design and experience your project. All easy to switch between, and each have their own strengths and weaknesses

By default you’ll be working in 2D view, as if you’re drawing a floor plan. This is the only view you have to alter your walls: we couldn’t find a way to do that in 3D, but in 2D, it’s a simple matter of selecting your wall and dragging it. The same goes for windows and doors, as 2D lets you resize them right on the plan itself.

When working in 3D, you have some customisation options, but this has to be done through the edit button and altering the numerical values shown there - not as intuitive. Furniture and decoration doesn’t have such limitations and are easily done in either view.

The 3D view is very smooth and easy to operate. You have a figure you can move around. When you rotate your plan, everything will turn with that figure as its centre. You can zoom in and out of course, and if a wall or some furniture happens to get in the way, it’s automatically made transparent so it doesn’t obstruct your view.

Finally there’s ‘Walkthrough’. Having selected it, you can choose your preferred height, and then navigate through your project as if you were actually there… well almost, unless you’re able to walk through walls in the real world! Still it’s a fun way to experience your project as you’re building it.

• Score: 4/5

HomeByMe: Sharing

• A sharing option that doesn’t work, and unlimited shots which are no longer unlimited. That’s the downside. The results of these photorealistic shots are truly stunning, and if you’re on a budget, you’re able to take as many low res screenshots of your project as you wish

Being able to easily work on a project is crucially important for such a service, of course, but how about sharing your work with others? And what’s the deal with those photorealistic shots?

Let’s look at what’s available. While working on your project, you’ll find a Share button, right next to the Save icon. If offers to share your 3D project through social media or email. Sadly, we couldn’t get it to work. Everything we tried, returned an error that the page in question couldn’t be found. We even tested it on a project we’d created years ago - same difference.

So, not a good start.

What’s better are those realistic photos you can take. You have various options. All realistic shots now have to be paid for. There was a time when the ‘Starter Plan’ allowed you to take as many ‘standard definition’ (640x360) shots are you wanted, but that is sadly no longer the case. Just like the ‘high definition’ (1920x1080) ones, you have a set number before you need to purchase additional ones. Crazily enough, even though these shots are no longer free, they still take a huge amount of time to be processed - way longer than waiting for those high def ones. Despite this, the results of these shots are truly stunning, and it’s no surprise they’re prominently advertised on HomeByMe’s main page.

Other media options include being able to take a 360˚ photo, a top view of your project, or a photo realistic video. The quality for all of them is the same as the high definition photos. Obviously, you get what you pay for. If you’re on a tight budget, you have ‘Screenshot’ which does exactly what it says on the tin: takes a screenshot of what you currently see. It’s definitely not ‘photorealistic’ - it’s exactly as you see your project as you’re working on it - but at least it’s better than nothing.

• Score: 3/5

Should I buy HomeByMe?

Buy it if...

If you’re sold on the photorealistic renders, then getting a ‘Premium’ subscription is a must, unless you feel the various packs would offer you better value for money for what you’re after.

Don't buy it if...

If you feel you have more than enough options with the free Starter Plan, which offers you pretty much everything you need to start designing your project with ease, with a wealth of options and customisations. Why pay?

For more design apps, we've tested out the best landscape design software and the best architecture software.

Floorplanner’s ‘About’ page states, it was “created in 2007 by three architects and a civil engineer who strongly felt that 3D CAD software could be simpler, lighter, and more accessible”.

Have they achieved their goal? I tested out one of the best architecture software tools out there to see how it measures up.

• Interested in Floorplanner? Check out the website here

Floorplanner: Pricing and plans

• A broad range of plans, from individuals to businesses, with free options, and a side order or credits, so you can buy the feature you occasionally need, only when you need it

The accessibility is there front and centre, as Floorplanner's ‘Basic’ plan is actually free. Of course there are limitations, as you’d imagine: your exports are limited to 960x540 pixels, will be watermarked, you’ll have to endure a 10 minute cooldown between exports, and are limited to 3 floors per project, with a maximum of 5 projects at any one time.

‘Plus’ will cost you $5 a month, or $60 for the year (no discounts for paying annually upfront). You’re also given 4 credits a month or 45 for the year (which means it might be actually better to pay monthly as you end up getting slightly more free credits that way). That level removes the timelock on exports, and allows you to build a library of your favourite objects.

The top plan is called ‘Pro’. $29 a month, or $348 for the year, brings custom templates, custom room presets, and premium projects. You also get 25 credits a month, or 303 for the year.

There’s also a series of plans for businesses, from $59 to $599 per month. As you'd expect, the more you pay, the more features you get. The cheapest allows up to 10 users; there are no such restrictions for the most expensive tier. You can bring in custom 3D assets, direct API access, and more.

Whichever plan you choose, be aware you may also end up having to purchase additional credits. These allow you to perform actions which aren’t normally available with your chosen plan. Even ‘Basic' accounts can get credits, to export your project in higher quality, or create a 3D tour, for instance.

The more you pay per month, the cheaper these credits get: one credit will cost you $1.58 on ‘Basic’, but just $0.79 for ‘Enterprise’, the most expensive business plan. This feels like a good balance between features and subscriptions, as it doesn’t force you to pay for a feature each month which you might only use occasionally.

• Score: 5/5

Floorplanner: Getting started

• As per the designers’ intentions, starting a new project couldn’t be simpler. The wizard section is surprisingly customizable, and even adds furniture for some select room types

Now a free account is great to get going, but what’s even better is not having to install any software on your computer. That’s right: Floorplanner is all done through your web browser. And while some restrict their services to Google Chrome, Floorplanner does not believe in such segregation. We didn't test it on all of them, but Firefox, Opera, and Safari all worked fine.

In order to use the service, you need to create an account. You can use your Google login or Apple ID for instance, or simply give them your email address, invent yet another new password, agree to their terms and conditions, and you're good to go.

You're given three options when creating a new project, either use Floorplanner's Wizard, upload an existing 2D plan already in your possession (the service supports various formats including JPEG, PNG, and PDF), or start with a blank slate.

The Wizard is a great way to get started, and don’t forget, once you're through that process, you can fully customise the results afterwards. It offers you 18 different variations on the initial shape of your room, followed by a the ability to fully customise the dimensions. To make it easier, the measurements are colour-coded, matching the arrows on the plan. Just type in new values in the right field to make your changes. This process could've been easier, by allowing the user to manually drag the walls on the plan itself, but that’s a feature that will come into its own later.

The Wizard’s third and final step is to add furniture. You select the type of room this is, from a dining room, to a kitchen, to a patio, and more, and based on that selection, a series of furniture templates are presented to you. Only Living Room, Bedroom, and Bathroom offer you choices which are added automatically based on your room’s dimensions; you’ll have to furnish the others from scratch.

• Score: 4.5/5

Floorplanner: Refinement

• The amount of customization is quite remarkable, from changing the structure, to adding windows, doors, stairs, and so on, to placing any furniture you'd like. Not only is there a wealth of choice, but everything is as easy as clicking and dragging

Your customization options are extensive. Virtually everything on your floor plan can be altered with just a handful of clicks. Mouse over a wall, and it turns blue. You can then click and drag it to increase or decrease your room’s surface area. Move it to a junction point, to make a large blue dot appear. Drag that dot to alter the shape of the two connected walls, even creating angled walls in the process should you want to. Click on a wall to bring up a menu from which you can join a new wall to it, create a junction point, turn a straight wall into a curved one, or delete it. As you make any changes, the dimensions are altered in real time, helping you be as precise as you can with little to no effort. It’s hard to think how it could be simpler.

Need to add windows, doors, stairs, fireplaces, ceiling fans, escalators, balconies, electrical points, gas connections, and more besides? Floorplanner has numerous examples for each, all of which can be customised with specific width and height, right down to the centimetre (or inch).

And what would a room be without furniture? Well, Floorplanner has got you covered, from sofas, to plants, to office desks, to computers, to fridges, and more. Everything is sorted by category. You can use the search field to find what you’re after, narrowing down your results by colour or even brand.

• Score: 5/5

Floorplanner: Presentation

• Your options don’t stop when assembling your project: you have numerous changeable parameters to alter how your work is displayed, from 2D to 3D views, and export options

By default, you’ll be working on a top down 2D view, although you have various options as to its look. You have a basic black and white view, one where the floor is coloured beige, and one which reflects your chosen furnishing’s actual colours. You have additional preferences, such as a blueprint mode, the ability to view and move around cameras for 3D exploration, switch on lights, along with other display options.

And then there’s 3D. This is where those cameras come in handy, as you view your design through them. You can pan and zoom, rotate around your project, all by clicking and dragging. You’re also able to select items, move them around, and even alter their elevation (something you can do in 2D but can’t really appreciate the results of in that view). To add an extra touch of realism, you get to choose the outside view you can see through the windows, from a digital field, to skyscrapers, villages, or even beaches. Take your pick and enjoy.

And how do you share your work with others? By making 2D and 3D renders of your build, although as mentioned above, free accounts can only do this once every 10 minutes - unless you spend credits to speed up the process of course. One thing worth noting if such renders are important for your work: the more you pay monthly, or the more credits you spend the higher their resolution, up to 8K.

• Score: 5/5

Should I buy Floorplanner?

Buy it if...

You’re looking for an incredibly easy to use CAD design tool with a wealth of options, and a plethora of features which are so well crafted, you’ll be creating virtual buildings in no time.

Don't buy it if...

The free plan is so full featured, you’ll wonder why you need to pay for more, especially if you’re only designing for fun.

For more essential tools, we tested and reviewed the best landscape design software and the best interior design software.

Many backup software suites emerge from software houses that handle loads of different tools and functionality, but that’s not the case with Genie9 – it’s built by a London-based team of specialists.

And when the developers count big names like Dell, Acer, and Canon among their partners, it immediately sounds impressive.

Genie9 is available in Home and Business versions, with various backup products in those two categories. One such backup suite is Genie Backup Manager. We've put the software through its paces with small business use in mind, and this is what we think.

We've also listed the best cloud backup services right now.

Plans & pricing

Head into the Home category, and you’ll find Genie Backup Home 9.0, which delivers secure offline and online backups for a one-time $50 payment per PC, with price rises deployed if you want to use those apps on up to five devices. Genie Timeline Home is a cheaper alternative, at $40, but it doesn’t include features like encryption or cloud backup.

Business users have more options. Genie Timeline Pro is a more robust local backup tool that costs $60, and Genie Backup Manager Pro (the software we’ve reviewed primarily) adds features and adds $10 to the price.

If you’re preserving and protecting data in a larger organisation, Genie Timeline Server costs $250 for each device, and Backup Manager Server costs $500 per device with SQL or $250 without.

Those are moderate prices – certainly more affordable than a rival like EaseUS ToDo – and we’re pleased to see that licences aren’t further divided into annual plans. Sadly, though, there’s no free version.

We’re also a little disappointed that Genie Backup Manager Pro peaks at five licences unless you buy multiple apps. It can get expensive if you need to manage lots of PCs in a business.

Features

Genie is designed to run in the background, backing up the contents of your entire system or whatever file types you choose. Users can choose from Full, Incremental, and Mirror backup tiers to manage exactly how Genie offloads.

As with many apps, you’ll have to follow a Wizard-style dialog to create a new backup and, handily, a summary of the job is always visible and changes as you alter settings.

You can backup local files and folders, entire operating systems and data from individual apps using Genie, and it has a range of plugins that increase support for specific pieces of software. Once you’ve picked your backup data, it can be sent to local destinations, cloud servers, removable devices or remote FTP-based locations, like NAS drives.

Compression is available for backups, AES or password protection can be used to protect files, and the app can send notifications, shut down your PC once the backup has completed or run commands before or after the backup has completed.

It’s a solid slate of features that doesn’t stand out, but we must highlight Genie’s scheduling tool – it’s one of the most comprehensive we’ve ever seen and gives you a vast amount of control over when you back up data.

A similar Wizard is used to restore your backups, too, and elsewhere Genie offers customers some basic formatting and rewriting options, although you’ll find more additional tools from other backup apps.

Users can adjust resource use during backups, use a laptop-specific battery-saving mode, and use purging, file filtering and multiple compression levels to save space.

For relatively basic home and business use it’s a fine slate of features, although you’ll have to upgrade to one of the server versions if you need SQL or Exchange support.

Interface & use

Genie’s interface is fine – easy to navigate and use, with a straightforward design. In the left-hand panel, you can run backups, update the app, and change settings. Large buttons in the middle of the Home screen invite you to back up, restore, or deploy disaster recovery settings.

Create a backup, and you’ll be provided with a step-by-step process and a summary on the left-hand side. The central window is used to choose files and destinations and modify settings.

It’s similar to many other backup tools, but there’s no denying that it looks a bit dated, with its underwhelming colors and archaic fonts. It gets the job done, but that’s about it.

That’s about all we can say about Genie’s speeds, too.

We tested our latest slate of backup apps with a 42GB document folder, a 2.5GB spreadsheet folder, a 162GB folder of media and an 82GB file that mixes all of those file types. We backed them up to three different SSDs to weed out any inconsistency.

Genie’s best result came with a 6 minutes and 12 seconds average when backing up Excel files but, even then, it was a mid-table output. Its document time of 34 minutes and 55 seconds was mediocre, and it took over an hour to preserve our Media and Mixed folders – times that were among the worst in our tests.

This is clearly an app better suited to spreadsheets and documents than media or mixed groups of files, but it’s never particularly quick.

Support

Technical support options for Genie’s products are not particularly extensive – the key contact method is a form on the firm’s website.

There’s a Wiki with plenty of advice, but that’s about it. For mission-critical backup, looking into other apps that offer more in this area would be wise.

The competition

Genie9 is up against a solid lineup of competitors. Chief amongst them is Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office. Acronis offers backup services for phones, laptops, cloud accounts, and the ability to package all these devices together for a synchronized, full-disaster recovery solution. You can also manually select files for backup, or create hourly, daily, or weekly upload schedules. There are plenty of great security features, too, including AES-256 encryption. 

EaseUS ToDo Backup is another great backup platform, especially for first-time users. Not only do you get full Windows and macOS support, users can choose from free, paid, and lifetime subscription tiers. The interface is quick and easy to navigate, and there are plenty of security features and excellent customer support to complete your backup experience.

Verdict

Genie9’s apps offer decent core backup services, and if you’re buying for home or small business use – up to and including single-server backups – then its pricing makes sense.

However, if you need to back up loads of PCs, laptops, or servers, then Genie9’s tools can become expensive, and the support options could be broader.

It’s well-suited to smaller and more conventional jobs, but power users should look elsewhere.

Remote desktop software provides an instant gateway between you, your location, and whatever computers you want access to in a pinch -- whether there’s a file or two you want to pull up remotely, or perhaps you’re quarantining at home and need access to your work PC to kickstart your daily workflow. 

Whatever the reason, you’ll want to use remote desktop software that authentically replicates the user experience of whichever devices you want to access on-th-ego. You’ll also want to make sure that the software you choose offers security features like end-to-end encryption, two-factor authentication when logging in, as well as 24/7 support.

• Interested in IDrive Remote Desktop? Check out the website here

One such remote access tool is Remote Desktop, a Windows-only desktop client offered through IDrive. We spent some time with this great software and have plenty to say about our own experience. 

• Also check out our roundup of the best help desk software

Features and user experience

It’s clear right off the bat that Remote Desktop aims to be one of the most intuitive remote desktop clients on the market. The key services on offer are bountifull, so it’s worth it to start with the basics. 

Like many competitive remote desktop clients, Remote Desktop relies on two major downloads to kick things off - a remote desktop agent to be installed on the computer(s) you wish to access, and a remote desktop viewer for the devices you’ll be using to tap into your remote PC. Do keep in mind that the desktop agent is only compatible with Windows-based computers. That being said, you can use both PCs and Mac computers to pull up your remote PC. 

Once your remote session goes live, you’ll have plenty of tools at your disposal. For starters, you’ll be able to quickly transfer files between the agent-hosted device and whatever hardware you’re using for remote viewing. This can be anything from images and documents to music and video files. Additionally, you’ll also be able to launch software that’s installed on your agent PC from your viewing device, even if some of your agent computer’s programs are Windows-only applications.

On top of that, let’s say you have accessories like printers, video-capture devices, and specific drivers installed on your agent PC. Yes, you guessed it - you’ll be able to tap into these ancillary devices from your remote viewer, too.

If you plan on using your Remote Desktop membership for business purposes, whether for individual needs or team-based workflows, you’ll be glad to know that the remote agent allows you to set up multiple users for one account. Once you’ve added one or more additional users, the agent software lets you choose what devices your teammates can tap into. And with the built-in activity log, you’ll be able to see when your companions are logged in and what applications they’re using on the agent-PC. 

Privacy and security

On top of its feature-rich palette of access tools, we love that Remote Desktop prioritizes safety for your every remote session, for both the agent and view-only computer(s). Protection starts the moment you log into the agent PC from a new device, where you’ll be required to authorize the remote-viewer as a trusted device for your Remote Desktop subscription. Only authorized computers will be able to interact with the host PC. 

Furthermore, two-factor authentication (2FA) adds another buffer between you and the host PC by requiring you to input your email address to log into your Remote Desktop account. Once a connection is established, rest assured that Remote Desktop cares just as much about the hardware-handshake. 

Employing end-to-end encryption, each session is TLS and 256-bit AES encrypted. And when it comes to working with data you want to keep under lock-and-key, you’ll be able to turn on a Lock Screen from your view-device, keeping your most vital info safe and secure.

Plans and pricing

Remote Desktop subscriptions run $9.95/month. While you can add as many agent-computers as you want to your account, do be aware that you’ll need to pay the $9.95 for every PC you want remote access to. 

If you want to try out Remote Desktop, the company offers a seven-day free trial that grants you access to every tool you would normally be able to use under a fully-paid subscription.

The competition

There are numerous remote software packages available, giving Remote Desktop a decent amount of competition. RemotePC is one of our favorite remote desktop suites, offering customizable pricing options that cover at least two computers. RemotePC operates smoothly, offers multiple ways to connect with your hardware (including a mobile app), as well as top-notch encryption and security.

Zoho Assist is another big name in the remote desktop marketplace, offering some of the most competitive prices around, a grand suite of features, solid performance, and plenty of other add-ons. The only downfall is that the standard plan doesn’t come with mobile app support. That being said, Remote Desktop is browser-based only, with not even a paywall to break to get you into a mobile app.

Final verdict

In our opinion, Remote Desktop provides all the necessities for a well-balanced remote desktop suite experience. While it’s a bit limiting to only be able to install the agent on Windows machines, being able to access your Windows content through Mac and Linux hardware (and as smoothly as Remote Desktop does so) helps to soften the blow.

If we had to zero in on a target group, we would recommend Remote Desktop to the Windows users of the world that have never used a remote-access platform before. It gives you everything you need (and more) to get a taste for what remote agents can do. Once you’ve been using it for a while though, you may have the itch to switch to another remote package with more pricing options and multi-OS support.

• We've also featured the best remote desktop software