No-card AI staging trials: how many free photos can you keep?

On paper, the most generous no-card trials are Stager Go (10 credits on its pricing page), StageAI and Pedra (7 each), REimagineHome (5) and Spacely AI (about 4 staged images). Count only the free photos you could actually put on a listing, though, and the order changes. As of October 2026, Roomagen and StageHQ watermark every free result, so they leave you zero publishable photos. QuickStaging and RoomStage label theirs as previews. Spacely is the one tool here whose free plan is described as watermark-free with a commercial licence. QuickStage gives 3 free photos with no account or card, downloaded the same way as a paid photo.

Free-tier marketing quotes the allowance. The number that matters for an agent testing a tool is smaller: how many of those free results could go on a live listing if you liked them. This post works that number out for ten AI staging tools plus QuickStage, using only what each vendor's own pages said when they were checked on October 20, 2026. Where a page doesn't say something, the table says "not stated" rather than guessing.

What is the keep count?

Machineworthy's keep count is the number of free trial results you could publish, according to the vendor's own pages. Three rules produce it:

1. Watermarked or evaluation-only output counts as zero. You can judge the staging, but you can't use the file.
2. A result labelled a "preview" or "low-res" gets flagged. It may be fine for judging furniture and color, and too small for an MLS gallery.
3. Anything the vendor doesn't state stays an "up to". If a page never says whether free output carries a watermark or what size it is, the keep count is a ceiling until you download one and look.

The keep count isn't a quality score. It says nothing about whether the staging is any good. It tells you how much of the trial is a real sample of the product you'd be paying for, and how much is a demo.

How do the no-card trials compare side by side?

All figures are as of October 2026, from each vendor's own pricing, terms or app-store page, checked October 20, 2026. "Speed" is the vendor's own claim, not a timing we ran.

Two rows need their arithmetic shown.

Stager Go. Its pricing page lists 10 free credits and its free-trial page lists 3. The same pricing page says a staged image takes about 2 credits on the plan cards, and says "template composer" generations cost 4 to 6 credits. Ten credits at 2 each is 5 images. Ten credits at 4 to 6 each is 1 or 2. Three credits at 4 to 6 each is none. Stager Go is a "partial" entry in our pricing file for exactly this reason: the trial size and the credit cost per image are both unverified until you sign up and see the balance.

RoomStaging. One staged generation costs 1 credit at base resolution, and a 2K download costs 3 more credits. A 2K version of one photo therefore needs 4 credits, more than the 3 you get free. So the free photos are base resolution only, which RoomStaging calls "high-resolution" without giving pixels.

Where do the trials differ most?

Which free tiers give you more than three photos to keep?

Five tools list a bigger free allowance than QuickStage's three, and it's fair to say so plainly.

• StageAI gives 7 credits with no card. The app advertises "HD" downloads and doesn't say the free ones differ. It's iPhone-only, so it only helps if you stage from an iPhone.
• Pedra gives 7 image credits plus a free video and a free virtual tour, with no card. Neither watermark nor free-output size is stated on the pricing page.
• REimagineHome gives 5 designs with no card. Each generation costs a credit, so re-rolling a room you don't like uses up the allowance. Its cheapest paid tier is described as excluding "High Resolution Quality", and the page doesn't say what size free designs come out at.
• Spacely AI gives 40 trial credits, about 4 staged images at its stated "~10 credits" per staging render, and marks the free plan as watermark-free with a commercial licence. That's the clearest "you can use this" statement of any free tier here. Spacely is a partial entry in our file: its staging feature (Auto Furnish) has a credit cost that "may vary", the feature is Pro-only on paid plans, and the pricing page doesn't say whether trial credits can run it or whether a card is needed.
• Stager Go is the only other tool recorded as not watermarking free output, but its allowance could be anywhere from 0 to 5 images, as shown above.

If raw volume is what you want from a trial, StageAI and Pedra list the most, and Spacely makes the strongest usage promise. The catch is that most of these "up to" numbers stay unconfirmed until you download a file and check it.

Which free tiers watermark, shrink or expire the output?

Four tools put a documented limit on the free file itself.

• Roomagen: 3 HD images, watermarked, kept for 3 days. Paid Starter output is also capped at HD; "Ultra HD" starts on Pro.
• StageHQ: 3 watermarked previews, which its terms describe as evaluation-only. StageHQ's terms also rule out refunds on purchases, so the trial is the only look you get before paying.
• QuickStaging: 3 credits that produce a "Standard-resolution preview". 4K is a paid-plan feature.
• RoomStage (a partial entry not in the table): the first result is free but labelled a low-res preview, and 4K needs the $60-a-month Pro plan.

None of that makes these tools bad. A watermarked preview is a reasonable way to judge whether furniture lands in the right place. It just means the trial can't double as your first listing's photos.

What does QuickStage's free trial include, exactly?

QuickStage gives 3 free photos with no account and no card, with results in about 30 seconds. Here is how its download step treats a free photo:

• The download step doesn't change by plan. A trial photo goes through the same step as a paying customer's: a JPEG scaled to fit within 2,048 x 1,536 pixels and never enlarged past the size of the result.
• There's no trial watermark. The only overlay is a "Virtually Staged" label in a bottom corner, switched on by default for every download, free or paid. You can untick it if you label another way, but most MLSs and California's AB 723 require disclosure, so we recommend keeping it. It's a disclosure, not a trial restriction.
• QuickStage is built to keep walls, windows, floors and paint as photographed, add only movable furniture and decor, and keep doors and walkways clear.

So QuickStage's keep count is 3 out of 3. That's fewer free photos than StageAI, Pedra or REimagineHome list, and the same number as several others. The difference is that nothing on QuickStage's side turns a trial photo into a preview.

What does the first paid photo cost after the trial?

The trial ends, and the smallest purchase decides what photo number four costs you. As of October 2026, from each vendor's pricing page:

• QuickStage: $1 for one photo, no subscription. Plans run from $19.99 a month and go as low as $0.11 a photo on the annual Agency plan, with QuickFix re-dos included on plans.
• Stager Go: $12 one-time for 150 credits that never expire.
• Roomagen: $12 a month for 30 HD images.
• StageHQ: $19 one-time for 20 photos.
• QuickStaging: $19 one-time for a 25-photo listing pass.
• StageAI: $19.99 one-time credit purchase, or $9.99 a week.
• REimagineHome, BrightShot and RoomStaging: $19 a month for 30, 80 and 100 credits respectively.
• Pedra: $49 a month for 100 credits.
• Spacely AI: $50 a month on Studio, the cheapest plan with Auto Furnish; the $25 Personal plan can't run it.

For a fourth photo, photo four at a dollar on QuickStage is the smallest outlay on this list. If you'll stage a few hundred photos a year, the per-photo plan rates matter more than the trial, and several of these tools publish lower per-image floors on large annual plans.

How should you run a no-card trial so it tells you something?

1. Pick the rooms before you pick the tool. Use the same three photos on every trial: an easy bedroom, a typical living room and one awkward room. Different photos make the trials impossible to compare.
2. Download every free result. Open the file, check its pixel size, and look in the corners for a watermark. That turns each "up to" in the table into a fact.
3. Write down how many re-rolls each room took. On credit-per-generation tools, re-rolls come out of the free allowance, so a 5-credit trial can mean 2 usable rooms.
4. Check walls, windows and floors against the original. A free tier that changes the paint color isn't a bargain at any allowance.
5. Label anything you publish. Free or paid, a virtually staged photo needs a disclosure under most MLS rules; this isn't legal advice, so check your MLS and broker.

Bottom line

By allowance alone, StageAI and Pedra (7 each) and REimagineHome (5) lead, and Spacely's watermark-free free plan with a commercial licence is the most clearly usable larger trial. By keep count, Roomagen and StageHQ give you nothing to publish, QuickStaging and RoomStage give previews, and several others stay unconfirmed until you download. QuickStage's 3 free photos are full downloads with only an optional disclosure label, and the next photo costs $1.

Count your own keepers on QuickStage: three photos free, no account or card.