Bridge Interactive is Zillow Group’s official program for MLS-affiliated brokers and approved technology partners. It is free if you qualify, the data is RESO-standard, and the licensing is clean.
Most independent developers and small startups do not qualify. Approval can take weeks. The Zestimate is selectively gated.
If you have an MLS membership and the patience to go through Bridge onboarding, Bridge is the right answer for licensed RESO data. If you do not, Zillapi gives you a Zillow Data API in 60 seconds, with the obvious trade-off that we are an independent third party.
TL;DR
| Zillapi | Bridge Interactive | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $5/mo for 1,000 credits, scales to $99+ | Free if approved (your MLS may charge separately) |
| Free tier | 100 credits one-time at signup | Free for approved partners |
| Signup speed | Self-serve, under 60 seconds | Application + MLS verification, days to weeks |
| Coverage | Zillow listing graph (~160M parcels) | RESO Web API for participating MLSs |
| Output formats | JSON, CSV, NDJSON | OData / RESO Web API |
| Webhooks | First-class, HMAC-signed | Not part of the program |
| OpenAPI | /openapi.json covers every endpoint | RESO Data Dictionary + OData metadata |
| Zestimate | Yes, via /v1/properties/{zpid}/zestimate | Selective approval only |
| Eligibility | Anyone with email | MLS member, broker, or approved tech partner |
| Best for | Indie devs, startups, AI tooling | Licensed brokerages, MLSs, IDX vendors |
What is Bridge Interactive?
Bridge Interactive is Zillow Group’s developer program for accessing real-estate data through the RESO Web API standard. After Zillow retired its public Web Services API in 2021, Bridge became the canonical way for licensed brokerages and approved technology vendors to consume MLS-feed data and Zillow Group’s public records.
Eligibility is the gate. You generally need to be an active MLS participant, an IDX vendor, or a technology company partnering with a participating MLS. Every applicant goes through a review where Bridge verifies the use case meets their Terms of Use, per the Bridge platform documentation. Approval takes days to weeks.
Once you are in, the data is licensed RESO content. Your license agreement is between you and your MLS, not Bridge.
The catch most non-broker developers hit is the eligibility bar plus the data-display rules. Photos, listing descriptions, and certain agent fields have display restrictions that vary by MLS. The default rate limit is 1,000 calls per day per dataset. The Zestimate is generally not exposed to most partners, and where it is, approval is selective.
What is Zillapi?
Zillapi is a third-party Zillow Data API. We are not an MLS participant. We are not part of the Bridge program. We do not pretend otherwise.
We wrap Zillow’s public listing surface as a versioned REST API with auth, caching, billing, and webhooks. Anyone with an email can sign up and make their first call in under 60 seconds. The schema is one stable /v1 contract documented at /openapi.json.
The trade-off is licensing. Bridge’s data is RESO-licensed with contractual lineage. Ours is Zillow’s public listing surface, productized.
Side-by-side: making the same call
Same task, both providers. Look up one property record.
Zillapi:
curl https://api.zillapi.com/v1/properties/11026031 \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $ZILLAPI_KEY"Bridge Interactive, querying a RESO OData listings endpoint by ListingId:
curl "https://api.bridgedataoutput.com/api/v2/<dataset>/listings?\$filter=ListingId%20eq%20'<id>'" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $BRIDGE_TOKEN"The Bridge endpoint depends on which MLS dataset your access token covers. Field names follow the RESO Data Dictionary, which is verbose but standardized across MLSs. That standardization is a real advantage when your product spans markets.
Pricing breakdown
Bridge Interactive, per public references as of May 2026:
- Bridge does not charge service fees for accessing MLS data.
- Your license agreement is between you and your MLS, not Bridge.
- Some MLSs charge their own data-access fees. Some do not.
- Approval requires an application and use-case review.
- Default rate limit: 1,000 API calls per day per dataset.
Zillapi, per public pricing on zillapi.com as of May 2026:
- Free at signup: 100 credits.
- Hacker: $5/mo, 1,000 credits.
- Pro: $29/mo, 10,000 credits.
- Scale: $99/mo, 50,000 credits.
- Default rate limit: 200 requests per minute on paid tiers.
- Most endpoints cost 1 credit. Heavy listing pages and async jobs cost more, documented per endpoint in
/openapi.json.
If you qualify for Bridge, the math is hard to beat. Free at any volume up to your daily-call limit, with a multi-MLS feed if you go through the work. If you do not qualify, the question is moot.
When to choose Bridge Interactive
Pick Bridge if you are an MLS-licensed brokerage, an IDX vendor working on behalf of one, or a technology company with an MLS partnership.
Pick it when you specifically need RESO-standard data. The standardization across MLSs is a real advantage for products that span markets. Once you have your token and your dataset, the schema is consistent across feeds.
Pick it when your product is multi-year and your roadmap can absorb a multi-week onboarding once. The upfront cost is real. The ongoing cost is effectively zero.
If your business is licensed and your customers are real-estate professionals, going through Bridge is worth the friction.
When to choose Zillapi
Pick Zillapi when you cannot qualify for Bridge or you need to ship before the Bridge approval timeline allows.
Pick it when you specifically need Zillow’s surface. Zestimates. Listing photos. The Zillow URL pattern your users already share. AI agents, Zillow URL parsers, lead-gen tools, and analytics dashboards often need exactly the Zillow view, not the raw MLS view.
For prototyping, Zillapi removes the “wait for approval” blocker entirely. Sign up, get a key, make a call. If the prototype proves out, decide whether to migrate to Bridge for licensed listings or stay on Zillapi for the Zillow-specific surface.
The honest case against Zillapi
Bridge wins on licensing.
If your business is licensed and your customers are real-estate professionals, Bridge’s data has contractual lineage. Ours is Zillow’s public listing surface, productized. For regulated workflows, the licensing matters.
Bridge is also cheaper at scale if you qualify. Zero per-call cost on the Bridge program means a high-volume IDX vendor pays effectively nothing for MLS data. We charge per credit. At very high volume, our economics will lose to free.
We also do not give you RESO-standard fields. If your engineering team has built tooling around the RESO Data Dictionary and expects ListingId, MlsStatus, and StandardStatus, that is not us. Our schema is shaped around Zillow’s listing surface.
And we are not the right pick for displaying IDX listings on a brokerage site. Display rules vary by MLS. If you are a brokerage publishing listings publicly, you need a feed that operates under your host MLS’s IDX rules. That is Bridge, not us.
When Bridge and Zillapi work together
Some ops teams use both. Bridge for the licensed MLS feed in markets where the team has membership. Zillapi for Zestimates and for listings outside that MLS coverage. Match on address.
FAQ
Who can use Bridge Interactive?
Active MLS participants, broker-licensed companies, IDX vendors working on behalf of one, or technology partners with an MLS-approved use case. Per the Bridge platform docs, every applicant goes through a review where Bridge verifies the use case meets their Terms of Use. If you are an indie developer or a SaaS without an MLS partnership, you usually do not qualify.
Does Bridge expose the Zestimate?
Sometimes. Bridge ships a separate Zestimate API, but per their own platform updates many applicants will not be approved to use it. Approval is selective and use-case dependent. If you specifically need the Zestimate and you are not an MLS participant, plan on the answer being no.
How long does Bridge approval take?
Days to weeks, depending on your MLS and Bridge’s review queue. Some technology partners have reported the review running longer if the use case touches data display rules. If you need to ship this sprint, that is the wrong shape.
How much does Bridge cost?
Bridge does not charge service fees for accessing MLS data through their platform. Your license agreement is between you and your MLS, not between you and Bridge. The price tag is effectively zero if you qualify, plus whatever your MLS charges for the data feed itself.
Can I use Zillapi and Bridge together?
Yes, and many ops teams do. Bridge for licensed MLS listings inside the markets you serve. Zillapi for Zestimates, listings outside your MLS coverage, and the Zillow URL pattern your end users already share. Match on address.
What are the Bridge data display rules?
Bridge enforces the host MLS’s display rules. Photos, listing descriptions, and certain agent fields can have restrictions on how long data can be cached, what can be shown publicly, and what attribution is required. Read your MLS’s IDX rules carefully before you ship a public-facing UI.
Verdict
If you qualify for Bridge Interactive and your roadmap can absorb a multi-week onboarding, the official path is the right one. RESO-standard data, licensed feed, free at scale.
If you cannot qualify, or you need Zillow’s specific surface (Zestimates, listings outside your MLS, Zillow URL parsing), start with the Zillapi quickstart. First call in 60 seconds. No application. No approval queue.
Zillapi is an independent service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Zillow Group, Inc. “Zillow” and “Zestimate” are registered trademarks of Zillow Group, Inc. “Bridge Interactive” is a Zillow Group product. Use of those marks on this site is descriptive (nominative fair use). Read our full trademark posture.