Zillow Rental Manager Cost and How Much Zillow Charges to List a Rental
Zillow Rental Manager is free for landlords to use. Publishing a rental listing costs $0, and has been free since May 2022. The only fee Zillow charges a landlord is an optional premium upgrade of $39.99 per listing for up to 90 days, with no bulk pricing for multiple units. Application and card payment fees are billed to the renter.
Zillow figures read from Zillow's own help center
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Must-have facts
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Questions you will get asked 20 times
Post this listing on RentPlace
One flat monthly fee for every unit you own, and the questions above get answered before the inquiry reaches you.
Every Zillow Rental Manager fee, in one table
Most pages ranking for this question still quote a per-listing weekly fee. Zillow retired that model in May 2022. Below is the current schedule, with the column that matters most for a landlord: who the fee is actually billed to.
| What you are paying for | Zillow's price | Billed to | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Publishing a rental listing | Free | Landlord | All listings posted directly to Zillow Rental Manager have been free to publish since May 2022. The listing runs on Zillow, Trulia and HotPads. |
| Premium listing upgrade | $39.99 per listing | Landlord | A one-time fee, not a subscription. Covers up to 90 days and buys higher placement in renter search results, a tracking phone number, lead insights and priority support. |
| Second, third and tenth premium upgrade | $39.99 each | Landlord | Zillow states it does not currently offer bulk pricing for multiple premium listings. Each unit is upgraded separately, at full price. |
| Rental application and screening | $35 per applicant | Renter | Paid by the applicant, not the landlord. Covers the application plus third-party background and credit reporting. |
| Rent collected by ACH bank transfer | Free | Nobody | No fee to the landlord or the tenant on bank transfers. |
| Rent paid by debit card | $9.95 per transaction | Renter | A convenience fee charged to the tenant, not deducted from the landlord. |
| Rent paid by credit card | 2.95% of the payment | Renter | On $1,800 of rent that is about $53 a month, paid by the tenant. |
| Buildings with 25 or more units | Quoted, not self-serve | Landlord | Multifamily communities of 25+ units are handled by Zillow's rental advertising sales team rather than the self-serve tool, so there is no published rate card. |
Publishing a rental listing
Free billed to landlord
All listings posted directly to Zillow Rental Manager have been free to publish since May 2022. The listing runs on Zillow, Trulia and HotPads.
Premium listing upgrade
$39.99 per listing billed to landlord
A one-time fee, not a subscription. Covers up to 90 days and buys higher placement in renter search results, a tracking phone number, lead insights and priority support.
Second, third and tenth premium upgrade
$39.99 each billed to landlord
Zillow states it does not currently offer bulk pricing for multiple premium listings. Each unit is upgraded separately, at full price.
Rental application and screening
$35 per applicant billed to renter
Paid by the applicant, not the landlord. Covers the application plus third-party background and credit reporting.
Rent collected by ACH bank transfer
Free billed to nobody
No fee to the landlord or the tenant on bank transfers.
Rent paid by debit card
$9.95 per transaction billed to renter
A convenience fee charged to the tenant, not deducted from the landlord.
Rent paid by credit card
2.95% of the payment billed to renter
On $1,800 of rent that is about $53 a month, paid by the tenant.
Buildings with 25 or more units
Quoted, not self-serve billed to landlord
Multifamily communities of 25+ units are handled by Zillow's rental advertising sales team rather than the self-serve tool, so there is no published rate card.
RentPlace is not affiliated with Zillow. These are Zillow's published figures, read from Zillow's help center. Zillow can change them, so confirm the figure in Zillow's help center before you pay.
What it costs you at one unit, five units and ten
The free tier is genuinely free, so the number that moves is how many units you upgrade and how many 90-day windows a vacancy runs through.
$0
one unit, posted free, no upgrade
You publish the listing, it syndicates to Trulia and HotPads, applications and ACH rent collection are included, and Zillow bills you nothing. This is the honest best case and it is why Zillow is hard to argue with on price alone.
$200
five units, all upgraded, one 90-day window
Five separate $39.99 charges, because there is no bulk rate. If two of those units are still empty when the window closes, you repost and buy those upgrades again.
$400
ten units, all upgraded, one 90-day window
Ten upgrades at full price. Roughly $133 a month across the portfolio while the window runs, and the money buys search position rather than better applicants.
Set that against the number underneath all of it. A $1,800 unit loses about $60 for every day it sits empty, so one extra vacant week costs $420. Every fee in the table above is small next to a single slow week, which is the real reason the listing fee is the wrong thing to optimize. The vacancy calculator on our pricing page runs that arithmetic on your own rent.
The fee is not where Zillow costs you
Free posting solved the price. It did not solve the inbox, and the inbox is what turns into days.
A Zillow rental inquiry arrives as a name and a free-text message. Nothing requires the renter to say when they want to move in, what they earn, how many people are moving in, whether there is a dog, or how long a lease they want. So the first reply you write is a list of questions, the second is a follow-up because they answered two of five, and the showing gets booked on day four instead of day one. Multiply that by thirty inquiries on a well-placed listing and the premium upgrade has done its job perfectly: it delivered volume you now have to sort by hand.
That is the trade a landlord is actually making, and it is worth naming plainly because the price comparison hides it. Zillow gives you the largest renter audience in the country for $0 and hands you an unstructured pile. The question is not whether $39.99 is expensive. It is whether the four days you spend qualifying strangers cost more than $240 in rent, because on an $1,800 unit they do.
RentPlace attacks that side instead. A renter cannot send "is this still available?" because the listing asks your screening questions before the message will send: move-in date, income band, occupants, pets, lease length. Every applicant on a listing answers the same questions, so the replies line up side by side instead of arriving as thirty different shapes. The billing is one flat monthly fee for the whole portfolio, so a unit that takes six weeks costs the same in fees as one that goes in three days.
Zillow Rental Manager and RentPlace, side by side
Including the rows where Zillow is the better answer. If reach is all you need and you have one unit, the free Zillow listing is difficult to beat and we would rather say so here than have you discover it after paying us.
| Compared on | Zillow Rental Manager | RentPlace |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to post a listing | Free | Included in the plan, from $39 a month |
| Renter audience | Zillow, Trulia and HotPads. The largest rental audience in the US | Smaller. We are new and we are not going to pretend otherwise |
| Cost to be seen | $39.99 per listing per 90 days, no bulk pricing | Nothing extra. Placement is not sold |
| What an inquiry contains | A name and a free-text message | Move-in date, income band, occupants, pets, lease length, message |
| Who sets the screening questions | Zillow's application flow | You do, per listing, and every applicant answers the same set |
| Cost when a vacancy runs long | The 90-day upgrade expires and you buy it again | Unchanged. The monthly fee does not move |
| Portfolio vacancy view | Per listing | Every unit, days vacant and time-to-lease in one board |
| Listing quality help | Lead insights on premium listings | Every listing graded out of 100 and rewritten before it goes live |
| Background and credit reports | Yes, $35 paid by the applicant | No. We collect structured answers, we are not a consumer reporting agency |
Cost to post a listing
Zillow: Free
RentPlace: Included in the plan, from $39 a month
Renter audience
Zillow: Zillow, Trulia and HotPads. The largest rental audience in the US
RentPlace: Smaller. We are new and we are not going to pretend otherwise
Cost to be seen
Zillow: $39.99 per listing per 90 days, no bulk pricing
RentPlace: Nothing extra. Placement is not sold
What an inquiry contains
Zillow: A name and a free-text message
RentPlace: Move-in date, income band, occupants, pets, lease length, message
Who sets the screening questions
Zillow: Zillow's application flow
RentPlace: You do, per listing, and every applicant answers the same set
Cost when a vacancy runs long
Zillow: The 90-day upgrade expires and you buy it again
RentPlace: Unchanged. The monthly fee does not move
Portfolio vacancy view
Zillow: Per listing
RentPlace: Every unit, days vacant and time-to-lease in one board
Listing quality help
Zillow: Lead insights on premium listings
RentPlace: Every listing graded out of 100 and rewritten before it goes live
Background and credit reports
Zillow: Yes, $35 paid by the applicant
RentPlace: No. We collect structured answers, we are not a consumer reporting agency
Use both if it helps. Plenty of landlords advertise on the free Zillow listing for reach and run the qualifying somewhere that asks the questions for them. If Apartments.com is the other portal on your shortlist, its listing fees are broken down here, and the two schedules are set against each other in Zillow vs Apartments.com pricing for landlords. Promoting several units at once is cheaper on Zumper, which sells five promoted listings for $50 a month against $199.95 for five Zillow premium upgrades; see Zumper for landlords. A furnished unit rented by the month to traveling nurses is a different audience from Zillow's 12-month renters; Furnished Finder fees are $199 a year a listing for that market. If you are weighing a landlord software suite rather than a portal, the same treatment of TurboTenant pricing shows a very different shape: free to the landlord, with the money collected from your applicants instead, and RentRedi pricing is a flat $144 a year with unlimited units, the closest thing in the category to our own model. TurboTenant cannot post to Zillow itself, so many landlords run both; our Zillow Rental Manager vs TurboTenant pricing comparison counts what each one costs you and your tenants in a year.
What landlords ask about Zillow Rental Manager pricing
Answers use Zillow's published figures.
How much does Zillow Rental Manager cost?
Zillow Rental Manager costs nothing to use. Publishing a rental listing is free, and has been since May 2022. The only fee a landlord can be charged is the optional premium upgrade at $39.99 per listing for up to 90 days. Screening and card payment fees are billed to the renter, not to you.
Is Zillow Rental Manager free?
Yes, for the landlord. Listing a property, managing applications, using the lease tools and collecting rent by ACH bank transfer all cost the landlord nothing. Zillow makes money on the $39.99 premium upgrade and on renter-paid application and card fees, so "free" is accurate for posting but not for visibility.
How much does Zillow charge to list a rental?
Zillow charges $0 to list a rental. The old model, a per-listing weekly fee in most markets, was replaced in May 2022 by free publishing plus an optional $39.99 premium upgrade. Any page still quoting $9.99 or $29.99 per listing per week is describing a fee schedule Zillow no longer runs.
How much does Zillow rental manager cost per month?
There is no monthly cost. Zillow Rental Manager is not a subscription, so no recurring charge appears on your card. The premium upgrade is a single $39.99 payment covering up to 90 days, which works out to roughly $13 a month per upgraded unit if you keep the upgrade running continuously.
What does the $39.99 premium listing actually buy?
Placement, not applicants. A premium listing sits higher in renter search results in your area, gets a tracking phone number to cut spam calls, and unlocks pricing and lead performance insights plus priority support. It does not change who writes to you or what information their message contains.
Does Zillow offer bulk pricing for multiple listings?
No. Zillow states it does not currently offer bulk pricing for multiple premium listings in Zillow Rental Manager. Ten units upgraded for one 90-day window is ten separate $39.99 charges, about $400. Landlords syndicating through a listing feed are told to contact Zillow separately about pricing.
Do premium listings renew automatically?
No. Zillow states premium listings do not renew automatically and you will not be charged unless you repost the listing and upgrade it again. That is good for a unit that leases quickly and awkward for a slow one, because the vacancy outlasting 90 days is exactly when you pay twice.
Is Zillow Rental Manager worth it for a small landlord?
For raw reach, usually yes, and the free tier is genuinely free. The gap is what comes back: a Zillow inquiry is a name and a free-text message, so you still sort "is this still available?" by hand. That sorting, not the fee, is where a small landlord loses days.
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