Virtual staging is gaining more popularity among real estate agents for its cost-effectiveness, quick turnaround time, and ability to showcase properties in a visually appealing way.
The technique indeed has its pros and cons, which we’ve discussed earlier in our comparison of virtual staging vs. physical staging. In this blog, we’re pitting two virtual staging heavyweights against one another. To this end, we’ll compare BoxBrownie virtual staging vs. AI HomeDesign’s similar service to see which you should choose for your next listing.
BoxBrownie vs. AI HomeDesign
BoxBrownie is regarded as one of the most experienced real estate photo editing companies in the world. This Australia-based real estate photo editing company was established back in 2014, and, since then, it has been providing real estate agents with top-notch real estate photo editing services.
AI HomeDesign, on the other hand, is a relatively young real estate photo editing company founded in Vancouver, BC, in 2023. Impressively, however, within only a year, AI HomeDesign has managed to establish itself as a competitive player in the industry, providing fast and affordable photo editing services to real estate professionals.
The primary distinction between the two companies lies in their approach to real estate photo editing. While the former relies heavily on human photo editors, the latter employs state-of-the-art technology to provide those services. As a result, when comparing BoxBrownie virtual staging vs. AI HomeDesign’s AI virtual staging, notable differences emerge in areas such as turnaround time, pricing, service variety and creativity, and quality.
The process: How do the two services work?
Let us begin by looking at how these platforms operate. As expected, they both require users to sign up before placing an order. Similarly, both platforms offer some free generations to those who do so.
The main difference regarding this free trial, however, is that BoxBrownie’s free generations can only be used for Day-to-Dusk and Image Enhancement services, whereas AI HomeDesign doesn’t restrict users regarding how they should use their free credits.
Additionally, BoxBrownie demands users to provide extra details such as their phone number, company name, country, industry, and how they found the platform. Unlike BB, AI HomeDesign doesn’t require such extra information, making the process a tad smoother.
Design styles: Comparing the aesthetics
Offering a variety of design styles in real estate photo editing provides agents with the flexibility to tailor property visuals to both the architecture and the preferences of their target audience.
For instance, an old house in a rural area might be better showcased with a traditional farmhouse design, appealing to potential buyers seeking such visuals.
BoxBrownie: BB offers virtual staging with nine design styles, namely:
- Modern
- Mid-Century Modern
- Contemporary
- Industrial
- Scandinavian
- Farmhouse
- Hampton
- Traditional, and
- Commercial
The commercial style is of two types: Office, and Non-Office. As you would expect, this style is more suitable for commercial real estate.
AI HomeDesign: In comparison, AI HomeDesign offers seven design styles that agents can try for their listings. They are:
- Modern
- Contemporary
- Scandinavian
- Industrial
- Farmhouse
- Hampton, and
- Traditional
AI HomeDesign shares nearly all the design styles provided by BoxBrownie, with the exception of Mid-Century Modern, which is quite similar to the Modern style, and Commercial.
Turnaround time: What’s the wait for each company?
BoxBrownie: Regarding turnaround time, BoxBrownie’s service relies on human digital stagers. Thus, it requires 48 hours to deliver results. If clients wish to make changes in their virtually staged photos, they have a 2-month window to demand modifications free of charge. Such changes, too, will take time. So, if speed is what you’re looking for, well, BoxBrownie can make things challenging.
AI HomeDesign: On the contrary, each time you use AI HomeDesign’s virtual staging service, you will get 3 virtually staged photos of the same room in under 30 seconds! What’s more, if you’re in any way not happy with the results, you can endlessly regenerate that same photo for free until you’re satisfied. Users can also remove an item or replace it with another one the very moment they receive their results.
Verdict: So, while one agent might be still busy filling out the sign-up form on BoxBrownie and then waiting 48 hours for their photos, their colleague could be staging a complete house and have the final images ready in no time using AI HomeDesign.
Pricing: How much does each virtual staging service cost?
One of the main reasons why many agents are shifting to virtual staging is the high costs of physical staging which can quite easily pass $2,000.
BoxBrownie: Staging a single photo by BoxBrownie costs $24. So, To virtually stage a small apartment with a bedroom, living room, dining room, and guest room–four spaces in total–BoxBrownie will charge you $92.
AI HomeDesign: AI HomeDesign offers four different pricing plans on monthly and yearly subscriptions. The cost of virtual staging depends on the type of subscription and the plan selected. With a monthly Standard Plan, for example, you can stage 10 rooms for $25! With a yearly Enterprise Plan, though, you can stage 200 photos for only $45; that’s $0.24 per photo!
Here’s a look at AI HomeDesign’s pricing plans.
Verdict: Now, think of the four spaces you wanted to give to BoxBrwonie. Staging those same four rooms with AI HomeDesign would cost $0.92 to $10.
Also, it’s important to note that staging a room with BoxBrownie will give you a single result for every single room. In contrast, with AI HomeDesign, users can explore all seven styles for the same room using just one credit!
Quality of service: Which service has more appeal?
What about the quality of BoxBrownie’s virtual staging vs. AI HomeDesign’s? Do these companies provide similar results, or does one offer more realistic and customizable staging options than the other?
You can find a dozen samples in BoxBrownie’s virtual staging gallery showcasing various spaces such as:
- Bedrooms
- Livingrooms
- Dining rooms
- Kitchens
- Patios
- Offices, and
- Gyms
At the moment, AI HomeDesign doesn’t offer virtual staging for kitchens and gyms. As for BoxBrownie, it doesn’t provide staging for foyers.
Therefore, to make a suitable comparison, we first randomly selected a bedroom, living room, dining room, patio, and home office that had been staged by BoxBrownie’s professionals. Then, we had AI HomeDesign stage them again to compare the results. Read on to see the results.
bedrooms
The photo below shows an empty bedroom. Below this photo, you can see two furnished versions of it. One was staged by BoxBrownie, and the other was furnished by AI HomeDesign.
The view outside the window remains consistent in both photos, and the structure and fixtures are untouched. When it comes to the style, though, we’ll leave that judgment to you!
It’s worth mentioning that for bedroom staging, AI HomeDesign provides options for single and double bedrooms. If the bed appears too large or too small for your room, you can simply adjust the bedroom type to achieve the right fit
living room
Here’s a living room, first staged by BoxBrownie and then staged by AI HomeDesign. Both variations are fairly neat and realistic.
BoxBrownie’s version has left the original furniture intact. While that’s a good point, this piece doesn’t go well with the other items!
AI HomeDesign, however, has taken the liberty of removing the old furniture. This undertaking ensures that the resulting item set sports a completely consistent and precise style.
dining room
Next, we compared two furnished dining rooms. As you can see, in BoxBrownie’s final result, the furniture looks somewhat artificial, especially considering the two chairs to the left. The dining room furnished by AI HomeDesign, however, is more realistic and blends perfectly well with the space.
patio
And down below’s a patio staged in two distinct styles. In both versions, the color harmony between the furniture and its surroundings is evident, and both virtual staging platforms do a good job for putting items in place regarding patios.
home office
Finally, let’s take a look at the staging of the following home office and see how the two versions stack up.
One of the most crucial MLS specifications for property listing is that no fixture should be added or removed during virtual staging. This is to ensure that the original structural elements of the property remain unchanged in the images to avoid misleading customers and, in turn, steer clear of legal consequences.
AI HomeDesign’s AI-based virtual staging has suitably adhered to this principle without adding or removing any fixtures. In BoxBrownie’s version, though, we see two pendant lights added to the ceiling!
As you can see, AI HomeDesign’s virtual staging delivers results comparable to those of BoxBrownie’s professionals. We can go so far to claim that a cursory look at these photos can show that AI HomeDesign is even superior when it comes to photo quality and attention to detail.
BoxBrownie Virtual Staging vs. AI HomeDesign: Which One to Choose?
Weighing all aspects, it’s evident that AI HomeDesign leads BoxBrownie in virtual staging. Within a year, this AI-powered platform has crafted a model that can stage any space in seven different styles, all with impressive quality and precision.
While BoxBrownie takes 48 hours to stage a single room, AI HomeDesign does that in less than 30 seconds! What’s more, regenerating further editions of the same photo is free of charge. In terms of costs, AI HomeDesign has far more affordable pricing plans than BoxBrownie.
Our AI model is updated every other month, and with each update, it becomes more accurate and versatile, delivering even more realistic and tailored staging results to meet the needs of our users.
New users might notice that some generated photos don’t align with their expectations, most often due to not following the requirements concerning original photos. To ensure the best results, be sure to review our photo guide. Plus, since regenerations are free, feel free to experiment with different design styles to achieve the most desirable impressions.
