You have probably never paid Rightmove a penny. Home hunters spent 16.8 billion minutes searching its site and app in 2025, and it cost them nothing.
Estate agents are another matter. Rightmove turned £425.1 million of revenue into £297.7 million of underlying operating profit in 2025, and the average branch was paying it £1,636 a month by the first half of 2026.
Now a proposed £1.6 billion class action says those fees are excessive, with a tribunal hearing listed for 2–3 November 2026.
So how does Rightmove make money from a product that is free to the people using it? We unpack the Rightmove business model, what branches pay, the revenue beyond listings and how it stacks up against Zoopla.
What Is Rightmove and Who Is It For
Rightmove is the UK’s largest property portal, where home hunters search for free and 19,357 agency branches and new homes developments pay to advertise.
Four of the UK’s biggest corporate estate agencies formed it in 2000: Countrywide, Connells, Halifax and Royal & Sun Alliance. Listing was free at first, and charging began in 2002. It floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2006 and now sits in the FTSE 250.
The audience is the asset. Consumers spent 16.8 billion minutes on its site and app in 2025, and over 85% of traffic arrived direct or organic.
How Rightmove Makes Money From Free Property Searches
Rightmove charges estate agents and new homes developers subscriptions and add-on product fees to advertise, which produced £425.1 million of revenue in 2025.
Agency work supplies most of it, as the table shows.
Revenue reached £225.8 million in the first half of 2026, up 7%, with agency revenue up 9%. Rightmove’s accounts class the agency and developer revenue streams as property advertising services, so how Rightmove makes money mostly comes down to what each advertiser pays.
Rightmove’s Business Model: A Two-Sided Marketplace
The Rightmove business model is a two-sided marketplace: listings from paying agents attract home hunters, and home hunters keep agents paying.
Its chief executive credits data and network effects for that loop.
Revenue comes from advertiser fees rather than a cut of each sale, and it has held up when volumes fall. In 2023, housing transactions dropped to 1.0 million from 1.2 million, yet revenue still rose 10% to about £364 million, even as customer numbers slipped 1% to 18,785.
That resilience is how Rightmove makes money in a weak market, and it shows in the margin: underlying operating profit of £297.7 million in 2025, a 70% margin.
Rightmove Fees for Estate Agents: What Branches Pay
Agency branches paid Rightmove an average of £1,636 a month in the first half of 2026, up 8% on a year earlier.
That average is the clearest public window into Rightmove fees for estate agents. It works out at roughly £19,600 a year per branch on our calculation, though Rightmove publishes no price list that we could find.
Average monthly revenue per advertiser passed £1,000 in 2018.
Product growth drove 62% of the 2025 agency increase as branches bought upgrades and extras. By June 2026, 36% of independent agents subscribed to the top Optimiser Edge package, and the average agency branch held 14% more products than a year earlier.
Beyond Listings: New Homes, Mortgages, Rentals and Commercial
Rightmove earns beyond agent listings from new homes developers, who generated £75.3 million in 2025, and from three growth areas worth £29.1 million combined.
Developers pay more per head than agents, averaging £2,247 a month in the first half of 2026, but their numbers are shrinking. Rightmove listed 2,766 developments at 30 June 2026, 6% fewer than a year earlier, and cut its 2026 revenue growth guidance to 6–8% as a result.
The three growth areas in 2025 were:
- Commercial property: £15.3 million, up 13%, with 1,227 members.
- Rental Services: £7.1 million, up 35%, including £2.6 million from utilities, broadband and insurance packages.
- Mortgages: £6.8 million, up 46%, introducing £34 billion of potential lending to partner lenders.
Together they made up 7% of group revenue. Mortgage revenue slipped to £3.4 million in the first half of 2026 from £4.5 million a year earlier.
Why Estate Agents Struggle to Leave Rightmove
Most estate agents stay because Rightmove holds the audience, taking 89% of time spent across the UK’s main property portals in December 2025.
Retention backs that up. Rightmove kept 90% of agency partners in 2025 and reported 96% for the first half of 2026, both company-reported figures. Agency branches grew from 16,385 in December 2025 to 16,591 by June 2026.
The class action’s claimant argues agents see the portal as a must-have service, which Rightmove disputes. Rightmove’s own filings describe a market with high returns and relatively low barriers to entry, and they flag AI as a possible disruptor.
Rightmove vs Zoopla and OnTheMarket
Rightmove leads both rivals on audience, taking 90% of time spent on the UK’s main portals in June 2026 on Comscore’s measure and 75% on SimilarWeb’s.
The Rightmove vs Zoopla comparison is harder to make on price, because we could not find comparable published fee figures for either rival. Zoopla’s owner, Silver Lake, bought Zoopla Property Group for £2.2 billion in 2018, and Zoopla reported first-quarter 2026 revenue up 9%. CoStar Group completed its roughly £99 million takeover of OnTheMarket on 12 December 2023 and planned £46.5 million of sales and marketing spend in its first full year.
Rightmove has also seen off a bid. REA Group walked away on 30 September 2024 after Rightmove rejected a fourth proposal valuing it at about £6.2 billion.
The Fee Backlash and the Class Action Claim
A proposed class action alleges Rightmove charged estate agents and developers excessive and unfair fees, with a certification hearing listed for 2–3 November 2026.
Jeremy Newman, a former Competition and Markets Authority panel member, filed the claim on 1 April 2026. It argues Rightmove fees for estate agents are excessive against competing services and alleges exclusionary conduct.
The claimant estimates around 7,200 class members, mostly small businesses with up to three branches, and puts the claim at around £1.6 billion.
Rightmove cites up to £1.56 billion.
Rightmove calls the claim without merit and says it will defend it vigorously. It booked £2.3 million of related costs in the first half of 2026 and expects £4 million to £7 million for the year. The hearing decides whether the claim can proceed to trial.
What Founders Can Learn From Rightmove
Founders can learn that audience comes first: Rightmove launched free in 2000, began charging in 2002 and posted a 70% underlying operating margin in 2025.
Growth now comes mainly from products, with 62% of the 2025 agency increase coming from product growth. Agency work also supplies about 72% of revenue, so the agents now challenging its fees are its largest customer group.
FAQs
1. How much does Rightmove charge estate agents?
Rightmove charged agency branches an average of £1,636 a month in the first half of 2026, up from £1,520 a year earlier. Rightmove fees for estate agents vary by package and add-ons, and the company reports only this average, with no public price list that we could find.
2. Why can’t estate agents leave Rightmove?
Most estate agents stay because Rightmove holds around 90% of portal time on Comscore’s measure and kept 90% of agency partners in 2025. The class action’s claimant argues agents treat it as a must-have service, which Rightmove disputes.
3. Is Rightmove being sued?
Yes. A proposed class action seeking damages of around £1.6 billion was filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal on 1 April 2026. The tribunal hears the certification application on 2–3 November 2026, which decides whether it can proceed to trial, and Rightmove says the claim is without merit.
Also Read: UK Autumn Budget 2026: What Founders’ Relief Means for You
Sources: Rightmove plc’s full-year 2025 results (27 February 2026) and half-year 2026 results (31 July 2026), Rightmove’s company history page, the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s claim notice (16 April 2026) and hearing order (19 May 2026), CoStar Group’s December 2023 announcement, PA Media’s September 2024 reporting, interactive investor’s coverage of Rightmove’s 2023 results and Online Marketplaces’ coverage of Zoopla. Figures reflect the most recent available data at 30 October 2026.
The EP+ Editorial Desk covers UK startups, founder stories, and venture capital. All editorial content is independently produced and human-reviewed before publication.
