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A Cedreo Alternative Built Only for Decks

Cedreo designs whole homes. PaperPlan does one thing: show the finished deck on the homeowner’s actual backyard photo, fast enough to close in the driveway.

By Monty, Founder, PaperPlan · Updated June 11, 2026

Try PaperPlan free — render the finished deck on your own backyard photo in about 15 seconds.

Why this page exists

Deck-only, on purpose

No floor plans, no terrain modeling, no library management. One workflow: photo in, finished deck out.

A photo beats a scene

Cedreo renders a 3D scene you build. PaperPlan renders the homeowner’s real yard — which is the picture that closes.

Driveway speed

About 15 seconds per render, phone-first, in the browser. No desktop session between the site visit and the visual.

Every major board brand

Trex, TimberTech, AZEK, Fiberon, Deckorators, cedar, and pressure-treated on the same photo.

How it works

Upload a backyard photo. Use any phone photo of the build site. No measurements, no CAD file.
Mark the deck area. Drag to outline where the deck goes. Add stairs or a railing line if you want them.
Choose material and design. Pick composite, PVC, cedar, or pressure-treated. Compare looks on the same photo.
Generate the render and share. Get a photorealistic render in seconds. Send it to the homeowner or attach it to a proposal.

Cedreo Alternative Built Only for Decks

Cedreo is an all-in-one home design suite — floor plans, terrain, full exteriors, client presentations — built for pros who design entire projects. If your business is decks, you’re paying for that breadth in learning curve and per-design time. Honest comparison below.

Feature	Cedreo	PaperPlan
Scope	Full home design: floor plans, terrain, exteriors	Decks only
Input	Build the scene in a 3D editor	Phone photo of the actual backyard
Time to client-ready visual	Minutes per scene, after learning the tool	About 15 seconds, first session
Device	Browser, desktop-oriented workflow	Phone-first, in the browser
What the homeowner sees	A rendered 3D model of a modeled yard	Their own backyard, photorealistic, finished
Decking brands	Generic material libraries	Named SKUs from Trex, TimberTech, AZEK, Fiberon
Proposal output	Client presentation documents	Branded PDF deck proposal (Pro)

If you sell more than decks — additions, full exteriors, new builds — Cedreo’s breadth is exactly the point, and PaperPlan won’t replace it. If decks are the whole business, that breadth is overhead on every single quote.

Common questions

Is PaperPlan affiliated with Cedreo?

No. PaperPlan is an independent product from Tinywave Labs. This comparison exists because deck builders evaluate both, and the honest answer is they solve different problems.

Do I need any design or CAD skills?

No. If you can take a photo and drag a finger across it to mark the deck area, you can produce the render. There is no scene to build and no library to learn.

Can PaperPlan do floor plans or terrain?

No — and it doesn’t try. PaperPlan is a deck sales and visualization tool. For full home design documentation, a suite like Cedreo is the right category.

What does PaperPlan cost?

Two free renders after sign-in, then $99/mo (regular $149) for 250 renders a month, every material, no watermark, and proposal export.

Keep researching

A RedX Decks Alternative for the Sales Conversation — RedX Decks builds permit-ready construction drawings. PaperPlan wins the moment before that — a photorealistic render on the homeowner’s own backyard in about 15 seconds. Many crews use both.
An ArcSite Alternative for Showing, Not Drafting — ArcSite does CAD drawings and takeoff-driven estimates. PaperPlan is the visualization alternative: the finished deck rendered on the homeowner’s actual backyard in about 15 seconds.
Deck Design Software, Built for the Sale — Deck design software built for small contractors. Photo-first, mobile-first, and engineered for the sales workflow — render the deck, share it, and export a branded proposal.
AI Deck Design on Your Actual Backyard — AI deck design that starts from a photo of your actual backyard — not a template. Photorealistic renders in about 15 seconds with real Trex, TimberTech, AZEK, and Fiberon boards. Free to try.
A Trex Deck Designer Alternative Built for the Driveway — Looking for a Trex Deck Designer alternative? PaperPlan is mobile-first, photo-based, and built for contractors who need a render in 15 seconds, not a 3D model in 30 minutes.