UpNest is an online platform connecting home buyers and sellers with local real estate agents. When customers sign up, they can view agents' profiles — including their commission rates, years of experience, and services provided — and choose who they want to contact.
Agents who use UpNest's platform to generate leads are free to set their own commission rates, meaning that there are no guaranteed commission discounts or buyer rebates.
Ultimately, the value you get from UpNest will depend on the individual agent you're matched with. While most customers are happy with their choice of agent, others report less-than-ideal service and lackluster savings. Read on to decide if UpNest is the right one for you.
Looking for a reliable, low-commission option with guaranteed savings? Clever offers a pre-negotiated 1.5% listing fee, significantly lower than the industry average, without compromising on service quality. Fill out this form to match with top-rated agents near you!
UpNest highlights
- Nationwide agent matching service connecting home buyers and sellers to local realtors
- Agents offer full service representation at a discount rate
- Realtors set their own commission rates and buyer rebates (if any), which are displayed in their UpNest profiles
- UpNest has an overall 4.7/5 average customer rating from 8,325 reviews, but ratings vary significantly across locations
- Customers say: ✅ Agent Selection | 🟡 Savings Value | ✅ Communication and Professionalism | ✅ Ease of Transaction | ✅ Guidance and Support | ❌ Customer Service | ✅ Results | ✅ Real Estate Expertise
🔎 How we analyzed UpNest reviews
To evaluate UpNest reviews, our process included gathering all verifiable customer reviews from 3rd party sites such as BBB, Google, Consumer Affairs, TrustPilot, and Yelp.
In addition to tallying total review counts and average customer ratings, we used AI to analyze customer sentiment across key themes related low commission brokerages:
- Agent Selection: Ease of getting matched with an agent and satisfaction with the agent provided
- Communication and Professionalism: The availability, informativeness, responsiveness, professionalism, and proactiveness of the agent and support team
- Customer Service: The company’s commitment to resolving issues and ensuring customer satisfaction
- Ease of Transaction: Professional, efficient handling of transactions, including contracts, escrow, and closing procedures
- Guidance and Support: Level of helpfulness, involvement, and service provided by the agent
- Integrity: Agent and company’s commitment to ethical conduct and serving the client’s best interests
- Marketing: Quality and effectiveness of agent's marketing strategy for attracting buyers
- Real Estate Expertise: Agent's market knowledge and skill in conducting real estate transactions, including pricing, crafting offers, and managing negotiations
- Results: Transaction outcomes for buyers and sellers
- Savings Value: Degree of customer satisfaction with both the savings and service provided for the cost
To ensure an accurate depiction of the customer experience, we ran each verified review through AI to check for mentions of each given theme and tallied the total number of positive vs. negative mentions. We assigned each theme a sentiment value based on the following criteria:
- ✅ Highly positive: At least 92% of mentions for that theme are positive
- 🟡 Somewhat positive: 75–92% of mentions for that theme are positive
- ❌ Somewhat negative: Less than 75% of mentions for that theme are positive
Any theme mentioned in at least 10% of reviews is displayed along with its sentiment rating.
UpNest reviews
| Source | Average Rating | Review Count |
|---|---|---|
| BBB | 3.4/5 | 20 |
| 4.6/5 | 299 | |
| Shopper Approved | 4.7/5 | 8,006 |
| Total | 4.7/5 | 8,325 |
UpNest has a decent overall rating: 4.7/5 from 8,325 reviews across Shopper Approved, Google, and Better Business Bureau.
Themes most commonly mentioned in UpNest reviews
| Theme | Portion of Reviews | Percent Positive |
|---|---|---|
| Agent Selection | 76% | ✅ 95% |
| Savings Value | 28% | 🟡 91% |
| Communication and Professionalism | 26% | ✅ 94% |
| Ease of Transaction | 22% | ✅ 100% |
| Guidance and Support | 18% | ✅ 96% |
| Customer Service | 15% | ❌ 71% |
| Results | 14% | ✅ 100% |
| Real Estate Expertise | 11% | ✅ 100% |
Most reviewers say that they had a positive experience with their agent. Satisfied UpNest customers generally thought the company gave them a solid list of realtors to choose from, experienced a fast, easy sale and were happy with the customer service they received.
However, negative reviews specifically criticized UpNest's customer service, stating that its agents were hard to contact, unresponsive, and sometimes disappeared entirely after their initial meeting. Some UpNest agents also complained about the quality of leads they received, suggesting that UpNest doesn’t vet agents or leads.
Here's how UpNest reviews break down.
Agent matching ratings
- ✅ Agent Selection (95% positive)
Customer reviews show that UpNest is often right on target matching home buyers and sellers with agents who fit their criteria. Customers particularly like the ability to compare agents profiles and have multiple agents compete for their business.
- "The dashboard made it easy to compare services and make an informed decision"
- "I received 4 proposals from realtors that specialized in the market I was selling in."
- "We were able to find a terrific realtor through Upnest."
- "Wonderful concept to have realtors compete for your business"
- "Great source to find local realtors. The profiles and details on the realtor are much more informative than on any other website."
Service ratings
- ✅ Communication and Professionalism (94% positive)
- ✅ Guidance and Support (96% positive)
- ✅ Real Estate Expertise (100% positive)
- ❌ Customer Service (71% positive)
Most UpNest customers report good communication and service from both their agents and the UpNest team, who follow up with them to ensure their realtor is a good fit. Customers feel guided and supported throughout the home buying and selling process.
- "Adam was great to work with and he consistently kept in touch during the whole process"
- "She was always available to answer any questions we had"
- "Austin was our account manager. He was amazing and the communication was immediate and thorough"
- ""guided us through the selling process every step of the way"
- "He has taken care of everything, as I don't live in the area"
- "She fits all our needs and was willing to hold our hands as much as we need through the process of selling our home"
- "helped us all the way to closing. I could not have asked for better""
Customers also appreciate the real estate expertise their agents bring to the table, specifically highlighting their market knowledge, pricing strategy, and negotiation skills.
- "He was the only agent who did not significantly undervalue our house and, in fact, the house ultimately sold within $100 of his initial valuation"
- "Very knowledgeable of the local DC market and trends"
- "Astute, aggressive, uber market-savvy with a dynamic personality and wealth of industry information"
- "She explained to us comparatives so we can come up with the right asking price and proper timing"
- "He worked harder and had more insights than other agents we worked with before"
However, some customers report a lack of responsiveness from UpNest's support team in resolving issues — particularly with refunds. Real estate agents who use UpNest to generate client leads also report disppointment with UpNest's service. In particular, agents complain about the lack of qualified leads and trouble cancelling their subscriptions when dissatisfied with the service.
- "After closing the house when I asked Upnest about the gift card they stopped responding to my messages"
- "The customer service with this program is trash. They refuse to cancel my subscription."
- "I have not received one lead where a prospect was even remotely interested in buying or selling a home, let alone qualified."
- "The clients are nonexistent and when you do finally talk to someone they act like you have no business calling them or their house is already listed or about to be listed."
- "This is the worst lead generation ever. They do not verify the leads."
- "On the off chance I was provided seller contact info, then they were either not looking to sell their homes and were surprised I had their information OR never called back/answered/responded"
Savings ratings
- 🟡 Savings Value (92% positive)
UpNest reviews that mention savings (92% of reviews) are mostly positive, with some exceptions. Buyers and sellers express appreciation for the reduced commission rates and buyer rebates, which they feel they get without tradeoffs in service.
- "willing to sell my house for less and still give me full service"
- "The commission was also very competitive against other realtors"
- "The inclusion of the rebate during closing reduces my cost by more than 1000"
- "I was able to get a commission rate of 5.0% instead of the 6% I was offered"
- "The realtor gave a discount on the fee, 4 percent"
However, UpNest's savings vary by realtor, meaning some customers get great deals on commission while others don't get much of a reduction off the average commission rate, which is currently 5.32% nationally. Also, some negative reviews indicate instances where promised savings or rebates were not delivered.
- "Most agents are over 4 % in commission"
- "They promised to send $300 after purchasing a new home with their service and it never came"
- "They didn't offer to payback any commission"
Results ratings
- ✅ Ease of Transaction (100% positive)
- ✅ Results (100% positive)
Overall, UpNest customers are happy with their transactions. They report hassle-free experiences, from agent selection all the way to closing. They also note impressive results, including quick sales, above-asking prices, and successful purchases of desired properties.
- "The process was seemingly seamless! Within a few hours I had reviewed several proposals, selected one team and had an appointment set up."
- "We had a game plan and it was executed well."
- "Our house never even made it on the market before we received an offer and sold our home"
- "I got 20% MORE money than what the 1st realtor stated I could get"
- "We got a sale the first day on the market"
- "I received multiple full price offers within 72 hrs"
- "We were in contract within four days of the initial listing and had six solid offers to choose from"
How UpNest works
Getting matched with an agent
- On the UpNest site, you'll sign up by entering basic information about your sale or purchase, including location, timeline, property type, and estimated value.
- You’ll arrive at your customer dashboard, where you can compare different agent proposals. You may get one to two proposals instantly, while others may take minutes, hours, or even days.
- An UpNest Advisor will call and email you to explain the process and ask about your preferences for an agent.
- You'll select which agents you want to interview and sign with your preferred one.
- If you dislike your agent matches, you can request more or simply walk away with no commitment.
Selling with UpNest
UpNest expects all of its partner agents to offer full service and support to their clients. For sellers, that means your agent should:
- Meet with you in person and physically visit your home
- Guide you through due diligence (inspections, appraisal, financing)
- Help you evaluate offers and negotiate terms as needed, and accompany you to the closing
A standard full-service package should also include a comparative market analysis (CMA), help pricing your home, staging advice, professional photography, an MLS listing, a for-sale sign, and a lockbox for buyer's agents.
That said, UpNest allows each agent to create their own proposal for potential clients — so make sure to ask your agent what services they do (and don’t) offer. If you want extra services like drone footage, open houses, or help staging your home, you must work that out with the agent.
Buying with UpNest
When you request a buyer's agent through UpNest, you'll receive several profiles agents in or near your market. Each agent's profile will include their years of experiences, services offered, commission rate, and any rebate offered to buyers. You'll also get a personalized written proposal detailing how the agent will help you buy your next home.
A full-service buyer's agents will typically accompany you on home tours, help you write and submit offers, negotiate contracts, and walk you through the closing process.
UpNest offers no guaranteed commission savings for home buyers. While some agents may advertise a partial commission rebate, others don't.
Remember that realtor commission is negotiable, so if savings is important to you, you'll want to have that conversation upfront.
How much does UpNest charge?
Most discount brokers create savings in one of two ways. Some directly employ their own agents, who offer a discounted listing fee (salaried Redfin agents charge 1.5%), while others pre-negotiate a discount listing fee with local agents (Clever pre-negotiates a 1.5% listing fee with agents in its network, who agree to work for a lower fee in exchange for access to high quality leads).
However, UpNest operates differently. It allows agents to set their own fees. UpNest told us over the phone that their agents charge an average listing fee of 2.5%. That's not much less than the average listing fee, but it could still save you money.
UpNest also doesn't offer any guaranteed incentives for buyers. You can ask your agent for perks like cash back or a home buyer rebate, but they might not offer these.
Top UpNest alternatives
When you're looking to find a real estate agent, it's helpful to compare your options. We recommend starting with a service that pre-negotiates lower rates with its agents, like Clever or Ideal Agent. These agents will offer a similar level of service as UpNest agents, but your savings will be locked in.
You could also opt for a discount brokerage like Redfin, which offers a 1.5% listing fee (1% if you both sell and buy with them). Because Redfin uses teams of salaried agents to handle sales, you’ll probably get less personalized attention from a Redfin agent than you would with an UpNest agent. But again, your savings with Redfin would be locked in from the start.
Because UpNest agents set their own rates, you may be able to find a full-service, experienced UpNest agent who offers savings comparable to Clever or Redfin. However, you’ll have to do some comparison shopping and possibly some one-on-one negotiation. If you’re comfortable doing that, UpNest deserves a look.
UpNest history and news
UpNest was founded in 2013 and was acquired by Realtor.com in 2022 for an undisclosed amount.[1]
UpNest has been recognized on several prestigious lists, including:
- Deloitte's Technology Fast 500™: Recognizes companies that achieved significant revenue growth. UpNest was ranked #116 in 2019, and #85 in 2018.[2]
- Inc. Magazine's Most Successful Companies: Ranks the 5,000 fastest-growing privately held US companies. UpNest was ranked #396 in 2019 and #322 in 2018.[3]
UpNest locations
UpNest is headquartered in San Mateo, California, but its agent-matching service is available to sellers and buyers nationwide.
Bottom line: Should I use UpNest?
Pros
- Easy-to-use online dashboard
- Choose from multiple agents
- Agents offer full service and support
Cons
- No guaranteed savings on realtor fees
- Customers report difficulty with UpNest's customer service
- No clear agent vetting requirements
UpNest is best if you're struggling to find a real estate agent and want to quickly assess your options. When you request to get matched with an agent, UpNest will show you the profiles of agents in your market, who will also be invited to email you proposals stating how they will help you buy or sell a home.
Your experience with UpNest will largely depend on the agent you're matched with. If matched with a conscientious, experienced agent, you’ll likely receive a satisfactory experience. However, if you have the bad luck of being matched with a negligent or inexperienced agent, you could have the negative experience described in UpNest’s occasional negative reviews.
Because UpNest is free to use, there's no harm in trying it. Just keep in mind that other agent-matching services offer much better rates. For example, Ideal Agent’s listing fee is 2%, and Clever Real Estate's is just 1.5%. You could save significantly more with a company like Clever while still getting a full-service seller experience from a top local real estate agent. Get matched with top-rated agents at Clever Real Estate today and start saving with our 1.5% listing fee.
Frequently asked questions about UpNest
How much can I save with UpNest?
How much you can save with UpNest depends on your agent. Unlike its competitors, UpNest doesn’t negotiate discounted fees with realtors on your behalf. Instead, it allows realtors to offer their own discounts. UpNest told us that its agents charge anywhere from a 1.5–3% listing fee (for context, the average listing fee is 2.83%).
How does UpNest work?
When you sign up with UpNest, it will match you with multiple real estate agents in your area. You can then interview these agents and decide which, if any, are right for you. While UpNest claims its model helps reduce realtor commission, we’ve found savings on UpNest are limited (2.5% listing fee vs. 2.89%). Other companies offer much better rates and match you with the same full-service realtors. Find discount real estate agents near you.
What is the UpNest referral fee?
UpNest’s referral fees — the fees agents pay to be on UpNest — are 30% for listing agents and 15% for buyer’s agents for each closed transaction with an UpNest client.
UpNest vs. Clever: What’s the difference?
UpNest and Clever will both match you with a top local real estate agent. The main difference is that whereas UpNest has no guaranteed savings, Clever pre-negotiates discounted listing fees of 1.5% with its partner agents. Clever also vets the agents it works with, so you’ll only be matched with top established agents in your area. UpNest doesn’t vet their agents very thoroughly, if at all. Learn more about how Clever Real Estate works.
UpNest vs Redfin: What’s the difference?
UpNest is an agent matching service, meaning it will match you with a real estate agent, but it doesn’t have its own agents. Redfin is a discount broker that employs its own real estate agents and charges a listing fee of 1.5% — or lower if you choose to sell and buy with Redfin. Read more about UpNest vs. Redfin.