Real estate licensing and advertising rules in Canada are set province by province. Ontario has the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) under TRESA. Alberta has the Real Estate Council of Alberta (RECA). British Columbia has the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA). Quebec has the OACIQ, whose framework is written differently again. Every other province has its own body too.
This matters more than it sounds. A checklist written for an Ontario agent is not authority for a BC agent. Where we describe a rule below, treat it as "here's the pattern — now go read your own regulator's bulletin."
This is the single most common way agent sites go offside, and it's the one place we'd urge you to be careful. Here is what we could verify directly from the regulators, as of 2026:
The common thread is brokerage identification. The specifics — how prominent, what you may call yourself, whether your personal real estate corporation name has to appear — vary by province. Two minutes on your regulator's site beats guessing, and your broker of record is usually the one accountable for what you publish.
CREA reports that REALTOR.ca saw 633 million visits from 113 million unique visitors in 2025, more than two billion listing page views, and more than 60% of Canadian online market share, citing Similarweb data for 2025 (CREA).
You are not going to out-rank REALTOR.ca for listing searches, and you shouldn't spend money trying. What REALTOR.ca doesn't do is rank for your name on a page you control, survive a move to another brokerage, or tell a nervous first-time seller who you are and why you're worth calling. That's the job your own site is actually good at.
CREA controls the REALTOR® marks in Canada. Per CREA's own guidance, using the mark in a firm or team name requires an application to CREA and a licence agreement, and the mark must appear in capital letters and always include the registered trademark symbol. CREA also notes that non-compliance can mean having to change website domain names along with the name itself — which is an expensive thing to discover after you've printed signs. Before you buy a domain with "realtor" in it, check CREA's trademark manual or ask your board. It's a cheap question to ask.
Both work. Here's the honest trade-off as of 2026.
| .ca | .com | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can register | Restricted. CIRA's Canadian Presence Requirements mean you must qualify under one of its categories — Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or a Canadian corporation, among others — and select your category when you register. | Anyone. |
| Typical cost | Same ballpark as a .com at most registrars, but pricing varies widely and renewal often costs more than year one. Check the renewal price before you buy. | Commonly around US$12–$15/yr, again registrar-dependent. |
| Search signal | Google states that a country-code domain provides "a strong signal to both users and search engines that your site is explicitly intended for a certain country." | Neutral — Google treats it as generic. |
| Availability | Better. Your name is more likely still free. | Worse, especially for common surnames. |
| Feels like | Local. Canadian. | Default. What people type by habit. |
Our practical suggestion: if you serve one Canadian market, buy the .ca. If both are available and a second registration fee doesn't bother you, buy both and point one at the other so nobody lands nowhere. Whatever you pick, register it in your name — not your brokerage's, not your web guy's.
In the US the term is IDX. In Canada, CREA runs the Data Distribution Facility (DDF®), which CREA describes as a managed service for REALTORS® and broker owners looking to share listings with multiple third-party websites while getting access to more listings for their own. The Member Website Feed is the piece that lets you show your own and your office's listings on your personal website. Broker owners control how listings are shared and manage permissions for salespeople in their offices, so this is a conversation with CREA and your broker.
We'll be direct: an AgentSiteHQ site is one page, and it does not include a DDF feed. If a live MLS® search is the thing you actually need, we're the wrong tool and you should look at a Canadian platform built for it.
AgentSiteHQ is a small American operation. Our price is a one-time US$297, and that's what your card is billed. What a Canadian buyer actually pays is that amount at your card issuer's exchange rate, plus a foreign transaction fee if your card charges one — up to 2.5% is the common rate on Canadian credit cards as of 2026, though a number of cards charge nothing (Ratehub, 2026). Run the number on today's rate before you decide. We're not going to pretend US$297 is CAD $297.
It is one payment, not a subscription, so it's a one-time conversion rather than a monthly one. Whether that payment is worth making at all depends entirely on the next section.
Many Canadian brokerages include an agent web page in the fees you already pay. If you're happy with yours, you plan to stay at that brokerage, your business comes from your sphere and REALTOR.ca, and nobody has ever failed to find you — keep it. It costs you nothing extra and it works. We'd rather say that than sell you something you don't need.
The case for your own site is narrower, and it's about ownership. A brokerage-provided page generally lives on the brokerage's domain, inside the brokerage's template and branding, which means you don't control the URL and you can't take the address with you.
We looked for an authoritative Canadian source on how common brokerage-provided sites are and what happens to them when an agent moves, and we couldn't find one — policies genuinely vary by franchise and by individual brokerage. So we're not going to assert what yours does. Ask your broker directly, before you print the URL on anything: if I leave, what happens to this page, and what happens to the web address? The answer tells you whether you need a site of your own or not.
We build a single, fast, honest page: your name, your photo, your areas, your brokerage identified the way your province requires, and a clear way to contact you. You own the content, you own the domain, and it comes with you when you move. One-time US$297, and we aim to have it live in about three days. No monthly anything.
You can build a full preview at agentsitehq.com for free and look at the real thing before you decide — you only pay if you want it published. And if you look at it and conclude your brokerage page is fine after all, that's a completely reasonable outcome, and it cost you nothing to find out.
]]>In every province we checked, yes — brokerage identification is required in advertising, and regulators treat websites as advertising. RECO's Bulletin 5.1 says all advertising must include the brokerage name and that agents may not advertise unless the brokerage is clearly and prominently identified. BCFSA requires your full brokerage name as registered with BCFSA, clearly and prominently displayed, and says small type at the bottom of a website does not satisfy the rules. Alberta's Real Estate Act Rules require the brokerage name to be clearly indicated in any related advertisement. Quebec's OACIQ framework is written differently again. Confirm with your own regulator and your broker of record before you publish.
Either works. A .ca requires you to meet CIRA's Canadian Presence Requirements — Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or a Canadian corporation, among other categories — and you select your category at registration. It reads as local, and your name is more likely still available. Google says a country-code domain is a strong signal that a site is explicitly intended for that country. A .com is unrestricted and is what many people type by reflex. Pricing at both varies by registrar, so check the renewal price and not just year one. If both are free and a second fee is fine, buy both and redirect one to the other. Register it in your own name either way.
Yes, through CREA's Data Distribution Facility (DDF), not the US term IDX. CREA describes DDF as a managed service for REALTORS and broker owners to share listings with multiple third-party websites, and its Member Website Feed lets you show your own and your office's listings on your personal site. Broker owners control how listings are shared and manage permissions, so start with CREA and your broker. Note that an AgentSiteHQ page is a single page and does not include a DDF listings feed.
Your card is billed US$297, once. What lands on your statement is that amount converted at your card issuer's exchange rate, plus a foreign transaction fee if your card charges one — up to 2.5% is common on Canadian credit cards as of 2026, though several cards charge none. Check today's USD/CAD rate and your card's fee before you buy. There is no subscription, so it's a one-time conversion rather than a monthly one.
Often you shouldn't. If your brokerage page does the job, you're staying put, and clients find you fine, keep it — it costs you nothing extra and it works. The reason to own one is ownership: a brokerage-provided page generally sits on the brokerage's domain and inside its template, so you don't control the web address. What happens to that page if you change firms varies a great deal by brokerage, and we couldn't find an authoritative Canadian source that settles it, so ask your own broker directly what happens to the page and the URL if you leave. If the answer bothers you, that's when a site you own starts to make sense.
Add your name and a listing and publish it free at agentsitehq.com/s/your-name. Want your own domain, the badge gone and the files to keep? A one-time $297 — no monthly fees, 14-day refund.
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