SquareFoot vs LoopNet: Listings Site or Tenant Broker for Office Space? [2026]

Short answer: LoopNet is a listings marketplace, owned by CoStar, where landlords and their brokers advertise commercial space for lease and sale. SquareFoot is a tenant-representation brokerage with its own live marketplace. LoopNet shows you what is being advertised; SquareFoot works for you, tours the space with you, and negotiates the lease at no cost to you. A small business searching for office space in New York should use LoopNet to see the market and a tenant broker to lease in it, because on LoopNet everyone you contact works for the landlord.

What each one is

The difference that matters: who works for whom

Every listing on LoopNet is placed by someone paid to lease that space at the best terms for the owner. That is legitimate, and it is why LoopNet is a good place to learn what a neighborhood asks. It is a poor place to negotiate from, because the person answering your inquiry represents the other side. A tenant-representation broker is paid by the landlord too, through a commission split that is standard in commercial real estate, but has a fiduciary duty to the tenant. The economics are the reason the service is free: the commission exists whether or not you have representation, so the only question is whether someone on your side collects it.

Our guide to whether you need a broker to lease office space in NYC walks through the commission mechanics.

Where each is stronger

LoopNet

• Breadth: the largest advertised inventory of conventional office, retail and industrial space in the country.
• Sales and long direct leases, which SquareFoot’s marketplace does not cover.
• Markets outside SquareFoot’s footprint.

SquareFoot

• Pricing you can see: New York serviced offices with a published per-desk rate ran a $700 median in September 2026, with the middle of the market between $525 and $937. Advertised direct leases quote in dollars per square foot per year and often not at all.
• Flexible and serviced space, subleases and month-to-month offices, which are thin and poorly labeled on general marketplaces.
• Medical, dental, therapy and med spa space, where the question of whether clinical use is even permitted has to be checked building by building.
• The work after the search: tours booked with operators, terms negotiated, the lease reviewed.

A sensible way to use both

1. Spend twenty minutes on LoopNet to see what your target neighborhoods are asking for direct leases and how much conventional inventory exists at your size.
2. Browse serviced and flexible offices with prices on flex.squarefoot.com to see the other half of the market.
3. Bring both lists to a tenant broker. If a LoopNet listing is the right space, your broker can represent you on it; listing brokers expect it and the landlord pays either way.

Common questions

Can SquareFoot show me a space I found on LoopNet? Yes. Any advertised space can be toured and negotiated with tenant representation.

Is LoopNet free? Browsing is free; landlords and brokers pay to list. Some listings sit behind a paid tier for professionals.

Why do so many LoopNet listings say “call for pricing”? Direct-lease pricing is negotiated and landlords prefer not to anchor it publicly. Serviced-office operators publish per-desk rates, which is why that part of the market is transparent on flex.squarefoot.com.

Does SquareFoot list on LoopNet? SquareFoot represents tenants and does not advertise landlord listings.

Market figures are asking rates from operators on flex.squarefoot.com as of September 2026 and change monthly.