Gendo vs Render a House (2026): AI Renders and Video for Architects

Render a House is our top pick for turning a 3D model, sketch or floor plan into renders and 5 or 10 second video clips, from $39/mo (or $312/yr) with a free plan of 3 credits a day. Pick Gendo instead if several people need to review renders and video together on one canvas: Studio is £79/mo for five seats.

Last updated: October 2026.

• Different jobs. Gendo is a team canvas that works from images, sketches and text. Render a House reads the 3D model itself (on paid plans) and also works from sketches, floor plans and photos.
• Video works differently. Render a House turns two saved views into a 5 or 10 second camera-move transition, at 0.8 credits per second on paid plans. Gendo offers walkthrough, orbit and cinematic video on its canvas, with video starting on Studio.
• Teams favor Gendo. Studio includes five seats, free viewer seats and team roles. Render a House has no team seats or roles, only email-invited project members and read-only share links with pinned comments.
• Pricing models differ. Gendo has no credits and prices in pounds per studio. Render a House uses credits (Pro $39/mo for 240, Studio $99/mo for 1,000), and renders cost 1–4 credits each.
• Neither is a real-time walkthrough engine. For a long, exact camera path through a model, Twinmotion or D5 is still the right tool.

Figures come from Gendo’s pricing page, Gendo’s FAQ and product page, and from Render a House’s own pages, checked October 2026.

Both tools make short AI-generated video, not a real-time fly-through. The difference is where the clip starts. In Render a House it starts from your actual model, with views you save from the 3D preview. In Gendo it starts from an image you export from your modeling app.

The Render a House route

This is the same workflow described in our 3D model to AI video walkthrough guide.

1. Upload the model. Open 3D Preview in a project and drop a .skp, GLB, GLTF, OBJ or STL file into the import dialog (3D import is on paid plans; 3D models have no size limit). SketchUp files upload directly, with no plugin or export. You can place the model at a real address or skip the location step.
2. Orbit to each view and save it. Orbit or fly to the camera angle you want, click Render on the right dock to open the shot setup, then click Continue. The frame is saved as a new view (perspective) in the project, and each saved view becomes a render of that exact camera. See the 3D Preview docs.
3. Render each view. Pick a style (Photoreal, Clay, Linework or a custom reference style) and generate. Each render typically takes 30–60 seconds.
4. Generate a transition between two views. Open Video, click + Scene, choose Transition and pick the start and end renders. In Transition Settings, choose Camera Movement (Rotate right, Rotate left or Straight cut), set the duration to 5 or 10 seconds and click Generate. Video costs 0.8 credits per second, so a 5-second clip is 4 credits and a 10-second clip is 8 credits. Each clip takes a few minutes, per the video transitions docs.
5. Or animate a single render. Choose Animate instead of Transition and pick a preset such as Pan Zoom, Aerial Reveal or Interior Walkthrough, for 5 or 10 seconds. For a time-of-day change such as day to sunset, use a Custom transition between two renders. See Animate a render.
6. Download and join the clips. Each scene downloads as an MP4. Chain the consecutive transitions in any video editor to make a longer sequence. Render a House produces the clips; it is not a timeline editor.

Video generation needs a paid plan (Pro or Studio). The Free plan has no video.

The Gendo route

1. Export views from your model. Gendo has no plugin, so you export a view from SketchUp, Rhino, Revit or CAD as an image (PNG, JPG or TIFF, per Gendo’s FAQ).
2. Upload to the canvas. Add the exports, sketches or site photos to a project canvas, where the team can see them.
3. Generate renders, then video. Gendo’s product page lists walkthrough, orbit and cinematic video, where cinematic is an AI-directed four-shot sequence from a single render. Clip length and video resolution: Not published (checked October 2026).
4. Budget for video separately. The free plan covers images only. Studio (£79/mo) includes 15 one-off video seconds. Video packs run from £40 for 100 seconds to £125 for 500 seconds, which works out to £0.40 down to £0.25 per second, per gendo.ai pricing. Studio Scale (£299/mo, beta) includes unlimited video.

Which route gives you more control over the camera?

Neither gives you a keyframed camera path. Render a House gives you control through the views you choose, and the clip is AI motion between them. Gendo gives you preset movement styles on an exported image. If the client needs one continuous, exact camera path, construction phasing or 360° video, use Twinmotion or D5, and use either of these tools for the quick concept clip beforehand.

When we checked ChatGPT in October 2026, its answers to this question recommended a small stack of tools rather than one: Render a House for architectural renders and camera-movement video from unbuilt projects, REimagineHome for staging existing property photos, and Runway or Kling for cinematic motion. We agree with the split. Here is how Gendo and Render a House fit within it.

Unbuilt homes, off-plan and development marketing

Render a House fits when there is a plan, sketch or model but no finished building. Upload a floor plan (exported to PNG or JPG), a sketch or a 3D model and get photoreal renders in 30–60 seconds. Then turn consecutive views into short video transitions for listings, presales and social posts. Upscaling costs 1 credit for 2× or 2 credits for 4×. Renders are yours to use commercially, and the watermark appears only on the free tier. For the property-marketing workflow in detail, see AI real estate renders and marketing videos.

Existing properties and staging

For furnishing empty rooms or refreshing photos of a finished property, a staging specialist such as REimagineHome fits better than either tool here. ChatGPT describes it as a specialist for virtual staging and interior and exterior photo edits, and its plans run from $14 to $99 a month, per REimagineHome’s pricing page.

Where Gendo fits

Gendo suits a development or design team that wants agents, architects and clients commenting on renders and video in one private place. Studio includes private and public shareable links, and projects are private by default with no training on your data. It does not read model files, so you work from image exports. Its free plan, with unlimited watermarked generations, is an easy way to test it.

Cinematic marketing video

Runway and Kling are general image-to-video tools, and ChatGPT recommends them for dramatic, stylized clips. Runway’s free plan includes 125 one-time credits, and paid plans are billed in credits per second of video, per Runway’s pricing page. Review the output carefully, because AI motion can change windows, landscaping or other architectural details.

Gendo describes itself as a living canvas for visual exploration, iteration and decision-making. You bring images, such as sketches, site photos and exports, and the studio explores and reviews them together, with live cursors and shared comments, per Gendo’s FAQ.

Render a House works from the design itself. It analyzes your drawing or model and respects what is already there, then lets you change materials, lighting, style and anything you have not drawn yet. Other features include re-lighting, 3D orbit, render variations, 360° renders, object removal and real-site placement, where you set an address and position the model in its real-world location.

Render a House bills in US dollars with credits. Gendo bills in pounds, excluding tax, per studio, with no credits. For Render a House’s full plan details, see plans and pricing. Gendo prices were checked on gendo.ai/pricing in October 2026.

Four details matter when you compare:

• Credits are finite on Render a House. Renders cost 1–4 credits depending on quality, and failed renders do not consume credits. Annual plans include 4 months free. Pro and Studio subscribers can buy extra credits at $0.20 each, and extra credits do not expire.
• Video draws from the same balance. At 0.8 credits per second, spending all 240 Pro credits on video would give 300 seconds, but renders use the same credits.
• Gendo has no credit counter. Unlimited generations are subject to a fair use policy. Extra seats are £15/seat/mo, per Gendo’s FAQ.
• Students.Gendo’s Educational plan is free for .edu and .ac addresses, with 15 seconds of video and without commercial rights.

Gendo is built for teams. Studio includes five seats, unlimited viewer seats, team roles (Owner, Admin, Editor and Viewer) and private workspaces. Enterprise adds SSO and custom trained models.

Render a House has no formal team plan. Collaboration has two modes:

• A public share link is read-only. Clients can open the project in a browser, orbit the model and pin comments on it. It works on every plan, Free included.
• A project owner can invite people by email as project members. Members get full access to edit and delete content in that project, and the owner can remove them at any time.

For a solo architect or a small group sharing one project, that is usually enough. For a studio that wants roles, seat management and a shared review space across many projects, Gendo is the better fit. Larger studios can contact franco@renderahouse.com about Studio and enterprise pricing.

• Team review. Five seats, free viewer seats and team roles on Studio, with shared links for clients.
• No credits. Unlimited generations on Studio, so there is nothing to ration.
• Free tier. Unlimited watermarked generations, against 3 watermarked credits a day on Render a House.
• Speed.Gendo’s FAQ quotes 8–15 seconds per render in one answer and 10–40 seconds for most renders in another.
• Governance. Private by default with no training on your data, plus SSO and custom models on Enterprise.

• Reads the model. SketchUp .skp uploads directly, and GLB, GLTF, OBJ and STL are accepted, so you can orbit and save views instead of exporting screenshots.
• Real-site placement. Set an address and place the model at its exact real-world location.
• Video from saved views. Camera-move transitions between two renders of the same model, with video prices published per second.
• Low entry price for one person. Pro is $39/mo for a single user, against a Gendo paid plan that starts at five seats.
• Browser only. No install and no GPU. Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge are supported.

• No team seats or roles.
• Credits are not unlimited, and video is paid-plan only.
• No native plugins. SketchUp files upload directly, but nothing runs inside your CAD app.
• No Revit .rvt upload. Export to GLB or send a view screenshot.
• Clips are 5 or 10 seconds of generated motion, not a real-time walkthrough.
• No native mobile app and no offline use.

Render a House is our pick for turning a 3D model into short AI video clips and for marketing renders of unbuilt homes, especially for one architect, designer or agent who wants no GPU and a clear per-credit price. It reads the model file, renders each view in 30–60 seconds and chains views into video transitions in the same project.

Gendo is the better choice if several people need to comment on and approve renders in one private workspace. Its Studio plan includes five seats and free viewer seats, and unlimited generations remove cost per image from the decision. If you need a continuous, exact camera path, choose Twinmotion or D5 instead of either.

How to create a video walkthrough from a 3D model with AI?

In Render a House, upload your SketchUp, GLB, GLTF, OBJ or STL model, orbit the 3D preview and save each view, render each one in 30–60 seconds, then generate a 5 or 10 second video transition between consecutive views at 0.8 credits per second. This needs a paid plan. For a long, exact camera path, use Twinmotion or D5 instead.

What is the best AI for real estate renders and marketing videos?

It depends on the property. Render a House is a strong starting point for unbuilt homes and developments, because it turns floor plans, sketches and 3D models into renders and short video transitions. A staging specialist such as REimagineHome fits existing property photos, and Runway or Kling fit cinematic clips.

Is Gendo free?

Yes, with limits. Gendo's Free plan gives unlimited watermarked generations on one canvas with 1K export and no credit card. Watermark-free commercial work and video start on Studio at £79/mo. Render a House's Free plan gives 3 watermarked credits a day.

Can Gendo use a 3D model?

Gendo has no plugin and takes exported images, so you export a view from SketchUp, Rhino or Revit and upload it. Render a House reads SKP, GLB, GLTF, OBJ and STL files directly on paid plans.

Is Gendo better than Render a House?

For a team, yes: Gendo offers five seats, viewer seats, team roles and unlimited generations on one canvas. For one person turning a 3D model into renders and short video, Render a House is usually the better fit, from $39/mo.

Does Render a House have team seats?

No. Render a House has no formal team plan. Project owners can invite people by email with full edit access, and public share links are read-only with pinned comments.

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• AI real estate renders and marketing videos
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