The short answer
MLS and IDX integration costs come from three places: the MLS (data license fees, which vary widely by board and by how you use the data), a data vendor or IDX provider if you use one (monthly subscriptions), and development if you build your own search, website or pipeline. An agent or small brokerage that only needs listings on its website can usually use an IDX plugin for a monthly subscription. A brokerage or proptech company that needs listing data inside its own product, from one or several MLS boards, pays MLS license fees, often a data vendor, and the cost of building and running the pipeline.
MLS and IDX cost at a glance
Published prices, grouped by how each cost is billed. Each figure links to the page it comes from and is explained in the sections below. To total the fees for your own setup, use the MLS and IDX cost calculator.
| Cost | Billed | Published examples |
|---|---|---|
| IDX plugin or hosted IDX site | Per month | From $49 per month (Buying Buddy) to $149 per month (IDX Broker Elite) |
| RESO Web API data vendor | Per month, per feed or connection | MLS Grid: no fee beyond your MLS's license fee. Trestle: $30 per month for broker data feeds. Repliers: $199 to $399 per month |
| MLS license, broker use | Per month or per office per year | MLS PIN: $100 per month. Stellar MLS: $450 per office per year |
| MLS license, vendor product | Per product, per month or per year | MLS PIN: $525 per month. Stellar MLS: $7,500 per product per year. ARMLS: $1,000 to $1,500 per product per month |
| Custom development | Per hour | Market rates reported by Clutch: $25 to $49 (India), $50 to $99 (United States), $100 to $149 (Canada) |
First, which kind of data access do you need?
- IDX lets a broker display other brokers' listings on a public website under the MLS's display rules. IDX vendors charge a subscription, and some MLSs add their own IDX fee (see the examples below).
- VOW (virtual office website) is a registered-user site that can show more data under stricter rules, and it usually has its own fee.
- Broker back-office feeds are for internal use such as CRMs, reporting and valuation.
- Vendor or technology-provider licenses apply when a company sells a product built on MLS data to agents or brokers. These are typically the most expensive.
Option one: an IDX plugin or hosted IDX website
Published prices from IDX vendors' own pricing pages:
| Vendor | Published price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| IDX Broker | $60, $99 or $149 per month (Core, Engage, Elite) | All plans include a one-time setup fee; the amount isn't published |
| Showcase IDX | From $94.95 or $124.95 per month | No setup fee; MLS pass-through fees typically $0 to $33 per month |
| Buying Buddy | $49 or $77 per month | No setup fee |
| Realtyna MLS On The Fly | $99 per month for Tier 1 MLSs, plus $850 one-time setup | Other tiers depend on the MLS |
| iHomefinder | Plan prices not published | Extra MLS $25 per month (one-agent plan) or $50 per month (two or more agents) |
This route suits agents and brokerages whose main need is listings on a website. The trade-off is limited control: search, design and lead handling work the way the vendor built them, and the data stays inside the vendor's product. If you are weighing whether to move off a plugin, see IDX vendor or custom build: when to switch.
Option two: MLS data in your own product
MLS data license fees
When the data goes into your own software, the MLS license is the first cost. There is no national price list: each board sets its own fees and rules. Some examples from published fee schedules:
| MLS | Use | Published fee |
|---|---|---|
| Stellar MLS (Florida) | Broker back office; VOW | $450 per office per year, capped at $7,500 (each) |
| Stellar MLS | Vendor product | $7,500 per product per year, $2,500 for each additional product |
| ARMLS (Arizona) | Broker feeds | Five free feeds per brokerage; additional feeds $150 per month each |
| ARMLS | Vendor product | Typically $1,000 to $1,500 per product per month |
| REcolorado | IDX content | $500 establishment fee, $150 per month |
| REcolorado | VOW or all content | $1,500 establishment fee, $500 per month |
| MLS PIN (New England) | Broker | $100 per month, covering branch offices |
| MLS PIN | Vendor | $525 per month |
| CREA DDF® (Canada) | New technology provider | $1,500 onboarding fee (CAD), plus tiered feed fees |
The same data can cost very different amounts depending on who licenses it and why. A brokerage using its own back-office feed at Stellar pays per office, while a company selling a product to agents pays a vendor fee. Confirm the category with each MLS before you build, because it also sets the display and refresh rules. Our guide on how to get MLS data access for your app walks through the licenses, broker sponsorship, agreements and approval steps.
RESO Web API data vendors
Many MLSs deliver data through a platform or aggregator rather than directly. These add their own fees on top of the MLS license, or none at all:
- Trestle (Cotality): $30 per month for broker data feeds and $100 per month for other feeds. Technology providers pay $100 to $175 per connection per month depending on volume, plus the MLS's own fees.
- MLS Grid: states that you only pay the license fee your MLS requires.
- SimplyRETS: $49, $99 or $199 per month, plus a one-time $99 connection fee per feed.
- Repliers: free Preview plan, then $199, $299 or $399 per month for one MLS.
What does MLS Grid charge?
MLS Grid does not publish a price list of its own. Its FAQ says you only pay the license fee required by your MLS, which MLS Grid collects on the MLS's behalf. So the cost of data through MLS Grid is whatever your MLS charges for your license type, under one license agreement and one feed for all participating MLSs you belong to. Ask your MLS for its fee schedule rather than looking for an MLS Grid price.
Is MLS or IDX data priced per user?
Not in any of the fee schedules cited here. The published fees are billed per month, per office, per product, or per feed or connection, not per user or per agent. The closest to per-agent pricing in this guide is iHomefinder's extra-MLS fee, which is $25 per month on the one-agent plan or $50 per month for two or more agents. Some MLSs do tier their vendor fees by the number of users; our guide on how to get MLS data access lists one. If a software vendor quotes you a per-user price, that is usually the vendor's own licensing, separate from what the MLS charges for data.
RETS is being retired
If you are quoted a RETS integration, ask about the RESO Web API instead. NAR MLS Policy Statement 7.90 required REALTOR® association MLSs to implement the RESO Web API by June 30, 2016. RESO describes RETS as deprecated and no longer supported, and boards have been switching it off. ARMLS, for example, shut down RETS on December 15, 2023. New work should use the Web API; our guide to RESO Web API vs RETS covers what changes in a migration.
Development cost
Building your own search, website or data pipeline adds engineering time, and that is usually the largest cost. There is no reliable fixed price for “an MLS integration”, because the work depends on:
- The number of MLS boards. Each has its own fields, status values and rules. Combining several means normalizing schemas and deduplicating properties listed on more than one board.
- Freshness. Incremental sync with retries and error isolation costs more to build than a nightly import, and is usually required.
- Search. Map search, auto-suggest and fast filtering across large datasets need a search index and caching, not just database queries.
- What sits on top. IDX pages, a CRM, valuation or AI search each add their own scope.
For a sense of market labor rates, Clutch reports that software development companies listed in India typically charge $25 to $49 per hour, those in the United States $50 to $99, and those in Canada $100 to $149 (Clutch, updated September 21, 2026). Our guide to what it costs to build a real estate platform covers labor and infrastructure costs in more detail.
How the pieces fit together: an example
Our W3|re case study describes a brokerage that needed listings from four MLS systems (NTREIS, Stellar MLS, ARMLS and REcolorado) in one platform. That meant four MLS feeds, one pipeline to normalize and deduplicate the feeds, and a search layer on top, before any of the AI features were built. Our real estate SaaS case study shows the same pattern for agent IDX websites across US and Canadian boards.
Checklist before you budget
- List every MLS board you need and ask each for its data license categories and fees.
- Decide whether the data is for IDX display, internal broker use, or a product you sell. The fee category depends on it.
- Ask whether each board delivers through the RESO Web API directly or through a vendor such as Trestle or MLS Grid, and what that vendor charges.
- Check each board's display, attribution and refresh rules, since they affect the design.
- Price development against the number of boards, the required freshness and the search features, not against “one integration”.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does IDX cost per month?
Published IDX plugin plans run from $49 per month at Buying Buddy to $149 per month for IDX Broker's top plan. Some vendors add a one-time setup fee, and Showcase IDX notes MLS pass-through fees of typically $0 to $33 per month.
How much does IDX cost per year?
IDX plugins are billed monthly, so the yearly cost is twelve times the plan price: about $588 a year at $49 per month and $1,788 a year at $149 per month, before any setup or MLS pass-through fees. Those yearly figures are our arithmetic on the published monthly prices.
What does MLS Grid charge?
MLS Grid does not publish its own price list. Its FAQ says you only pay the license fee required by your MLS, which MLS Grid collects on the MLS's behalf, so the cost is your MLS's fee for your license type.
Is MLS data priced per user?
Not in the fee schedules cited in this guide. They are billed per month, per office, per product, or per feed or connection. For example, Stellar MLS charges $450 per office per year for broker back-office use, and Trestle charges $100 to $175 per connection per month for technology providers. Some MLSs outside this guide tier vendor fees by the number of users, so ask each board.
What does an IDX plugin cost?
Published plans include IDX Broker at $60, $99 or $149 per month, Showcase IDX from $94.95 or $124.95 per month and Buying Buddy at $49 or $77 per month. Some vendors also charge a one-time setup fee or pass MLS fees through.
How much do MLSs charge for data feeds?
It depends on the MLS and on how the data is used. Stellar MLS charges $450 per office per year for broker back-office use, capped at $7,500 and $7,500 per product per year for a vendor product, while ARMLS gives each brokerage five free feeds, with additional feeds at $150 per month each.
Do RESO Web API data vendors add their own fees?
Some do. Trestle charges $30 per month for broker data feeds and $100 per month for other feeds on top of MLS fees, while MLS Grid states that you only pay the license fee your MLS requires.
Should a new integration use RETS or the RESO Web API?
The RESO Web API. RESO describes RETS as deprecated and no longer supported, and NAR policy required REALTOR® association MLSs to implement the RESO Web API by June 30, 2016.
What does custom MLS integration development cost?
There is no fixed price: it depends on the number of MLS boards, how current the data must be and the search features on top. For market labor rates, Clutch reports that software development companies in India typically charge $25 to $49 per hour and those in the United States $50 to $99 per hour.
Prices were taken from the vendors' and MLSs' public pages on September 29, 2026 and re-checked on October 9, 2026. NAR's policy handbook pages required a member login when we re-checked, so the NAR statements here are as read on September 29. Fees change, and many MLSs publish different rates for brokers and vendors, so confirm current pricing with each provider.
Planning an MLS or IDX project? See our MLS & IDX integration service or talk to an engineer.
