Best Free Event Floor Plan Software in 2026
Ten free and free-to-start tools for drawing event, trade show and booth layouts. For each one we explain what "free" actually covers, where it runs out, and what to use next.
The short answer
- Best for free wedding, banquet and seating layoutsEvent Floor PlannerIt's free and needs no signup, and it's built around tables, chairs and guest lists.
- Best free tier for professional event diagramsSocial Tables (Cvent Event Diagramming)The free tier is small (1 user, 3 events, 2 diagrams per event), but it runs on an industry-standard diagramming tool with a large venue library.
- Best for a quick free vendor map at outdoor fairs and festivalsGoogle My MapsIt costs nothing and puts pins on real satellite imagery, and people already know how to use it.
- Best for a good-looking printable booth mapCanva (free plan)Templates and a simple editor give you a clean map to send to vendors or print on signs.
- Best for trade shows that will need to sell booths and guide attendeesExpoFPIt's free to start with a 7-day trial and no credit card. You can continue free or upgrade, and DIY costs $149/mo with booth reservation and sponsorship included.
- Best for free event site planning with a hard object capOnePlan (free plan)It's a real event-planning canvas, but the free plan allows 1 event and 25 objects.
ExpoFP is our product. We include it where it fits and link to detailed head-to-head comparisons so you can verify every claim.
How we evaluated
We looked at each tool the way a budget-conscious organizer would, using six criteria:
- What "free" really means
- We checked whether each offer is a free-forever tier, a time-limited trial or a free plan that leaves out the floor-plan feature, and noted the published limits (events, documents, objects, users).
- Fit for event layouts
- Does it understand booths, tables, aisles and venues, or is it a general drawing canvas?
- Time to a usable plan
- How quickly can a non-designer get from a blank page or an uploaded hall plan to something they can share?
- Keeping it current
- When a booth changes hands or a vendor upgrades, how much manual re-editing and re-exporting does that take?
- Attendee experience
- Is the output a static image or PDF, or a map people can search and navigate on their phones?
- Upgrade path
- If the event grows, what does the next step cost, and is that price published?
All information comes from public product materials and pricing pages as of October 2026. Free-tier limits change often, so confirm current limits on each vendor's site before you plan around them.
Comparison at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Category | Key strength | Pricing transparency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ExpoFP | Trade shows and expos that sell booths | Interactive floor plan platform | Booth sales, exhibitor listings and no-app wayfinding on one map | Public: free to start (7-day trial, no credit card; continue free or upgrade); DIY $149/mo |
| Event Floor Planner | Weddings, banquets, seating charts | Free layout and seating tool | Free, no signup, tables and guest management | Described as free; confirm any paid tiers on its site |
| Social Tables | Professional event diagrams and seating | Event diagramming (Cvent) | To-scale diagrams, 6,700+ venue floor plans, 3D views | Public: free tier (1 user, 3 events, 2 diagrams/event); paid $49–$320/mo, 12-month commitment |
| Prismm | 3D venue layouts and walkthroughs | Spatial / 3D event design (Cvent) | Photorealistic 3D and digital-twin venues | Partly public: free tier and paid planner plans on Cvent's site (annual commitments); venue/3D quote-based |
| OnePlan | Outdoor event site planning | Event site-planning canvas | Map-based planning for festivals and outdoor sites | Public: free plan (1 event, 25 objects); Pro $99/mo; Team $90/user/mo |
| Google My Maps | Outdoor fair and festival vendor pins | Free web mapping | Free, satellite base map, spreadsheet import | Free with a Google account |
| Canva | Printable, branded booth maps | Graphic design tool | Templates and an easy editor | Free plan; Pro and Business paid (check canva.com) |
| Lucidchart | Quick collaborative booth diagrams | General diagramming | Real-time co-editing, scale tool, floor plan shapes | Free tier: 3 editable documents, 60 objects per document; paid per user |
| SmartDraw | To-scale drawings on a small budget | General diagramming | Precise floor plan templates and scaling | No free plan; low per-user subscription; trial availability varies (check vendor) |
| Zoho Backstage | Conferences that need ticketing first | Event management suite | Registration, ticketing, agenda and app in one suite | Free plan exists, but the floor planner is on paid tiers (Essentials and up) |
The tools
ExpoFP
Our productBest for trade shows that will need to sell booths and guide attendees
ExpoFP is an interactive floor plan platform for trade shows, expos, conferences, fairs, festivals, corporate events and venues. To be clear up front, it is not a free-forever drawing tool in the same sense as Event Floor Planner or Google My Maps. It's free to start, with a 7-day trial and no credit card, and after the trial you can continue free or upgrade. The paid DIY plan costs $149/mo, and booth reservation and sponsorship are included. You build the map in the drag-and-drop FP Designer, or upload an existing floor plan file and have the ExpoFP team build it on a one-time plan. We list it here because many people searching for a "free trade show floor plan maker" really need a floor plan that sells booths, shows live availability and helps attendees find exhibitors. Free drawing tools can't do that, and the trial is the cheapest way to find out whether you need it.
Strengths
- Exhibitors see live booth availability and can reserve or buy a booth by credit card directly on the map. The organizer approves and tracks everything in one place.
- Attendees use the map in a browser, with no app download and no sign-in. They can search by company, booth or category and get turn-by-turn wayfinding across floors and buildings.
- FP Designer lets you drag, drop, merge and resize booths in the browser, and changes go live instantly. You can copy last year's map and exhibitors to start a new event.
Limitations
- The free option is meant for starting out and evaluating. Check the pricing page for what continues after the 7-day trial before you plan an event around it, and expect to pay $149/mo (DIY) once you rely on it for booth sales.
- It's built for exhibition-style events, so it's more than you need for a wedding seating chart or a one-off room diagram.
- Pricing
- Free to start (7-day trial, no credit card; continue free or upgrade). DIY $149/mo. One-time team-built plans: Light $990, Standard $1,500, Pro $2,100 (prices for up to 100 booths; scales with booth count).
Event Floor Planner
Best for free wedding, banquet and seating layouts
Event Floor Planner (eventfloorplanner.com) is a free online tool for creating seating charts and room layouts. Its public materials describe a drag-and-drop editor for tables, chairs, dance floors and similar elements, plus guest management and export options, all free with no signup. It's aimed at weddings, quinceañeras, banquets, parties and simple corporate events. If your deliverable is a seating chart or a printable room layout, it's hard to beat on cost.
Strengths
- Free with no signup, so the barrier to a first layout is close to zero.
- Built around tables, chairs and guests, the objects that social and banquet planners actually work with.
- Exports you can print or share with venues and caterers.
Limitations
- No booth inventory, booth sales or exhibitor listings is documented, so it isn't designed for commercial exhibitions.
- The output is a layout, not a searchable, navigable map for attendees.
- Pricing
- Described as free; confirm on its site whether any paid tiers or limits apply.
Social Tables (Cvent Event Diagramming)
Best for best free tier for professional event diagrams
Social Tables, now officially Cvent Event Diagramming, is one of the most widely used diagramming platforms in the events industry. Planners and venues can collaborate in real time on to-scale floor plans. It offers a published library of more than 6,700 venue floor plans, a large object catalog, seating charts, meal management, check-in and photo-realistic 3D views. As of July 2026 its free tier is a real free-forever option, but a small one: 1 user, 3 events and 2 diagrams per event.
Strengths
- Industry-standard, to-scale diagramming that many venues already use.
- A large venue library means your hotel or conference center may already be drawn.
- Seating, meal management and 3D views suit banquets, meetings and hotel events well.
Limitations
- The free tier allows 1 user, 3 events and 2 diagrams per event. Paid plans run $49–$320/mo and carry a 12-month commitment.
- The focus is diagrams and seating rather than booth inventory, booth checkout or attendee wayfinding.
- Pricing
- Free tier (1 user, 3 events, 2 diagrams per event). Paid planner plans $49, $150 and $320/mo; Enterprise custom (as of July 2026).
Prismm
Best for free 3D venue layouts (via Cvent)
Prismm, formerly AllSeated and now part of Cvent, is a spatial design platform for 3D venue layouts, seating charts, guest lists and photorealistic virtual walkthroughs. Its public materials highlight thousands of 3D spaces, tens of thousands of furniture and design objects, and digital-twin technology that venues use to show their spaces to prospects remotely. Since the move to Cvent, planner-facing diagramming plans, including a free tier, are published on Cvent's website.
Strengths
- Strong 3D visualization and walkthroughs that help clients picture the room.
- A large object and venue library for designing weddings, galas and meetings.
- Real-time collaboration between planners, venues and vendors.
Limitations
- Paid planner plans carry annual commitments, and venue, 3D and digital-twin offerings appear to be quote-based.
- Booth commerce, exhibitor listings and wayfinding aren't documented focuses.
- Pricing
- Free tier and paid planner plans published on Cvent's site (paid plans with annual commitments). Venue and 3D deployments are quote-based; check vendor.
OnePlan
Best for free event site planning (small events)
OnePlan is a map-based event planning platform popular with festival, outdoor and venue operations teams. You plan the site on a real-world map with drag-and-drop objects, and the company offers training through OnePlan Academy. Its free plan is free forever, with tight published limits: 1 event and 25 objects (as of July 2026).
Strengths
- Map-based site planning that suits outdoor events, festivals and multi-zone sites.
- Self-service signup with drag-and-drop planning.
- Clear published upgrade pricing.
Limitations
- 25 objects on the free plan is not many once you count every booth, stage, toilet block and entrance.
- It's oriented toward operations and site planning rather than selling booths or publishing an exhibitor directory.
- Pricing
- Free plan (1 event, 25 objects). Pro $99/mo; Team $90/user/mo (published as of July 2026).
Google My Maps
Best for a free vendor map at outdoor fairs and festivals
Google My Maps is free with a Google account, and it does what it was built for very well: custom maps on top of Google's base maps and satellite imagery. You can drop pins, draw shapes, color-code by category, group items into layers, import a spreadsheet or KML file, share a link, give teammates edit access and embed the map on a website. For a county fair, farmers' market or street festival where vendors are spread across a real outdoor site, it's a sensible free starting point.
Strengths
- Completely free, and almost everyone already knows how to use Google Maps.
- Satellite imagery and real-world coordinates fit outdoor sites well.
- Spreadsheet import makes it quick to plot a vendor list.
Limitations
- Pins aren't booths. There's no booth inventory, availability, reservations or payments, so status lives in a separate spreadsheet.
- It doesn't work for indoor halls, which have no useful base map, and it offers no turn-by-turn routing inside a venue.
- Pricing
- Free with a Google account.
Canva
Best for a good-looking printable booth map
Canva is one of the best design tools for people who aren't designers. It has a free plan, thousands of templates, an easy drag-and-drop editor and real-time collaboration, and Canva Whiteboards includes floor plan templates you can recolor and label. Many festivals, craft fairs and community events use it to make an attractive vendor map for print, social posts or the event website.
Strengths
- Polished visual output with very little design skill needed.
- The free plan covers templates, editing and exports for most simple maps.
- Easy to keep the map on-brand alongside other event graphics.
Limitations
- The map is a static image. Every booth change means editing, re-exporting and re-sharing, and attendees can't search it on their phones.
- It has no booth inventory, sales or sponsor analytics.
- Pricing
- Free plan; paid Pro and per-seat Business plans (check current pricing at canva.com).
Lucidchart
Best for quick collaborative booth diagrams
Lucidchart is a popular collaborative diagramming tool. It includes floor plan shape libraries, a scale tool and ready-made templates such as event and conference floor plans. Its free tier is free forever but tightly capped: 3 editable documents and 60 objects per document, and lines and text boxes count toward the 60. A 40-booth hall with labels and aisles can hit that limit quickly.
Strengths
- Excellent real-time co-editing for teams drafting a layout together.
- A scale tool and floor plan shapes for reasonably accurate drawings.
- Familiar to many corporate teams, so there's less training needed.
Limitations
- The free tier's 3 documents and 60 objects per document rule out most real trade show floors.
- Booths are shapes, not inventory, so status is tracked elsewhere and shapes are recolored by hand.
- Pricing
- Free tier (3 editable documents, 60 objects per document). Paid Individual, Team and Enterprise plans billed per user; check Lucid's website.
SmartDraw
Best for precise to-scale drawings on a small budget
SmartDraw is a general diagramming tool with strong floor plan templates and scaling, aimed both at non-technical users and at professionals who need precision. It belongs on this list mainly because people search for it as a "free floor plan maker", but it doesn't offer a free plan. It's sold as a low-cost per-user subscription. Third-party listings disagree on whether a free trial is currently available, so check smartdraw.com before you count on one.
Strengths
- Precise, to-scale floor plans with many templates.
- Low per-user pricing compared with professional CAD tools.
- Good for site and venue drawings that also go to contractors or facilities teams.
Limitations
- It isn't free: you need a subscription to keep working, and trial availability varies.
- The output is a diagram you export or share, not an interactive visitor map with booth sales.
- Pricing
- Low per-user subscription (Individual, Team and Site/Enterprise tiers; introductory rates for new customers). No free plan; check vendor for current trial and pricing.
Zoho Backstage
Best for conferences that need free ticketing first
Zoho Backstage is an all-in-one event management suite from Zoho. It covers website building, registration, commission-free ticketing, agenda, check-in, badging and a mobile event app. It has a free plan with attendee and session limits, and trials drop to the free plan if you don't upgrade. However, the floor planner isn't part of the free plan: Zoho's May 2026 release notes list the floor plan widget on Essentials, Premium and Ultimate. Backstage is a good free choice for running a small conference, but not for drawing a free floor plan.
Strengths
- Covers registration, ticketing, agenda and an event app in one suite.
- Paid tiers include a drag-and-drop floor planner with real-time booth availability.
- Fits naturally if your organization already runs on Zoho CRM or Zoho One.
Limitations
- No floor planner on the free plan.
- Advanced exhibitor booth features sit in a paid add-on, and turn-by-turn attendee navigation isn't clearly documented.
- Pricing
- Free plan (attendee and session limits apply), plus published Essentials, Premium and Ultimate tiers; verify current rates on zoho.com.
What "free" means for each tool
| Tool | Type of free | Main limit to know |
|---|---|---|
| Event Floor Planner | Free (no signup) | Seating and room layouts only; no booth commerce |
| Google My Maps | Free | Outdoor pins; no booth inventory or indoor routing |
| Canva | Free-forever plan | Static image; manual re-export after every change |
| Social Tables | Free-forever tier | 1 user, 3 events, 2 diagrams per event |
| Lucidchart | Free-forever tier | 3 editable documents, 60 objects per document |
| OnePlan | Free-forever plan | 1 event, 25 objects |
| Prismm | Free tier (via Cvent) | Paid plans annual; 3D/venue work quote-based |
| ExpoFP | Free to start | 7-day trial, no credit card; continue free or upgrade; DIY $149/mo |
| Zoho Backstage | Free plan, but not for floor plans | Floor planner on Essentials and higher |
| SmartDraw | No free plan | Paid subscription; check whether a trial is offered |
When free stops being enough
Free tools are the right call for many events. A wedding, a 20-table banquet or a 30-vendor farmers' market rarely needs more than a clean layout. The tipping point usually comes from one of three needs that drawing tools weren't built for.
1. You start selling booths. Once exhibitors pay for space, the floor plan becomes your sales inventory. In a drawing tool, every inquiry means checking a spreadsheet, emailing a PDF, waiting for a reply, collecting payment separately and recoloring a shape. Double-bookings and outdated maps follow. A booth-sales floor plan lets exhibitors pick a booth on the map, reserve or pay online, and land in a queue the organizer approves. On ExpoFP this is included from the DIY plan at $149/mo. One organizer, the Florida Dental Laboratory Association, said: "This tool made selling & assignments SIGNIFICANTLY easier."
2. You need live availability. A PDF is out of date the moment you send it. If sales, sponsors and exhibitors all need to see what's left right now, the map has to update itself when a booth is sold, without anyone re-exporting it. This matters most in the final weeks before a show, when booths move fastest and the people asking for them are least patient.
3. Attendees need to find things. A JPEG on a phone can't answer "where is booth 1412?" or "which exhibitors sell kettle corn?" Interactive maps let attendees search by company, booth or category, save favorites and follow turn-by-turn directions, including across floors and buildings. They also give organizers and sponsors data on searches, booth views and routes. On ExpoFP this runs in the browser with no app download or sign-in, and it can be embedded into an event website or app.
A simple test: if you re-export the map more than once a week, keep booth status in a separate spreadsheet, or have staff giving directions all day, the free tool is costing you more than it saves. That's the point to try a 7-day ExpoFP trial or compare options on our comparison hub.
How to choose
- Wedding, gala or banquet with seating: Start with Event Floor Planner (free, no signup). Move to Social Tables or Prismm if you need to-scale venue diagrams, 3D views or collaboration with the venue.
- Outdoor fair, market or festival with under ~50 vendors and no online booth sales: Use Google My Maps for a free satellite-based vendor map, and Canva for the printed version. If you need to plan site operations, OnePlan's free plan works for a single small event.
- Internal team drafting a booth layout: Lucidchart's free tier works for a small floor (watch the 60-object cap). SmartDraw suits precise to-scale drawings, but plan to pay for it.
- Conference where registration and ticketing come first: Zoho Backstage's free plan covers the basics, but budget for a paid tier if you need its floor planner.
- Trade show or expo that sells booths and wants attendees to find exhibitors: Start ExpoFP's 7-day trial with no credit card. Build or upload your plan and test booth reservation and wayfinding. Upgrade to DIY at $149/mo, or a team-built plan, only if it earns its place.
Ready to see what your floor plan could do?
Draw your hall in FP Designer or upload an existing plan, then test live booth availability, online reservations and no-app wayfinding on your own event. ExpoFP is free to start with a 7-day trial and no credit card, and after the trial you can continue free or upgrade.
FAQ
Yes. Event Floor Planner and Google My Maps are free to use. Canva, Social Tables, Lucidchart and OnePlan have free-forever tiers, but with limits on events, documents, objects or users. Others, including ExpoFP and SmartDraw, are trials or paid subscriptions. Check which kind of "free" you're getting before you invest hours in a layout.