Checkatrade fees: what you're really paying per lead

If you're a UK tradesperson, you've probably been told the same thing a hundred times: "you need to be on Checkatrade." It's true that it gets you work. But very few tradespeople ever actually do the maths on what those leads cost, and the answer is usually a lot more than the monthly membership figure.

Here's the short version: Checkatrade membership in 2026 typically runs to £100+ a month depending on your trade and area, and you can pay per lead on top. Over a year that's easily £1,000+, and every one of those leads is rented. Stop paying, and they stop coming.

How Checkatrade actually charges

Checkatrade's pricing isn't one flat fee. It's a combination of:

• Membership / subscription, a monthly cost to be listed at all. This is your base cost, and it varies by trade and postcode.
• Per-lead charges, for some trades, you pay each time a job enquiry is passed to you, on top of the membership.
• Competition, in busy areas, trades can outbid each other for position, pushing the cost up.

That's not a criticism of Checkatrade, it's a genuine, useful service. But the structure means you're paying for access to enquiries that someone else owns.

Your true cost per enquiry

This is the number that actually matters, and almost nobody calculates it. It's simple: what you pay ÷ how many enquiries you get.

If you're paying £100 a month and getting three enquiries, that's £33 per enquiry. On a job worth £500, you're giving away 6% of the job before you've lifted a tool. Use our Checkatrade cost calculator to work out your exact number in about 30 seconds.

The problem with rented leads

Here's the uncomfortable truth about paying for leads: you never build anything of your own. Every enquiry you get is a transaction. You don't build a reputation you own, you don't get a Google presence, and you don't accumulate an audience. The moment you stop paying, it's gone.

A website is the opposite. It's an asset that works for you 24/7, it builds your own reputation, and every enquiry it brings is yours. You're not renting customers from a platform, you're building a source of enquiries you own. That's the difference between rented leads and owned enquiries, and it's the single biggest reason a website is worth it even if you're happy on Checkatrade.

When Checkatrade is genuinely worth it

Let's be fair: Checkatrade (and MyBuilder, and the rest) is worth it in a few situations:

• You're brand new and need work this month.
• You're in a quiet area where leads are scarce.
• You're booked solid and just need to fill gaps.

In those cases, buying leads makes sense. The problem is that many trades get stuck there forever, paying £1,000+ a year for leads they don't own, when a £29.99/month website could be building an owned pipeline at the same time. The smart move isn't "either/or". It's running both while you build the asset, then leaning on the website as it grows. Our enquiry calculator shows what a website could realistically bring in.

What to do next

Before you renew your Checkatrade membership, ask yourself three things:

• What's my real cost per enquiry? Run the numbers, don't guess.
• What would a website bring in? If it's even a couple of enquiries a month, it's cheaper than paying per lead.
• Am I building anything I own? If not, you're a customer, not a business with an asset.

A good website doesn't replace Checkatrade overnight, it replaces it over time, while you keep the work coming in. If you want to understand what that looks like for your trade and your area, tell us what you do and where you work and we'll show you honestly, including whether a website is even worth it for you yet.