Insights

Commercial real estate listing sites: LoopNet, Crexi, and the alternatives

By Noah Stegman, founder of Endcap. Published September 22, 2026

Most commercial listings reach tenants and buyers through a small number of listing sites. This guide explains what each of the main sites is, who uses it, and where each fits when you are deciding how to market a listing. It is written from the listing broker’s side, but it also answers the question tenants and buyers ask most: which websites show commercial property for lease or for sale.

The short answer

For most leasing and sale listings in the United States, LoopNet and Crexi are the two public listing sites that matter most, and a serious listing belongs on both. CoStar is the subscription database that brokers, landlords and lenders use for research, and it feeds LoopNet. Beyond those three, there are specialist marketplaces, auction platforms and regional exchanges, and there is the listing’s own website, which is the only place where you control the whole presentation.

LoopNet

LoopNet is owned by CoStar Group and is the most widely known public marketplace for commercial property. Tenants, small investors and owner-users often start there because it is free to search and appears prominently in Google results for property searches. Brokers can list for free, and paid advertising levels place a listing higher in search results and show it with more photos and a larger format.

LoopNet is strongest for leasing, especially office, retail, industrial and flex space, and for smaller sale listings. Because every listing appears in the same format next to its competitors, the quality of the photos, the headline and the first lines of the description decide whether someone opens the listing. Our guide to getting more out of LoopNet and Crexi covers the details that make a portal listing easier to find and filter.

LoopNet also offers LoopLink, which displays a brokerage’s LoopNet listings on the firm’s own website. It is a quick way to show current availability, although the listing pages then follow LoopNet’s format rather than the firm’s.

Crexi

Crexi launched in 2015 and has grown into the main alternative to LoopNet. Brokers can list for free, and the platform has built a strong following for investment sales, with tools for managing confidentiality agreements, offering memorandum downloads and buyer activity, and it runs online auctions. Many brokers list on both Crexi and LoopNet because the audiences overlap only partly.

When people compare LoopNet and Crexi, the honest answer for a listing broker is usually both. LoopNet tends to reach more tenants and small owner-users, and Crexi tends to be stronger with investors and brokers working sale listings. The cost of adding a listing to the second site is mostly the time to enter it well.

CoStar

CoStar is not a public listing site. It is a subscription research database used by brokers, landlords, appraisers and lenders, with property records, comparable sales and leases, and availability. Tenant representatives and investment brokers search it when they are looking for space or deals on a client’s behalf, which makes accurate CoStar data important even though the public never sees it. Listings entered through CoStar also appear on LoopNet.

Other listing sites and platforms

• Ten-X, also owned by CoStar Group, is an online auction platform for commercial property sales.
• CommercialCafe, from Yardi, is a free listing site for office, retail, industrial and coworking space.
• Brevitas is a marketplace focused on investment property.
• Regional commercial information exchanges, several of them built on Catylist, which is now part of Moody’s, are run with local associations and are searched mainly by brokers in that market.
• Buildout is marketing software rather than a listing site. Brokers use it to produce flyers and offering memorandums and to send one listing to several sites and to the brokerage’s own website at once.

Where a property website fits

A listing site puts a property in front of people who are already searching. It does not give the property its own address, and it shows the listing in a standard template beside competing space. A single-property website fills that gap. It appears in Google when someone searches the address or the center’s name, it can hold the site plan, current availability, trade-area information and the brochure in one place, and every inquiry goes straight to the listing broker. It is also the link you put on the leasing sign, in email campaigns and in the listing site’s own description.

For many listings, the practical setup is simple: list on LoopNet and Crexi, keep CoStar accurate, and give larger or harder-to-lease properties their own website and a proper brochure or offering memorandum. Offering memorandum, flyer, or brochure explains which document a listing needs.

What makes a listing perform on any site

• Real, current photography of the property and the space, including an aerial view for retail and industrial listings.
• A headline that names the property type, size and location, instead of a slogan.
• The facts tenants filter on: square footage, rate or price, zoning, parking, clear height and loading where relevant.
• A site plan and a downloadable brochure.
• A direct phone number and email for the listing broker, and a fast reply.
• Availability that is updated when a suite leases, so the listing does not advertise space that is gone.

If a listing has been on these sites for months without calls, when a listing stops getting calls walks through what to check before cutting the rate.

Questions brokers ask

Is LoopNet or Crexi better for marketing a listing?

For most listings, use both. LoopNet usually reaches more tenants and small owner-users. Crexi is often stronger for investment sales and gives the listing broker useful tools for tracking buyer interest.

Are there free commercial real estate listing sites?

Yes. LoopNet, Crexi and CommercialCafe all accept free listings from brokers. Paid options on LoopNet and Crexi improve placement and presentation.

Is there a website like Zillow for commercial property?

LoopNet and Crexi are the closest equivalents. Unlike residential property, commercial property has no single listing service that every broker uses, so availability is spread across these sites, CoStar and brokerage websites.

Should my brokerage show listings on its own website?

Yes. Owners check a brokerage’s website before hiring it, and current listings with full property pages are the clearest evidence of what the firm handles. What the best commercial real estate websites get right covers how to present them.