By Doorlark Staff · Prices checked on vendor sites Oct 15, 2026

Virtual Staging: AI Apps vs Edited Services, Priced Per Photo

Bottom line: If you stage a few empty rooms a month, a self-serve AI subscription costs about $1 a photo or less. A human-edited service costs about $30 a photo but suits hero shots and luxury listings.

Tool	Price (vendor site, Oct 15 2026)	What you get	Fits	Limitations
Virtual Staging AI	$16/mo (6 photos) → $79/mo (150 photos); about $2.67 → $0.53 per photo, using the prices shown with yearly billing	Upload, pick a style, result in about 10 seconds (per site); unlimited re-renders	Solo agents with 2–10 vacant rooms a month	Pure AI, so check furniture scale and wall/window edges before publishing
Collov AI	$19/mo (60 credits), $49 (150), $79 (263), $127 (526); 25% off yearly	AI staging, furniture removal, about 10-second turnaround; higher tiers add day-to-dusk, lawn, pool and video	Agents who also want furniture removal or exterior touch-ups	Credits reset monthly (per site); features vary by tier
REimagineHome	$14–$99/mo, credit-based	AI staging and redesign from a room photo	Agents who want low-cost redesign ideas as well as staging	Positioned partly toward consumers and interior design; confirm commercial-use terms
BoxBrownie	US$30 per staged image; item removal US$10; day-to-dusk US$5	Human editors, about 24-hour turnaround (per site)	Listing hero photos and luxury listings where flaws show	About 30× the per-photo cost of AI apps; not instant
PhotoUp	On demand $1.50/credit (AI staging is 3+ credits); plans $49–$399/mo	Photo editing and AI staging in one account	Agents or photographers who already outsource photo editing	Credit math takes a minute to figure out; plans are aimed at photographers

The quick cost math

Staging 8 rooms a month: Virtual Staging AI's $19 plan (20 photos) or Collov's $19 plan (60 credits) costs under $20. BoxBrownie would cost 8 × $30 = $240.

Before you upload

Many MLSs require virtually staged photos to be labeled, and some require the unstaged photo too. Check your MLS rules.
Stage only empty or decluttered rooms. Don't hide defects such as cracks or water stains, because that becomes a disclosure problem.

Verdict: pick this if…

Virtual Staging AI if you want the cheapest per-photo cost and stage regularly
Collov AI if you also need furniture removal or exterior fixes
BoxBrownie if it's a $750k+ listing or the hero photo, and you can wait a day
PhotoUp if your photographer or team already edits photos there

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