Looking for an Aryeo alternative?
Aryeo is a polished, Zillow-owned platform built US-first. Locium is the independent, pay-per-delivery operating system built inside a working media company. Here is an honest, source-checked comparison.
Aryeo is one of the most established platforms in real estate media: strong order forms, a clean delivery experience and — since Zillow Group acquired it in July 2023 for roughly $35M — the deepest Zillow integration on the market. It now sits inside Zillow’s ShowingTime+ family, with a free "Lite" tier built around delivering media into the Zillow pipeline.
That acquisition is exactly why many photographers started shopping for alternatives. Zillow is not a neutral party in real estate, and Aryeo’s paid tiers are priced by annual listing volume — 100, 250 or 500 listings per year — so growing studios climb tiers while slow months still bill in full.
Locium takes the opposite position on both: it is independently built inside Patorama Studios (a working Australian media production company), and it has no monthly fee at all — you pay per delivered listing. Below is a feature-by-feature comparison based only on what Aryeo publishes; anything their site and help centre don’t document is marked "—" rather than guessed.
Choose Locium if…
- You want $0 monthly fees — pay only when you deliver a listing
- You run production seriously: editing pipelines, editor portals, raw file upsells
- You need drive-time scheduling and a map day planner with route optimisation
- You bill clients on retainers or pre-paid wallets, not just per order
- You are outside the US — native Xero, AUD/GST, metric, no Zillow dependency
- You would rather not run your business on a Zillow-owned platform
Aryeo may fit better if…
- Zillow Showcase, 3D Home and Media Advantage are core to your US business
- You want a free delivery-only tier (Aryeo Lite) with Zillow pipeline built in
- A branded App Store app matters to you (US$179/mo add-on)
- You rely on their public API + Zapier ecosystem today
Why media companies look for Aryeo alternatives
Zillow owns the platform
Acquired July 2023 (~$35M, per Zillow’s SEC filing) and folded into ShowingTime+. Your client list, order volumes and payments run through a company that competes in your industry — a concern raised publicly by photographers and industry press.
Monthly fees gated by annual volume
Pro tiers are US$49/99/179 per month for 100/250/500 listings per year. Grow past a cap and you move up a tier — or into "contact sales" Enterprise. Slow winter months still bill in full. Locium simply charges per delivered listing.
Production tooling not documented
No published production board, custom statuses, editor assignment or outsourced-editor portal. If editing workflow is half your business, Aryeo documents the delivery end, not the production end.
Scheduling = buffers, not routes
Aryeo documents static "smart buffers" between bookings and distance-based travel fees. No computed drive times, no map day planner, no route optimisation appear anywhere in their published docs.
US-first by design
The flagship features are Zillow features, which mean nothing outside the US. AUD billing, GST and local formats are not documented. Locium is built in Australia and serves media companies globally.
No retainers, raws or watermarking documented
Client retainer/subscription billing, raw photo upsells and watermark protection are not documented anywhere on Aryeo’s site or help centre. All three are built into Locium.
Locium vs Aryeo: feature by feature
✓ full~ partial / add-on✕ not available— not publicly documented
Pricing: Locium vs Aryeo
Locium
- $0 monthly fee — forever
- Pay per delivered listing (from $8 Starter / $12 Pro)
- Free signup, no credit card, unlimited team members
- No annual listing caps or volume tiers
- Locked-in rate — no retroactive price rises
Aryeo
- Aryeo Lite: free — delivery pages + Zillow pipeline features only [1]
- Aryeo Pro: US$49/mo (100 listings/yr, 1 member) · US$99/mo (250, 3) · US$179/mo (500, 5) [2]
- Enterprise: custom pricing above 500 listings/yr [2]
- Add-ons: SMS US$19/mo · branded mobile app US$179/mo [2][9]
- No contracts; slow months still bill the full monthly fee [2]
Built inside a working media company
Locium is built by Patorama Studios, a real estate media production company in Australia. We shoot, edit and deliver listings every day — every feature exists because our own team needed it first. That is also why this page only claims what we can point to: our own product, and what Aryeo publishes publicly. Read the founder story →
Frequently asked questions
Is Aryeo free?
Aryeo Lite is free forever but covers delivery pages, the content dashboard and Zillow-pipeline features only. The full platform (scheduling, invoicing, payroll, reporting) is Aryeo Pro, priced at $49, $99 or $179 USD per month depending on your annual listing volume (100, 250 or 500 listings) and team size. Locium has no monthly fee at all — you pay per delivered listing.
Who owns Aryeo?
Zillow Group acquired Aryeo on 31 July 2023 for roughly $35M (disclosed in Zillow’s SEC 10-Q filing) and folded it into the ShowingTime+ family. The product is now deeply integrated with Zillow Showcase, 3D Home and Zillow Media Advantage.
Does Aryeo work outside the United States?
Aryeo is US-first. Its flagship features — Zillow Showcase, 3D Home delivery and Media Advantage — only apply to the US market, and we could not find any published support for AUD billing, GST or local formats. Locium is built in Australia with native Xero integration and serves media companies globally.
Does Aryeo have route optimisation or a day planner?
Not that Aryeo documents. Its scheduling page describes static "smart buffers" between bookings and per-distance travel fees, but no computed drive times, no map-based day planner and no route optimisation as of July 2026. Locium plans each shooter’s day on a map with real road routes and a one-tap route optimiser.
Why do photographers look for Aryeo alternatives?
The three reasons we hear most: the monthly fee is gated by annual listing volume so busy studios get pushed up tiers (and slow months still bill in full); Zillow’s ownership means a competitor-owned platform sits between you, your clients and your media; and production tooling — editing workflow, editor portals, raw file handling — is not documented in the product.
Can I switch from Aryeo to Locium?
Yes. Sign up free (no card), import your clients and services, and run Locium in parallel until you’re confident — since Locium has no monthly fee, running both during the transition costs you nothing extra. Email [email protected] and we’ll help with the migration ourselves.
Sources
- aryeo.com/pricing
- aryeo.com/pro-pricing
- aryeo.com/products/order-forms
- aryeo.com/products/scheduling
- Aryeo help: travel fees
- aryeo.com/products/download-center
- aryeo.com/products/orders
- aryeo.com/lite
- aryeo.com/products/branded-mobile-app
- Aryeo Go on the App Store
- Zillow press: Aryeo joins ShowingTime+
- Zillow Group SEC 10-Q (Aryeo acquisition)
- Aryeo support: custom domains
- Zapier: Aryeo integrations
- HomeJab: Zillow expansion concerns
Comparison verified against Aryeo's public website and documentation, July 2026. Features change — spot something out of date? Email [email protected] and we'll fix it. Aryeo is a trademark of its respective owner and is not affiliated with Locium.
See it for yourself
Free to sign up, no credit card, no monthly fee — you only pay when you deliver a listing.