Zillow vs Apartments.com: Which Listing Site Wins? | RentAdminly

Different platforms reach different applicants. Here's the honest comparison, the cost differences, and the strategy for getting maximum reach for minimum money.

By Sarah Chen | April 24, 2026

Different platforms reach different applicants. Here's the honest comparison, the cost differences, and the strategy for getting maximum reach for minimum money.

The two giants

In US rental marketing, two networks dominate: the Zillow Group (Zillow + Trulia + HotPads) and CoStar (Apartments.com + Realtor.com rental side + several others). The two combined account for the majority of US rental search traffic. Most landlords need one or both.

This is the honest comparison.

!Renter searching apartments on a phone

Zillow Group: high-volume, mostly single-family and small multifamily

Strengths:

  • Largest single rental search audience in the US
  • Strong on SEO — Zillow listings often outrank the actual property URL
  • Single-family heavy, but covers everything
  • Tenant-side workflow (saved searches, tour requests) is mature

    • Weaknesses:

  • Listing fee for landlords ($9.99-$29.99/week per listing depending on market, last verified 2025-2026)
  • Algorithm favors high-engagement listings, which can disadvantage new landlords
  • "Premier Agent" emphasis crowds the search results in some markets

    • Where Zillow wins: single-family rentals in suburban and small-city markets. Tenants searching for a house overwhelmingly start at Zillow.

    Apartments.com / CoStar: large-multifamily heavyweight, expanding to SFR

    Strengths:

  • Dominates large-multifamily searches in dense urban markets
  • Free for landlords to list (paid promotion available)
  • Strong reach via Realtor.com partnership
  • Tenant-side filters (amenities, pet policies) are deeper than Zillow's

    • *Weaknesses:

    https://rentadminly.com/blog/zillow-vs-apartments-com-listing