The VanKit alternative that checks the weight and costs $39 once
VanKit is the best-looking van planner on the market: photoreal van shells inside and out, parametric cabinets, one-click AI renders and CNC-ready DXF files. It is also a subscription — £39 a year for unlimited design, then a one-time £119 Build Pass for the cut files — covering five European vans, with no payload, axle-load or centre-of-mass maths. VanPlot is $39 once, covers 29 vehicles in 195 variants, and computes the weight, balance, power and budget live while you place parts.
| VanPlot | VanKit | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $39 once, yours forever | Personal £39/yr (shown as $49/yr); Build Pass £119 once for cut files; Business £49/mo |
| Cost over a typical 18-month build | $39 | £78 (two years) + £119 Build Pass = £197 if you want the cut files |
| Free use | 15 min of the full editor, no card, saves your work | No signup, place one furniture module; six with a free account; one AI render |
| Refunds | 14 days, keep your exports | "All purchases are final" (their published terms) |
| Van models | 29 vehicles, 195 variants, EU and US markets, from manufacturer specs | Sprinter (2019+), Crafter/TGE, Ducato family, Master family, Transit — wheelbase and roof variants |
| How the van looks | Real dimensions, wall taper and arches, procedural body | Photoreal 3D models inside and out, sliding door open/closed |
| Left- or right-hand drive | Per variant | One-click flip |
| Furniture | 119-item catalog, AI-generated and imported custom parts, box parts with cut-outs | Parametric cabinet modules (kitchen, wardrobe, garage units, upper cabinets, bench) with wood and colour presets |
| Photoreal AI renders | Photo mode with angle presets; no AI rendering | One-click AI renders in six styles — 5 a year on Personal, top-ups from £5 |
| Weight, axle split & centre of mass | Live, with weight map, tilt test, EN 1646-2 reserve | Ply weight and sheet estimate only — no payload, axle or balance check |
| Power planning | Battery + solar sizing, days of autonomy, wiring diagram | Electrical designer marked "Soon" inside the editor; separate roof-rack designer |
| Cost planning | Itemised budget, materials, running costs | Not included |
| Cut list | Stud-by-stud, sheet counts, priced — as PDF | CNC-ready DXF with panel nesting and a cutlist PDF — Build Pass or Business only |
| Walkthrough | First-person walk mode at eye height | Walkthrough mode |
| Devices | Browser, on desktop and phone | Browser; "please open this on a laptop or desktop — ideally in Google Chrome" |
| Languages | EN, DE, FR, SR, NL, IT, ES | English |
Facts from vankit.io (home, pricing, FAQ, design tools) and the free editor at interior.vankit.io, checked 30 September 2026. VanKit prices are published in GBP with USD shown at checkout; no EUR price is listed. VanKit is a product of YAKKT.
The honest verdict
VanKit, built by the UK roof-rack maker YAKKT, is the planner I would pick to make a van look real before it exists: a photoreal Crafter you can open the sliding door on, cabinets that resize to the van, and an AI render that turns the layout into a magazine photo. If you cut on a CNC, its DXF export with nesting is something no other planner sells.
It answers a different question than VanPlot. VanKit shows you how the build will look; VanPlot tells you whether it will be legal and affordable — payload, axle loads and centre of mass live while you place parts, a battery and solar budget, an itemised cost, and a cut list you can take to a track saw. VanPlot covers 29 vehicles on both sides of the Atlantic to VanKit's five European platforms, and it is $39 once instead of £39 every year plus £119 for the files.
Where VanKit is ahead
Looks. VanKit's photoreal van shells and one-click AI renders are far ahead of VanPlot's clean-but-procedural 3D. Its parametric cabinets adapt to the van automatically, and the CNC-ready DXF export with panel nesting has no equivalent in VanPlot, whose cut list is dimensions on a PDF.
Its free tier needs no signup at all — though it stops at one furniture module. If you run a conversion workshop and sell renders to clients, VanKit's Business plan with Brand Kit is built for you; VanPlot is built for the person doing one build.
Questions people actually ask
How much does VanKit cost?
VanKit is free to start without a signup (one furniture module), then Personal at £39 a year (shown as $49), a one-time £119 Build Pass for CNC-ready DXF files and the cutlist, and Business at £49 a month — prices from vankit.io, checked 30 September 2026. All purchases are final. VanPlot is $39 once with a 14-day refund.
Does VanKit calculate payload and axle loads?
No. VanKit's editor shows an estimated ply weight and sheet count; it has no payload, axle-load or centre-of-mass check (checked September 2026). VanPlot computes all three live as you place parts, with a tilt test and the EN 1646-2 reserve.
Which vans does VanKit support?
Five European platforms: Mercedes Sprinter (2019+), VW Crafter / MAN TGE, Fiat Ducato and its Boxer, Relay, ProMaster and ProAce Max siblings, Renault Master and its Movano / NV400 siblings, and Ford Transit, each in wheelbase and roof-height variants. VanPlot has 29 vehicles in 195 variants including US-market Sprinter, Transit, ProMaster and Metris.
Is there a VanKit alternative with CNC files?
Not in VanPlot: VanKit's DXF export with panel nesting is unique among van planners (their Build Pass, £119 once). VanPlot gives you a stud-by-stud cut list with sheet counts as a PDF, which is what a track saw needs; if you cut on a CNC, VanKit is the better fit today.
Other comparisons
Plan the weight, not just the picture — $39 once
Who makes this
I'm Vladimir. I'm planning my own conversion, and none of the tools I tried could tell me whether a layout would fit or what it would do to the rear axle, so I made this one. I work on it alone. If something's wrong or missing, write to me — the address goes to my inbox.
Vladimir Šterjoski