Free SketchUp: the web version and its blind spots
This is one of the rare cases where "free" means something. But commercial use and CAD exports stay behind the subscription.
Is it actually free?
SketchUp offers a free web edition that genuinely models in 3D, with online storage, explicitly limited to personal, non-commercial use. Exports to exchange formats, the desktop application and extensions come with the paid tiers. For takeoff, keep in mind that SketchUp is a modeller: it does not read a PDF plan to derive areas, you are the one redrawing.
What is genuinely free
- 3D modelling in the browser, complete enough to learn or for a personal project.
- Online storage for your models and access to the shared object library.
- The viewer, which opens a model you received without a subscription.
Where it stops
Professional use is not covered, and that is the point that matters: as soon as the model serves a client job, you need a paid tier. Add to that no DWG or DXF export and no extensions, and extensions are precisely how SketchUp produces quantities.
What FloorScan opens up for free
If the goal is to price rather than to model, the 3D step is a detour. FloorScan reads the PDF plan, produces areas per room, wall and partition lengths, and exports to Excel, DXF or IFC. Thirty free days across every module, then a manual takeoff that stays open.
Free and immediate, no account: the matching calculator.
Unit converterFrequently asked questions
Is SketchUp Free enough for professional use?
No, the licence reserves it for personal use. Beyond the rule, the lack of CAD export and extensions blocks a professional workflow fairly quickly.
Can you calculate areas in free SketchUp?
You can read the area of a selected face, but not produce a quantity schedule per room or per trade: that goes through extensions reserved for the paid tiers.
How do I go from a PDF plan to a model without redrawing everything?
By having the geometry detected automatically, then importing the resulting DXF. FloorScan rebuilds walls, rooms and openings from the PDF and writes a layered DXF, which then serves as a clean base for the modeller.
Offers and free tiers taken from public sources at the time of writing. A vendor can change them without notice: check their site before deciding.
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