Comparison

Yard Planner vs NPT Backyard

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Yard Planner

Design your dream outdoor space with a drag-and-drop interface. Choose from over 800 hand-drawn elements like trees, pools, and structures to create detailed landscape layouts. Share your creations with friends or clients.

Highlights
  • Drag-and-drop functionality
  • 800+ hand-drawn landscape elements
  • Sketch Tool for free-form shapes
  • Google Maps integration for property mapping
  • Layer management for complex designs
  • Shareable editable designs
Features
Read full description

YARD PLANNER is a simple drag-and-drop 2D landscape design app with all the tools you need to mock up your property, create new designs, and share them with friends and family. YARD PLANNER is ideal for homeowners who want to try out fresh ideas for their yard. Useful for landscape professionals to share designs with clients and contractors. Also perfect for children and adults alike to exercise their imagination and creativity! Use YARD PLANNER to select and place over 800 beautiful hand-drawn elements including trees, gardens, pools, patios, hammocks, driveways, houses and sheds, solar panels, and just about anything you might want for your property–even parties and weddings! Features include: • Sample designs to inspire or get you started • Simple drag-and-drop functionality • 34 palettes (800+ hand-drawn elements) to create your landscape design layout • Resize, Rotate, Undo/Redo, Duplicate, Flip, Group • Rotate elements with “Snap to 90” or turn off to rotate more precisely • Snap to grid (elements stick to a re-sizeable grid of guidelines, turn on/off in Settings) • Rulers (visible at edges of design; zoom in to the single unit; user selects feet/meters; can be turned on/off) • Choose from 15 different background colors • Sketch Tool (allows users to draw garden beds and other free-form shapes with an eraser and brushes of different colors, widths and opacity) • Map Tool (This highly accurate mapping tool based on Google Maps allows you to drop pins at the corners of your property and import the map image with measurements into the app as a background.) • North arrow (appears with Map Tool) • Site Analysis palettes to mark the locations of your site’s utilities and light and moisture conditions • Notes (allows users to tag elements in their designs with typed comments or descriptions) • Light/Dark mode (changes Note tags and North arrow from white to black for visibility against light backgrounds.) • Animated Figures (a palette of animated elements—a person, dog, cat, bird, and car—that move through your design on a looped or repeating path, adjustable speed, play and stop animation) • Import a Photo as a background (useful for importing a digital image of your property plan) • Create different Layers of elements in your design. Add, delete, rename layers, make each layer visible/invisible, lock/unlock for editing, and reorder layer position. • In-app step-by-step guide to creating your Property Plan. • Designs automatically save to the app’s Saved Designs gallery • Share designs on social media • Email an editable design so friends can edit one another’s designs and email them back and forth ***As featured in The New York Times, Fox News, USA Today, Gardenista, and more. “Home Outside allows you to create intricate and varied landscapes…And when you’re finished designing your yard or indulging in a little dreamscaping, you can email results to friend.” –Kate Murphy, The New York Times “The app gives you drag and drop tools to create a garden design idiosyncratic to your garden [and] allows you to choose hardscape materials, design paths and patios, and arrange furniture in your outdoor space.” –Dalilah Arja, Gardenista “I can’t imagine a designer who wouldn’t want to have this on their phone or tablet. I’ve tried this app … it’s a great tool for a ‘quickie’ design that you can show clients … and then refine as you like.” –Jane Berger, Garden Design Online

About

NPT Backyard

Visualize your dream pool in your own backyard using augmented reality. This app offers stunning 4k graphics, advanced lighting, and realistic water simulations to help you design and preview your perfect pool.

Highlights
  • Augmented Reality pool visualization
  • 4k graphics
  • Realistic lighting effects
  • Advanced water systems
  • Design your dream pool
Features
Read full description

This application will no longer be available. Existing users will be required to upgrade to the new version and when opened, Users will be directed to our Website.

Screenshots

Yard Planner4 screens
NPT Backyard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: NPT Backyard at Free against Yard Planner's $3.99. NPT Backyard also leads on rating (3.7 vs 3.4). Yard Planner's advantage is ratings volume (381 vs 101). On review sentiment, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

NPT Backyard is free to download; Yard Planner costs $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

NPT Backyard holds the better App Store score, 3.7 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 381 and 101 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 39% of Yard Planner's written reviews are positive against 43% of NPT Backyard's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Yard Planner versus NPT Backyard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterYard PlannerNPT Backyard
Price$3.99Free — better
Rating3.4 (381 ratings)3.7 (101 ratings) — better
Positive reviews39.3% of reviews42.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings381 — better101
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size762 MB117 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHome Outside, Inc.Pool Corporation

Customer experience

Yard Planner

All ratings381 ratings
Positive58.0%
Neutral5.2%
Negative36.7%
Written reviews201 reviews
Positive39.3%
Neutral10.0%
Negative50.7%

NPT Backyard

All ratings101 ratings
Positive65.3%
Neutral4.0%
Negative30.7%
Written reviews40 reviews
Positive42.5%
Neutral7.5%
Negative50.0%

User reviews

Yard Planner

From 381 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 💡 Helpful for visualizing designs
  • 🚀 Simple and straightforward
  • 👍 Great for beginners
  • 👍 Useful for planning and sketching

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
  • 🔧 Limited customization options
  • 🔧 Lacks advanced design tools
  • 🔧 Restricted to portrait mode on iPad
  • 🔧 Outdated and basic graphics

NPT Backyard

From 101 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for visualizing pool options
  • 👍 Helpful for remodel planning
  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • 👍 Good for comparing finishes and colors
  • 👍 AR view enhances visualization

Room to improve

  • 😞 Limited design options
  • 😞 Cannot create custom pool shapes
  • 😞 AR view often doesn't work
  • 😞 Inaccurate rendering of water color
  • 😞 App crashes frequently

Bugs and requests

Yard Planner

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Layers and objects disappearing
  • Inability to undo actions
  • Inaccurate grid and scale
  • Mapping and photo import issues
  • Unexpected crashes and freezes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to change object dimensions independently
  • More plant, structure, and hardscape options
  • Metric measurement support
  • Landscape mode support for iPad
  • Export options for high-quality images

NPT Backyard

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • AR doesn't work
  • App crashes when viewing tiles
  • App crashes frequently
  • App is slow and hangs
  • Water color doesn't change with plaster choices
Show 1 more
  • Tutorial is useless

Requested features

6 requests
  • Option to design a remodel for existing pools
  • Ability to change pool dimensions within the app
  • More standard pool shapes available (e.g., round spa)
  • Include all pool tiles from the catalog
  • Ability to drag and position the pool design in the yard
Show 1 more
  • More realistic water color rendering based on plaster choices

In-app purchases

None

Yard Planner

No in-app purchases

None

NPT Backyard

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Yard Planner free?
Yard Planner costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is NPT Backyard free?
NPT Backyard is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Yard Planner or NPT Backyard?
NPT Backyard is rated higher. Yard Planner averages 3.4 out of 5 from 381 ratings, while NPT Backyard averages 3.7 from 101 ratings.
Do Yard Planner or NPT Backyard have ads?
Neither Yard Planner nor NPT Backyard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Yard Planner or NPT Backyard?
Yard Planner ships an update every 2 months, and NPT Backyard every 2 months. Most recently, Yard Planner was updated on October 24, 2026 and NPT Backyard on October 23, 2026.

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