Your real estate website can be greatly improved with real estate plugins.
This is especially true if it’s powered by popular content management systems like WordPress or Joomla.
This article aims to help you with your decision-making which plugins are worthwhile using.
This article aims to help you decide which plugins are worth using.
But here’s a little spoiler for you: using too many plugins might harm your Google rankings.
I’ll explain more about that later in the article.
Editor’s Note: This blog post was updated on 07/03/2024 to include the latest information about [topic] and to address any errors or inaccuracies found in the original version.
What Is a Real Estate Plugin?
People use plugins to add extra features to their website. Usually, this website is run by a content management system (CMS).
The term “plugin” is mostly used in the context of WordPress CMS. Other platforms may use the term “extension (e.g. Joomla).”
The important thing is that a real estate plugin or extension expands the capabilities of an existing real estate website or web application.
13 Types of Real Estate Plugins
In my research I discovered 70 real estate plugins on WordPresse’s plugin page and 12 extensions on Joomla’s extension page.
Only from the number of available real estate plugins can one tell that WordPress is larger and more often used.
By the way, I already discussed other advantages of WordPress in this article.
So, in my research, I went through all of them and manually filtered the plugins that are relevant for real estate.
Real estate plugins I didn’t count were the following:
- The ones that haven’t had an update for some time.
- The ones that weren’t designed or developed for the U.S. market.
The table below will give you an overview.
Real Estate Plugin Type | Share |
---|---|
Add-ons for real estate plugins or themes | 30% |
Calculators | 20% |
Real estate pages and property listings | 15.71% |
IDX | 15.71% |
Virtual tours | 4.29% |
Real estate news | 2.86% |
Property management | 2.86% |
Property and contact management | 1.43% |
Property listings | 1.43% |
CRMs | 1.43% |
Lead generation | 1.43% |
Reviews | 1.43% |
Services | 1.43% |
Besides me doing some filtering, the offer of real estate plugins available for WordPress is still more extensive than the extensions from Joomla. You can find the latter here.
Based on the above data, WordPress plugins offer more representative information for different categories.
The main plugin category on Joomla is “real estate pages and property listings,” which is also part of the major five I identified below.
I analyzed and categorized all of the real estate plugins.
Here are the fourteen categories ordered from most common to less common:
Real Estate Plugin Name | Category | Number of Active Installations | Number of Reviews | Review Score (out of 5) |
---|---|---|---|---|
RealHomes Currency Switcher | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 2,000 | 2 | 4.5 |
Contempo Real Estate Custom Posts | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 4,000 | 4 | 4 |
RealHomes PayPal Payments | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 1,000 | 1 | 5 |
Import into Easy Property Listings | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 1,000 | 1 | 5 |
WPCasa Advanced Search | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 1,000 | 1 | 1 |
Inspiry Memberships for RealHomes | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 1,000 | 0 | 0 |
WPCasa Contact Form 7 | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 900 | 0 | 0 |
Import Properties into RealHomes Theme | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 800 | 2 | 4 |
Import Property Listings into WP Residence | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 800 | 0 | 0 |
Realtyna Core | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 600 | 0 | 0 |
Import Listings into WP Pro Real Estate 7 | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 400 | 1 | 5 |
WPCasa Polylang | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 300 | 0 | 0 |
Import Properties into Real Places Theme | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 100 | 0 | 0 |
Import Property Listings into Realia | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 100 | 0 | 0 |
Easy MLS Listings Import | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 100 | 0 | 0 |
Import Properties into the Reales WP Theme | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 90 | 1 | 5 |
WP Property Feed Connector for Houzez Theme | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 80 | 2 | 5 |
WPCasa Gravity Forms | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 80 | 0 | 0 |
Respacio Houzez Import | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 30 | 0 | 0 |
WP Property Feed Connector for RealHomes Theme | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 20 | 0 | 0 |
WP Property Feed Connector for Residence Theme | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 10 | 0 | 0 |
Responsive Mortgage Calculator | Calculator | 10,000 | 20 | 4.5 |
Mortgage Calculator / Loan Calculator | Calculator | 3,000 | 13 | 4 |
Simple Mortgage Calculator | Calculator | 3,000 | 4 | 5 |
WordPress Mortgage Calculator Estatik | Calculator | 3,000 | 4 | 4.5 |
Mortgage Calculators WP | Calculator | 1,000 | 9 | 4.5 |
Property Hive Stamp Duty Calculator | Calculator | 700 | 5 | 4 |
Mortgage Rates | Calculator | 700 | 2 | 4 |
Property Hive Mortgage Calculator | Calculator | 600 | 0 | 0 |
Property Hive Rental Yield Calculator | Calculator | 300 | 0 | 0 |
Loan Calculator Pro | Calculator | 200 | 2 | 4.5 |
Loan Calculator WP | Calculator | 200 | 0 | 0 |
Property Hive Rental Affordability Calculator | Calculator | 100 | 0 | 0 |
Real Estate Fix & Flip Calculator | Calculator | 30 | 1 | 5 |
Valuation Calculator | Calculator | 30 | 0 | 0 |
Estatebud – Properties & Listings | CRM | 60 | 1 | 5 |
Optima Express + MarketBoost IDX Plugin | IDX | 10,000 | 41 | 3 |
IMPress for IDX Broker | IDX | 10,000 | 32 | 3 |
Realtyna Organic IDX plugin | IDX | 5,000 | 200 | 4.5 |
dsIDXpress | IDX | 3,000 | 64 | 3 |
Showcase IDX Real Estate Search | IDX | 2,000 | 29 | 4 |
Flexmls® IDX Plugin | IDX | 2,000 | 18 | 3 |
kvCORE IDX | IDX | 400 | 2 | 3 |
Rover IDX | IDX | 100 | 20 | 5 |
Wovax IDX | IDX | 100 | 8 | 5 |
My IDX Home Search | IDX | 100 | 1 | 5 |
Apex IDX | IDX | 90 | 1 | 5 |
Home Value | Lead generation | 1,000 | 9 | 4 |
PropertyHive | Property and contact management | 2,000 | 67 | 5 |
WP Real Estate | Property listings | 800 | 5 | 2 |
Property Drive | Property management | 10 | 1 | 5 |
Property Management Software | UnitConnect | Property management | 10 | 0 | 0 |
World Property Journal Real Estate News Free | Real estate news | 10 | 0 | 0 |
Fourth Estate Newswire Publisher | Real estate news | 10 | 0 | 0 |
Essential Real Estate | Real estate pages and property listings | 10,000 | 44 | 4.5 |
Real estate pages and property listings | 7,000 | 102 | 4.5 | |
Estatik Real Estate Plugin | Real estate pages and property listings | 6,000 | 145 | 5 |
Opal Estate Pro – Property Management and Submission | Real estate pages and property listings | 700 | 6 | 5 |
SimplyRETS | Real estate pages and property listings | 500 | 6 | 5 |
Crucial Real Estate | Real estate pages and property listings | 300 | 3 | 4.5 |
Realty Portal | Real estate pages and property listings | 200 | 1 | 1 |
WP Real Estate | Real estate pages and property listings | 80 | 14 | 4 |
Realty by BestWebSoft | Real estate pages and property listings | 40 | 5 | 3.5 |
OpenBroker | Real estate pages and property listings | 10 | 0 | 0 |
Spacento | Real estate pages and property listings | 10 | 0 | 0 |
Easy Zillow Reviews | Reviews | 100 | v | 0 |
Automated Content for Real Estate | Service | 20 | 1 | 5 |
iPanorama 360 WordPress Virtual Tour Builder | Virtual tours | 7,000 | 19 | 4 |
Ogulo – 360° Tour | Virtual tours | 30 | 1 | 5 |
wec360° | The real estate presentation platform | Virtual tours | 10 | 0 | 0 |
I included a cake diagram below.
This gives you a better impression of how the categories distribute.
When you look at the diagram, you will quickly see that half belong to the categories of add-ons or themes and calculators (mostly for mortgages).
Why is there such a high percentage of add-ons for existing real estate plugins or WordPress themes?
When you develop a WordPress theme, you don’t always get all the functionality right from the get-go.
The same is true when you develop WordPress plugins.
Developing an additional plugin to fix or extend the limited functionality of a theme is often an easier workaround than making the necessary changes within the theme or the already existing plugin.
But there’s a problem with that.
When you have a theme that needs different plugins to work to its full extent, it will cost you page speed performance.
And a decreased page speed will reduce your chances of Google liking your website. enough to rank you on the first page (see my article about ranking factors here).
Now you know why offering a real estate WordPress plugin that works as a customer relationship management system isn’t a good idea.
It may also increase the chances of getting hacked.
Why?
Each plugin needs to be updated regularly.
Adding plugins is a bit like adding a surface to a target.
It’s like eating more calories than you should.
Three Criteria for a Good Real Estate Plugin
- A plugin should be updated regularly with the latest WordPress version (as I’ve already suggested above).
- It should have at least 500 active installations (users already using it). The latter shows the overall acceptance of the plugin in the market.
- At least one user review scoring at least 4 out of 5 stars.
Generally, the review part is less important.
Why?
We have the more important metric of active installations.
For example, I have used many different plugins for WordPress and never left a positive or negative review.
Many users will do the same.
It’s faster to deactivate and delete a plugin that sucks than to write a review.
So the active installations indirectly communicate how well accepted and established a (real estate) WordPress plugin is.
That’s why it’s a better metric.
16 Best WordPress Real Estate Plugins for Agents and Agencies
Based on the earlier criteria, here is a table with the best WordPress real estate plugins for agents and agencies.
Real Estate Plugin Name | Category | Number of Active Installations | Number of Reviews | Review Score (out of 5) | Pricing |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Contempo Real Estate Custom Posts | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 4,000 | 4 | 4 | $99 per year (needs to be used with corresponding theme) |
RealHomes Currency Switcher | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 2,000 | 2 | 4.5 | $59 one-time (needs to be used with RealHomes WordPress theme) |
RealHomes PayPal Payments | Add-on for real estate plugin or theme | 1,000 | 1 | 5 | $59 one-time (needs to be used with RealHomes WordPress theme) |
Responsive Mortgage Calculator | Calculator | 10,000 | 20 | 4.5 | free |
Mortgage Calculator / Loan Calculator | Calculator | 3,000 | 13 | 4 | free |
Simple Mortgage Calculator | Calculator | 3,000 | 4 | 5 | free |
Optima Express + MarketBoost IDX Plugin | IDX | 10,000 | 41 | 3 | from $49.95 per month |
IMPress for IDX Broker | IDX | 10,000 | 32 | 3 | from $55 per month |
Realtyna Organic IDX plugin | IDX | 5,000 | 200 | 4.5 | from $19 per month |
Home Value | Lead generation | 1,000 | 9 | 4 | free for up to 10 valuations per month |
PropertyHive | Property and contact management | 2,000 | 67 | 5 | free |
WP Real Estate | Property listings | 800 | 5 | 2 | free |
Essential Real Estate | Real estate pages and property listings | 10,000 | 44 | 4.5 | free |
Easy Property Listings | Real estate pages and property listings | 7,000 | 102 | 4.5 | free (freemium) |
Estatik Real Estate Plugin | Real estate pages and property listings | 6,000 | 145 | 5 | free(freemium) |
iPanorama 360 WordPress Virtual Tour Builder | Virtual tours | 7,000 | 19 | 4 | free(freemium) |
As you can see, many of the smaller real estate plugins that had their own category didn’t make it into the best category.
Only the “iPanorama 360 WordPress Virtual Tour Builder,” “Home Value,” and “WP Real Estate” plugins made it.
This is because most of these smaller plugins lacked the 500 active installations.
Many had a single 5-star review but not enough active installations.
As the overall best in terms of most active installations (10,000 each), I identified these:
- Responsive Mortgage Calculator
- Optima Express + MarketBoost IDX
- IMPress for IDX Broker
- Essential Real Estate
10 Best Free WordPress Real Estate Plugins for Agents and Agencies
You may also wonder which plugins mentioned above are free to use.
As you may notice in the above table, free plugins can be divided into two categories.
On one end of the spectrum, there are the genuinely free ones with full functionality.
On the other end are the free ones with limited functionality (the freemium model).
Freemium means you need to get a paid plan if you want more functionality.
I applied the same criteria to the free plugins, and the result you can see in the list below. Here are the 10 best free WordPress real estate plugins:
- Responsive Mortgage Calculator
- Mortgage Calculator/ Loan Calculator
- Simple Mortgage Calculator
- Home Value
- PropertyHive
- WP Real Estate
- Essential Real Estate
- Easy Property Listings
- Estatik Real Estate Plugin
- iPanorama 360 WordPress Virtual Tour Builder
12 Joomla Real Estate Plugins – Extensions
And what about Joomla real estate plugins that are actually called extensions?
For the sake of a complete article, I will list the 12 Joomla plugins/extensions for you below.
But again, there is not much variety, and most, if not all, fit into the “real estate pages and property listings” category.
Name of Joomla Real Estate Plugin/ Extension | Category |
---|---|
OS Property Real Estate | Real estate pages and property listings |
IProperty Real Estate | Real estate pages and property listings |
RealEstateManager | Real estate pages and property listings |
JomEstate PRO | Real estate pages and property listings |
Domus Organizer | Real estate pages and property listings |
FW Real Estate | Real estate pages and property listings |
Domus Organizer Professional | Real estate pages and property listings |
JEA | Real estate pages and property listings |
BSDimmo OpenImmo RealEstate Tool | Real estate pages and property listings |
Caps for EZ Realty | Real estate pages and property listings |
Real Estate Now | Real estate pages and property listings |
DleJProperty | Real estate pages and property listings |
This article has been reviewed by our editorial team. It has been approved for publication in accordance with our editorial policy.
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