Why the question keeps coming up
- You pay before you know if there is a job. Checkatrade lead plans are a fixed monthly fee on a 12-month membership. MyBuilder charges when you are shortlisted; Bark charges credits to reply. Neither waits for you to win the job.
- You are rarely the only one called. Checkatrade's own pay-per-lead board takes a job down once 3 trades have paid for it. Rated People's homepage tells homeowners to expect up to 3 quotes. MyBuilder customers can shortlist more than one trade.
- The reviews live on their site. Stop paying and the listing goes; the reviews you collected there sit on a site you don't own.
- Prices are set on a sales call. Checkatrade publishes a starting price ("from £59/mo") but sets the real one per trade and postcode.
"I've been shortlisted for around 50 jobs. Each costing £30 + vat." A builder leaving MyBuilder after 6 years, MoneySavingExpert forum, 6 Jan 2018. He reports winning 10 of the 50. Thread
"They wanted £150 a month for 4 leads with a 12 month contract." An electrician quoted by Checkatrade, r/ukelectricians, 5 Mar 2025. Post
"They are taking over £300 per month for very little jobs." A trade business that had just joined, r/DIYUK, 7 Jul 2026. Post
"The leads keep getting worse and less frequent." A flooring company owner, r/DIYUK, 6 Oct 2025. Post
"That one call pays for itself." A plastering member, quoted on Checkatrade's own pricing page (read 6 Oct 2026). It works for some trades. Page
These are individual accounts posted online, not a survey. We could not check their figures.
What each one costs a trade (read 6 Oct 2026)
Prices as the platform states them. "Not published" means we could not find the figure on the platform's own pages or a dated primary copy.
| Platform | How you pay | Published price | Tie-in | Who else gets the job |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Checkatrade | Monthly membership. Free profile, "Approved" tick, or "Growth" lead plan. A pay-per-lead Opportunities Board is being rolled out. | Free: £0. Approved: £30/month (no leads). Growth: "from £59/mo", priced per trade and area. No joining fee. Opportunities Board lead price: not published. | Fixed lead plans are 12-month memberships. | Opportunities Board: up to 3 trades per lead. Fixed plans: not published. |
| Rated People | Closed to new trade members. Checkatrade bought the brand and site (completed around 17–18 Sep 2026); its jobs now go to Checkatrade members. What ex-members should do now. | Not applicable: Rated People memberships were closed. To get those jobs you join Checkatrade. | None | Its homepage tells homeowners to expect up to 3 quotes. |
| MyBuilder | Free to express interest. You pay a shortlist fee when a homeowner shortlists you and contact details are exchanged before you know if you have the job. | "Typically £2 to £35 depending on the size of the job" (last archived copy, Jan 2024). No joining or membership fee. Current live page: could not be read. | None stated. | Several trades can be shortlisted; exact cap not published. |
| Bark | Buy credits, spend them to respond to a lead. Credit cost shown on each lead. | £1.80 per credit as its UK help page showed when we read it (6 Oct 2026; the page is not open to every reader). Credits per lead: not published, set per lead. Credits bought from 1 Nov 2025 expire after 3 months, no refunds on unused credits. | None for one-off credits; optional credit-pack subscriptions. | Not published on the pages we read. |
| TrustATrader | Membership, applied for online or by phone. Says you "never pay for your leads". | Not published. Price given on application. | Not published. Its own page shows members "renewing for" a year at a time. | "Memberships are limited per area"; the number is not published. |
Sources and read dates for every cell are listed at the bottom of this page. Checkatrade's pricing page shows no VAT note; its own blog gives the £30 plan as "+ VAT".
When each one is worth it, honestly
Checkatrade is worth a look if…
- You are new or have just moved area and have few or no reviews. The vetting (up to 12 checks, per Checkatrade) and the tick do trust work for you on day one.
- Your trade is one homeowners search Checkatrade for by name, and your average job pays well enough that one or two jobs a month cover the fee.
- You want the £30 "Approved" tick only, for the badge on your van and quotes, and don't need leads.
MyBuilder or Bark are worth a look if…
- You want no monthly commitment and are happy to pick jobs one at a time.
- You track every lead you pay for and drop job types that don't convert. On Bark, remember unused credits now expire after 3 months.
They are usually poor value if…
- You already have 20 or more Google reviews and steady word of mouth. You are paying to stand in a line of up to 3 for customers who might have found you anyway.
- Your jobs are small (a few hundred pounds) and you win one lead in four or five: the cost per job you actually win climbs fast.
Run the sums on your own numbers
The figure that matters is cost per job you actually win, not cost per lead.
Worked example 1, per-lead (from a trade's own report). The MyBuilder builder above: about 50 shortlists at £30 + VAT = £1,500 + VAT. He won 10. That is £150 + VAT per job won. His figures, 2018; fees today may differ.
Worked example 2, monthly plan (our assumption, check yours). Checkatrade Growth at its published floor of £59 a month on a 12-month plan is at least £708 a year before VAT. Your price may be higher; Checkatrade sets it on the call.
- If it brings you 12 won jobs a year: about £59 per job.
- If it brings you 4 won jobs a year: about £177 per job.
- If it brings you 1: £708 for one job.
How many jobs it brings depends on your trade, postcode and reviews. Nobody, including us, can promise you a number.
The other route: a website that is yours, built from your Google reviews
If you already have Google reviews, they are the strongest thing you own. A simple site that puts them front and centre, with your phone number one tap away, does the trust job a directory does, and the customer who finds it isn't shown three of your competitors next to you.
- Your reviews stay yours. The site shows the reviews on your own Google profile, and they stay there whatever you do with us.
- Missed calls get a text back. When you are up a ladder, the caller gets an automatic text so they don't ring the next trade.
- Review asks go out after each job, so the Google reviews keep growing.
- Local search basics are set up so the site and your Google profile point at the same trade and area.
What it won't do: a site does not make the phone ring by itself on day one. It earns when people already looking for you (from your Google profile, van, cards, word of mouth) land on it, and as it builds up in local search over months. If you have no reviews yet, a lead platform may get you started faster; that's a fair reason to use one.
Same sum, our route. Work out how many jobs each option needs to pay for itself. Assume each job leaves you £250 after materials (put in your own figure).
- Checkatrade Growth at the £59 floor: £708 a year, so about 3 jobs a year, every year, while you keep paying.
- Our site at £695 once: about 3 jobs, once.
- Our £59 a month plan: £708 a year, about 3 jobs a year, and the customer who rang you wasn't sent two other trades.
Neither option guarantees those 3 jobs. The difference is that an enquiry from your own site is not shared with other trades.
Get your free preview built
Send us your business name and the area you work in. We build a preview of your site from your own public Google reviews and send you the link. You look at it before you pay anything.
To be straight with you: we are new. We have no paying trade customers yet, so there are no testimonials here. The free preview is how you judge us.
Email hello@getaxionlabs.comWe reply within 24 hours.
Put your trade, business name and town in the email. Nothing on this page collects your details.
Sources (all read 6 October 2026)
- Checkatrade pricing page (Free £0, Approved £30/month, Growth from £59/mo, up to 12 checks, 12-month fixed plans): join.checkatrade.com/pricing
- Checkatrade, "Does Checkatrade cost money?" (no joining fee, basic plan £30 + VAT; page last updated 19 Dec 2024): checkatrade.com blog
- Checkatrade, What's New summer 2026 (Opportunities Board, removed once 3 trades pay for it): join.checkatrade.com/whats-new-summer-2026
- Rated People, "Rated People is now part of Checkatrade Group", 17 Sep 2026: ratedpeople.com; trade sign-up FAQ (memberships closed): ratedpeople.com/tradespeople/signup/enquiry
- MyBuilder trade sign-up page, archived 23 Jan 2024 (£2–£35 shortlist fee, no joining fee): web.archive.org
- Bark help centre (UK), "What is a credit and how much does it cost?" (£1.80/credit, 3-month expiry): help.bark.com
- TrustATrader "Join us" (no price published, leads not charged, limited per area): trustatrader.com/join-us
- Trade posts on Reddit (r/ukelectricians 5 Mar 2025; r/DIYUK 7 Jul 2026 and 6 Oct 2025), linked beside each quote above.
- MoneySavingExpert forum, MyBuilder thread page 12 (builder's figures, 6 Jan 2018): forums.moneysavingexpert.com
Brand names are used only to compare published prices. Axion Labs is not connected to any of these platforms. Prices change; check the platform's own page before you sign.