Verdict
Fidelity is not comparable here: our alignment failed for MeltFlex, so its room 01 drift (48.5) is an unaligned fallback score and we do not compare it with Pedra's aligned score. On published prices MeltFlex is cheaper per staged photo: $0.21 vs $0.33 on the cheapest paid option.
- cost per photo decides it: $0.21 vs $0.33 on the cheapest paid option (Standard (monthly), €19/month).
- you need restyling a furnished room and a stated commercial-use licence: listed on MeltFlex's pages, not listed or not verified for Pedra.
- you want to try it before creating an account (Yes).
- you need furniture removal (declutter) and sky replacement: listed on Pedra's pages, not listed or not verified for MeltFlex.
Built from the numbers below, not a paid placement. This is not a final ranking.
| Metric | MeltFlex | Pedra |
|---|---|---|
| Type | AI | AI |
| Tested by StagingBench | Room 01 (1 of 10) | Room 01 plus 5 more rooms (6 of 10) |
| Room 01 architecture drift (lower = better) | 48.5 unaligned fallback, not comparable | 27.1 |
| Room 01 framing | Unknown | Fail |
| Room 01 time to result | ~28 s | ~35 s |
| Watermark on our free output | Yes (tiled meltflexai.com), on an on-page preview (download paywalled) | Yes (badge) |
| Free output size (original 1280x960) | 1195x896 | 2048x1536 |
| Editor realism, room 01 (1-5) | not rated | 3.8 |
| Cheapest paid option | Standard (monthly), €19/month | Pro Monthly, €29/month |
| Price per photo, cheapest option | $0.21 (€0.19) | $0.33 (€0.29) |
| Next tier | Pro (EUR 59/mo, up to 340 renders; EUR 24/mo yearly) · $0.19/photo | 300 credits/month (EUR 75) · $0.28/photo |
| Free tier (vendor page) | Free tier: first staged photo free, no card; free images carry a subtle watermark | 7 image credits + 1 video + 1 virtual tour at signup, no card (our account got 6); free no-signup tool on pedra.ai/free-tools |
| Try without an account | No (sign-in required) | Yes |
| Turnaround | About 20 s per photo (vendor claim) | not stated |
| Refund policy (vendor) | No partial refunds for unused time | not stated |
| Redo / revisions (vendor) | not stated | Thumbs-down a bad result and you may get the credit back |
| Max resolution (vendor) | 4K image generations on paid plans | 2048 px (Large) on our free download |
| Declutter / remove furniture | ? | ✓ |
| Empty-room staging | ✓ | ✓ |
| Restyle a furnished room | ✓ | ? |
| Day to dusk | ? | ? |
| Sky replacement | ? | ✓ |
| Renovation / wall & floor recolor | ✓ | ✓ |
| 360 or video | ✓ | ✓ |
| API | ✓ | ✓ |
| "Virtually staged" disclaimer option | ? | ? |
| Commercial-use licence stated | ✓ | ? |
Room 01: original vs staged
Same empty open-plan room, default settings, first output only. Each image shows the original next to the output; alignment failed for MeltFlex, so that image is not aligned.
MeltFlex · room 01
Pedra · room 01
What we noted
MeltFlex
Room 01: Free download paywalled (Subscribe €12/mo); saved on-page preview. Official alignment failed (20/25 inliers); drift 48.5 is unaligned fallback. Diagnostic ratio 0.8: framing FAIL (zoom 0.84, 29% invented), aligned drift 38.0 — not an official v0.2 score.
Pricing notes: Home-design tool, not real-estate specific. Counts are 'up to'. Page shows a countdown discount banner. 'Up to 100 AI renders' (490 credits); EUR 12/mo billed yearly.
Sources: meltflexai.com/subscription (checked 2026-10-19); meltflexai.com/faq (checked 2026-10-19); meltflexai.com/virtual-staging-ai (checked 2026-10-19); meltflexai.com/affiliates (checked 2026-10-19)
Pedra
Room 01: Framing fails: zoomed out by about 1.3% and rotated about 0.5°, so roughly 2.5% of the image at the edges is newly drawn. After alignment the walls, column and doorway line up, but parts of the kitchen are redrawn and wall decor adds edges, so architecture drift stays high (27.1). Alignment explains about 10 of the 37.6 raw points.
Editor notes: Separate living and dining zones suit the open-plan room. The sectional is large but believable; it stands in front of the column. Adds fixtures that aren't in the flat: a pendant lamp over a new dining table and under-cabinet kitchen lights.
Pricing notes: Annual: EUR 239/yr for 1,200 credits (about EUR 0.20/photo). The page's own table rounds 100 credits to EUR 0.28/credit. 1 credit per staged photo.
Sources: pedra.ai/pricing (checked 2026-10-19); our own test log (2026-10-19)
Architecture drift runs from 0 to 100, lower is better (how much walls, windows and doors changed after aligning the output to the original). Differences of about 3 points or less are within measurement noise. Framing fails if the tool cropped, zoomed, shifted or rotated the photo beyond our thresholds. Editor realism ratings are one person's 1-5 ratings, not blind. Details: methodology. Partial results: 1 of 10 rooms scored for most tools (Collov AI also has rooms 02-05, Pedra rooms 02-06 and Roomagen room 02. The leaderboard still compares room 01 only.). Prices from vendors' public pages, checked 19 October 2026; EUR converted at the ECB rate (1.1253, 2026-10-16). Nobody paid for a placement, and affiliate links never change the order.