If you’re looking for an easy way to find data on properties, you’ll likely have come across Ownerly and Zillow. Both are fantastic resources that allow you to quickly obtain information about properties and the neighborhoods they’re located in. Each has its pros, cons, and unique features, so the best one will depend on your specific use case!
Below is a summary of what each excels at, followed by a more detailed comparison of the two.
- Ownerly: Good for individual homeowners seeking current and past property data, as well as value estimates
- Zillow: Good for connecting buyers, sellers, renters, and landlords, in addition to providing value estimates and property information
A quick comparison of Ownerly vs Zillow
Although Ownerly and Zillow both provide some similar services, each also offers a different subset of features. Ownerly is geared more towards providing information on individual properties, while Zillow goes far more in-depth by providing an entire ecosystem of services to help connect homeowners, renters, landlords, and real estate agents. Below is a summary of the major feature sets offered by Ownerly and Zillow.
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Overview & When to Use Each
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Overview of Ownerly
Ownerly operates with the mission of giving users access to data that professionals use when it comes to buying and selling real estate. Examples of this include data as to how much your home is worth, as well as insights on what impacts your property valuation.
Because Ownerly puts those features front and center on its website, it’s a bit faster and easier to access compared to Zillow. As such, it’s handy if you want to look up detailed past or current information about a property, such as previous owners, deeds, property tax amounts, and sale history.
Use Cases
- Obtain property value estimates
- Research the sales history for a specific property
- Identify comparable homes and related properties
- Lookup current and past owners
- Obtain demographic data and natural hazards
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Overview of Zillow
Zillow provides a range of products and services designed to provide a seamless transaction for buyers, sellers, landlords, and renters. It has tools that allow users to find homes listed for sale or rent, get an estimate for how much a property is worth, and gather specific data regarding a property.
Unlike Ownerly, Zillow places a large emphasis on allowing homeowners to get connected with real estate agents and home financing. It’s also more user-friendly for renters and landlords, as they can also use the platform to manage payments and rental applications, functionality that Ownerly currently does not have.
Use Cases
- Connect homeowners with real estate agents or lenders, and landlords with renters
- Obtain property value estimates
- Access rental property management tools for landlords
- Research sales history for properties
Detailed comparison of features: Ownerly vs Zillow
Now that you’ve got a high-level overview of what Ownerly and Zillow each bring to the table, let’s do a deeper dive into each individual item!
Pricing (winner: Zillow)
Zillow was selected as the winner for pricing because it’s free to use for most users. Ownerly, on the other hand, charges a minimum of $1 just for a trial period, which later goes up to $37.99 per month if you don’t cancel.
Ownerly
Ownerly charges a $1 fee for a 7-day trial. During this time period, you’ll be able to order up to 25 reports on different properties. You can also opt for an upgraded 7-day trial at $5, which gives you the added abilities to download PDF reports and enable shared access.
After the 7-day trial period has ended, you’ll be charged $37.99 per month, plus any applicable sales taxes. You can cancel at any time during the 7-day trial by making a request via phone or email. Ownerly also carries a satisfaction guarantee, and it promises to offer refunds if you’re dissatisfied with the results of your search.
Zillow
Zillow is free to use if you want to find property listings, list a property for sale or rent, or get estimates for what a home might be worth. If you’re looking to post a home to rent out, you can do so for free or pay $29.99 as a one-time fee to upgrade to the premium version. Premium benefits last for up to 90 days and give you the benefit of increased visibility as the property will be placed higher in search results.
Property valuations (winner: Zillow)
Although both Ownerly and Zillow offer services to provide property value estimates, Zillow is the winner here because it has data to back up the accuracy of its estimates.
Ownerly
Ownerly provides estimated property values using an automated valuation model (AVM). While the details of how its AVM functions are not publicly available, most AVMs consider multiple data points, such as the sales price of similar properties, publicly available property features like property size and room count, the age of the home, and any improvements or renovations recorded with public records.
AVMs are not foolproof, however, as they aren’t able to consider all factors that affect a property’s value. For instance, AVMs may not know the condition of the home, whether it has a beneficial view, or if it’s negatively impacted by certain environmental factors.
Zillow
Zillow uses a proprietary valuation tool called a Zestimate. A Zestimate searches for publicly available data about a property, comparable sales, market trends, as well as MLS and user-submitted information to provide a home’s approximate value.
If you’re curious as to the accuracy of a Zestimate, Zillow states that the median error rate for on-market homes is 1.94%, while the error rate for off-market homes is 7.06%. These median error rates are current as of March 2, 2025.
Like AVMs, Zestimates are not completely foolproof, as they won’t be able to take into consideration everything that would be included with physical inspection of a property. However, the data surrounding its median error rates can provide some measure of its overall reliability.
Property listings & neighborhood data (winner: tie)
Ownerly and Zillow both allow users to obtain information about property listings and detailed neighborhood data. While each does so in a different format, I declared this a tie since the best one will depend on your needs. Ownerly, for instance, provides data on demographics and natural hazards, while Zillow has a larger emphasis on allowing you to find available listings within a specified geographic region.
Ownerly
Owner’s property listing reports will show a wide range of data on a home as it compiles data from multiple sources, including publicly available records. Common data you’ll receive will include property taxes, comparable homes, a historical record of sales prices, transfer history, previous owners, demographics for the neighborhood, and features of the home such as room count and living area.
Zillow
If you’re searching for homes to buy or rent, Zillow is an excellent tool to use as it allows you to locate properties based on certain parameters like location, price, size, room count, and property type. If you’re a landlord or seller, listing your home on Zillow can allow potential buyers and renters to more easily find your property.
Like Ownerly, Zillow will also provide a great deal of information about a property, including its sales history, property tax amounts, neighborhood overview, and other similar homes.
Rental property management tools (winner: Zillow)
Zillow is the winner here because it provides a wide range of services for landlords to manage their properties and rental listings. Ownerly currently does not provide these services.
Ownerly
Ownerly’s services are primarily geared towards homeowners. As a result, landlords and renters may not gain much value from what the company has to offer. One possible use case, however, is renters who may want to eventually purchase the property they’re living in. In this instance, they could benefit from the data received from a property listing report.
Zillow
Zillow’s Rental Manager segment has a number of tools that landlords can use to help with the rental process from start to finish. In addition to posting listings to find renters, landlords can use Zillow’s tools to screen applicants, create lease agreements, identify market rents, and collect rent.
If you prefer a hands-off approach, you can let Zillow’s team do the work for you, as it offers full-service tenant placement services. This premium level of service includes real estate agent-led tours, professional photography, and more.
Home financing tools (winner: Zillow)
Financing tools can include calculators and other resources that homeowners and renters can use to determine their level of affordability. Zillow is the winner for this section since it provides more calculators than Ownerly.
Ownerly
Ownerly provides a couple of calculators that prospective homeowners can use to determine whether they can afford a particular property. These calculators are free to use. A mortgage tax deduction calculator is available to help homeowners determine what their tax savings will be after purchasing a home. A reverse mortgage loan calculator is also available, which is designed to estimate how much you can borrow against your home’s equity.
Zillow
Zillow provides a much wider range of calculators than Ownerly.
- An affordability calculator is available to help you determine what you can comfortably spend on purchasing a home based on things like your annual income, debts, and down payment.
- A mortgage calculator is also provided to help you determine what your monthly loan payment would be based on the details of your loan.
- If you’re already a current homeowner, Zillow’s refinance calculator can help determine your break-even timeframe based on the closing costs of the new loan.
- Finally, a debt-to-income calculator can help you figure out your likelihood of qualifying for a loan by breaking down the most common debts considered for lending purposes.
Homeowner resources (winner: Zillow)
Zillow is again the winner here as it provides an entire ecosystem of services to connect homeowners with real estate agents, as well as landlords with renters. Ownerly currently does not provide such services, and only provides an informational blog as more of a DIY approach.
Ownerly
As far as providing existing or prospective homeowners with resources goes, Ownerly has a blog with posts that cover various aspects of the home ownership cycle. Article categories include home improvement, house buying, house selling, mortgages, house value, house loans, insurance, and real estate.
Zillow
Zillow provides an entire ecosystem of products and services to help homeowners. As a buyer, Zillow offers services to get you connected with a real estate agent and get approved for financing. Zillow also offers search features which allow you to locate properties based on user-defined criteria, including the ability to search only for homes that are within your budget and are likely to get approved for financing. Sellers can also benefit from Zillow’s services by partnering with a Zillow partner agent, or accepting a cash offer by selling directly to its partner, Opendoor.
If you’re an agent looking to get connected with buyers and sellers, you can contact Zillow’s sales team to become a Premier Agent. Pricing varies by location, but Zillow states that the average cost per lead in most major metro areas works out to $223, and $139 in others. While Zillow states that it’s worth it for most of its agents, you’ll need to look at your own expenses, income, and business model to determine if being a Zillow Premier Agent is worth the cost.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
How much does it cost to use Ownerly or Zillow?
Ownerly pricing starts with a $1 trial for 7 days, after which pricing goes up to $37.99 monthly. In exchange, you’ll get the ability to run up to 25 reports on properties each month. A satisfaction guarantee is included, and you can cancel at any time by calling or emailing the company.
By comparison, Zillow is free for all users as its initial base price. Fees apply for its premium services, such as landlords listing properties for rent and wanting their homes to appear higher in search results. This service is available for a one-time fee of $29.99, and premium benefits will last for up to 90 days.
Which provides more accurate estimates of home values?
Ownerly and Zillow each provide home value estimation services, but only Zillow has publicly released data as to the accuracy of its proprietary model. Zillow states that the median error rate for on-market homes is 1.94%, while the median error rate for off-market homes is 7.06%. With that being said, valuation estimates are just that — estimates — and the degree of accuracy can vary based on geographic location.
What are the benefits of using Ownerly or Zillow?
Ownerly and Zillow make it easy to gather current and historical data regarding a property. They compile data from multiple sources, typically public records, saving you time from having to conduct independent research on your own. Ownerly and Zillow both also offer estimated valuations, which can be useful for those looking to buy or sell a home.
Additionally, Zillow acts as a resource to help connect customers with mortgage lenders, landlords, and real estate agents. Providers advertising on Zillow must typically pay a fee, and given the popularity of the platform, these prices can sometimes be quite high. Fortunately, if you’re trying to keep costs down as a real estate agent, there are more affordable alternatives to Zillow that can provide similar features for services like lead generation.
Bringing it all together
Ownerly and Zillow each offer fantastic resources if you’re looking to get information on properties. This can be useful for landlords and individuals looking to buy property, sell a home, or find a place to rent. If you’re looking to save time researching properties, one of these two companies could be a great fit for you!
Have you worked with either Ownerly or Zillow? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
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