Best Virtual Tour Software

Every buyer wishes to have a virtual property tour before even visiting it on-site. The availability of affordable and reliable virtual tour tools in the market has become a blessing for real estate business owners. The best virtual tour software for real estate can empower your team to create an appealing tour of the property within a couple of hours.

What Is Virtual Tour Software?

Virtual tour software is a comprehensive set of tools designed to easily create and share informative, interactive virtual visualizations (tours) and 360-degree panoramic views. With virtual tour software, real estate businesses can easily create, upload, and share virtual tours to attract prospective customers and gain a competitive advantage. The software also allows companies to enhance their branding by integrating the tours with customized images, text, audio, video, immersive (VR) displays, maps, etc., for a mesmerizing experience.

What Tools Does a Virtual Tour Software Offer?

A reliable virtual tour software includes all the tools and features you need to create, share, and view virtual tours. It typically offers panoramas (360-degree streaming), hotspots, voice-over/audio, quick publishing, social sharing, drag & drop, scene navigation, file storage/recovery, auto-responsiveness, tour modes, custom branding, reporting/analytics, photo gallery, floor plans/maps, virtual reality, and more.

How to Choose the Best Virtual Tour Software?

Goodfirms’ expertise and experience can simplify choosing the best virtual tour software system. We have performed extensive research and comprehensive analysis to handpick this list of the best virtual tour software.

If you are looking for a simple yet efficient virtual tour solution, check the list below of top virtual tour software for real estate and explore the prominent features, reviews, and pricing information for each. For a better search, leverage the filters for required features, your business size, pricing model, deployment type, and more.

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Buyer’s Guide

Introduction to buyer’s guide for Virtual Tour Software

Whether it is travel related to cultural immersion, business-related purposes, or even purely entertainment and sightseeing activities, travel aficionados dot the globe. Heritage and historical sites are great attractions these days. However, people must also visit schools for admission spread across geographies, business centers for work-related activities, and real estate properties.

All the above require a significant amount of travel. So what happens when you can not transport yourself to a destination for multiple reasons, such as money, time, and even health-related issues? Thanks to the advent of technology, those unable to travel to these places need not fret any longer - the location will come to you remotely in the comfort of your home or office.

This process is called a Virtual Tour. This buyer’s guide delves into the features and advantages of virtual tour software and highlights the key reasons your business should have one. Explore the many versions of the virtual tour platforms on Goodfirms’ dedicated page and make the right choice for your business!

What is a Virtual Tour?

First coined in 1994, virtual tour systems have Colin Johnson to thank after he created a 3-dimensional render of Dudley castle in England as it was in the 16th Century. Since then, virtual tours have undergone multiple transformations and innovations and are the fine-tuned product we use today.

It is a simulation or virtual recreation of a location, room, building, or monument. We can create virtual tours using still images or videos stitched together to form one unified experience. Sound effects - music, narration - and text-based information- accompany the videos.

So, how can one enjoy a Virtual Tour? You can use virtual tour software on devices of any size (desktop, laptop, mobile, tablet). There are virtual reality (VR) headsets that offer immersive tours and site information using geoinformatics.

Why is virtual tour growing in popularity?

Planning a tour of a location is often a headache. You must make schedules match between participating individuals and ensure minimal disturbance during the trip.

Besides offering a realistic experience, virtual tours are far more effective in giving people a hands-on experience of the destination with latent information of use.

However, that’s not all. Here are some significant reasons why virtual tours have exploded in popularity -

Cheaper than an on-site visit: Simulated tours can be conducted in the comfort of your home, on a computer device, by paying a nominal sum. It nullifies the expense incurred on multiple travel modes, hotel stays, commissions and charges, and other miscellaneous costs. Also, the experience is as authentic as the original!
Pace Yourself: A virtual tour, once booked, can be conducted at one’s own pace within a period. The experience of a location is not hindered by timing, crowds, or even the behest of a fast-moving tour guide/agent.
Interactive and Informative Tours: Programmers can integrate much information into a virtual tour. The data is available and spread out in the form of snippets associated with specific spatial points on the location grid. Users can scroll to these points and interact with the image to get the necessary information. It is a common tactic seen in virtual tours of archeologically significant locations.
Accessibility: Virtual tour software and devices are straightforward to set up and use. The total time to sign in and immerse yourself is less than two minutes. Additionally, they can be accessed on the move or while remaining stationary.
In-depth user views: Some users prefer to scan every square centimeter of a location to ensure they are comfortable with the information they have gleaned. In the case of business viewers, particularly real estate, users will zoom and scan the images to ensure there is no irregularity.
Countless repetitions: Missed out on parts of the tour? No problem. You can re-scroll or navigate back to the point you skipped almost instantly to get a fresh perspective of the area. You can do this for multiple locations any number of times.

What are the applications of Virtual Tours?

With the explosion of computing capability in smaller devices, creating and participating in a virtual tour has become extremely simple. Today, virtual tours find rich applications in a variety of industries.

One of the biggest gainers of the virtual tour boom has been the tourism industry. Many companies - travel operators and fully-fledged businesses - offer people unable to travel a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience exotic locations as part of virtual tour packages. It includes hotel rooms as well.

Another beneficiary is the education industry, particularly universities. They offer international students seeking admission a chance to experience the campus before finalizing entry to a particular institution. Virtual tour setups may be adapted to showcase elements of human and animal anatomy for better understanding by students at top medical schools. With the boom in online education, institutes in various streams are using virtual tour software to augment the practical experience with virtual know-how and in-depth analysis.

The real estate industry is not further behind, either. Developers provide would-be buyers tours of model houses and apartments virtually so that the purchase decision is quicker. Businesses may also want to purchase real estate or structures (e.g., factories, warehouses, etc.) at a particular site. They may tour these facilities virtually before striking a deal.

Interior designers use virtual tour software to show clients the work they have completed - or even on-going projects - without disturbing other house owners. It builds trust within the interested parties. Even entertainment companies have jumped onto the virtual tour bandwagon, offering fans customized tours of sets of famous movies and/or popular TV series when recording. In this fashion, users feel a part of the show themselves.

Nowadays, virtual tours are conducted by automobile and manufacturing companies, willing to showcase their products to the rest of the world. Product concept unveiling as well as launches have vast audiences remotely, who can experience the products first hand through tours. These audiences could then potentially turn into immediate customers.

Virtual tours find employment throughout industries, e.g., advertising and marketing and museum tours. Their application is deriving new benefits.

What are the types of Virtual Tours?

You may look at everyday examples, like Google Street View, and believe its format is the most popular form of virtual tours. However, there exist classification types for these simulated tours based on camera angles and the ultimate objective of the trip. They are as follows:

360 or Panoramic Tours: One of the most common forms of virtual tours, a panoramic tour, is composed of numerous images of a location patched together to form one coherent representation around a point called the no-parallax point. It gives us a rotating view of the entire site.
Interactive Floor Plan Tours: As the name suggests, this form of a virtual tour is employed by real estate developers to give users an in-depth experience (architectural layout) of what houses will look like once completed. It combines still images with interactive elements to help users navigate around a simulated environment of their homes, through computer designed floor plans.
Video Tours: This type of virtual tour uses a camera in video mode to capture the experience of a person or entity walking through a location at a particular speed. Filming the entire place occurs between different fixed points. It doesn’t offer the solidity of a panoramic view, but the integration of interactive elements and accompanying text or narration makes it an enjoyable experience.
Still Photo or Photo Gallery Tours: These tours are a collection of still images that involve users browsing through to glean more information about a product or service. They are generally one dimensional and have minimal interactive elements.

What is Virtual Tour Software?

The growth of virtual tours has spawned primarily owing to the software that makes it possible to experience it over multiple devices. It is called a Virtual Tour Software.

Virtual Tour Software helps represent a location virtually for a user, in multiple modes such as 360 degree or panoramic mode, video mode, and photo mode. 3d virtual tour software can be adapted to multiple devices for various industries all over the globe. Virtual tour tools help businesses create immersive experiences for users to enjoy remotely, within cost-effective means.

Virtual softwares can be combined with virtual reality tools to offer users a one of a kind experience in different locations. The best virtual tour software helps you create, curate, improve, and optimize offerings for users.

Where is Virtual Tour Software prominently used?

Does your business operate in the real estate industry where customer experience and retention go hand in hand? Or perhaps you are a part of a university admissions committee trying to attract students from far away places - nationally and internationally. Or maybe yours is just a business that explores the possibility of giving your customers an authentic remote experience.

Well, virtual tour software has all the answers to your problems. The 360 virtual tour software is a popular choice for organizations in the real estate industry. Users are given a tour through their locality of residence as well as the house itself in almost life-like clarity.

Museum tours use 3d virtual tour software to give hundreds and thousands of guests an in-depth representation of the structure’s history through interactive content embedded within. As mentioned earlier, western universities are turning to virtual tours to help students acclimatize with their possible alma maters.

The travel and tourism industry has benefitted like no other. Adventure sports and trekking companies have turned to virtual tours to help audiences take in breath-taking views from dangerous terrains, all from the safety of their homes. Virtual tours of monuments, historic natural formations, and even exotic stays have become the norm.

How do businesses benefit from Virtual Tour Software?

Consumers are the lifeline of any business - but in industries such as real estate or tourism, the dependence on individual customers is acute. However, with the proliferation of virtual tour software, many businesses are now beginning to see the benefits.

Virtual tours offer customers a realistic view of the brand and its offerings at their convenience. Organizations can brand individual products within tours so that prospective buyers, such as in real estate, may get the first-hand experience of the company’s products virtually. It leads to a firmer brand name and better consumer referrals.

One of the fundamental advantages of virtual tour platforms is the ability for businesses to reach out to consumers spread across geographical areas, thereby increasing their penetration. The experiences are easy to craft,, and businesses also have the option to make it as customized and personalized as possible.

The better a customer experiences a product, the faster he/she is drawn to purchasing it. Businesses can also benefit from a shortened sales cycle through virtual tour software, leading to better ROI. The investment made into virtual tour software can be used to cover hundreds of users or buyers.

Using virtual tour tools, companies can express their full range of products and services, proving to be one of the most effective marketing and communication channels.

What are the features of Virtual Tour Software?

Today, virtual tours are vastly employed and serve as a revenue-generating arm of the marketing wing for many organizations. However, to ensure the tour offerings are up to standard, the 3d virtual tour software must be replete with the best features. Some of them are as follows -

Drag and Drop: Add any number of interactive elements of different styles of virtual tours as needed.
Immediate Publishing and Sharing: Push the virtual tour links across various social media platforms or bespoke publishing avenues for users to sign up and have an enlightening experience.
360-degree site stream: An innovative digital solution, this feature integrates virtual reality into tours to present users with an ever-changing landscape around them. The site’s streaming is consistent, and interactive elements make users feel in-situ.
Hotspots: This feature is central to a virtual tour system - it helps integrate links, notes, and other snippets of information into the tour.
Voice Over: Add narration, music, and other audio forms into the tour to make it more interactive.
Scene Navigation: Get users all the information they need, like a virtual map, to navigate the entire tour in an orderly sequence and not in a haphazard manner.
File Storage and Recovery: Integration with cloud data storage to ensure files are readily available at any time.
Auto-Responsiveness: Adjust tour to size and specifications of the screen size on which the virtual tour software is running.
Payment Gateways: The 360 virtual tour software you will use to attract users must have integrated payment gateways so users can not only purchase the experience but also add integrations on the application without navigating away.
Tour Modes: You should be able to program locations in the virtual tour software so that a 360 virtual tour, 3d virtual tour, video tours, and photo tours are readily available for users to experience.
Branding: Use the custom branding option to highlight your company’s name and tagline as front and center of the user experience.
Reporting and Analysis: Use the analytics dashboard to assess user and software statistics. Reporting creates visualized data reports for easy analysis and improvement.
Photo Button: Ensure users get the opportunity to click realistic photographs of monuments, settings, or real estate locations during the tour.
Enlarge and Email: Virtual tour links can be emailed to clients who have purchased it, from where the buyer can open up a more interesting experience of the tour.
Map Button: Locate specific businesses or places on a map during the tour.

What are the Advantages of Virtual Tour Software?

Whether free virtual tour software or paid versions, there is no doubt that these digital innovations are beneficial to businesses and customers. Some of their advantages are as follows.

Ubiquitous (can be used anywhere)
Increases Visitor Retention
Builds a broader customer base thanks to personalized interactions on the virtual tour building platform
The software is easy to scale
Data analytics can accurately show customer drop-off rates, tour popularity, and content integration needs
Better SEO performance of the business (Local and World Wide Web)
Increased sales rates (particularly in real estate)
Realistic representation of company sites
Considerably money-efficient to implement, which also contributes to better ROI
Can be used to increase employee engagement and employer branding
Easy to use and share virtual tour links

What is the average price of Virtual Tour software?

The price of the best virtual tour software is dependent on a variety of factors, not just limited to the popularity of the software, its features, or the brand that created the software.

If you need to go light on the wallet, then do not miss to check out a list of the best and open source virtual tour software. Real estate virtual tour software such as Lapentor and Round Me offer free versions of their software.

Real estate virtual tour software Enscape offers a two week trial on their paid version, while Virtual Tour Creator has a six-month trial period. Some affordable virtual tour solutions include Seekbeak ($11/month), Kuula ($12/month), and 360ToVisit ($9.99/month) and LiveTour ($5/month).

ViewPlex and Hauzd Engine are examples of mid-tier priced options at $47.49/month and $45/month. Build360 Tours charges a yearly fee of $49.99/year. More exclusive versions of the software are also available, which include Virtual Tour Cafe ($125/month). Fusion is software that charges a one-time price of $99. Viur charges users on a quote-basis.

How to Choose the right Virtual Tour Software for your Business?

While it is beneficial to make your mind up early in the buying process of a virtual tour system, the process is a lot more complicated due to the following factors you must consider before purchasing.

Cost - Do not pay over the top for software with features you will not use regularly. Make sure you have plenty of options in your budget.
Customer support - Even the best virtual tour software for real estate often needs an adjustment period and plenty of expertise while setting it up. Make sure apt service support is available to help you ease into the software.
Security: Ensure the real estate virtual tour software is secure with no way for hackers to access sensitive geo-location or consumer data, especially with regards to payment.
Features: You have to assess the overall feature set of such softwares and how it complements your business’s ambitions to move forward.
Type -Different types of virtual tours have different types of dedicated software. It is up to the user to decide which form of a virtual tour he wants to implement - 360 virtual tour or photo tours - and then decide on the appropriate software.

Why consider Goodfirms' list of top Virtual Tour Software?

Goodfirms strives to help organizations achieve the best possible results using software that suits their purposes. This meticulously crafted buyer’s guide for virtual tour software has been created with the intention of providing prospective buyers with information on features, benefits, uses, and other important aspects of virtual tour systems.

Our information about all the software here is up to date, saving you the headache of multiple time-consuming checks. Be sure to check out our extensive software directory to find the right software to fit all your present and future business needs. What are you waiting for? Make your hassle-free choice on Goodfirms!

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Best Virtual Tour Software Available in the Market?

Businesses have varied requirements for virtual tour software based on their industry, size, and operational structure. The software solution that suits other companies may not be the right choice for you. The best virtual tour software for your business is the one that offers all the virtual tour features that your business needs, is easy-to-use, and cost-effective.

Goodfirms’ list of best virtual tour software provides detailed information about the top virtual tour systems available in the market and their features, ratings, reviews, and pricing information. You can select the best virtual tour system software for your real estate business from this list by leveraging filters for features, pricing model, business size, deployment type, reviews, ratings, and more. Also, refer to Goodfirms’ Buyer’s Guide for Virtual Tour Software for detailed information on key considerations for buying virtual tour software.

Why Do Businesses Need Virtual Tour Software?

Virtual tour software has revolutionized various industries, including real estate, interior designing, travel/tourism, automobile, marketing, education, gaming, and more. For example, educational institutions commonly use virtual tour software to create customized virtual tours (with text, audio, etc.) for displaying their campus facilities to prospective students and help them better understand the campus offerings. Real estate companies witness a rapid upsurge in sales by leveraging the best virtual tour software for real estate to offer prospective buyers a complete 360-degree representation of their property site, sample houses, room interiors, etc.

Leveraging virtual tour software helps businesses create, use, and share virtual tours with ease. It improves customer/visitor retention, increases customer base through personalized interactions, improves user engagement, enhances sales, enables scalability, and up-surges profits. Realistic representation through virtual tours helps build customer trust. Virtual tour software solutions enable better and customized branding for businesses, are cost-efficient and provide business insights through data analytics.

How Is Virtual Tour Software Transforming the Real Estate Industry?

Virtual tour software has significantly benefited real estate businesses. Real estate companies create plans/brochures for the target buyers, but these do not provide a clear picture of the property. So, the companies need to construct and maintain real samples of the property to satisfy and attract prospective buyers; this poses enormous costs on the real estate companies.

Best virtual tour software for real estate helps real estate companies provide prospective buyers a virtual 360-degree view of the property from floor to ceiling and display what the buyers can expect from the property, including the rooms, furnishings, doors/windows, etc. As this reduces confusion and increases prospective buyer’s trust in the property, virtual tours result in enhanced leads and sales for real estate businesses. Besides, construction companies also use the software to communicate, monitor, and control the construction work at their sites.

How Much Does Virtual Tour Software Cost?

The pricing of virtual tour software predominantly depends on the number of tours it allows and its features. Most virtual tour software vendors offer free versions of their software with basic features, allowing a limited number of virtual tours.

You can get multiple reliable paid virtual tour software options within $12 per month (for the starter plans), and their feature-rich, advanced versions cost a bit higher. For example, Kuula offers a free version that allows up to 100 public uploads per month. It costs $12 per month for unlimited tours and $36 per month for the Business Plan that offers enhanced privacy and analytics.

Among other top virtual tour software, Panoroo and iAriv Tours cost as low as $5 per month. CloudPano offers a free trial for 120 days and costs $10 per tour. Matterport 3D Showcase costs $9.99 per month; and, both DiveIn Studio and WeboBook cost $10 per month. My360, another popular virtual tour solution, offers a 2-week free trial and costs $45 per month for unlimited virtual tours and provides full 7 days (per week) live support.

Are There Any Free Virtual Tour Software Systems Available?

Many virtual tour software vendors offer free versions of their software solution with basic features, apart from multiple paid packages; for example, Seekbeak and iAriv Tours. Another popular virtual tour software, WeboBook’s free version, allows up to 3 virtual tours. Simultaneously, you can refer to Goodfirms’ blog on free and open source virtual tour software for more options on free virtual tour solutions.

Are Virtual Tour Software Solutions Secure?

For every business, security is essential to earn customers’ trust. Thus, like other software solutions, the top virtual tour software vendors typically ensure robust security measures to meet the global security standards and protect your confidential business data. Before choosing the virtual tour software for your business, you must still confirm that the vendor is experienced and has positive feedback from other users.

Additionally, discuss and confirm the software’s security features and offerings with the software provider, including data access, data storage, data sharing, encryption, vulnerability scanning, or any other specific security concerns that you may have. You may also check reviews and ratings of different software solutions from the list of top virtual tour software by Goodfirms.

Virtual Tour Software

Best Virtual Tour Software

List of Best Virtual Tour Software for Real Estate

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