Best Lead Generation Sites for UK Tradespeople

No UK lead site is best for every trade business. The right choice depends on what you want to buy.

• Ongoing local visibility: compare Checkatrade, TrustATrader and Which? Trusted Traders.
• Individual posted jobs: compare MyBuilder, MyJobQuote, Rated People and Bark.
• A channel your business controls: build your Google Business Profile and website alongside whichever platform you test.

Those groups are not interchangeable. Some charge for membership or campaigns, some charge when you unlock or are shortlisted for an opportunity, and some focus on assessment and reputation. This guide compares the models advertised on 20 July 2026. Check live prices and terms before paying because plans change.

Start with one clear aim: fill spare diary capacity, enter a new service area, build visible trust or reduce reliance on third-party enquiries. A platform can only be judged against the job you hired it to do.

Platform	Current model	Main point of control	Best reason to test it
Checkatrade	Profile plus fixed-plan or pay-as-you-go campaigns	Categories, postcode areas and campaign budget	Planned local visibility around an established profile
MyBuilder	Fee when a customer shortlists you	Jobs you express interest in	Selecting posted jobs before risking a fee
MyJobQuote	Credits through subscription or pay as you go	Jobs you spend credits on	Credit-based access with a choice of payment route
Rated People	Unlimited and tailored plans, with credits in some offers	Plan, job alerts and leads purchased	A marketplace where lead competition is capped
Bark	Credits to contact selected leads	Which leads you contact	Testing a broad services marketplace without commission on won work
TrustATrader	Annual membership directory	Whether the profile and area are worth the fixed commitment	Building a reviewed directory presence without per-lead fees
Which? Trusted Traders	Assessment followed by membership if accepted	Whether an assessed endorsement fits your positioning	Adding an independent trust signal rather than buying job alerts

“Best reason to test” is an editorial recommendation, not a promise of results. Availability, competition and customer behaviour differ by trade and postcode. Ask each provider what is included in the exact plan offered to your business, then compare that answer with your own margins.

Checkatrade now describes several routes for tradespeople. Its trade support pages distinguish an Approved profile from Fixed Plan options, while its campaign guidance covers fixed-plan and pay-as-you-go campaigns.

That makes it closer to a profile-and-visibility product than a simple job board. You can choose work categories and postcode areas, and pay-as-you-go campaigns use a monthly budget. Fixed plans are sold in tiers linked to expected lead volume. The exact offer matters: an Approved profile alone does not appear in standard Checkatrade search, according to Checkatrade's current guidance.

Good fit to investigate: a trade business that wants consistent visibility in defined areas and is willing to maintain its profile and reviews.

Question to ask: which product are you actually buying, what counts towards the plan or budget, and what happens to billing when a campaign is paused?

These four platforms all surface customer requests, but the charging event is different on each one.

MyBuilder: tradespeople express interest in a posted job. Under the current MyBuilder trade terms, a non-refundable Shortlist Fee becomes due when the customer shortlists you. The amount is displayed before you express interest and is based on the job's size and value.

MyJobQuote: jobs have a credit price. Its fees guide says credits can come through a rolling monthly subscription or be bought pay as you go, and that credits expire after six months. The live monetary price is shown in the account.

Rated People: its current trade explanation advertises an Unlimited subscription for many jobs and tailored plans that can include credits. Rated People says no more than three tradespeople can buy the same lead.

Bark: you use credits to contact leads you select and receive their contact details. Bark says there is no commission on work won. Its seller guide explains the process, while its credit help page carries the current credit price and expiry rules.

Good fit to investigate: a business prepared to review opportunities regularly, qualify them quickly and measure every fee against completed work.

Question to ask: at exactly what point do you pay, how many other businesses can contact the same customer, and does unused spend expire?

These are better understood as trust and directory products than as streams of individual job alerts.

TrustATrader sells annual membership. Its join page says it limits membership by trade and area and charges neither commission nor a fee for each lead. Applicants go through checks and build a profile with customer reviews.

Which? Trusted Traders uses an assessment before membership. Its programme explanation describes an assessment by trading standards professionals, followed by access to the endorsement and directory for businesses that pass and join.

The return is therefore harder to judge by counting unlocked contacts. Look at direct enquiries attributed to the profile, whether the badge helps customers choose you elsewhere, and whether the membership still makes sense at renewal.

Good fit to investigate: an established business that values an assessed or reviewed reputation signal and can support it with consistent customer service.

Question to ask: what checks, ongoing requirements and profile visibility are included, and is there space for your trade in the areas you cover?

A large job feed is not the same as a large number of suitable customers. Before joining, define the work you want: job types, minimum sensible value, travel radius, diary gaps and the person responsible for replying.

Then keep a simple platform scorecard:

• Total platform cost: membership, campaigns, credits and shortlist fees.
• Usable enquiries: opportunities that match your trade, area and availability.
• Quotes sent: genuine quotes, not automatic acknowledgements.
• Jobs won and paid: the outcome that funds the next month.
• Gross profit after acquisition: gross profit from won jobs less the cost of acquiring them.
• Later direct value: repeat jobs and referrals from customers first met through that platform.

Review by source and job type over a fixed period. A roofing business pursuing large planned work may tolerate a very different acquisition cost from a handyman doing short local jobs. The meaningful comparison is the cost relative to gross profit, not whether one platform's individual fee looks cheaper.

It is also reasonable to pause a test that cannot be measured. If staff are recording every platform contact simply as “website lead”, fix the source tracking before buying more exposure.

Lead sites are rented distribution: useful access to an audience somebody else has assembled. Your website is owned distribution: a direct address where customers can understand your services, see the areas you cover, check your work and contact your business.

The strongest owned setup starts with a verified Google Business Profile. Google says the free profile controls how your business appears on Search and Maps and can show your phone number, service area and website. The website then gives people somewhere to assess the business in more depth and make a direct enquiry.

Ownership does not end when the form is submitted. Record the source, customer and job; respond while the enquiry is current; keep useful job history; follow up appropriately; and ask satisfied customers for reviews and referrals. A website improves distribution. Those customer records and habits improve retention.

That is the practical balance: let a platform help win the first job, but make it easy for a happy customer to come back to you directly for the second. You keep the relationship even if a plan changes, a credit price rises or a profile stops receiving the same visibility.

If you do not want another website project to manage, Tradehand can build and run a free website for your trade business around your real services, locations and reviews, with web chat for enquiries. It can sit alongside whichever lead source is currently earning its keep.

Our guides to Google Business Profile for trade businesses and practical electrician marketing go deeper on building that direct route.

A useful next comparison is not another giant list. It is a focused guide to a different route to work:

• Google Business Profile versus paid lead platforms: free local presence and direct enquiries compared with bought marketplace access.
• Google Local Services Ads: paid search visibility for eligible local service categories, compared with directory memberships.
• Nextdoor: neighbourhood recommendations and local posts, where trust comes from nearby residents rather than a national trade directory.
• Houzz: worth a dedicated look for builders, renovators and design-led home projects rather than treating it as a universal trade lead site.
• FMB and TrustMark: sector or quality-scheme routes that deserve comparison with general directories, especially for builders and larger home-improvement work.

The most useful follow-up articles would be Rated People versus MyBuilder, Bark versus MyJobQuote, and TrustATrader versus Checkatrade. Each pair has a clear decision behind it: how you pay for opportunities, or how you pay for ongoing trust and visibility.