Are Zillow Leads Worth It? Run the Numbers First

How much do Zillow leads cost, and how do you pay?

You pay either upfront for exposure or at closing for a result. Zillow's 10-Q describes both: market-based pricing sold on share of voice, and Zillow Preferred sold on performance.

What does public data say about Zillow leads?

It proves the audience is huge and says nothing about your return. Zillow reported $465 million in Residential revenue and 239 million average monthly unique users for Q2 2026. That shows agents are spending and shoppers are there.

Agent surveys are cooler. In NAR's 2025 Technology Survey, 9% of Realtors named listing syndication or portals as a top source of quality leads, against 39% for social media. Read that with care. NAR's example was Realtor.com, the question was about tools, and agents may credit social for people who already knew them.

The buyer side is similar. In NAR's 2025 Profile, 7% of buyers found their agent by inquiring about a specific property online. Friends, neighbors and relatives accounted for 43%.

We found no independent, current close rate for Zillow leads. Blog figures for cost per lead and conversion conflict, and many come from companies selling an alternative. Your own CRM is the only source that counts.

How do you work out if Zillow leads pay?

Divide what you spend in a year by what you keep from one closing. Here is an example with made-up inputs apart from Redfin's rate, which is the average for homes under $500,000 in Q3 2025, the latest Redfin figure we found. Swap in your own.

Is pay at closing cheaper than paying upfront?

It depends on how many deals you close from the same leads. Staying with the example, say a success fee of 35%, a made-up rate. That is $3,528 on a $10,080 side. On $12,000 of upfront spend, two closings cost $6,000 each and four cost $3,000 each. The lines cross at about 3.4 closings a year. Below that, the fee at closing costs you less. Above it, upfront costs less.

Your real rate is not a guess. Zillow lists success fees on its Preferred pricing page, and they can vary by market, price and delivery date, so read that page for your ZIP. Zillow can change a fee on 15 days' notice for connections you receive after that period. Ask your broker whether the fee comes off before or after your split, because that changes the sum.

What decides whether Zillow leads work for you?

Speed, follow-up and tracking matter more than the ad itself, and all three are yours to control.

• Answer fast. Zillow says a connection is a lead introduced by phone, so a missed call is a missed lead. Pied Piper's 2026 study of 2,198 inquiries to offices of 21 large brands found just 33% of callers spoke with an agent. That measured brokerage offices, not Zillow leads, but the habit is the same.
• Keep following up. A buyer may take a long time to move. If you need help, see what an ISA does.
• Tag every lead by source in your CRM and count closings for two years. A three-month test will undercount.
• Count your hours. A deal that pays well on paper can still be poor once you price the showings that went nowhere.
• Know your dependence. Follow Up Boss, dotloop and ShowingTime are Zillow software offerings, according to its 10-Q. That is worth knowing when one company sells you both the leads and the tools.

Should you keep paying for Zillow leads?

Keep paying if your cost per closing beats your other sources after a fair test. Stop if it does not. Try one or two ZIP codes for at least six months, then keep counting closings from those leads.

Either way, build something you own beside it. NAR's 2026 Member Profile shows the typical Realtor earned 28% of business from repeat clients and 22% from past-client referrals in 2025, and neither depends on a portal. A well-prepared first meeting with a seller and a site with your own search help convert the people who do reach you.

GHOBZ works with real estate businesses on lead generation from pages on your own domain, which you can run next to Zillow or without it.