The short version
They solve different problems. Most serious US CRE brokers who prospect actively run both.
- CoStar— the industry-standard database for listings, sale and lease comparables, ownership records, tenancy, and market analytics. Founded 1987. Backbone of almost every US CRE brokerage's desktop research.
- SCAYLED — live occupier scanning and verified decision-maker contacts for neighbor-first prospecting. Built in 2025 after a decade in industrial brokerage.
The question isn't "which one should I buy." It's "what am I trying to do on this listing." The answer usually requires both.
What each tool actually does
CoStar is built for
- Looking up a specific property's sale and lease history, comparables, ownership
- Accessing the industry's largest listing database (including LoopNet + CoStar Go)
- Pulling market analytics, absorption trends, vacancy rates, rent growth
- Running desktop due diligence across a market or submarket
- Matching tenancies in known CoStar-covered buildings
- Enterprise reporting and market analysis for institutional owners
SCAYLED is built for
- Scanning every occupier inside a radius around a listing (650 ft or 1,200 ft)
- Identifying the decision-maker at each operator (VP Operations, Facility Manager, Managing Director, Regional Director, GM)
- Verifying email addresses against live domain records (98% deliverability)
- Flagging same-building matches (the highest-converting lead in industrial)
- Drafting personalized outreach based on the listing context
- Moving from "address" to "twenty verified contacts with drafted emails" in two minutes
Where the overlap is
More overlap than most competitor pairs, but still narrow. CoStar does cover tenancies in its curated database, so for a Class A industrial park in Dallas or a well-covered office tower in Manhattan, CoStar will show you the tenant roster and sometimes contact info. But for the long-tail of small-to-mid-size industrial operators, owner-occupied warehouses, family-owned logistics, and any submarket that isn't core CoStar territory, the tenancy coverage gets thin fast.
SCAYLED's edge is the long tail — and the fact that the scan is live, covers any address, and returns contact-ready decision-makers, not just tenant names.
Feature comparison
| Feature | CoStar | SCAYLED |
|---|---|---|
| Listings database (for-lease, for-sale) | ✅ Industry standard | ❌ Not covered |
| Sale & lease comparables | ✅ Industry standard | ❌ Not covered |
| Ownership records | ✅ Comprehensive | ❌ Not covered |
| Market analytics (absorption, vacancy, rent) | ✅ Comprehensive | ❌ Not covered |
| Tenancy data (covered buildings) | ✅ Strong in core markets | ⚠️ Overlap zone |
| Live occupier scan (any address) | ❌ Not the model | ✅ Any US address |
| Decision-maker contact at each operator | ⚠️ Limited, varies by market | ✅ Per-scan, verified |
| Verified email addresses for outreach | ⚠️ Some, inconsistent | ✅ 98% deliverability |
| Same-building match flagging | ❌ Not automated | ✅ Automatic |
| Outreach draft generation | ❌ Not covered | ✅ Per-listing personalized |
| CRM for deal tracking | ⚠️ CoStar CRM add-on | ✅ Built-in |
| Pricing model | Enterprise subscription (typically $500–5,000+/user/mo) | Per-broker ($0 / $79 / $149 USD/mo) |
Pricing breakdown
CoStar
Per-seat enterprise pricing, negotiated per brokerage. CoStar doesn't publish list pricing, but based on broker surveys and public disclosures:
- Individual brokers / boutique firms: ~$500–1,500 USD per user per month (varies by market access and modules)
- Mid-size brokerages: bundled enterprise contracts
- Larger brokerages: enterprise agreements into five or six figures per month
Almost always paid at the brokerage level — individual brokers rarely have direct CoStar subscriptions.
SCAYLED
- Free Trial: $0, 20 credits one-time, 1 listing
- Starter: $79 USD / month, 200 credits, up to 5 listings
- Pro: $149 USD / month, 425 credits, up to 10 listings
The practical difference:CoStar is a boardroom decision at the brokerage level. SCAYLED is a corporate card decision at the broker level. A broker can sign up for SCAYLED and be scanning inside five minutes; CoStar usually requires a procurement conversation with the firm's leadership.
When to use which
You've just been briefed on a listing and need to prospect before it goes live
→ SCAYLED. Drop the address, scan the 650 ft radius, call the same-building tenants first.
A client wants a comprehensive market analysis for a submarket
→ CoStar. Absorption, vacancy, rent growth, comparables — the aggregate market picture SCAYLED doesn't do.
A vendor wants a CMA before signing a listing agreement
→ CoStar. Sale and lease comparables are CoStar's core strength.
You're going after an off-market acquisition target
→ Both. CoStar for the ownership record. SCAYLED for the operator currently inside the building.
You're pitching for a new mandate against a competing brokerage
→ Both. Walking in with a pre-built target list is the strongest pitch move in transactional brokerage.
You're tracking market movements in DFW industrial over the last year
→ CoStar. Historic sales, leases, rent growth, absorption — CoStar Analytics is built for this.
You're calling on a vacant building to find the owner
→ CoStar for the owner. SCAYLED for the surrounding operators who'd pay to expand next door.
What I tell brokers who ask
I was an industrial and logistics broker for ten years before building SCAYLED. I still pay for CoStar access through my brokerage. SCAYLED wasn't built to replace CoStar — it was built to do the thing CoStar doesn't: turn a listing address into a list of verified decision-makers in two minutes instead of six hours.
If you have to pick one and you do mostly market research and advisory, pick CoStar. If you have to pick one and you do mostly transactional work with heavy cold outreach, pick SCAYLED. If you're serious about the business, you probably already have CoStar — add SCAYLED for the prospecting layer it doesn't cover. Together they cost less than a single closed deal.
— Amir Bashota, founder