The Zillow Rentals Network Explained: Zillow, Trulia & HotPads (2026)
What the Zillow Rentals Network is, the 3 sites a Rental Manager listing reaches, the extra sites big apartment buildings get, and what each option costs.
By Yas Rajah
· 6 min read
Contents
The Zillow Rentals Network is Zillow’s own three rental sites: Zillow, Trulia and HotPads. A listing you post in Zillow Rental Manager is free to publish and shows on all three within 24 hours (Zillow Help Center, checked 15 October 2026). Zillow says the network gets “over 30 million visitors each month” (Zillow Rental Manager). It’s the biggest single place renters look, so start there and add other portals for more reach.
What’s changed (October 2026). If you advertise an apartment building of 25 or more units with Zillow, your listings now travel further than Zillow’s three sites. Since March 2024 they’ve also appeared on Realtor.com, and since February 2025 on Redfin, Rent.com and ApartmentGuide.com. In August 2026 Zillow said the partnership continues, with the syndication running “across Zillow, Trulia, HotPads, Rent.com, ApartmentGuide and Redfin”, in Zillow’s words. A house or a small building posted through Rental Manager still goes to Zillow, Trulia and HotPads only.
What the Zillow Rentals Network is
Zillow describes Zillow Rentals as a network that “includes three rental websites: Zillow Rentals, Trulia and Hotpads” (Zillow Rentals Network). Zillow bought HotPads in 2012 and Trulia in 2015 (our Zillow acquisition timeline), and all three now pull from the same rental inventory. Publish once in Zillow Rental Manager and the listing appears on whichever of the three a renter happens to use.
The scale is large. In the second quarter of 2026 Zillow had 2.8 million average monthly active rental listings and a record 79,000 multifamily properties advertising, and rentals revenue rose 31% year on year to $209 million (Zillow Q2 2026 shareholder letter). This summer Zillow Rentals also became “the only real estate platform in Google Gemini’s connected apps ecosystem”, so a renter asking Gemini for apartments can be shown Zillow listings and book a tour from there (same letter).
Is the Zillow Rentals Network enough for your rentals?
4 questions, 20 seconds. Find out whether you need to syndicate beyond Zillow, Trulia & HotPads.
Question 1 of 4
How many rental properties do you manage or list per month?
Question 2 of 4
Right now, where do you post your rentals?
Question 3 of 4
How long are your rentals typically vacant before leasing?
Question 4 of 4
What's your biggest pain point with rental marketing right now?
Your answer
Zillow Rentals Network is a solid foundation for you
One upload to Zillow Rental Manager is free and reaches Zillow, Trulia and HotPads within 24 hours, which covers the biggest single rental audience. Keep an eye on leasing speed: if units sit past 30 days, add the portals Zillow doesn't feed, such as Apartments.com and Zumper. Free Zillow listings use Zillow's tour, application and message buttons for contact.
Learn about rental listing syndicationYour answer
Add portals to Zillow's network
Renters plan to research about 10 properties and seriously consider three, and Zillow's network doesn't feed Apartments.com or Zumper (and reaches Realtor.com only for 25+ unit buildings that advertise with Zillow). With vacancy at 7.3%, 15 extra days on the market costs about $1,000 on a $2,000-a-month rental, so each extra portal earns its place.
See the best rental listing syndication sitesYour answer
Automate syndication to save time and reach more renters
Logging into several portals for every listing doesn't scale. Reallyo takes one entry and sends it through feeds to its partner portals, including Zillow's network through its HotPads feed, plus a listing video and social posts from the same details. The free plan covers one active listing; rentals only, and each portal accepts listings under its own rules.
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Which sites your listing reaches
| How you list | Sites it reaches | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Zillow Rental Manager (houses, condos, rooms, buildings under 25 units) | Zillow, Trulia, HotPads | Zillow Help Center |
| Multifamily advertising with Zillow (25+ units) | Zillow, Trulia, HotPads, plus Realtor.com, Redfin, Rent.com, ApartmentGuide.com | Zillow 2025 annual report, Realtor.com |
| Neither | Not Apartments.com, Zumper, Apartment List or Craigslist | Zillow’s annual report names syndication deals with Realtor.com and Redfin only |
Zillow’s annual report puts it plainly: Zillow became “the exclusive provider of multifamily (properties with 25 or more units) rental listings on Redfin and its sites, including Rent.com and ApartmentGuide.com”. The 25-unit line is Zillow’s own definition of “multifamily”.
What it costs
Posting through Zillow Rental Manager is free. Zillow’s help centre says “As of May 2022, all listings posted directly to Zillow Rental Manager are free to publish.” The paid option is a premium upgrade, “a one-time fee of $39.99” for up to 90 days, which moves the listing higher in search and adds a tracking phone number (Zillow Help Center). Larger portfolios that feed listings in from property management software, an MLS or a CRM use Zillow’s paid advertising products instead, which Zillow prices through its sales team (Zillow Rentals Network).
Packages for communities of 25+ units. Zillow sells four Zillow Rentals packages: Base, Enhanced, Premium and Signature. It doesn’t publish their prices; its packages page shows the billing as “Flat Rate”, and its “sales team supports multifamily apartment marketers and property managers handling larger portfolios”. Package listings reach “Zillow, Trulia, HotPads, Rent.com, ApartmentGuide, Redfin, Realtor.com” (Zillow Rentals packages). For 1 to 24 units, Zillow says Rental Manager “may be a better fit”. Our Zillow rental listing cost guide has the full breakdown, including what premium costs across a portfolio.
Since May 2026, free listings use Zillow’s tour, application and message buttons instead of a phone number (what changed). And a free listing stays up for 21 days by default unless you confirm it’s still available (Zillow Help Center).
For a single-family rental or a building under 25 units, Zillow also sells Listing Spotlight, a monthly placement you can move between listings (what it is and who it fits).
How to think about it
Treat the Zillow Rentals Network as one channel that happens to be three sites. Renters cast a wide net: in an Apartments.com survey of more than 15,000 people planning to rent, 85% said they use or plan to use rental listing sites, and the average renter planned to research 10 properties and seriously consider three (Apartments.com, February 2026). Some of those 10 will be on sites Zillow doesn’t feed.
So post on Zillow, then get the same listing onto the other big portals and push it to social. Vacancy is the cost of not doing it: the US rental vacancy rate was 7.3% in the second quarter of 2026 (Census), and on a $2,000-a-month rental, 15 extra days on the market costs about $1,000 (Hemlane).
The manual version means logging into several portals for every listing. Reallyo lets you enter a rental once and sends it through feeds to its partner portals, including Zillow’s network through its HotPads feed, along with a listing video and social posts from the same details. The free plan covers one active listing with syndication included. Rentals only, US only, and each portal’s acceptance depends on its own rules.
FAQ
What is the Zillow Rentals Network? Zillow’s three rental sites: Zillow, Trulia and HotPads. A listing published in Zillow Rental Manager appears on all three within 24 hours, and Zillow says the network has over 30 million visitors a month.
Does Zillow syndicate my rental to Apartments.com or Realtor.com? Not to Apartments.com. Realtor.com and Redfin’s sites (Redfin, Rent.com, ApartmentGuide.com) show Zillow’s listings only for multifamily buildings of 25 or more units that advertise with Zillow. A house, condo or small building posted in Zillow Rental Manager reaches Zillow, Trulia and HotPads.
Is the Zillow Rentals Network free? Posting through Zillow Rental Manager is free, and has been since May 2022. A premium upgrade costs $39.99 once and lasts up to 90 days. Free listings no longer show your phone number (since May 2026), and portfolios that send listings by feed pay for Zillow’s advertising products.
Did the August 2026 Zillow–Redfin update change the Zillow Rentals Network? Not for small landlords. Zillow says the partnership continues and its apartment listings stay on Redfin, Rent.com and ApartmentGuide.com, and that Zillow and Redfin will both offer standalone multifamily advertising products from 2027.
Is being on the Zillow Rentals Network enough? It’s a strong start but not the whole plan. Renters research about 10 properties, and some are on sites Zillow doesn’t feed. Pair it with syndication to the other major portals and social.
Free syndication & listing marketing
List Once. Syndicate and Market your listings. Everywhere.
Reallyo sends your rental to Zillow, Apartments.com and the rest of its 19-site rental network, then turns it into a listing page, a video, social posts and flyers. Free for one active listing, no card.
Sources
Checked 15 October 2026.
- What the network is and what it costs: Zillow Rentals Network · Zillow Rental Manager: post a listing · Zillow Help Center: Creating a Listing (updated December 2025) · Zillow Help Center: Managing Your Listings
- Syndication partners: Realtor.com and Zillow rental agreement, March 2024 · Zillow Group 2025 annual report (10-K) · Zillow’s statement, 24 August 2026
- Zillow rentals figures (2.8 million listings, 79,000 multifamily properties, $209 million revenue, Gemini): Zillow Q2 2026 shareholder letter
- Renter search behaviour (85% use listing sites; 10 properties researched, three considered): Apartments.com renter survey, published 21 February 2026
- Rental vacancy rate (7.3%, Q2 2026): US Census Bureau HVS
- Cost of vacancy ($1,000 per 15 days on a $2,000 rental): Hemlane
