Blender
Blender is a free and open-source software that has quickly become popular, even among professional studios. It has powerful tools for modeling, rigging, rendering, and animation. I do not have much experience with Blender myself, but I always feel a bit envious of how quickly the program develops and how many new features are constantly being added.
3ds Max
Autodesk 3ds Max is one of the most widely used programs in architectural visualization and product design. It is particularly strong for modeling and rendering. Many people who work with architectural visualization use a combination of 3ds Max and various render engines. This is the program I have the most experience with.
Maya
Autodesk Maya is widely used in the film and gaming industry and is known for its advanced animation and rigging capabilities.
Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine is used for real-time visualization and interactive experiences. It is free to use for many types of projects and delivers high quality in real time.
Unity
Unity is a game engine used for game development, interactive experiences, and configurators. It is known for its flexibility and broad use across many industries.
Cinema 4D
Cinema 4D is popular in motion graphics, advertising, and design thanks to its user-friendly interface and smooth workflow. I have worked quite a lot in Cinema 4D and especially appreciate how easy it is to manage different variants in a scene. The program also makes it very easy to set up different camera and lighting configurations, which is a major advantage in larger projects.
VRED
Autodesk VRED is often used in the automotive industry for real-time visualization, presentations, and VR. I have used VRED in projects at car companies, where it was an important tool for visualizing and evaluating design in high quality in real time.
Redshift
Redshift is a GPU-based renderer that is fast and flexible. It is often used in combination with Cinema 4D.
Corona Renderer
Corona Renderer is often used in architectural visualization thanks to its simplicity and high image quality.
V-Ray
V-Ray is one of the most established render engines and is used across many different areas, from architecture to product visualization. I have worked extensively with V-Ray, primarily in combination with 3ds Max.