Against the backdrop of the digital economy era, this study investigates the enabling mechanisms and effects of platform economy on urban-rural integrated development. By constructing an evaluation system for urban-rural integration encompassing five dimensions, population, economy, space, society, and ecology, and employing panel data from 2013 to 2023 for Chinese 31 provincial-level administrative regions (excluding Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan), the paper empirically examines the impact of platform economy on urban-rural integration. The findings reveal that platform economy significantly enhances urban-rural integrated development, exhibiting a “central > western > eastern” regional gradient that highlights its inverted U-shaped enhancement potential in moderately developed areas. Both scientific and technological innovation and entrepreneurial activity demonstrate dual mediating roles, with innovation contributing 73.2% of the indirect effects and serving as the core driver. The dual-mediator model further uncovers resource competition between the two pathways, indicating that while entrepreneurship plays a complementary role, its transmission efficacy remains limited. Further research reveals that the impact of the platform economy on urban-rural integration is not a simple linear relationship but is also negatively moderated by technological innovation. Policy recommendations include implementing region-specific strategies, strengthening the technology-driven policy orientation, and fostering a technology-driven and entrepreneurship-synergized development ecosystem, to further unleash the platform economy’s potential for urban-rural integration.