Zillow's Terms of Use forbid automated queries, including scraping and "bypassing captcha or similar precautions". They also forbid getting around any measure Zillow uses to restrict access. Zillow Research gives its market data away as free CSV files, and Zillow Group offers APIs to businesses on request. A proxy changes your address, not what the terms allow, so for Zillow data it does not fit.
What Zillow's terms say
zillow.com refused our server, so we read the Terms of Use as the Internet Archive saved them on 1 February 2026. That copy says "Updated October 28, 2025". These rules bear on scrapers:
| rule | in Zillow's words |
|---|---|
| automated queries | Do not "conduct automated queries (including screen and database scraping, spiders, robots, crawlers, bypassing "captcha" or similar precautions". |
| access measures | Do not "bypass any measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to the Services". |
| rival products | Do not use the Services "to develop competitive products or services". |
| listings elsewhere | Do not make listing images or information available on another site or service, unless Zillow permits it. |
| personal copying | You may copy information "without the aid of any automated processes and only as necessary for your personal use". |
| aggregate data | Aggregate data from Zillow's local pages may be used for market analysis, if Zillow is cited on every page that shows it. |
Under the MLS terms, information from Zillow is for personal, non-commercial purposes. Each MLS holds a copyright in its own database.
What robots.txt says
Zillow's robots.txt opens with one line: access to the site is governed by the Terms of Use. Its group for every crawler closes /api/, /graphql/ and the addresses that hold a search's state. It closes most of /homes/ too, and leaves only the top search pages open. It also closes a path named /captchaPerimeterX/.
What Zillow publishes for free
Zillow Research publishes its market data as free downloads. Zillow Group's developer pages say this data is "free for public use by consumers, media, analysts, academics and policymakers". Attribution to Zillow is required. The data is updated on the 16th of each month:
| index | what it measures |
|---|---|
| ZHVI | the typical home value in a region and housing type |
| ZHVF | a forecast of ZHVI, a month, a quarter and a year ahead |
| ZORI | the typical market rent in a region |
| listings | for-sale inventory, new listings, newly pending listings and median list price |
Zillow Group's APIs
Zillow Group lists close to 20 APIs. Three of them answer what scrapers usually want:
| API | what Zillow Group says |
|---|---|
| Zestimates | Zestimates for about 100 million US properties, "really for commercial use cases by businesses". |
| MLS listings | Listing data through the Bridge platform, "at the discretion of our individual MLS partners", and invite only. |
| public records | County parcel, assessment and sale data across the US for about 15 years, invite only. |
For research and academic work, the same pages point back to the free research data. To ask for API access, the pages say to use the help button in their lower right corner. The pages we read give no price.
What zillow.com did when our server asked
We sent plain requests to zillow.com from our server in St. Louis on 5 October 2026. The terms, the research data, the developer and the Zestimate pages all came back with HTTP 403, "Access to this page has been denied". Only robots.txt answered normally. Zillow Group's developer pages on zillowgroup.com answered too. We did not sign in, open a listing, download a file or run a scraper.
What scraping guides sell
One data seller sells a solver for Zillow's challenge pages. A guide by an anti-detect browser maker offers a "Ban Bypass" for suspended Zillow accounts. Scraping guides advise residential proxies because Zillow blocks datacenter addresses. Zillow's terms name both bypassing captchas and bypassing access measures.
Where a proxy fits
For Zillow, a proxy does not fit. The terms forbid automated queries from any address, and getting past Zillow's checks is named in them. For market trends, the research data is free with attribution. For Zestimates, listings or public records in a product, ask Zillow Group.
For other work where a proxy is allowed, what a residential proxy is explains the type. How to check if a proxy is working shows how to test one. Residential traffic without city targeting starts at $0.44/GB, and every plan is on our pricing page.
The limits of this page
zillow.com refused our server, so the terms and the research data page are Internet Archive copies of 1 February and 22 March 2026. The live terms may have changed since. We read robots.txt and the Zillow Group pages directly on 5 October 2026, from our server in St. Louis. We do not know how Zillow decides whom it blocks, or what its APIs cost. This page gives no legal opinion and is due for a check by 5 January 2027.
Sources
- Zillow, Terms of Use, updated 28 October 2025, as saved by the Internet Archive on 1 February 2026, read on 5 October 2026.
- Zillow Research, Housing Data, as saved by the Internet Archive on 22 March 2026, read on 5 October 2026.
- Zillow, the robots.txt file of zillow.com, read on 5 October 2026.
- Zillow Group, Data & APIs, with its Zestimates, MLS Listings, Public Records and Real Estate Metrics pages, read on 5 October 2026.
- Our requests to zillow.com from our server in St. Louis, on 5 October 2026.
