Zillow Showcase in 2026: what it costs, what it includes and whether it is worth it
By Ferit Patefe Coremagna, Founder and CEO, Miravely. Last checked
Zillow Showcase costs $300 to $750 a listing at retail, on a six to twelve month contract with at least one listing a month, and the photos, 3D tour and interactive floor plan it requires are paid for separately unless your own photographer can produce them. Zillow reports that Showcase listings get 79% more page views and sell for 2% more than similar listings, but those are Zillow’s own comparisons and they include the extra placement Showcase buys, so the real question is whether that exposure is worth the fee for a particular listing.
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What Zillow Showcase includes
Showcase is a paid display for one listing on Zillow. Each part below is taken from Zillow’s own agent guides, or from RE/MAX’s FAQ for its agents where Zillow does not publish the detail.
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| Media | High-quality photography, a 3D tour and an interactive floor plan are required on every Showcase listing. RE/MAX, “Zillow Preview and Zillow Showcase FAQ”, March 17, 2026 |
| Placement | Priority placement in search and map results, dedicated email alerts to buyers and brokerage branding on the listing. RE/MAX, “Zillow Preview and Zillow Showcase FAQ”, March 17, 2026 |
| A smarter carousel | Zillow’s AI picks the first three to five photos and groups the rest into featured rooms, which the agent can change. Zillow Help Center, “Showcase: Edit a Listing” |
| Video | One video of up to 120 seconds, second in the carousel, uploaded by the listing’s photographer through Aryeo. Included at no extra cost since late September 2025. Zillow Showcase Getting Started Guide, “Editing Listings” |
| AI virtual staging | Shoppers can restage featured rooms themselves in one of eight styles, including Unfurnished, from a “Stage this space” button. Zillow Showcase Getting Started Guide, “Booking media” |
| SkyTour | In some markets, a 360-degree drone view of the exterior, available only with a Zillow Media Experts premium package. Zillow Showcase Getting Started Guide, “Booking media” |
| Performance data | Page views, saves, shares and email opens for the listing, compared with similar listings, in a report the agent can share with the seller. Zillow Showcase Getting Started Guide, “Performance” |
How much Zillow Showcase costs
Zillow does not publish a price list. The clearest statement of it comes from RE/MAX, which told its agents in March 2026 that “the normal retail price for Showcase runs from $300 to $750, with a six-12 month contract and an obligation for at least one listing a month.” RE/MAX, “Zillow Preview and Zillow Showcase FAQ”, March 17, 2026
Brokerages negotiate. From April 13, 2026, RE/MAX affiliates in the US pay $150 a listing with no contract or minimum, and $249 or $429 for a Zillow Media Experts photo package, Essential or Premium. RE/MAX, “Zillow Preview and Zillow Showcase FAQ”, March 17, 2026
The media is the part that is easy to forget. Every Showcase listing needs professional photos and a 3D tour, so the full cost of one listing is the Showcase fee plus a shoot. A photographer who already works to Showcase’s technical requirements can do it, which avoids paying Zillow for the media as well. Zillow Showcase Getting Started Guide, “Booking media”
Retail
$300 to $750 a listing
On a six to twelve month contract with at least one Showcase listing a month.
RE/MAX, “Zillow Preview and Zillow Showcase FAQ”, March 17, 2026
A negotiated rate
$150 a listing
What RE/MAX affiliates pay from April 2026, with no contract or minimum.
RE/MAX, “Zillow Preview and Zillow Showcase FAQ”, March 17, 2026
Media on top
$249 or $429
Zillow Media Experts packages at the RE/MAX rate. Your own photographer can shoot it instead.
RE/MAX, “Zillow Preview and Zillow Showcase FAQ”, March 17, 2026
What Zillow’s Showcase numbers actually measure
Zillow’s own figures, from data to October 2025, are that active Showcase listings drew 79% more page views, 76% more saves and 91% more shares than similar nearby listings, were 10% more likely to go pending in their first 14 days, and sold for 2% more. Zillow, “The Fast Facts of Zillow Showcase”, archived January 28, 2026
The comparison is careful as far as it goes. Showcase listings were matched with listings of the same home type in the same city, within two miles, on the market at the same time, with a similar list price, square footage and bedroom count, and the top and bottom 5% were left out. Zillow, “The Fast Facts of Zillow Showcase”, archived January 28, 2026
Two things it cannot separate. The first is placement: Zillow defines the “Showcase Treatment” as the floor plan and the tour plus “specialized exposure on Zillow”, so part of the extra traffic is exposure the fee buys directly, not a result of better media. The second is choice: agents decide which listings to put on Showcase, and a listing someone chose to spend more on may differ from its neighbors in ways the match does not capture. Zillow, “The Fast Facts of Zillow Showcase”, archived January 28, 2026
It is also rare. Zillow’s own footnote says Showcase listings were “less than 1% of listings on Zillow”, which is part of what makes one stand out, and would stop being true if every listing had it. Zillow, “The Fast Facts of Zillow Showcase”, archived January 28, 2026
Page views
79% more
Than similar nearby listings without Showcase, in Zillow’s comparison.
Zillow, “The Fast Facts of Zillow Showcase”, archived January 28, 2026
Sale price
2% more
Against similar listings in the same metro area, listed in the same month.
Zillow, “The Fast Facts of Zillow Showcase”, archived January 28, 2026
Share of listings
Under 1%
Of listings on Zillow carried the Showcase Treatment when these figures were published.
Zillow, “The Fast Facts of Zillow Showcase”, archived January 28, 2026
Zillow Showcase virtual staging: how it works
Shoppers start Showcase’s AI staging themselves. On a featured room, a shopper presses “Stage this space”, picks one of eight styles, Modern, Scandinavian, Industrial, Midcentury, Luxury, Coastal, Farmhouse or Unfurnished, and gets a staged version in about 30 seconds, with a before and after slider on some phones. Zillow Showcase Getting Started Guide, “Booking media”
Only featured room types can be staged: living rooms, bedrooms, dining rooms, home offices, children’s rooms and bathrooms, and only when the photo sits in the listing’s Group by Room section. Zillow Showcase Getting Started Guide, “Booking media”
Zillow says the tool is started by the shopper, labeled and always paired with the original photo. That is a different thing from an agent publishing a staged photo, which still needs its own disclosure wherever the law or the MLS asks for one. Zillow, "Zillow's take on AI-generated listing photos", July 22, 2026
Unedited photo
AI-restyledZillow Showcase photographer requirements
You can book the media three ways: invite your own photographer, choose Zillow Media Experts, or pick one of the “Showcase Select” photography companies in your area, which are already set up to deliver Showcase media. Zillow Showcase Getting Started Guide, “Booking media”
Your own photographer has to accept the invitation and verify that they meet Showcase’s technical requirements before they can deliver. SkyTour, where it exists, needs a Zillow Media Experts photographer and a package that includes it. Zillow Showcase Getting Started Guide, “Booking media”
The photographer also controls the video. Showcase video has to be made by the same photographer who provided the listing’s other media and uploaded through Aryeo, so a separate videographer’s film cannot go in the carousel. Zillow Help Center, “Showcase: Edit a Listing”
Who gets the buyer leads from a Showcase listing
A Showcase listing carries a “Contact Listing Agent” button, and those inquiries go to the listing agent without a referral fee. RE/MAX, “Zillow Preview and Zillow Showcase FAQ”, March 17, 2026
If the listing agent does not respond, RE/MAX’s FAQ says, the lead is sent to a Zillow Preferred Agent, and on Showcase, unlike Zillow Preview, no part of the fee comes back to the listing agent or the brokerage. The practical rule is simple: answer Showcase inquiries fast. RE/MAX, “Zillow Preview and Zillow Showcase FAQ”, March 17, 2026
How to get most of Showcase without paying for it
The 3D tour is free to make. Zillow’s own 3D Home app is free on the App Store, and Zillow Rental Manager offers it to landlords at no charge. Zillow 3D Home on the App Store
A video can reach any agent listing as an unbranded link in the MLS Virtual Tour field, which Zillow shows under Facts and features. It will not play in the carousel the way a Showcase video does. SmartMLS, “Virtual tours and streaming open houses on Zillow”
Staged photos can be your own. Virtual staging from a photographer or an AI tool furnishes empty rooms for a few dollars a photo, and it needs a label and the unaltered original where California law applies. AB 723 bill text, California Legislature
What you cannot rebuild is the placement: the priority position in search and on the map, and the email alerts. If a listing needs that attention, in a slow market or at a price that draws few buyers, that is what the fee is for.
AI-generatedIs Zillow Showcase worth it?
Take Zillow’s figures at face value and the arithmetic favors it on most listings. A 2% better sale price on a $400,000 home is $8,000 to the seller, and even a small share of that to the agent covers a fee of a few hundred dollars. The catch is that the figures are Zillow’s, the placement is part of what they measure, and we could find no independent test of them. Zillow, “The Fast Facts of Zillow Showcase”, archived January 28, 2026
It is easiest to justify on a listing that needs to be found: a slow market, a higher price than the area usually sees, or a home whose layout photographs badly and reads better as a tour. It is hardest to justify where homes go under contract in days anyway, or where the contract’s one-listing-a-month minimum means paying for months with nothing to list.
It is also a listing presentation tool. Zillow says agents who put most of their listings on Showcase win 30% more listings than similar agents who do not, a figure that comes from the same kind of matched comparison and carries the same caution. Zillow, “The Fast Facts of Zillow Showcase”, archived January 28, 2026
Before you buy Showcase for a listing
- Ask your brokerage whether it has a negotiated Showcase rate before signing a retail contract. RE/MAX, “Zillow Preview and Zillow Showcase FAQ”, March 17, 2026
- Check the contract’s minimum: retail terms have asked for at least one Showcase listing a month for six to twelve months. RE/MAX, “Zillow Preview and Zillow Showcase FAQ”, March 17, 2026
- Price the media separately, and ask your own photographer whether they can meet Showcase’s technical requirements. Zillow Showcase Getting Started Guide, “Booking media”
- If you want video, book it with the same photographer, who has to upload it through Aryeo. Zillow Help Center, “Showcase: Edit a Listing”
- Paste the unbranded Interactive Floor Plan URL into the MLS Virtual Tour field before the listing goes live. Zillow Help Center, “Showcase: Edit a Listing”
- Put photos of the empty rooms in Group by Room if you want shoppers to be able to stage them. Zillow Showcase Getting Started Guide, “Booking media”
- Answer every “Contact Listing Agent” inquiry quickly, because unanswered leads go to a Zillow Preferred Agent. RE/MAX, “Zillow Preview and Zillow Showcase FAQ”, March 17, 2026
- Share the performance report with the seller, and compare it with your other listings rather than only with Zillow’s averages. Zillow Showcase Getting Started Guide, “Performance”
Common questions
How much does Zillow Showcase cost?
Zillow does not publish prices. RE/MAX told its agents in March 2026 that the retail price runs from $300 to $750 a listing, on a six to twelve month contract with at least one listing a month, while its own negotiated rate is $150 a listing with no contract. Photography and the 3D tour are extra.
RE/MAX, “Zillow Preview and Zillow Showcase FAQ”, March 17, 2026Is Zillow Showcase worth it?
For a listing that needs attention, often. Zillow reports 79% more page views and a 2% higher sale price than similar listings, but those are its own comparisons and they include the priority placement Showcase buys, so weigh the fee against how hard the particular listing will be to sell.
Zillow, “The Fast Facts of Zillow Showcase”, archived January 28, 2026What is included in Zillow Showcase?
Professional photos, a 3D tour and an interactive floor plan, an AI-selected photo carousel, one video of up to 120 seconds, shopper-run AI virtual staging, priority placement in search and map results, email alerts and a performance report.
RE/MAX, “Zillow Preview and Zillow Showcase FAQ”, March 17, 2026Do you need a special photographer for Zillow Showcase?
Not necessarily. You can invite your own photographer, who has to verify they meet Showcase’s technical requirements, or book Zillow Media Experts or a local Showcase Select company.
Zillow Showcase Getting Started Guide, “Booking media”Can you add a video to a Zillow Showcase listing?
Yes, since late September 2025. The video has to be made by the listing’s photographer, uploaded through Aryeo and run 120 seconds or less, and it plays muted as the second item in the carousel.
Zillow Help Center, “Showcase: Edit a Listing”How does Zillow Showcase virtual staging work?
A shopper presses “Stage this space” on a featured room and picks one of eight styles, and Zillow’s AI generates a staged version in about 30 seconds. It is labeled and shown with the original photo.
Zillow Showcase Getting Started Guide, “Booking media”How many listings use Zillow Showcase?
Fewer than 1% of listings on Zillow carried the Showcase Treatment when Zillow published its latest figures, based on data to October 2025.
Zillow, “The Fast Facts of Zillow Showcase”, archived January 28, 2026Who gets the leads from a Zillow Showcase listing?
The listing agent, through the “Contact Listing Agent” button, with no referral fee. If the agent does not respond, the lead goes to a Zillow Preferred Agent and no fee comes back to the listing agent.
RE/MAX, “Zillow Preview and Zillow Showcase FAQ”, March 17, 2026Miravely’s virtual staging furnishes the empty rooms in your own listing photos, labeled and with the original kept beside each result, for the listings where Showcase is not in the budget.