Battle · 3 companies

Property and car portals

Location, location, domination

Autotrader leads on 3 of the five measures that matter most: turnover, pre-tax profit, profit margin, growth and net assets. Autotrader is the biggest by turnover at £601m, against £425m at Rightmove. Rightmove keeps the most of every £100 it takes, £68.20 as pre-tax profit.

The year ends are up to 12 months apart, so this compares each company's most recent filing rather than the same twelve months.

Accounts compared: Rightmove to Dec 2025 · Zoopla to Dec 2024 · Autotrader to Mar 2025

The Numbers

#CompanyTurnoverChangePre-tax profitMarginEmployeesPay per headTurnover per headNet assetsBank and cashAccounts toBasis
1 AutotraderAutotrader Group PLC £601m +5.3% £376m 62.5% 1,267 £79,000 £474,000 £569m £15m Mar 2025 n/d
2 RightmoveRightmove PLC £425m +9.0% £290m 68.2% 900 £88,000 £472,000 £82m £37m Dec 2025 Group
3 ZooplaZoopla Limited £84m -6.9% -£5m -6.1% 356 £60,000 £236,000 £199m £11k Dec 2024 n/d

Ranked by turnover. Click any column to sort. The leader on each measure is highlighted. Movements are against each company's own prior year. Pre-tax profit is filed except where marked (est.).

Category winners

The Takeaway

  1. Rightmove converts the most of its turnover. Of every £100, £68.20 reaches pre-tax profit, against a loss of £6.14 at Zoopla.
  2. Autotrader is the largest on the top line, £601m of turnover, 1.4x Rightmove's £425m.
  3. Rightmove is growing fastest, turnover +9.0% on its own prior year. Zoopla went backwards.
  4. Autotrader is the biggest employer with 1,267 people; Rightmove pays the most per head, an average staff cost of about £88,000.
  5. Autotrader has the largest balance sheet, net assets of £569m, while Rightmove holds the most cash at £37m.

Who keeps the most of every £100 of sales?

Rightmove keeps the most: £68.20 of every £100 of turnover becomes pre-tax profit. Zoopla does worst, losing £6.14.

Every profit figure here is the one the company filed.

The chart splits each company's turnover into £100: what goes on people, on interest and on everything else, and what is left as profit.

Out of every £100 of turnover

£100£0 Payroll: £18.53 of every £100Payroll£18.53Financing: £0.13 of every £100Other costs: £13.13 of every £100Other costs£13.13Profit: £68.20 of every £100Profit £68.20RightmoveYear to Dec 2025£425m turnoverPayroll: £16.67 of every £100Payroll£16.67Financing: £0.33 of every £100Other costs: £20.50 of every £100Other costs£20.50Profit: £62.50 of every £100Profit £62.50AutotraderYear to Mar 2025£601m turnoverPayroll: £25.26 of every £100Payroll£25.26Financing: £0.09 of every £100Other costs: £80.80 of every £100Other costs£80.80Loss (the costs beyond £100): £6.14 of every £100Loss £6.14ZooplaYear to Dec 2024£84m turnover
Payroll (staff costs)Financing (interest paid)Other running costsPre-tax profitLoss: the costs beyond £100

Each column is £100 of that company's own turnover, so companies of any size compare on one scale; the figures are pounds out of each £100, not millions. Companies run from the best margin to the worst. Payroll is staff costs, financing is interest paid, other running costs are everything else, and profit is pre-tax profit, filed or estimated as marked in the table. A loss is not an extra cost: it is the part of the costs that runs past the £100 line, marked with a red bracket. Hover over any segment for its figure.

Who is the biggest, and does the comparison hold?

By turnover the order is Autotrader (£601m), Rightmove (£425m), Zoopla (£84m).

By headcount, Autotrader leads with 1,267 employees.

The comparison holds with the dates stated plainly: Rightmove to Dec 2025, Zoopla to Dec 2024, Autotrader to Mar 2025. All are on the same filing basis.

Autotrader£601mRightmove£425mZoopla£84m

Turnover on the latest filing

Who is growing fastest?

Rightmove grew fastest, turnover +9.0% on its own prior year, ahead of Autotrader (+5.3%), Zoopla (-6.9%).

Rightmove+9.0%Autotrader+5.3%Zoopla-6.9%

Turnover change on each company's own prior year

Who employs the most, who pays the most, and who brings in the most per head?

Autotrader employs the most, 1,267 people, against 900 at Rightmove.

Rightmove has the highest average staff cost, about £88,000 a head; Zoopla the lowest, about £60,000.

Autotrader brings in the most turnover per employee, about £474,000, against £236,000 at Zoopla. It says as much about the business model as the workforce: a marketplace or a wholesaler needs far fewer people per pound than a restaurant or a gym.

What does the full ledger show?

MeasureRightmoveZooplaAutotrader
Registered nameRIGHTMOVE PLCZOOPLA LIMITEDAUTOTRADER GROUP PLC
Company number064264850607477109439967
Incorporated200720072015
Accounts filed23 June 202629 September 202526 September 2025
Turnover, prior year£390m£90m£571m
Pre-tax profit, prior year£258m£19m£345m
Staff costs£79m£21m£100m
Payroll share of turnover18.5%25.3%16.7%
Employees, prior year8613881,233
Dividends paid£79mn/d£88m
Charges outstanding010

A figure the filing does not disclose is shown as n/d; a zero in a filing is treated as not disclosed. Rounding: below £0.1m in thousands, £0.1m to £2m to one decimal place, above that to the nearest million.

Property and car portals: common questions

Who is the biggest of Rightmove, Zoopla or Autotrader?

Autotrader, with turnover of £601m in the year to March 2025.

Which makes the most profit?

Autotrader: £376m pre-tax in the year to March 2025.

Which employs the most people?

Autotrader, with 1,267 employees in its latest accounts.

Rightmove or Zoopla: which is bigger?

Rightmove, with turnover of £425m against £84m at Zoopla on their latest filings. On margin, Rightmove keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit. The full head to head is in the VS Series. Read the VS page →

Rightmove or Autotrader: which is bigger?

Autotrader, with turnover of £601m against £425m at Rightmove on their latest filings. On margin, Rightmove keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit. The full head to head is in the VS Series. Read the VS page →

Zoopla or Autotrader: which is bigger?

Autotrader, with turnover of £601m against £84m at Zoopla on their latest filings. On margin, Autotrader keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit.

Where do these figures come from?

Each company's latest accounts filed at Companies House. Each links to its full Spark Intel profile, which names the filing it comes from.