Trade Lead Sites Compared in 2026: Real Costs of Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Rated People and Bark, Plus a No-Fee Option (Jobbit Pro)

Every tradesperson has had the call. A friendly voice from a lead site explains that homeowners in your postcode are searching for exactly what you do, and for a monthly fee, or a few pounds a lead, the work can be yours. Six months later you are paying for leads that four other firms also bought, quoting jobs that never reply, and reading the small print on a 12-month contract. The lead sites are not scams; they are expensive, and their prices have moved this year. Checkatrade's published plans start at £30 a month but members report bills from £80 to over £400 once leads are counted, Rated People's subscription is reported to have roughly doubled since 2025, and Bark's credits now expire three months after you buy them. Trade lead sites compared honestly, with the maths, is what this guide is.

It covers what Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Rated People and Bark actually charge in 2026, how each one bills you (membership, per shortlist, per credit), who pays when a lead goes nowhere, which suits which trade and which stage of a business, the calculation that turns "£25 a lead" into what a won job really costs, and the alternative most tradespeople have not tried: briefed, scoped jobs with payment already in escrow, and no lead fee, on Jobbit Pro.

How we compared them

1. What you pay before you win anything: membership, subscription, minimum credit packs, contract length.

2. What you pay per lead and, more importantly, when: on enquiry, on shortlist, or on a won job.

3. How many firms get the same lead, because a lead sold to five tradespeople is worth a fifth of a lead sold to one.

4. Lead quality: verified homeowners, real budgets, response rates as reported by tradespeople in 2026.

5. What you keep: reviews, profile and customers if you leave.

Prices below are what the platforms publish plus what tradespeople report in 2026; the sites that do not publish prices (Checkatrade beyond the entry plans, Rated People) quote by trade and postcode, so treat those figures as typical rather than fixed.

The comparison table

Checkatrade: the badge, and the bill

Checkatrade's strength is trust: the van sticker and the vetted-member badge still win work with older homeowners and landlords, and the review profile is strong in local search. Its published entry points are a free profile, Approved membership at £30 a month and Growth plans from £59 a month with no joining fee on 12-month terms, but the leads that make the membership worthwhile sit on the Growth plans, where per-lead fees run roughly £5 to £15 for small jobs and £15 to £25 for mid-sized ones, and tradespeople report all-in bills of £80 to £500 a month depending on trade and postcode. Two things to check before signing: the renewal price, which members say rises sharply, and how many other members receive the same enquiry in your area.

Who it suits: an established firm with capacity to fill and the admin to respond fast. Who it does not: a sole trader in the first year who cannot carry a fixed £100-plus a month through a quiet January.

MyBuilder: pay per shortlist, no contract

MyBuilder has no monthly fee. You see jobs posted by homeowners, express interest, and pay a shortlist fee only when the homeowner picks you to exchange contact details: officially from £7, typically £5 to £35, and £50 or more on large projects. The fee is shown before the homeowner shortlists you, and it is charged whether or not you win the job. That makes it the most controllable of the four and the best place to start, with two cautions: several trades are shortlisted for the same job, so your conversion rate decides the real cost, and the platform's reviews stay on the platform.

Who it suits: newer trades and anyone who wants to try lead buying without a contract. Budget for the shortlists you lose, not just the ones you win.

Rated People: subscription plus leads, on a contract

Rated People combines an annual subscription, reported at about £35 plus VAT a month and billed as an upfront lump sum, with per-lead charges in the £15 to £40 range for most trades, and sells extra lead credits when your plan's allocation runs out. Prices are not published and tradespeople report that subscriptions roughly doubled in 2025, so get the quote in writing and read the 12-month terms. Leads go to up to three trades, which is better odds than some rivals, and the app is quick to respond from.

Who it suits: a trade with steady demand that can absorb the fixed cost and respond within minutes. Who it does not: seasonal trades that would pay all year for six busy months.

Bark: credits, and now they expire

Bark works on credits, about £1.20 plus VAT each with discounts for bigger packs. A lead costs 5 to 20 credits, roughly £7 to £40, charged when you respond, and the lead goes to up to five sellers. There is no contract, but since November 2025 credits expire three months after purchase, so the bulk-pack discount is worth less than it looks. Bark's reach is widest outside the building trades (cleaning, tutoring, personal training, events), where it can work well for fast responders; in the trades, reviews are mixed on lead quality. Typical monthly spend for an active user is £150 to £400.

Who it suits: services with quick, low-value jobs and someone who can reply within minutes. Who it does not: anyone who buys credits and forgets them.

What a lead really costs: the maths before you sign

The number on the price list is the cost of a lead. The number that matters is the cost of a won job. Take the shortlist fee or lead price, divide by the share of leads you win, and add the fixed monthly cost divided by jobs won.

Those win rates are typical figures tradespeople report, not guarantees; use your own. The point is the shape: with lead fees you pay for every job you lose, so a slow week of quoting costs money, and the platforms' real price is set by how many other firms they sell the same enquiry to. A plumber winning four £300 jobs a month is spending 20 to 40% of that revenue on leads; the plumbing jobs guide and the handyman jobs guide both show where the rest of the work comes from.

The no-lead-fee route: briefed jobs on Jobbit Pro

Jobbit is an AI agent used by businesses and households to get work done. When a task needs a person, a boiler, a rewire, a repaint, a garden clearance, the agent turns the customer's request into a written brief with scope, timing and price, and offers it to matching professionals on Jobbit Pro. That changes the economics in four ways:

• No lead fee. A profile is free, there is no subscription, and there is nothing to pay for a job you do not take. A fee applies only when a paid order completes.

• Briefed, not auctioned. You see the scope, the date and the price before you accept. No bidding against four strangers, no chasing an enquiry that was never real.

• Escrow. The customer's payment is held before you start and released when they accept the work, so the lead cost and the unpaid-invoice risk go at the same time.

• The agent works for you too. It writes your profile, quotes for jobs from outside the platform, invoices and chases payment, and builds a one-page site for your trade, which a chat assistant such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot, or a general agent like Manus or Meta's Muse, can draft but cannot deliver as briefed, paid jobs; the guide to getting your first clients on Jobbit Pro walks through the set-up in an evening.

It is newer than the four lead sites and the volume in any one postcode depends on demand there, which is why the sensible plan is to run it alongside a free Google Business Profile and one pay-per-lead site rather than instead of everything. What it removes is the part of the bill you pay for losing.

Which should you use? By trade and by stage

• First year, no reviews yet: Google Business Profile first, MyBuilder for controllable spend, Jobbit Pro for briefed jobs with no fee. Avoid 12-month contracts until you know your win rate.

• Established, want volume: Checkatrade or Rated People can pay if you respond within minutes and your win rate is above one in three; track it monthly and cancel what does not convert.

• Cleaning, tutoring, PT, events: Bark reaches these customers where the trade sites do not; buy small packs because credits expire, and read the cleaning clients guide for the channels that cost nothing.

• Any trade with a van and a phone: the free channels compound. Reviews on Google, a one-page site, and a habit of asking every happy customer for a referral will, within a year, cost less per job than any platform; getting clients without marketplaces is the playbook.

Mistakes that make lead sites expensive

• Signing a 12-month contract before measuring your win rate on a no-contract site.

• Responding hours later. On every platform the first two responders win most jobs.

• Quoting every lead instead of the ones that match your work and area.

• Buying big credit packs that expire before you use them.

• Letting reviews live only on the platform. Ask customers to review you on Google as well, which you keep.

• Treating leads as the whole marketing plan. They are the most expensive channel, and should be the smallest.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Checkatrade cost a tradesperson in 2026?

Published plans start with a free profile, Approved membership at £30 a month and Growth plans from £59 a month on 12-month terms, with per-lead fees of roughly £5 to £25 on the Growth plans. Tradespeople report real monthly bills from £80 to over £400 depending on trade and postcode, and renewal prices that rise.

Does MyBuilder charge a monthly fee?

No. MyBuilder charges a shortlist fee only when a homeowner shortlists you, from £7 and typically £5 to £35, with £50 or more on large projects. You pay whether or not you win the job, and there is no contract.

What does Rated People cost?

A subscription reported at about £35 plus VAT a month, billed annually on a 12-month contract, plus per-lead charges of roughly £15 to £40, with extra credits sold when your plan's allocation runs out. Prices are quoted by trade and postcode rather than published.

Is Bark worth it for tradesmen?

For fast responders in services with quick jobs, it can be; a lead costs 5 to 20 credits at about £1.20 plus VAT each, roughly £7 to £40, and goes to up to five sellers. Since November 2025 credits expire after three months, so buy small packs and reply within minutes or the spend is wasted.

What is the cheapest way to get trade leads?

Free channels first: a complete Google Business Profile with reviews, a one-page website and referrals. Then a no-contract site such as MyBuilder to learn your win rate, and Jobbit Pro, where jobs arrive briefed with payment in escrow and there is no fee unless a paid job completes.

How is Jobbit Pro different from a lead site?

Lead sites sell the same enquiry to several trades and charge whether you win or not. On Jobbit Pro the customer's request has already been turned into a scoped brief by the AI agent, the payment is held in escrow before you start, and you pay a fee only when the completed order is paid. There is no subscription and no charge for jobs you do not take.

How do I get started on Jobbit Pro?

Create a free profile at pro.jobbit.uk, describe your trade, area and prices, let the agent draft the rest, and accept the first briefed job that fits. Keep your Google reviews and one lead site running alongside until the briefed jobs cover your week.