CoStar and Crexi represent the incumbent and the challenger in commercial real estate: CoStar provides enterprise market analytics on a quoted contract, while Crexi offers a modern listings marketplace with a data tier. For a brokerage the choice is mostly about budget and depth. For a company that sells roofs, solar or building services, the more useful question is what each one leaves out.
Disclosure: Scout Data is our product; treat that entry as a maker’s pitch and the rest as our honest read.
Market Analytics vs. Listings Marketplace
CoStar is where institutional research lives: lease comps, sale history and market reports that an acquisitions team reads before it bids. Its users are analysts and brokers who live in the product all day.
Crexi built its momentum by lowering the barrier to entry for active listings. It is a highly active marketplace for buying, selling, and leasing properties. Its PRO tier layers on property records and owner contact information, making it a strong tool for users whose primary workflow involves property marketing and discovery.
Two price shapes, one missing piece
The practical difference most buyers feel first is how they get in. CoStar starts with a sales conversation and a contract scoped to your users and markets. Crexi lets anyone browse its listings for free and sells its data tier as a subscription, with PRO arranged through its sales team. A small commercial roofing company can try Crexi in an afternoon; it cannot try CoStar that way.
What neither price buys is a list. Both platforms answer questions about a property you already picked. A service company’s first question is which hundred buildings in its territory to call, and the second is who at each one signs.
Where Scout Data fits
Commercial data from Scout Data answers both questions at once. You name a territory and a kind of building, and each building comes back as one dossier: the operating business, the entity that owns it, the decision makers and their deputies with mobile and office numbers, and every other parcel the owner holds. It is quoted per territory after five sample dossiers, so the first step costs a call, not a contract. The research tools that sit between the two, Reonomy and its peers, are sorted by job in Reonomy alternatives.
Frequently asked questions
Is Crexi a good alternative to CoStar?
Crexi is a strong alternative for browsing active commercial listings and running property marketing. However, CoStar remains the enterprise standard for deep institutional market analytics, underwriting, and comprehensive lease comparables.
How does Crexi pricing compare to CoStar?
CoStar publishes no rate card and quotes a contract based on users, markets and products. Crexi lets anyone browse listings for free, sells its Intelligence data tier as a subscription, and prices PRO through its sales team; this guide quotes no Crexi price.
Which is better for finding commercial property owners?
Both platforms provide owner records, but they are built as research seats. If your goal is to call a list of building owners to sell services, commercial data from Scout Data delivers a pre-built list of owner dossiers formatted specifically for outbound outreach.