Live Mode is built but is not switched on in the current version of the plugin, so its settings screen does not appear in your admin and the mode cannot be enabled. This page describes how it will work when it ships. Ask support if you want to know where it stands for your site.
Live Mode changes where your listings come from. Instead of downloading properties into your WordPress database and serving them from there, the site asks your MLS for listings at the moment a visitor asks for them, and stores nothing.
Everything else stays the same. The same grids, the same search forms, the same property page, the same design settings. Only the source of the data changes.
The difference in one paragraph
In the normal setup, an import task copies listings into your site on a schedule. Those listings are WordPress posts. They live in your database, they have permalinks, and they are yours until the reconciliation removes them.
In Live Mode, nothing is copied. A visitor opens a search results page, the site queries your MLS, and the answer is rendered and briefly cached. Close the tab and there is no listing left on your site, because there never was one.
When Live Mode is the right choice
- Weak or shared hosting. This is the main reason it exists. Imports are long running write operations, and budget hosting throttles or kills them. Live Mode never writes a listing, never runs a long job, and never grows your database.
- Very large markets. A feed of two hundred thousand listings is a serious database. Reading them on demand sidesteps the size question entirely.
- Data that has to be current to the minute. An imported listing is as fresh as its last sync. A live listing is as fresh as your cache lifetime.
- You want to launch before the import finishes. There is no first import to wait through. The switch takes effect on the next page load.
When importing is the right choice
- Search traffic matters to you. Imported listings are real pages with real permalinks that belong in your sitemap. Live pages are generated on demand and are not durable crawler targets. If organic traffic to individual listings is part of the plan, import.
- You want to edit listings. Imported properties are posts you can add to, translate, feature and link. Live listings cannot be edited, because there is nothing on your site to edit.
- You want keyword search. Full text search over a description needs a local index. See the limitations article for the full list.
- Your provider is not covered. Paragon and ConnectMLS are not supported in Live Mode.
The two are not a permanent commitment. Turning Live Mode off returns you to whatever you had imported, untouched, and turning it on leaves those listings alone. Try it for a week on a staging copy if you are undecided.
What it needs
- Standalone mode. Live Mode is not available on WpResidence, Houzez, Real Homes or WpEstate, because those themes read listings from their own post types.
- A finished setup. Your MLSImport account connected, your MLS chosen, your credentials entered and the MLS metadata fetched. Live Mode reuses all of it and has no separate connection step.
- An active MLSImport subscription, checked once a day.
If any of those is missing, the site keeps behaving normally rather than breaking. There is no half enabled state.
Which MLS providers work
Bridge, Spark, MLSGrid, RMLS and Utah Real Estate use the token you already saved, sent as it is.
Trestle, Realcomp, Realtor.ca, Rapattoni and BrightMLS issue tokens that expire. The plugin exchanges your saved credentials for a fresh token when needed and caches it until it runs out, which is the same exchange the MLSImport servers perform. You never handle a token by hand.
Paragon and ConnectMLS have no supported path in Live Mode yet, and the switch stays inactive for them.
Your MLS data agreement was written for one of these two models, and some agreements say which. Read the section on caching and storage before choosing, since a rule about retaining data locally is the one thing that settles the question for you.
What happens to importing while it is on
Every write path stops. The hourly import, the daily reconciliation, the background media jobs and the manual cron trigger all do nothing, and the Import Tasks screen is hidden so nothing can be started by mistake.
Listings you already imported are left exactly where they are. Their pages stay reachable and show the data they were imported with, while grids, search and the map show live results. Nothing is deleted and nothing is rewritten.
Frequently asked questions
Do live listings have their own pages?
Yes, at addresses in the form /listing/ followed by the MLS listing key. They render the same property page as an imported listing, built from the live record.
Can I import some listings and serve the rest live?
No. It is one setting for the whole site. Grids, search and the map either all read live or all read stored.
Does Live Mode cost less than importing?
Your MLSImport subscription is the same. What changes is your hosting, since a site that stores no listings needs far less of it.
Will my visitors notice which one I am using?
Not from the design, which is identical. They would notice the missing keyword box in the search form, and a developer would notice the listing addresses.
Related
- Enabling Live Mode and its cache settings
- Live Mode limitations
- How MLS websites work: import against live IDX
- Standalone mode: run MLSImport on any theme
Tell us your hosting plan and your market size and we will tell you which of the two fits.