Render a House vs Archome AI (2026): Price per Render, Inputs, Video
· 9 min read
By Ömer Koç, Architect · Founder of Archome AI
Short answer: Render a House and Archome AI both turn a sketch, photo or CAD view into a photoreal render in a browser. Render a House currently has the only detailed page comparing the two — this is our side of it, with today's numbers. Archome AI is a 14-tool account (sketch, interior, exterior, floor plan, video, 3D export) from $0.29 a render on the Lite plan, with a free SketchUp plugin and no watermark on any tier. Pick whichever fits your workflow after checking both pricing pages yourself; the table and the corrections below are a starting point, not the final word.
| Render a House | Archome AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Input | Not independently verified this session — see renderahouse.com | Sketch, photo, CAD/SketchUp viewport, floor plan |
| Runs where | Browser (per their own site) | Browser, plus free SketchUp, Rhino and 3ds Max plugins |
| Free offer | Check renderahouse.com for the current terms | 100 credits once, no card — 3 Fast renders, personal use, no watermark |
| Price | Check renderahouse.com — their pricing page did not load from this session | Lite $29/mo (1,000 credits) or one-time packs from $15/500 credits |
| Per-render $ | Check vendor pricing | $0.29 on the Lite plan (Fast engine) |
| Video | Not confirmed this session | Yes, from the Lite plan (up to 10/mo); not on the free tier |
| 3D export | Not confirmed this session | Yes — downloadable GLB via the to-3D tool |
| SketchUp plugin | Not confirmed this session | Free; sends the active viewport with one click, no export step |
Archome AI is our product. We include it here and say plainly where checking Render a House's own page first is the right move. Every Archome figure above is read from our own pricing page and product code, 5 November 2026. We could not load renderahouse.com from this working session to quote a verified number for their columns, so we marked those cells accordingly rather than guess — go to their pricing page directly for the current figures.
Where Render a House is the better choice
If you already have a workflow built around Render a House's interface and it is doing the job, a comparison page from a competitor is not a reason to migrate. If its free daily allowance, however it is currently structured, happens to match your pace better than a one-time credit balance, that is a real and legitimate reason to stay. We have not run a hands-on test of their current product from this session, so we are not going to pretend to rank image quality or speed against our own tool here — run the same sketch or photo through both and judge that part yourself.
Why this page exists
Most "X alternative" pages get written by the company being searched for. This one is the other way round: Render a House wrote the detailed comparison of us, we did not write one of them first. That is worth saying plainly, because it means the page you are most likely to land on when you search "Archome AI alternatives" or "is Archome AI free" was built by a competitor, not by us, and a competitor's page about your product is not obligated to stay current once your product changes. This page is our answer: our own numbers, read from our own pricing page and code, and a straight note on the one place their page is behind.
What a 14-tool account covers that a single render tool does not
Archome AI and Render a House both solve the same first problem — turn one input into a photoreal image — but a real project is rarely just one render. The same Archome account also covers:
- Sketch to render: a hand sketch, CAD line export or SketchUp viewport becomes a photoreal image with the same lines and camera.
- Interior and exterior restyling: separate dedicated tools rather than one general style pass, so a room and a facade each get a workflow tuned to that input.
- Floor plan to 3D: a 2D plan becomes an editable 3D layout and a furnished render, without a separate app.
- Walkthrough video: up to 10 generations a month on the Lite plan, gated to paid plans.
- 3D export: a downloadable GLB file with real geometry, not another picture, that opens in SketchUp, Blender or Unreal.
Whether Render a House covers any of this today is not something we can confirm from this working session, since their site did not load for us when we checked. If any of it matters for your project, it is a fair question to put directly to their pricing or features page.
What the free tier actually gets you
100 credits once, no card required, is 3 renders on the Fast engine — every render costs a flat 30 credits on the free tier regardless of which tool or engine produced it. That is enough to judge whether the geometry holds (walls, windows, camera angle) and whether the style direction is close to what you asked for, on your own sketch or photo, before any payment information is entered. It is not a recurring monthly allowance and it is not unlimited; once the 100 credits are used, moving to a paid plan (from $29/month for 1,000 credits, or a one-time pack from $15 for 500 credits) is the next step, and output on every tier — free included — carries no watermark.
Setting the record straight
Render a House's own "Archome AI alternatives" page (renderahouse.com/compare/archome-ai-alternatives, published 23 October 2026) is currently the most detailed third-party writeup of our product on the web, and it ranks itself first. Some of what it says about us is accurate; one point is out of date. Here is where things stand today, as of 5 November 2026:
FAQ
Is Archome AI's free tier watermarked? No. Free renders are full, clean output at the Fast engine — there is no watermark on any tier, free or paid. If you read otherwise on a third-party page, including one that lists us as an alternative, that is out of date; we removed the one place our own site carried that language in early November 2026.
Is Archome AI's free output for personal use only? Yes, that part is correct. The 100 one-time credits (3 Fast renders, no card required) are for personal use; a commercial licence for client or listing work comes with a paid plan starting at $29/month.
Can Archome AI render directly from a SketchUp file? Not the model file itself. The free SketchUp plugin sends the active viewport — essentially a one-click capture of what you are looking at — rather than importing the editable 3D geometry. A plain viewport screenshot works the same way without the plugin. If a page describes this as "only takes an image, not a SketchUp file," that is a fair, accurate description of how the plugin works today, not a flaw we are hiding.
Is Archome AI free, full stop? No tool in this category is free without limits, and neither are we. The free tier is 100 credits once, not a recurring monthly allowance, which is enough to judge geometry handling and style on your own file before paying anything.
Does Archome AI do more than rendering? Yes — the same account covers sketch-to-render, interior and exterior restyling, floor plan to 3D, walkthrough video and a downloadable 3D export, which is the part a single-purpose render tool, Render a House included, is not built to cover.
Does Archome AI require a subscription? No. A one-time credit pack (from $15 for 500 credits, no expiry for 12 months) works alongside the $29/month Lite plan; neither is forced, and the free 100 credits need no payment method at all.
Can a small team share one Archome account? Team seats exist on the Plus plan and above (extra members on a shared credit pool, at the same plan price), for accounts that need more than one person logged in rather than separate individual plans.
How to check this yourself in five minutes
Comparison pages are written by people with a stake in the outcome, including this one. Take one sketch, photo or SketchUp viewport capture and run it through both tools with the same brief. Compare the output at full size, not a thumbnail, and check your account's actual credit balance after each render rather than trusting either company's marketing math. Then look at what the rest of your project needs — a floor plan turned into a 3D view, a walkthrough video, a file you can open in SketchUp or Blender — and see which account already covers it without a second subscription.
Verdict
Render a House's page about us is the best third-party source on the subject right now, and most of what it says checks out. The one place it is stale is the watermark claim, which no longer matches our product. Beyond that single correction, the real decision is not which company wrote more about the other one — it is whether your project is a single render or the rest of the deliverable set around it. The wider roundup of AI rendering tools covers more of the category if neither tool here is the only one on your list. Try Archome on your own floor plan or sketch — the first renders don't require a card.