Best software for designing garden irrigation (2026)

Why it pays to design before you dig

Over the years I have seen enough systems put together "by eye" to say with confidence where they go wrong: almost always in the spacing between one sprinkler and the next. People who skip the design step tend to space pop-up heads 6-7 metres apart because "they throw quite far anyway", and end up with crescent-shaped dry patches where the sprays fail to overlap. The head-to-head rule — every sprinkler must reach the next one — is not a technical nicety: it is the difference between a uniform lawn and a patchy one, and it is nearly impossible to get right by pacing out distances in the garden.

Design software does not replace a site survey, but it forces you to put on paper three things people otherwise tend to improvise: the actual shape of the garden (not an idealised rectangle), the number of zones based on available flow, and a materials list you can check against what you are about to buy. Even the simplest tool, used properly, avoids the most expensive mistake: discovering halfway through digging that you needed two zones instead of one because a 15 L/min meter cannot support eight sprinklers running together.

SprinklerMap: satellite drawing, automatic placement, materials list

Full disclosure upfront: SprinklerMap is our own tool, so weigh it against the others on this list rather than taking our word for it. It works like this: trace the garden perimeter on the satellite map (useful for irregular plots, less so if you already have precise measurements) or enter dimensions by hand, then place sprinklers manually or let the algorithm position them automatically while respecting head-to-head coverage. There is also a GPS mode: walk the garden with your phone on and the perimeter draws itself from your path — handy when the satellite view is blocked by trees or a roof overhang.

It is free and browser-based, no install required. Drawing and GPS mode need no account; automatic placement, soil-absorption simulation and exporting the parts list as a PDF require registration (Google or Apple, free, no payment). That is the trade-off we chose to prevent abuse of the functions that consume the most server-side computation — not a commercial decision, there simply is no paid tier sitting above these features.

The honest limitation: unlike Orbit, we do not sell hardware, so there is no "order the parts" button that ships materials to your door — the list you generate has to be bought wherever you prefer (we link reference products via Amazon/AliExpress at the end of articles, but with no obligation). If your goal is an end-to-end flow including purchase from one specific brand, the manufacturer tools below do that better than we do.

Orbit Sprinkler System Designer: the turnkey option if you buy Orbit hardware

The Orbit Sprinkler System Designer (design.orbitonline.com) lets you trace your garden on Google Maps or draw it from scratch with manual tools, then generates a design with a dedicated parts list. That is its whole strength: at the end of the design you can have Orbit components (including the smart B-hyve controllers) shipped straight to your door, along with an installation guide built specifically for those products. If you have already decided to go all-in on Orbit, this is probably the fastest route from drawing to order without re-doing the maths by hand.

The flip side: it requires registration from the very start (you cannot even try it without signing up) and is built specifically around the Orbit catalogue — if you want to mix Hunter bodies, Rain Bird nozzles and a Rachio controller, you will not find the same integration here. Sprinkler placement stays manual: the drawing tools help, but you decide the final layout, not an automatic coverage algorithm.

GARDENA Sprinklersystem Planner: the natural fit if you already use Gardena's modular system

GARDENA's planner (accessible from my-garden.gardena.com) does something none of the other tools on this list does in the same way: it automatically positions both the sprinklers and the buried pipework, based on the logic of the Sprinklersystem — Gardena's set of modular components designed to be assembled without welding or specific adhesives. In five steps you get a downloadable sketch with a complete Gardena parts shopping list.

It is coherent and simple as long as you stay inside the Gardena ecosystem: if you already have pipes and fittings from another manufacturer, or want to mix brands to save on individual components, the planner loses much of its usefulness, because the layout it proposes assumes their quick-connect diameters and steps. I found no reference to a satellite-map tracing function: the garden drawing appears to rely on manually entered shape and measurements, not an aerial survey.

MyLawnPlanner: no account, technical-style diagram ready to download

MyLawnPlanner (mylawnplanner.netlify.app) is built entirely around zero friction: no account, no install, no paywall, runs entirely in the browser and — according to the site — saves nothing to an external server. You draw the garden by entering measurements or tracing the shape by hand, position sprinklers by drag-and-drop, and download a PDF diagram with a technical-drawing look, readable even printed in black and white to bring on site.

What it does not do: it does not trace from a satellite map, does not generate a materials list with quantities and prices (just the graphic diagram), and placement stays entirely manual — no algorithm checks head-to-head coverage for you. It works well for anyone who just wants to visualise a layout in a few minutes without leaving an email address anywhere, less well for anyone who wants a starting materials estimate.

Sprinkler System Design Tool: a free-form canvas, no calculations

The Sprinkler System Design Tool at sprinklersystemcalculator.com is the barest of the list: a canvas with geometric shapes (line, rectangle, triangle, circle, freehand) and symbols for sector, semicircle or strip sprinklers. No account required, free, and it exports only as a PNG image — no structured PDF, no materials list, no automatic zone calculation.

I find it useful in one specific situation: when you need to sketch a layout idea quickly to discuss with an installer or compare against another design, without the overhead of an account or an algorithm deciding where to put the heads for you. As a complete design tool for a real system, though, it is the most limited of those mentioned here: no coverage verification, no per-zone flow check.

Which one to choose for your situation

If the garden has an irregular shape and you want to start from a satellite map with the option of letting an algorithm verify head-to-head coverage, SprinklerMap or Orbit are the most complete options — the practical difference is whether you want to stay brand-agnostic (SprinklerMap) or buy the hardware with one click at the end (Orbit). If you have already chosen the Gardena modular system, their planner saves time because it already knows your components. If you just want to sketch a layout in five minutes without registering anywhere, MyLawnPlanner or the sprinklersystemcalculator.com design tool do the job with no frills.

One piece of practical advice that applies to every one of these tools, ours included: no software knows the real pressure available at your connection point or your garden's soil type — those are two figures that need to be measured on site, not estimated from a drawing. For pressure, the guide is at /blog/misurare-pressione-acqua-irrigazione; to work out how many zones you actually need based on flow and planting, read /blog/idrozone-progettazione-giardino. A well-drawn design based on the wrong pressure figure still produces a system that does not perform as expected.

What to measure in the garden before opening any of these tools

Before drawing anything, do a minimal on-site survey: the real perimeter measurements (even just with a 30-metre tape), the position of the connection point and meter, and — if possible — a static pressure reading with an inexpensive gauge screwed onto the outdoor tap. These three figures alone make any software far more useful: a precise-looking drawing based on rough guesswork is still just a rough drawing.

With that information in hand, whichever tool you pick from the ones described above becomes a verification tool rather than an invention tool: you confirm the spacings work, check how many zones you actually need, and take a materials list on site that matches what the ground and the water supply can genuinely deliver.

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