CoStar

CoStar is the dominant commercial real estate data platform in the U.S., tracking lease comps, property listings, ownership records, and market analytics that brokers and site-selection teams use to evaluate available spaces and negotiate lease terms with real market data instead of a landlord's asking-price framing alone. For a franchisor building a site-approval process, CoStar access (often through a broker relationship, since direct subscriptions are priced for commercial real estate professionals) gives your real estate team the same market visibility a landlord's broker has. It's a data and research tool, not a demographic or foot-traffic analytics platform — pair it with Placer.ai, SiteZeus, or Esri for the customer-side analysis.

Reviewed by Miles Sutherland, Vendors & Equipment Editor