Paxiv vs CoStar
CoStar is the incumbent enterprise database for commercial real estate — listings, comps, tenant data, and market analytics, sold through enterprise contracts. Paxiv attacks a different core problem: land and parcel intelligence. For site selection, ownership research, zoning verification, and off-market deal sourcing, Paxiv covers ground CoStar doesn't — with AI search across every U.S. parcel and a free core platform.
What is CoStar?
CoStar provides commercial property listings, comparables, tenant and lease data, and market analytics, primarily for brokers, lenders, and institutional investors. Access is sold through negotiated enterprise contracts rather than self-serve public pricing.
Paxiv vs CoStar: capability comparison
| Capability | Paxiv | CoStar |
|---|---|---|
| Core dataset | Every U.S. parcel: boundaries, owners, zoning, land attributes | Commercial listings, comps, tenants, and market analytics |
| Search model | AI natural-language search across billions of data points | Structured database queries and saved searches |
| Off-market sourcing | Every parcel is searchable whether or not it's listed — with owner skip-tracing to reach the decision-maker | Strongest on listed and transacted properties |
| Zoning | Validated zoning with authoritative source links on every parcel | Not the product's focus |
| Buying process | Self-serve; public pricing; free core platform | Enterprise sales and negotiated contracts |
| Entry price | Free to start; paid tiers $99–$1,500/month, cancel anytime | Enterprise contract pricing |
Paxiv by the numbers
| Parcel records | 150M+ Parcel records in the nationwide serving table, covering residential, commercial, agricultural, and vacant land. |
|---|---|
| State coverage | All 50 states Every U.S. state is queryable on every tier, including the free one — coverage is not a paid upgrade. |
| City infrastructure coverage | Water, sewer, and storm — mapped per parcel Sourced from municipal GIS, city by city rather than one national feed — the city-level layer most nationwide parcel tools do not carry at all. |
| Free tier | $0, no card, no time limit Includes 15 parcel lookups, 3 zoning reports, 5 AI search credits, 3 skip traces, and 1 deal room. |
| Transaction fees | Zero Paxiv is subscription software, not a brokerage. It takes no commission and never participates in a deal. |
Where this data comes from
Paxiv's parcel, ownership, and zoning records link back to the originating county assessor, county recorder, or municipal zoning code, with flood data from FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer and geographic reference data from the U.S. Census Bureau — so every figure can be checked against its authoritative source rather than taken on faith.
- County assessor and recorder offices — Parcel boundaries, ownership of record, assessed values, and transaction history. Every record in Paxiv links back to the originating county office for one-click verification.
- City and county zoning ordinances — Zoning classification per parcel, linked to the municipality's own published zoning code so the underlying ordinance can be read directly.
- FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer — Flood zone, Special Flood Hazard Area status, and base flood elevation, resolved by point-in-polygon lookup against FEMA's own published layer.
- U.S. Census Bureau — Census tract containment via the Bureau's official geocoder, plus TIGER/Line geographic reference files.
Frequently asked questions
Is Paxiv a CoStar alternative?
For land and development research, yes. Paxiv covers site selection, parcel and ownership intelligence, validated zoning, and off-market owner outreach across every U.S. parcel — areas outside CoStar's listings-and-comps core — with a platform that is free to start and self-serve paid tiers at $99–$1,500/month instead of enterprise contracts.
How is Paxiv's AI different from ChatGPT?
You ask Paxiv the same way you'd ask ChatGPT — in plain English, no filters or query syntax. The difference is what it knows. A general assistant knows the public internet; Pax AI is grounded in nationwide parcel data and the public record behind it — ownership, zoning, sale history, acreage, buildings, flood status, and municipal utility data where that city is covered. So instead of a plausible-sounding paragraph, you get the actual matching parcels, plotted on a map, traceable to the record they came from. Which fields are populated, and how current they are, varies by county and source, because the underlying records do.
Does Paxiv have city-level data like future land use and sewer infrastructure?
Yes, and it is the layer most nationwide parcel tools skip. Paxiv maps water, sewer, and storm infrastructure per parcel from municipal GIS, so you can screen a site's proximity to existing mains before you underwrite it rather than calling the utility district to find out. Mapped proximity is a screening signal, not a service commitment — capacity, elevation, easements, and the provider's own approval still decide whether a site can actually be served. Future land use is carried for the cities that publish it — a city's own long-range plan for a parcel, which frequently differs from its current zoning. Depending on local law it may guide a rezoning request or impose a consistency requirement on one. Coverage for both is city by city, since both come from municipal GIS rather than a single national feed.
How much does Paxiv cost?
Paxiv's core platform — nationwide parcel, owner, building, zoning, and skip-trace data across all 50 states — is free to start for everyone, with no credit card and no time limit. Paid tiers add capacity: Individual at $99/month and Organization at $1,500/month, both nationwide, or $82 and $1,250 per month billed annually. Enterprise is priced by seats and scope.
Will Paxiv build custom tools or integrations for my company?
Yes. Paxiv works directly with teams to build custom tooling and integrations on top of the platform — pushing parcel, ownership, and zoning data into the systems you already run, or building the internal workflow your acquisition process needs. The difference from an enterprise suite is the order of operations: you can sign up free today, test the data against a market you know, and decide what is worth building afterward. The custom work is available, but it is never the price of entry.
Is Paxiv's data accurate?
Every record in Paxiv links directly to its authoritative public source — county assessor, county recorder, state GIS portal, or the city or county zoning code page — so accuracy can be verified in one click rather than taken on faith.