Agents spar over the favorite portal war alternative to Zillow

Last week, Intel laid out the state of the real estate portal wars, as seen through the eyes of the brokerage world.

Broad dissatisfaction with Zillow ruled the day. But the industry’s inability to rally behind a single, coherent alternative remains one of the biggest stories in the real estate sector, according to the latest Intel Index survey results.

In the final chapter of its two-part Portal Wars series, Intel goes much deeper, measuring not only how agents feel about the top traditional challengers to Zillow’s crown, but also more dramatic possibilities that have the entire industry talking — from Compass’ private listing ambitions to Google and ChatGPT’s flirtation with becoming listing intermediaries.

Read the multi-layered thoughts and disagreements within the industry on this topic in this week’s report.

Shaping the landscape

As last week’s analysis showed, brokers across virtually every broker type in the December survey generally had negative views of Zillow’s central role in real estate listings.

But when examining the alternatives, clear fault lines between brokers begin to emerge.

• 35 percent of agents with large, non-franchising brokerage firms – such as Compass, eXp Realty and Real Brokerage – selected an endgame scenario of a portal war in which the largest brokerage firms each built out their own private networks to control their own listings.
• For comparison only 15 percent of franchise agents and 7 percent of private indie agents said the same.

Instead, these agents would most likely turn to a united front of MLSs as their preferred outcome of the portal war.

• 41 percent of franchise agents and 47 percent of indie agents said they preferred a national home listing platform operated by MLSs to prevail and serve as the industry’s gateway to consumers.
• Only 22 percent of agents at large, non-franchise brokerages said the same.

To gain a more detailed understanding of the landscape from an agent’s perspective, Intel also asked for agents’ opinions on the biggest players and potential disruptors in home listings.

While there were some differences, agents in large franchise networks tended to view each of the major players on the listing platform in the same way as privately owned agents.

But agents at publicly traded, non-franchising brokerages had a markedly different perspective on the portal wars.

As you can see in the chart above, virtually every institutional player in the portal wars was viewed with some skepticism and negativity. Within this landscape, Homes.com – with its model of reserving leads for the home agent – ​​and Realtor.com were the least offensive challengers to Zillow’s crown in the traditional portal market.

As previously established, Zillow itself was one of the least desirable parties to stay on top in the portal wars.

But some winners of the alternative portal war have been particularly divisive within the industry.

Brokers with large, non-franchise models were much more likely to see Compass as a desirable central player in how consumers access housing listings.

• 51 percent of agents for large, non-franchising brokerages told Intel they positively rated Compass as a central listing player, despite being just a player 29 percent saw it unfavorably.
• Compare that to all the other agent respondents: Alone 14 percent of franchised or private indie agents were positive about Compass having a central listing platform 61 percent viewed Compass unfavorably in this hypothetical role.

But Compass isn’t the only major portal outsider that industry insiders have speculated could one day take Zillow’s crown.

In December, the Internet search giant launched Google attracted the attention of the sector as it tested an advertising model for partner HouseCanary that showed ComeHome listings directly in mobile search results. The pilot, which drew accusations of violating HouseCanary’s agreements with MLSs, appeared designed in part to direct users to a paid brokerage partner.

If Google were to fully commit to Zillow’s market share, it could pose a risk to Zillow, which so far appears to be escaping competitive challenges. (Zillow stock prices fell immediately after the news and remain 8 percent lower than before the news broke.)

But are agents concerned about the possibility of Google and other big tech players encroaching on the advertising space?

A little, as it turns out. But many see Google and platforms like ChatGPT as a better potential outcome for their business than Zillow’s status quo, Intel found.

• 25 percent of agent respondents rated Google favorably in the role of the top provider of home listings for consumers, compared to 40 percent who was unfavorable to it.
• That’s not exactly radiant enthusiasm. But it does reflect significantly more openness toward Google than agents have toward Zillow, which only received support from 10 percent of agent respondents and opposition of 62 percent.

Agents also seemed to think their companies would be better off if an AI chatbot like ChatGPT took over Zillow’s mantle — and agents at Compass and other major independent models were especially likely to agree.

Why could that be so?

Compass CEO Robert Reffkin shared his theory with analysts and investors during an earnings call in November.

“The beauty of ChatGPT is that it brings the lead flow back to the truth, just like Google did, to the organic path to the best, most experienced agent,” Reffkin said at the time. “That’s great for highly experienced real estate professionals and great for companies like Compass.”

Still, Reffkin was critical of how platforms like Google have monetized the relationship by showcasing sponsored agents rather than guiding consumers based solely on their search algorithm.

This move moves agents’ search results further away from “the truth,” as Reffkin put it. And similar efforts to introduce ads to chatbot results could be on the horizon in the coming months.

An interesting finding from the study is that there is one more maligned entity than Zillow: the vertically integrated home transaction platforms being developed by mortgage giants Rocket Companies and Lower LLC. Each of these companies has acquired its own home listing platform – Redfin from Rocket and Movoto from Lower – to further this cause.

And agents surveyed by Intel aren’t happy with the idea at all.

• 4 percent of real estate agent respondents agreed that Rocket’s Redfin-powered vertical platform is central to how consumers access real estate listings, while 69 percent rejected.

Less than 2 percent of agent respondents were positive that Movoto is playing a central role in the advertising space now that it is owned by Lower, compared to 63 percent who gave a negative answer.

Methodological notes: This month’s Inman Intel Index questionnaire ran from December 19, 2025 through January. 5, 2026, and received 468 responses. The entire Inman reader community was invited to participate, and a rotating, random selection of community members were asked to participate by email.. Users responded to a series of questions related to their self-described corner of the real estate industry – including real estate agents, brokerage leaders, lenders and proptech entrepreneurs. The results reflect the views of the involved Inman community, which do not always reflect those of the wider real estate industry. This questionnaire is carried out monthly.

Email Daniel Houston