What Is the Best ILS for Multifamily? How Apartment Operators Choose Listing Sites by Market, Stage and Cost Per Lease
For marketing directors, regional managers and lease-up teams at multifamily operators who decide which listing sites each property pays for.
There is no single best ILS for multifamily. The right mix depends on the market, the property's class, whether it is in lease-up or stabilized, its unit count and the cost per lease each site produces at that property. Choose property by property, judge each ILS against its own portfolio rate, and test changes before rolling them out.
- Rank ILSs per property, not per portfolio: a site that is efficient in one submarket can be the weakest source in the next.
- Match the pricing model to the stage: fixed subscriptions suit steady demand, pay-per-lease suits uncertain demand, and lease-up needs volume first.
- Unit count changes the options: Zillow says communities of 25+ units may need a multifamily advertising agreement, and Apartment List says it works only with properties of 20 or more total units.
- Treat vendor audience figures as self-reported and non-comparable: visits, unique visitors and leads are different measures.
- Change one property and one ILS at a time, for 90 days, with a matched control property.
Why "best ILS" has no single answer
Every ILS sells the same thing in a different shape: renter attention, priced by the month, the listing or the lease. Whether that attention turns into signed leases at an acceptable cost depends on who searches for that property, on which site, at what price point. Those vary by submarket and property, so a portfolio-wide ranking hides the answer.
Cost per lease for four ILSs at four properties, March to August, complete-invoice months only. ILSs are labeled A to D because the point is the pattern, not the vendor.
| Property | ILS A | ILS B | ILS C | ILS D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class A lease-up, urban core | $1,410 (above) | $590 (below) | $980 (within 15%) | $1,250 (above) |
| Class B stabilized, suburban | $900 (within 15%) | $860 (within 15%) | $640 (below) | $1,100 (above) |
| Class C stabilized, small metro | $560 (below) | $1,180 (above) | $940 (within 15%) | no leases in 6 months |
| Student-adjacent, 180 units | $1,020 (above) | $800 (within 15%) | $1,240 (above) | $520 (below) |
| Portfolio rate | $850 | $780 | $900 | $700 |
Each ILS is the cheapest source at one property and the most expensive at another. Asking "which ILS is best" for this portfolio has no answer; asking "which ILS is wrong for this property" has four.
The method behind the grid (complete-invoice months, PMS leases, small-sample flags) is in cost per lease by source.
Where each major ILS says it fits, in its own words
These are the positions each company states about itself, checked on October 22, 2026. They are claims, not Brynson rankings, and the metrics are not comparable with each other. Brynson works with Zillow, Apartments.com, Apartment List and Zumper as partners.
| ILS | How it says it charges | Reach, as it states it | Operator fit to test |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zillow (listings also show on Trulia and HotPads) | "A variety of advertising products" for multifamily property managers, plus a rentals Pay-Per-Lease product billed on "qualified leases" (Zillow Group 10-K) | "33 million average monthly unique visitors in 2025" for rentals, measured across Zillow, Trulia, HotPads, Realtor.com and Redfin's sites; since February 2025 Zillow says it is the exclusive provider of 25+ unit rental listings on Redfin, Rent.com and ApartmentGuide.com (10-K) | Communities of "25+ units" may need "a multifamily advertising agreement" (Zillow Help Center) |
| Apartments.com (CoStar network) | CoStar says it "generally charge[s] a fixed monthly subscription fee rather than fees based on actual platform usage," with rates set partly by "the prominence and placement" of listings in search results; most contracts renew automatically and run at least a year (CoStar 10-K) | A network including ApartmentFinder, ForRent.com, AFTER55.com, ApartmentHomeLiving.com and WestsideRentals.com (10-K) | Stabilized properties that want predictable monthly spend across one network |
| Apartment List | "Pay-per-lease model" (Apartment List) | "32M+ renter leads processed" and "400K+ tours booked" | Properties with "20 or more total units" that want spend tied to signed leases |
| Zumper | Monthly promoted-listing plans, from $10 a listing at 5 listings to $4 a listing at 200, first month billed upfront (Zumper) | "175+ million" visits per year; posts listings to PadMapper, Microsoft Bing, Realtor.com and others | Unit-level promotion and wide syndication at a low fixed cost |
For which sister sites each package actually reaches, see the ILS syndication map; for how each model bills, see ILS pricing models.
Six factors that decide which ILS is right for a property
Score each property on these before renewal season. Two properties with the same rent can land on different mixes.
- 01
Market and submarket
Renter search habits differ by metro and even by neighborhood. Test: pull signed leases by source for the three nearest comparable properties over 12 months. If one ILS produced under 10% of leases at all three, it needs a reason to stay in the mix.
- 02
Property class and price band
A luxury tower and a workforce garden community compete for different renters on different sites. Test: compare lead-to-tour rate by source by class. A source that sends many leads with few tours at Class A may convert well at Class C.
- 03
Stage: lease-up or stabilized
Lease-up needs reach and volume while concessions run; stabilized needs a low steady cost per lease to replace move-outs. Test: is the property below 90% leased? If yes, judge on cost per lead and tours for now; if no, judge on cost per lease over six months or more.
- 04
Unit count
Thresholds change what you can buy. Zillow says communities of 25+ units may need a multifamily advertising agreement, and Apartment List says it works only with properties of 20 or more total units. Zillow also says it "will only ever publish a single version of a listing at any given time", so a manual Rental Manager post for a unit already in your feed is likely to be declined (Zillow Help Center). Test: list every property under 25 units and confirm how each is listed today, paid feed or manual post, so none is duplicated or missing.
- 05
Pricing model fit
Fixed subscriptions get cheaper per lease as leases rise; pay-per-lease stays flat per lease plus any platform fee. Test: at last year's lease volume for this property, which model would have cost less? Run it at 70% and 130% of that volume too.
- 06
Listing quality, before blaming the channel
A weak source is often a wrong listing. Across 6,000 properties and 1.6 million units, Brynson found nearly 89% of communities described themselves differently across listing sites, and although 97% of listings had been updated within the previous 90 days, conflicting mandatory fees, missing amenities and contradictory terms persisted (listing accuracy report). Test: audit the listing field by field against the PMS, using the ILS listing audit, before any downgrade.
Decision tree: choosing an ILS mix for a new property
Work through these in order. Each answer narrows the mix before anyone looks at a rate card.
- Is the property in lease-up? If yes, buy volume: one network subscription for broad coverage plus one pay-per-lease source, and review cost per lead weekly because leases lag. If stabilized, go to 2.
- Does it have 25 or more units? If yes, plan for a Zillow multifamily advertising agreement: Zillow says individual listings in a 25+ unit community "can not be posted directly" (Zillow Help Center). If it has fewer than 20 units, Apartment List is out: it says it currently works only with properties of "20 or more total units".
- Is demand steady or seasonal? Steady demand favors fixed subscriptions, where each extra lease lowers cost per lease. Volatile or thin demand favors pay-per-lease, where a quiet month costs little.
- Where did leases come from last year at comparable properties in this submarket? Use your own PMS lease sources at the two or three nearest properties of the same class as the starting allocation.
- Which tier? Start one tier below the vendor's recommendation for a stabilized property and upgrade only when the test in the next section shows the extra cost buys extra leases.
How to test an ILS change in 90 days
Change one thing at a few properties, keep a matched control, and decide on signed leases rather than dashboards.
Time needed: P90D
- 1
Pick test and control properties
Choose two to four properties for the change and the same number of comparable control properties in the same submarket and class. Record each one's current mix, tier and monthly cost.
- 2
Write the decision rule first
State the metric and threshold before the test starts, for example cost per lease within 15% of the control group with no drop in tours. Agree it with the regional manager.
- 3
Make one change per property
Drop, add or change the tier of one ILS only. Confirm the listing matches the PMS on the first day so listing errors do not distort the result.
- 4
Track weekly, judge at day 90
Log leads, tours and signed PMS leases by source each week for test and control properties. Do not act on the first 30 days unless occupancy falls past your floor.
- 5
Decide and record
Compare cost per lease and lease volume between groups, flag any group with fewer than three leases as low confidence, and log the decision and owner. Roll out only what beat the control.
Reading vendor claims critically
Every ILS leads with a big number. They measure different things, so none of them predicts leases at your property.
| Claim type | Example as published | Ask the rep |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly unique visitors | Zillow: 33 million average monthly rentals unique visitors in 2025, which its 10-K says counts rental listings on Zillow, Trulia, HotPads, Realtor.com and Redfin's sites | How many of those visitors were on partner sites, and does my package appear there? How many searched my submarket and price band? |
| Annual visits | Zumper: "175+ million" visits per year | Visits are not people; what share were renters in my metro? |
| Exclusive audience | Zumper: "69% of Zumper renters did not use other rental sites" | From what survey, of whom, and when? |
| Return on spend | Apartment List: "an average 50x marketing ROI" | Calculated on whose rent and which attribution rule? Will you match it to my PMS leases? |
| Network size | CoStar: Apartments.com plus nine named network brands (10-K) | Which of those sites does my package tier reach? |
Your own PMS lease sources, matched to invoices, are the only number that compares sites fairly.
ILS Management™ shows cost per lease for each property on each ILS, colored against the portfolio rate, so the mix is set property by property. When a cell is above its band you can ask Paul why or start a package change, and syndicated listings are checked against your PMS nightly. Brynson powers 1 in 20 U.S. apartment communities.
You run a handful of properties
The decision tree and the 90-day test work in a spreadsheet. Use the steps in cost per lease by source to build the grid.
You are reviewing spend across a portfolio
Start with an ILS spend audit to find packages that no longer fit, then use the grid to decide where to move budget.
Frequently asked questions
No single ILS is best for every community. The right one depends on the market, property class, stage and unit count, and on the cost per lease it produces at that property. Compare each ILS against its own portfolio rate property by property.
Neither wins everywhere. Zillow sells multifamily advertising products and a Pay-Per-Lease product billed on qualified leases, while CoStar says it generally charges a fixed monthly subscription fee for its services, which include the Apartments.com network. Run both at comparable properties and compare cost per lease from PMS leases.
It depends on demand at the property. Apartment List charges per signed lease and says it works only with properties of 20 or more total units, so quiet months cost little, but at high lease volume a fixed subscription can work out cheaper per lease. Model both at last year's volume.
Use as many as produce leases within your cost band, and no more. Many stabilized properties run two or three plus syndication, while a lease-up often adds a source for volume. Any ILS with no leases over six complete months needs a listing check, then a cut.
Lease-up needs reach first, so pair a broad network subscription with a pay-per-lease source and watch cost per lead and tours weekly while leases lag. Re-run the mix when the property reaches about 90% leased.
Drop it when its cost per lease stays above its portfolio rate for six complete-invoice months on enough leases to judge, and a listing audit has ruled out bad data. Test the cut at one property against a control before rolling it out.
How we checked this
Written by the Brynson Research Team and checked against the primary sources below. Each source shows the date we last read it.
- Zillow Group, Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 2026-02-11. Accessed 2026-10-22.
- Multifamily & Existing Feeds, Zillow Help Center, 2026-05-28. Accessed 2026-10-22.
- CoStar Group, Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 2026-02-25. Accessed 2026-10-22.
- A-List Market: Only Pay for Leases, Apartment List. Accessed 2026-10-22.
- Premium listings, Zumper. Accessed 2026-10-22.
- ILS Management, Brynson. Accessed 2026-10-22.