How lead sites work
They all do roughly the same thing. Homeowners post a job or search for a trade. The site passes that on to tradespeople, who pay in one way or another. The details differ and they matter.
Some charge a monthly membership. Some charge per lead. Some do both. Prices often depend on your trade, your area and the size of the job, so several of them don't publish a simple price list. Below is what each one says on its own pages, checked in October 2026.
Checkatrade
Checkatrade's own guide to its costs, last updated in December 2024, says there's no joining fee and its most basic plan starts from £30 plus VAT a month. On that basic plan, customers can find you by searching your business name, but Checkatrade says it doesn't provide you with sales leads.
For leads, Checkatrade offers a fixed membership where the cost depends on how many leads you want, plus bespoke options for larger firms. It doesn't publish prices for those plans on that page, so you'd need a quote for your trade and area.
In its favour: members are checked and vetted, you can put the Checkatrade logo on your van and paperwork. Checkatrade also offers a guarantee of up to £1,000 on work booked through it, with terms and conditions.
Rated People
Rated People's help centre says Checkatrade acquired its assets on 18 September 2026. Homeowners post a job for free and get up to three quotes from tradespeople. We couldn't find current membership or lead prices on its public pages in October 2026, so ask for a price in writing before you sign up.
MyBuilder
MyBuilder charges a shortlist fee rather than a membership. Its terms say you pay each time a customer's contact details are shared with you, whether or not you win the job. The fee is shown, excluding VAT, before you express interest. It's worked out from the likely size, value and location of the job. There's also an optional monthly fee for sponsored placement.
One point worth knowing: MyBuilder's terms don't allow you to swap contact details with a customer outside the platform before you're shortlisted. That includes sending them to your own website for that purpose. Keep the two separate.
Bark
Bark works on credits. You buy a credit pack and spend credits to contact the customers you're interested in. Bark says the cost of each lead depends on the service, the value of the job and supply and demand in the area. You see the cost before you respond. Its pricing page doesn't list what credits cost. It also says it will return your credits if you don't win business with your first pack, so read the conditions on that.
What lead sites do well
To be fair to all of them, they put you in front of people who want to hire someone now. That's hard to get any other way. A new business with no reviews can pick up work in its first week. Vetting, badges and reviews on a platform customers already know give people confidence. If you're quiet, you can turn the tap on.
Where your own website is different
You keep it. Your website and domain aren't tied to a membership, so the work you put in carries on year after year. If you stop paying a lead site, your listing there stops working for you.
You're not one of three. On lead sites you're often one of several firms quoting for the same job. On your own site, the customer is only looking at you.
There's no fee per enquiry. With a website, ten enquiries in a month cost the same as one.
The catch is that a website doesn't bring people in by itself on day one. It works with your Google Business Profile and your reviews. It takes time to build up. Lead sites are faster. A website is the longer game.
Side by side
| Lead and directory sites | Your own website | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Monthly membership, per lead, or both | A monthly fee, or a one-off build plus hosting |
| Cost per enquiry | Often charged per lead | None |
| Competition on each job | Often several firms | Just you |
| How fast it works | Can bring leads in quickly | Builds up over months |
| If you stop paying | Your listing stops working for you | After any minimum term, you can take it with you |
| Who owns the page | The platform | You, with the domain in your name |
| Good for | Filling gaps and starting out | Long-term work, trust and repeat customers |
Platform details from their own pages, October 2026. Prices and terms change, so check before you sign.
How to tell if a lead site is paying off
Do the sum every month. Add up everything you paid the platform, membership and leads, then divide it by the number of jobs you actually won from it. That's your cost per job. Compare it with your profit on a typical job.
Here's a made-up example to show the sum. Say you spend £150 in a month and win three jobs. That's £50 per job. If a typical job makes you £400 profit, that's probably fine. If you won one job worth £120 profit, it isn't.
Do the same for your website. Ask every new customer how they found you and write it down.
Using both
You don't have to pick one. Plenty of trades use a lead site to fill quiet weeks and a website as the place everything else points to: the van, the invoices, the Google profile and word of mouth.
If you're a Checkatrade member, your website can say so and link to your reviews there. Over time, as more work comes from your own site and Google, you can decide whether to keep paying for leads or drop down a plan.
Our plans start at £39 a month plus £199 setup, with a 12-month minimum. Every plan includes hosting, your domain in your name and your Google Business Profile set up. The Growth plan, at £99 a month, adds a review-request link and QR code for your van or invoices, to help you build up Google reviews of your own.