What it costs
How Much Does Virtual Staging Cost?
Virtual staging cost runs from under $3 per photo with a DIY AI app to $23 to $50 per photo with a staging service where a person stages each image, so a five-room listing costs from about $16 to $250. Physical home staging for the same home costs $1,500 to $1,846 on average, depending on the survey, and our designer-staged price is $35 per photo.
12 h
to a fixed quote
3 to 5
business days to a first draft
2
revision rounds included
4K
files with full commercial rights
01
Virtual staging prices by type of service
Virtual staging prices fall into two tiers, DIY AI apps and per-photo staging services, and physical staging sits far above both. The tiers differ in who checks the photo: an app returns whatever the model produced in seconds, while a service has a person place and check the furniture. The prices below were read on each company's own pricing page on October 1, 2026.
| Tier | Example | Published price | Turnaround | Who checks the photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIY AI app | Virtual Staging AI | $16 a month for 6 photos ($2.67 each) down to $0.53 each on the largest plan | Seconds | You |
| Staging service | VirtualStaging.com | $24 per photo, $19.20 in bulk | 24 hours, rush available | Their staff |
| Staging service | HomeJab | $25 per photo | Same day | Their staff |
| Staging service | BoxBrownie | $30 per photo | Not stated on the pricing page | Their staff |
| Designer-staged with 3D models | 3DRenderingAgency | $35 per photo, 10% off from 5 photos | 3 to 5 business days; 48 hours for 35% more | An interior designer |
Across the seven staging studios whose virtual staging pricing we collected, published prices ran from $23 to $50 per photo, with a median of $32. Our price of $35 sits at that median, and as one of the designer-led virtual staging companies, we price per photo with no subscription. Each photo is staged by an interior designer at our US 3D rendering firm.
02
A worked example: staging a five-room listing
Staging a living room, kitchen, primary bedroom and two more bedrooms costs $16 with the cheapest AI app plan, $120 to $150 with the staging services above, and $157.50 with us. The virtual staging price for a five-room listing is the per-photo price times five, less any volume discount, because one photo of each room is the usual order.
Virtual Staging AI, Basic plan
$2.67
Five photos: $16
Notes: One month's plan covers six photos
VirtualStaging.com
$24
Five photos: $120
Notes: Bulk price of $19.20 applies to larger orders
HomeJab
$25
Five photos: $125
Notes: Volume discounts from 10 images
BoxBrownie
$30
Five photos: $150
Notes: Item removal from $5 extra per photo
3DRenderingAgency
$35
Five photos: $157.50
Notes: $175 less 10% for 5 photos; paid in full when ordered
Physical staging
Not priced per photo
Five photos: $1,500 to $1,846
Notes: NAR median and HomeAdvisor average for a whole home
Five listing photos staged, by provider
The gap between the cheapest and the most expensive virtual option on a five-room listing is under $150; the gap between any virtual option and physical staging is well over $1,000. Our pricing page lists the rendering cost of staging alongside every other service we sell.
Why teams send us their drawings
Drawn by architects
Plans, sections and finish schedules are read the way they were drawn, so the first draft is close.
Priced before we start
A fixed quote within 12 hours of receiving your files. The quote you accept is the one you pay.
A clay draft first
Camera angles and massing are agreed on a plain model before materials go on, so the final has no surprises.
Yours to use anywhere
Full commercial rights and 4K JPG and PNG files for print, web and listings.
03
Virtual staging vs home staging cost
Home staging cost averages $1,846 per home, with most projects between $830 and $2,917, according to HomeAdvisor, against tens to a couple of hundred dollars for virtual staging of the same rooms. The National Association of Realtors 2025 Profile of Home Staging puts the median spend on a professional staging service at $1,500. Physical staging is mostly furniture rental, which HomeAdvisor puts at $500 to $600 per room per month, so the cost grows every month the home stays on the market.
Typical total, one home
Virtual staging: $16 to $250 for five photos
Physical home staging: $830 to $2,917, average $1,846 (HomeAdvisor)
Consultation
Virtual staging: None
Physical home staging: $150 to $600 (HomeAdvisor)
Furniture
Virtual staging: Included in the photo price
Physical home staging: $500 to $600 per room per month (HomeAdvisor)
Cost if the home sits unsold
Virtual staging: Nothing more
Physical home staging: Another month of rental
What the buyer sees at a showing
Virtual staging: Empty rooms
Physical home staging: Furnished rooms
Virtual staging vs physical home staging cost
04
What changes the cost of virtual staging?
The cost of virtual staging depends on the number of photos, the style, item removal, renovation edits, revisions and turnaround. Each of these moves the price of a single photo or the total of the order.
- 01Count the photos: price is per photo, and one photo per room is usual. We take 10% off from 5 photos, 15% from 10 and 20% from 20.
- 02Check whether furniture must be removed first: an occupied room costs more than an empty one, and BoxBrownie, for example, charges $5 to $10 extra per photo for item removal.
- 03Decide whether finishes change: new floors, paint or cabinets are a 3D remodel of the photo, priced separately at $89 per photo with us and $90 to $140 at VirtualStaging.com.
- 04Choose the style: most services include common styles in the base price; a custom furniture list matched to a brand is quoted.
- 05Agree the revisions: we include two rounds and charge $50 per image for a further round.
- 06Set the turnaround: apps take seconds, services from same day to five days; our 48-hour rush costs 35% more.
What clients said about our interior designer's work
I sent over our floor plans and a few reference photos, and they took it from there. What stood out was how little back-and-forth we needed. They understood the brief and got most things right on the first attempt. The final images were exactly what our marketing team needed.
Robert Hayes · United States
We were struggling to agree on finishes for a client's kitchen renovation. Having the different options rendered made the decision so much easier. It saved us from making what could have been a very expensive mistake. Money well spent.
Emily Carter · United Kingdom
Honestly, the first draft wasn't quite what I had pictured. I sent through my comments, and the revised version was spot on. I appreciated that they actually listened rather than rushing through the changes. Happy with how everything turned out.
Daniel Cooper · Australia
05
Is virtual staging worth it?
Virtual staging is usually worth it for vacant listings, because it shows scale and use for a small fraction of physical staging cost. In NAR's 2025 Profile of Home Staging, 83% of buyers' agents said staging made it easier for buyers to picture the property as their future home, and buyers' agents ranked the living room (37%), the primary bedroom (34%) and the kitchen (23%) as the rooms most important to stage. Those findings are about staging as a whole, so they argue for staging those three rooms first, physically or virtually.
The arithmetic is simple. If staging three rooms virtually costs about $100 and the listing photos are the first thing an online buyer sees, the staging needs to change very little to pay for itself; physical staging at $1,500 needs to change much more.
06
What are the disadvantages of virtual staging?
The disadvantages are that buyers see an empty room on viewing, poor AI staging can look fake or warp the room, and undisclosed staging can mislead.
- 01Expect an empty room at the showing: the furniture exists only in the photo, so a buyer who loved the photo meets bare walls.
- 02Watch for distortion: AI staging can bend window frames, float furniture or put a king bed in a room that only fits a full, and buyers notice.
- 03Disclose every staged photo: a staged photo that is not labeled can mislead a buyer and break MLS rules or state law.
- 04Keep permanent features real: changing floors, walls or views is renovation, and showing it as the home's current state misrepresents it.
Where AI virtual staging works and where it fails is tested on our AI virtual staging page.
07
Is virtual staging legal?
Virtual staging is legal in the US when it is disclosed and does not hide defects or show permanent features that are not there. The NAR Code of Ethics requires Realtors to present a true picture in their advertising, and its Standard of Practice 12-10 bars manipulating listing content in a way that produces a deceptive or misleading result, including misleading images. California went further: under AB 723, in force since January 1, 2026, a digitally altered listing image must carry a clear disclosure and the unaltered original must be available, and the San Diego MLS names virtual staging as an alteration that needs it. A staged photo labeled 'virtually staged' and shown beside the empty original meets both.
08
What do realtors use for virtual staging?
Realtors use AI apps for speed and low cost and staging services where people stage each photo for listings where quality matters. Many agents use both: an app to show a seller what staging would look like at the listing appointment, and a service for the photos that go on the MLS. We compare the tools in our guide to virtual staging software.
09
Can you get virtual staging for free?
Some AI apps let you stage a photo for free as a trial, but listing-quality staging is paid. Virtual Staging AI, for example, lets you upload an image for free with no sign-up, and its paid plans start at $16 a month for six photos. A free trial photo is useful for showing a seller the idea; check it for distortion before it goes anywhere near a listing.
Questions
Do I need to disclose virtual staging on a listing?
Yes. The NAR Code of Ethics requires a true picture in advertising, and California's AB 723 requires a label and access to the unaltered photo; label each staged photo and keep the original beside it.
How long does virtual staging take?
AI apps return a photo in seconds, staging services in a day or less, and our designer-staged photos in 3 to 5 business days, or 48 hours for 35% more.
Ready when you are
Tell us what you need and send your files. A fixed quote comes back within 12 hours, and a first draft in 3 to 5 business days.