What does pay per lead mean for a tradesperson?

You pay to get a customer's details or to reply to them. You pay whether or not the customer answers and whether or not you win the job.

Is a monthly fee or a fee per lead cheaper?

It depends on your win rate and how steady your work is. A monthly fee is the same in a quiet month. A fee per lead costs more the more you lose. Compare cost per job won.

Trade Job Sites That Don't Make You Pay Per Lead

Q: Are there any trade job sites that don't charge per lead?

Yes. Creating a business and being listed on Tradehand is free, there is no fee per lead, and Tradehand takes 5% of each payment taken through it, card fees included. Paid plans are optional: Paid plans from £19 a month, billed yearly. TrustATrader says traders never pay for leads, and charges a membership. Google Business Profile is free.

There are four ways a trade job site can charge: a monthly fee, a fee per lead, a free listing, or a percentage of payments taken. Creating a business and being listed on Tradehand is free, there is no fee per lead, and Tradehand takes 5% of each payment taken through it, card fees included. Paid plans are optional: Paid plans from £19 a month, billed yearly. Choose the model by how steady your work is and how well you win quotes.

Blake Folgado, Co-founder, Tradehand21 October 20267 min read

Clay decorator handing a folder to a homeowner across a kitchen counter

Key takeaways

Monthly fee: you pay whether or not work comes. It pays off when you are busy enough to use every lead.
Fee per lead: you pay for introductions, win or lose. It pays off when you win a high share of the leads you take.
Free listing: no cost to be listed. It pays off for almost every trade as a base.
Percentage on payment: the site takes a share of payments it processes. It pays off when you want to avoid paying for introductions.
For current prices, see the dated cost comparison linked below.

Trade Job Sites by Charging Model: The Short Answer

Pick a trade job site by how it charges, because that decides your risk. This table sorts the main UK sites by model. Prices and each platform's mechanics are in the dated cost comparison, not repeated here.

Model	You pay	Examples	Risk to you
Monthly fee	Every month	Checkatrade Approved and Growth, TrustATrader membership	You pay in a quiet month
Fee per lead	Each time you take or are shortlisted for a lead	MyBuilder, Bark, MyJobQuote	You pay for leads you lose
Free listing	A profile that costs nothing to hold	Google Business Profile, Checkatrade Free profile	Slower to start
Percentage of payments	A share of payments the site takes	Tradehand	You give up a share of those payments

Sources: Checkatrade: Pricing (checked October 2026), MyBuilder: Tradesperson sign-up (checked October 2026), MyJobQuote: Fees and charges, Bark: How it works for sellers, TrustATrader: Join us

When a Monthly Fee Pays Off for a Trade

A monthly fee pays off when you have more capacity than work and the site sends you enough leads to fill it. Checkatrade's Growth tier, for example, is a fixed plan of leads priced by trade, postcode areas and yearly lead volume. The risk is a quiet month, because the fee is the same either way.

Check before you sign whether your tier brings leads at all. Checkatrade's support page says Approved members do not appear in standard search results. TrustATrader is a membership with no lead fees, and limits members per area, which suits a trade that wants a fixed yearly cost.

Sources: Checkatrade: Pricing (checked October 2026), Checkatrade: Getting jobs through Checkatrade, TrustATrader: Join us

When a Fee Per Lead Pays Off for a Trade

A fee per lead pays off when you win a high share of the leads you take, or when one job is worth many fees. MyBuilder charges a fee for the customer's contact details if you are shortlisted. Bark charges credits for each introduction, with no commission. MyJobQuote prices jobs in credits, by subscription or pay as you go.

The risk is paying for leads you lose, and leads shared with other trades. If you win one lead in five, the fees on the other four are part of the cost of that one job. Credits also expire: Bark's last 3 months and MyJobQuote's last 6 months if unused.

Sources: MyBuilder: Tradesperson sign-up (checked October 2026), Bark: How it works for sellers, Bark: Pricing for sellers, MyJobQuote: Fees and charges

When a Free Listing Pays Off for a Trade

A free listing pays off for almost every trade, as the base under everything else. Google says a Business Profile can show your phone number and website on Search and Maps at no charge, and the reviews are yours.

The limit is speed. A free listing builds over weeks as reviews arrive, so a trade with an empty diary this month may need a paid source alongside it for a while. Our guide is how to get found on Google as a trade business.

Source: Google: Get started with Business Profile

When a Percentage of Payments Pays Off: How Tradehand Charges

Creating a business and being listed on Tradehand is free, there is no fee per lead, and Tradehand takes 5% of each payment taken through it, card fees included. Paid plans are optional: Paid plans from £19 a month, billed yearly.

A percentage of payments pays off when you want to avoid paying for introductions: you are not charged per lead, and Tradehand takes its share from payments it processes. The trade-off is that share, so compare it with what you would otherwise spend per job won. See the Tradehand plans.

Five Questions to Ask Any Trade Job Site Before You Pay

What do I pay if I lose the job? If the answer is the full fee, you are paying for introductions.
How many other trades get the same customer? Some sites say, others do not.
Does my tier bring leads? A profile and a lead source are different things.
How long is the term, and do credits expire?
Who owns the customer and the reviews if I leave? Reviews on your Google profile are yours.

Write the answers down for each site, then compare cost per job won. For a wider plan, read stop paying for leads and own your customers.