What Rental Tools Does Zillow Offer for Renters and Landlords?

Zillow offers two separate sets of rental tools: a renter side for finding and applying to rentals, and a rental manager side for landlords who list, screen, and manage properties. Which set you see depends on whether you sign in as a renter or as a property manager — the two are organized under different menus on the site.

Tools for renters

Zillow's renter tools cover the full path from searching to paying rent. Based on the site's own navigation, they include:

• Rental listings search — separate entry points for apartments for rent, houses for rent, all rental listings, and browsing rental buildings.
• Affordability estimate — a tool to estimate what you can afford before you commit to a price range.
• Application and tour management — "See your applications" and "Manage your tours" let you track what you've submitted and scheduled.
• Rent payment — pay your rent through Zillow.
• Credit building — build credit, presumably tied to on-time rent payments made through the platform.
• Renters insurance — get a policy through the site.
• Housing voucher programs — explore voucher programs if you're using rental assistance.

A practical way to use this: start with the affordability estimate to set a realistic budget, search listings within that range, then use the application and tour tools to keep track of multiple properties instead of managing them in your head or across email threads.

Tools for landlords and rental managers

The "Manage rentals" section is built around Zillow Rental Manager. It splits into management tasks and tools:

There's also a separate "Check your property's rental value" tool linked from the homepage, which is the landlord-side counterpart to the renter affordability estimate — it helps you set a competitive asking rent rather than guessing.

How the two sides connect

The renter and landlord tools are designed to meet in the middle. A landlord lists a property and screens applicants through Zillow Rental Manager; a renter applies, schedules a tour, and eventually pays rent through the renter tools. Credit building and rent payment on the renter side line up with rent collection on the manager side.

If you're a landlord deciding whether to use Zillow versus another platform, the relevant question is whether you want listing, screening, leasing, and payment in one place. If you already use separate tools for leases or payments, the listing and screening features may be the only parts you need.

What to check before you rely on these tools

• Sign-in is required for the dashboard features — applications, tours, properties, and messages all sit behind an account. The site shows "Sign in" and "Join" as the entry points.
• Availability varies by property. Rent payment and credit building depend on whether your landlord or the listing supports them, so confirm with the property before assuming you can pay rent through Zillow.
• Rental value estimates are estimates. Treat the rental value tool as a starting point for pricing, not a guaranteed figure.

For renters, the fastest path is: estimate affordability → search listings → apply and schedule tours → pay rent and build credit if the property supports it. For landlords, it's: list the property → screen applicants → create a lease → collect rent, all from the Zillow Rental Manager dashboard.