Buying guide · Prices checked 3 November 2026
Virtual staging software: the seven questions that decide the cost
Every tool in this category advertises a per-image price. The number that decides your cost per listing is somewhere else: how the tool bills a second angle, what happens to an unused credit, and whether the file arrives ready for your MLS.
What the tools charge, as published
| Tool | Published price | Effective per image | Billing | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual Stage Now | Plans $15/mo for 20, $49/mo for 100, $99/mo for 300. Top-up: 20 images for $15, no expiry. | $0.75 → $0.33 | Monthly, plus top-ups | 2026-11-03 |
| Virtual Staging AI | $16/mo for 6 images; $19/mo for 20; $39/mo for 60 (annual billing shown on their pricing page) | $2.67 → $0.65 | Subscription | 2026-11-03 |
| BoxBrownie | US$24 per staged photo | $24.00 | Per photo, human edit | 2026-11-03 |
| VirtuallyStage | $35 for 8; $99 for 30; $249 for 80 | $4.38 → $3.11 | Per photo, credits do not expire | 2026-11-03 |
| Apply Design | Coins at $7–$10 each; automatic staging costs 1.5 coins | about $10.50 | Prepaid coins | 2026-11-01 |
| Pedra | $49/mo for 100 credits | $0.49 | Subscription | 2026-11-01 |
| VirtualStaging.ai | $25/mo for 20; $49/mo for 50 | $1.25 → $0.98 | Subscription | 2026-11-01 |
Prices are the vendors’ own published figures on the date shown, read from their pricing pages. They change; check before you buy. Where a vendor quotes an annual figure, the monthly price is usually higher.
The seven questions
1. Is the billing unit an image, a room or a listing?
A living room shot from two angles is two images. A listing with six rooms and two angles each is twelve. If the plan counts rooms, one line item hides the second angle; if it counts listings, a small listing subsidises a large one. Convert the vendor’s price to cost per delivered image before comparing anything else.
2. Do unused credits expire?
Credits that expire in 30 days are a subscription with a different name. An agent who closes nine transactions a year cannot use a ten-image monthly plan evenly; some months take thirty images, some take none.
3. Does a restyle cost another image?
Comparing a warm modern living room against a Scandinavian one is how the style decision gets made, and it costs a second image in most tools. Ask before you upload, and count it in the cost per listing.
4. What resolution comes back?
A staged frame that returns at 1,200 pixels wide cannot be used for print or a portal hero image. A tool that returns the upload resolution keeps your options open.
5. Does the output include the disclosure your MLS wants?
CRMLS wants a label in the photo description field plus the original frame in the listing; ARMLS wants a “Digitally Altered” watermark burned into the image; Stellar wants three placements. A tool that only returns a clean JPEG leaves that work to you. Our board pages list what each one asks for, with the rule quoted and dated.
6. Do you keep the original frame?
California’s AB 723 requires a link to the original, unaltered image next to the staged one. If the tool does not hand back the original alongside the staged frame, you are storing it yourself.
7. What happens when the generation is wrong?
Furniture that does not match the door height, a window that closes up behind a sofa, a floor that changes tone: someone has to check every frame. Read the refund and rework policy, then read the twelve checks we use before publishing.
Where this tool sits
Virtual Stage Now furnishes empty rooms in six styles and returns the frame at your upload resolution, with a labelled copy, the before/after and the original file. It does not remove existing furniture, declutter an occupied room, design a bespoke scheme or produce 3D. A room with awkward architecture or a heritage interior that needs judgment is a job for a person.
If that is the job, a human service is the right comparison: see virtual staging services and the BoxBrownie comparison.
Questions
Is per-image or subscription cheaper?
It depends on volume, not on the headline. At nine listings a year with eight images each, a top-up that does not expire can cost less than a monthly plan you do not fill. At thirty listings a year, the plan wins. The cost per listing page runs the arithmetic.
Do I need software at all?
If the property is empty and the photos are level, a tool is enough. If the photo needs repair, straightening or a designer’s eye, an editing service is the better spend.
Can I use one tool for every listing?
Only if every listing is empty. Occupied rooms need furniture removal, which is a different job and, at most vendors, a different product.