"Zillow presents a high-risk privacy profile (72/100) comparable to major ad-supported platforms, driven by extensive collection of highly sensitive data including government IDs, SSNs, and financial account information, combined with aggressive cross-device tracking and broad sharing with advertising networks and data brokers. The company acknowledges selling or sharing personal data for targeted advertising purposes, employs complex consent-waiver mechanisms across multiple affiliated brands, and retains data indefinitely in backup archives with vague deletion policies. While some opt-out mechanisms exist, they are device and browser-specific, require repeated configuration, and may degrade service functionality if exercised."
zillow Privacy Concerns & Scorecard
Zillow collects an extensive array of highly sensitive personal data including government-issued IDs, Social Security numbers, financial account information, call recordings, video recordings, and precise geolocation data. Collection occurs across multiple touchpoints with limited explicit consent requirements.
Zillow shares personal data including sensitive identifiers with advertising networks and acknowledges data may be 'sold' or 'shared' for targeted advertising purposes under state privacy laws. Sharing extends to data brokers, marketing networks, and business partners with limited transparency.
Zillow employs extensive cross-site behavioral tracking through cookies, pixels, web beacons, mobile SDKs and tracking technologies to enable interest-based advertising and retargeting across the web.
Privacy policy applies across multiple affiliated brands (Zillow, Trulia, StreetEasy, HotPads) with separate privacy notices, fragmenting user awareness and control across the Zillow Group ecosystem.
Data retention policy is vague with potential indefinite retention in backup archives. Policy states data retained 'as long as reasonably necessary' for collection purposes but backup archives may retain data in isolated form with no specified deletion timeline.
No recommended actions at this time.
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Data Collection & Tracking
Personal Information Collected
Account creation, verification, tax reporting, and identity verification for financial transactions
Account communication, service delivery, and real estate professional connections
Payment processing and transaction handling
Personalizing home recommendations, showing relevant listings, and analytics
Showing relevant local listings, attribution, and location-based advertising
Technical operation, analytics, and cross-device tracking for advertising
Analytics, product improvement, and targeted advertising
Professional profile completion and targeting
Personalization, targeted advertising, and marketing
Office security and visitor management (collected from office visitors, not primary users)
Profile enrichment and data linking
Privacy management and consent tracking
Cross-Platform Tracking
Zillow tracks users across the web and across multiple devices using cookies, pixels, web beacons, mobile SDKs, and hashed identifiers. This data is used to serve targeted ads across Zillow properties (Zillow, Trulia, StreetEasy, HotPads) and on third-party websites through advertising networks. Statistical modeling links your activity across devices even without explicit consent, enabling cross-device behavioral targeting and retargeting.
Tracking Methods:
Cookies
HTTP cookies placed on user browsers to track activity, store preferences, and enable cross-site tracking for advertising purposes. Used for both first-party (Zillow) and third-party tracking.
Web Beacons & Pixels
Invisible tracking pixels embedded in web pages and emails to track user activity, conversions, and engagement across sites. Enables advertisers to receive information about user behavior associated with their campaigns.
Mobile SDKs
Software development kits embedded in Zillow's mobile app to collect device identifiers, location data, and usage analytics. Enable cross-device tracking and mobile advertising attribution.
Embedded Scripts & Tags
JavaScript code and tracking tags that execute on web pages to collect behavioral data, enable analytics, and facilitate third-party data sharing for advertising purposes.
Hashed Identifier Matching
Hashing of email addresses and user IDs to enable cross-device and cross-site user identification without explicit per-instance consent. Enables lookalike audience targeting and behavioral advertising.
Device Fingerprinting & Statistical Modeling
Combination of device characteristics and behavioral patterns to create device fingerprints and link user activity across devices and browsers, even without cookies or login.
AI & Data Training
zillow does not train AI on your content
Based on their public policy, your content is not used to train AI models.
How to Object
No opt-out available
This service does not currently provide a public way to opt out of AI training.
Why We Analyzed zillow
TrueTerms automatically audits privacy policies and data practices using advanced machine learning to keep you informed and protected. This scorecard is based on the latest available public terms of service and privacy policies as of 2026.