ShowingTime vs. Aligned Showings: Still Worth Paying? (2026)

If an MLS has quietly switched listings over to a tool called Aligned Showings, real estate agents have probably noticed it does the same job as ShowingTime — for free. Meanwhile, a ShowingTime subscription is likely still running every month out of habit, feeding data into the same company that turns around and sells buyer leads back to agents at a markup.

That’s the tension underneath this comparison. ShowingTime has been the default showing-scheduling tool in most U.S. markets for over a decade, and Zillow bought it in 2021. Aligned Showings arrived as an MLS-owned alternative, got dropped into a federal antitrust lawsuit within two years, and came out the other side as a genuine free option in a growing list of markets.

The quick answer: where an MLS runs Aligned Showings, most listing-agent-side scheduling can move over at no cost. The case for keeping a paid ShowingTime tier comes down to one thing — live, 24/7 phone-answered showing requests across multiple markets — and real user complaints suggest even that edge has slipped.

What Actually Happened: The Zillow vs. MLS Aligned Showdown, Explained

In December 2023, two MLSs — ARMLS in Arizona and Metro MLS in Wisconsin — shut off their ShowingTime integrations entirely, making Aligned Showings the only scheduling option available to their members. Zillow, through ShowingTime, sued both MLSs in Arizona federal court, alleging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act (HousingWire, 2023).

The dispute lasted about eight months. A settlement finalized on August 2, 2024 restored ShowingTime as an optional integration in both markets (Inman, 2024). Agents in ARMLS and Metro MLS now choose which platform to use, per listing, rather than being forced onto one system.

Other MLSs that rolled out Aligned Showings — RMLS in Oregon, MLSListings in California, among others — never tried to fully drop ShowingTime. They made Aligned Showings the default for new listings while leaving ShowingTime accessible for members who wanted it. That’s the reason none of them ended up in court. The lawsuit was never about Aligned Showings existing — it was about forcing ShowingTime out completely.

One caveat worth flagging: Zillow filed a separate antitrust suit in May 2026 against MRED (the Chicago-area MLS) and Compass, over private and hidden listings (Inman, 2026). That dispute has nothing to do with showing scheduling — it’s about listing visibility policy. It’s worth mentioning only as evidence that Zillow treats litigation as a standard tool for defending its position with MLSs generally, not as part of the Aligned Showings story.

The bigger signal from the ARMLS/Metro MLS settlement: even MLSs willing to force agents off a Zillow-owned product got sued and had to back down. That’s a real demonstration of how much leverage Zillow still holds in this market. Agents expecting ShowingTime to fade out entirely should temper that expectation — the settlement proves coexistence, not replacement.

ShowingTime vs. Aligned Showings: Feature and Cost Comparison

Both tools handle the same core job — scheduling and confirming showings — but they differ on ownership, cost structure, and what happens when a call needs a human.

A third-party source, GetApp, cites Appointment Center pricing around $35 per user per month. ShowingTime does not publish that number on its own site — it’s a third-party estimate, and it should be treated as unverified rather than an official figure.

One rule applies regardless of which platform is in play: a single listing runs on only one showing system at a time. The listing agent picks it, and the buyer’s agent has to use whatever that is. In split or cross-MLS deals, that creates real friction — an agent in a neighboring MLS may not have access to a listing’s chosen platform at all. As one agent explained on r/realtors, the workaround in that situation is manual: “No but you can call the listing agent and ask them to open it for you. Just explain you’re a member of the neighboring MLS and have clients interested in their listing.”

Aligned Showings: What It Is and Is It Really Free

Aligned Showings launched in January 2022, backed by MLS Aligned, a consortium of MLS organizations rather than a single company. By October 2024, the platform reported more than 150,000 subscribers, 42,000 daily active users, and over 2 million showings booked (AccessNewswire, 2024).

“Free” here means free to the individual agent as an included benefit of an MLS subscription, in markets where that MLS has adopted the platform. It is not free everywhere — adoption is market-by-market, and an agent whose MLS hasn’t rolled it out has no access to it at all.

There’s a wrinkle worth tracking. In that same October 2024 announcement, MLS Aligned introduced usage-based pricing — but at the MLS-organization level, not the individual agent level. Today, that means the agent-facing cost stays at zero. It also means the mechanism for future per-agent charges already exists inside the system, even if it isn’t being used that way yet.

Beyond scheduling, Aligned Showings bundles in messaging between agents, route and tour reports, and market analysis features in some markets — functionality that goes past simple appointment booking. There’s no live phone-answering product, and MLS Aligned hasn’t signaled plans to build one.

The “free” framing holds up for now, and it’s an honest one. But an MLS-owned tool isn’t automatically immune to price creep — it’s simply less likely to be turned into a competitive weapon against the agents using it, which is the specific concern a Zillow-owned product carries. Watching how the usage-based pricing rollout evolves at the MLS level is worth doing before assuming “free” is permanent.

ShowingTime: What You’re Actually Paying For

ShowingTime+, the $15/month self-serve tier, covers showing and offer management along with market reports — functionally close to what Aligned Showings does for free in participating markets.

The real differentiator is the Appointment Center: live staff answering showing-request calls around the clock, marketed as averaging about a 20-second pickup time (ShowingTime, 2025). That’s the feature that justifies paying for ShowingTime in a market where Aligned Showings is also available. For an agent with high call volume, multiple markets, or no admin support, having a live person handle scheduling calls has real value that a self-serve app doesn’t replace.

The problem is that user reports don’t match the marketing. On Google Play, ShowingTime’s mobile app reviews describe a service that doesn’t consistently deliver on the always-on promise. One reviewer wrote: “Seems like they don’t pick up the phone anymore. Waited for 30 mins. customer service went down.” Another was blunter: “Worst app for any Realtor Professional. Many times the app doesn’t work. The sign in process does not work properly.”

The reviews aren’t uniformly negative. A long-tenured agent offered the opposite read: “Could operate without this app! 25 years of Real Estate and this app is my top favorite in the technology sect.” That split suggests service quality varies by market or by how an individual agent uses the tool — not that the complaints are isolated.

The takeaway is more practical than ideological. Paying specifically for reliable 24/7 live answering and getting 30-minute holds instead means the product isn’t delivering what it’s being paid for. That’s the stronger reason to reconsider ShowingTime — more concrete than the general discomfort of sending monthly data and dollars to Zillow.

That discomfort is real too, and it shows up regularly in agent discussion. One post on r/realtors put it directly: “The worst part is Zillow owns showing time and now dotloop. I KNOW they are marketing to every address I add on those platforms. Sneaky!” Another framed the structural issue: “They’re not just a monopoly, they are — as I am always at great pains (and often downvotes) to point out — our competition. They are a licensed mortgage broker and real estate brokerage in most states.” Every showing scheduled through ShowingTime is a data point flowing to a company that also buys ad placement against the agent’s own listings.

Where BrokerBay and Other Alternatives Fit

BrokerBay is the other name that comes up in this space, though it usually isn’t a tool an individual agent chooses on its own. It’s typically bundled into a brokerage’s license, so access — or lack of it — is set at the firm level rather than by agent preference.

The practical reality for most agents is that the “choice” here is largely already made. If an MLS has adopted Aligned Showings, or a brokerage has adopted BrokerBay, the platform decision is out of the agent’s hands. What remains is the narrower question: whether to also keep paying for ShowingTime’s extras on top of whatever the MLS or brokerage already provides for free.

Our Take: Should Agents Drop ShowingTime?

The evidence points toward a conditional answer, not a blanket one.

Where an MLS has rolled out Aligned Showings — and that needs to be checked directly, since adoption is far from universal — dropping the paid ShowingTime+ tier makes sense for agents who don’t rely on 24/7 live call answering. The free tool covers the core scheduling workflow that most agents actually use day to day.

The Appointment Center is worth keeping only where live answering is load-bearing to the business: high call volume, listings spread across multiple markets, no admin support to cover the phones. Even there, the decision should account for what agents are actually reporting — long hold times and app instability — rather than the marketed 20-second pickup claim.

What shouldn’t happen is treating Aligned Showings as a full ShowingTime replacement everywhere. The August 2024 settlement is direct proof that MLSs can’t force Zillow out even when they try. Plan for coexistence between the two platforms rather than an eventual full handoff.

This is a good moment to apply the same scrutiny elsewhere in the tech stack — anywhere a Zillow-adjacent or platform-owned dependency might be quietly extracting value the same way ShowingTime does. That includes the CRM setup, prospecting and dialer tools, and 3D tour and listing tech. None of those are automatically a problem. But each one is worth the same question: does this tool serve the agent, or does it also serve a platform whose incentives don’t fully line up with the agent’s own?

The verdict here isn’t “cancel ShowingTime.” It’s market-dependent, and agents in MLSs that haven’t adopted Aligned Showings currently have no free alternative to switch to.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Aligned Showings and how is it different from ShowingTime?

Aligned Showings is owned by MLS Aligned, a collective of member MLS organizations, while ShowingTime is owned by Zillow Group. Aligned Showings is free with an MLS subscription in participating markets and includes messaging, route reports, and some market analysis, but has no live call-answering service. ShowingTime offers that live Appointment Center option and reaches roughly 250+ MLSs nationally, well beyond Aligned Showings’ current market-by-market footprint.

Is Aligned Showings really free, or does it cost extra in some markets?

It’s free to individual agents today, as an included MLS subscriber benefit in markets where the local MLS has adopted the platform. MLS Aligned introduced usage-based pricing in October 2024, but that applies at the MLS-organization level, not per agent. It’s worth monitoring as adoption grows, but it isn’t a hidden cost for agents right now.

Why did Zillow sue MLSs over Aligned Showings?

In December 2023, ARMLS and Metro MLS dropped ShowingTime entirely in favor of Aligned Showings, and Zillow sued both under the Sherman Antitrust Act. The case settled on August 2, 2024, restoring ShowingTime as an optional choice in both markets — the dispute is fully resolved, not ongoing. A separate Zillow lawsuit against MRED and Compass in May 2026 concerns private listing visibility and is unrelated to showing scheduling.

Can agents use ShowingTime and Aligned Showings at the same time in split or cross-market deals?

Not on the same listing. Each listing runs on one platform, chosen by the listing agent, and the buyer’s agent must use whatever that is. In cross-MLS situations where the buyer’s agent lacks access, the typical workaround is a direct call to the listing agent to request access or an alternate scheduling arrangement.

Does ShowingTime’s paid Appointment Center still beat the free MLS tool?

On paper, yes — Aligned Showings has no equivalent to live, 24/7 human call answering. In practice, app reviews describe long hold times and login problems that undercut that pitch. It’s worth checking current service reports in a specific market rather than assuming the marketed response times hold.

The Real Choice Isn’t ShowingTime or Aligned Showings — It’s Whether an MLS Made the Choice Already

The settlement didn’t kill ShowingTime and it didn’t crown Aligned Showings as the new default — it proved agents finally have a real choice where their MLS supports it. Where a paid ShowingTime tier covers a feature already available for free through Aligned Showings, the free tool is the stronger pick for most agents.

The first step isn’t canceling anything — it’s confirming, through the MLS’s own support site rather than ShowingTime’s marketing pages, whether Aligned Showings is actually live in that market. Once that’s confirmed, downgrading or dropping ShowingTime+ makes sense wherever the free tool already covers the workflow.

Zillow didn’t lose this fight, and neither did the MLSs. Agents did the winning, but only in the markets that bothered to build the alternative.

References

1. HousingWire — Zillow, ShowingTime sue two multiple listing services (2023) — https://www.housingwire.com/articles/zillow-showingtime-sue-2-multiple-listing-services/
2. Inman — Zillow finalizes lawsuit settlement with ARMLS, Metro MLS (2024) — https://www.inman.com/2024/08/02/zillow-finalizes-lawsuit-settlement-with-armls-metro-mls/
3. AccessNewswire — Aligned Showings reaches 2 millionth showing and introduces usage-based pricing (2024) — https://www.accessnewswire.com/935121/aligned-showings-reaches-2-millionth-showing-and-introduces-usage-based-pricing
4. ShowingTime — Appointment Center product and pricing page — https://showingtime.com/solutions/showings-and-offers/appointment-center
5. GetApp — ShowingTime Appointment Center listing (third-party pricing estimate) — https://www.getapp.com/real-estate-property-software/a/showingtime-appointment-center/
6. RMLS — Aligned Showings program page — https://rmlscentral.com/rmls-alignedshowings/
7. ARMLS — Aligned Showings program page — https://armls.com/aligned-showings
8. Inman — Zillow sues Compass and Chicago’s MLS over private listing battle (2026) — https://www.inman.com/2026/05/12/zillow-sues-compass-and-chicagos-mls-over-private-listing-battle/
9. r/realtors — Zillow ownership and marketing concerns thread — https://reddit.com/r/realtors/comments/1afne6m/zillow_and_why_are_we_letting_this_is_happen/
10. r/realtors — Cross-MLS ShowingTime scheduling thread — https://reddit.com/r/realtors/comments/1c2ccfz/can_i_schedule_a_showingtime_appointment_with_a/
11. Google Play — ShowingTime mobile app reviews — https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.showingtime.mobile.android&hl=en_US