Is Checkatrade worth it? Lead sites vs your own website

If you are a builder, plumber, electrician or any other trade, you have probably been asked whether you are on Checkatrade, or been sold a lead site by someone on the phone. The question underneath is simple: is paying for leads worth it, or would the money be better spent on something you own?

We build websites for tradespeople, so we are not neutral, and we have tried to be fair. Lead sites do some things a website cannot, and for some trades they are the right call. This article sets out what the main ones cost in 2026, what changed this year, and how to work out which is right for you.

All the facts below were checked on the platforms' own websites on 17 October 2026. Prices and terms change, so check them again before you sign anything.

What changed in 2026: Rated People joined Checkatrade

The biggest change this year is that there are fewer lead sites than there were. In September 2026, Checkatrade Group bought the Rated People brand and website. Rated People closed all its memberships before the sale, and jobs posted on Rated People are now matched with Checkatrade members.

So if you were on Rated People, that membership has ended, and the only way to receive Rated People leads now is to join Checkatrade. Rated People's own announcement says questions about past memberships go to the liquidators, S&W. Its help pages also say that your old Rated People reviews stay where they are, and that leads you had on the old platform are no longer accessible.

What the main lead sites cost tradespeople

None of the three publishes a full price list, which is worth knowing in itself. This is what each says on its own website.

Checkatrade

Checkatrade says membership starts at £30 a month and gives you leads from both Checkatrade and Rated People. There are two ways to buy: a fixed lead plan, priced by your trade and area, which runs on a 12-month term; and a pay-as-you-go board where you pay to unlock only the leads you want. Checkatrade says its members have passed up to 12 checks.

What Checkatrade does not publish is the price for your trade in your area, or what each pay-as-you-go lead costs. "Starts at" is the lowest figure, not the typical one. Ask for the full yearly cost in writing, including VAT, before you commit to a 12-month plan.

MyBuilder

MyBuilder, part of the Instapro Group, works differently. Joining is free, and you can express interest in as many jobs as you like without paying. The customer looks at the trades who have expressed interest and chooses who to shortlist. You only pay when you are shortlisted, and the fee buys you the customer's contact details so you can arrange the job.

The appeal is that you only pay for customers who have chosen you. The catch is that being shortlisted is not the same as winning the job: you can pay for a contact and still lose to another quote. MyBuilder does not show its fees on the sign-up page, so check them in your account.

TrustATrader

TrustATrader is a directory rather than a lead marketplace. It charges an annual subscription, paid in advance, with no commission and no charge per lead. Its terms set a 12-month minimum, the fee is non-refundable, there is no 14-day cooling-off period, and it does not renew automatically. It limits each area to no more than ten traders in each trade category, so there is a cap on how many firms you are listed alongside.

TrustATrader does not publish its prices: you fill in a form or call, and they quote you. Its terms also say that when your membership ends, your access to the site and its services stops, and you must stop using its branding.

What lead sites do well

It is worth being clear about why so many trades use them, because the reasons are real.

• They bring the customer to you. Homeowners go to these sites looking for a trade today. A new website, on its own, has to earn its place in Google first.
• The badge reassures people. Vetting checks and a recognisable logo do some of the trust-building for you.
• They fill gaps. If you are new to an area, starting out, or have a quiet fortnight, a lead site can put work in the diary quickly.

If your diary is empty and you need work this month, a lead site may well be worth the money. That is a perfectly sensible reason to use one.

The costs that are easy to miss

The monthly fee is only part of the cost. Three other things are worth adding up.

You often compete for the job you paid for. On sites where homeowners are encouraged to get several quotes, or where you pay to be shortlisted, the lead is not a job. Some of what you pay buys you the chance to quote against other firms.

Contracts outlast quiet months. A 12-month term means paying through the months when leads are thin as well as the busy ones.

The profile stays with the platform. Your reviews, your badge and your listing all live on someone else's website. When you leave, you leave them behind, and without a website of your own, a customer who searches for your name finds the platform's page rather than yours.

What your own website does differently

A website of your own is not a lead site, and it does not work the same way. That is the point of it. A well-constructed, properly thought-out website helps bring qualified enquiries straight to you: people looking for the jobs you do, in the places you work, who have already seen your registration and your work before they ring.

• Every enquiry is yours. No fee per lead, no commission, and nobody else is sent the same job.
• The cost is fixed. With us, a website is £450 to build and £15 a month for hosting, maintenance, security and small updates. That is £630 in the first year and £180 a year after that, whether it brings in one enquiry or fifty.
• It is how people check you out. Not every customer visits your website before they book, but many look you up before they ring, whether a neighbour recommended you or they found you on a lead site. A website with your registration, your photos and your reviews is the validation they are looking for. And when someone searches for "electrician near me" or "loft conversion" plus your town, a page about exactly that job, in the places you work, is what gets found.
• It stays with you. The photos of your work, the pages for your services and your place in Google build up over time, and nobody can switch them off because you stopped paying a platform.

What a website does not do

To be fair to the other side: a website does not create demand on its own. A brand-new site takes time to be found in Google, and how quickly depends on your trade, your area and your competition. Nobody can promise you rankings, and you should be wary of anyone who does.

What makes the biggest difference alongside the website is your Google Business Profile, the listing that shows on Google Maps, and the reviews on it. Those reviews are yours, they show up when people search for you by name, and they stay with you whatever you decide about lead sites.

How to work out whether a lead site is worth it for you

The useful number is not what you pay each month. It is what each job you actually win costs you.

1. Add up a year of fees. Membership, lead fees or shortlisting fees, plus VAT if it applies.
2. Count the jobs you won from it. Not leads, not quotes: jobs that went ahead.
3. Divide one by the other. That is your cost per job won.
4. Compare it with the value of those jobs. A £60 cost per job is nothing on a £20,000 extension and a lot on a £90 call-out.

If the sums work, keep it. If you find yourself paying to quote against three other firms for small jobs, that is the money a website of your own can start to replace.

Do you have to choose?

No. A sensible approach is to keep a lead site while it is paying its way, put your own website up alongside it, and ask every happy customer for a Google review. As the website and your reviews start bringing enquiries in directly, you can decide whether the lead site still earns its fee.

If you would like to see what a website for your trade would look like, our pages for builders, plumbers and heating engineers and electricians show what we build, and websites for tradespeople covers every other trade.