How Much Does Checkatrade Cost Per Month? Full 2026 Breakdown

Why Checkatrade Doesn't Publish Its Prices

Checkatrade's pricing is not listed anywhere on its public-facing website. To get a quote, you have to book a call with their sales team — who will then tailor a package based on your trade, your location and how aggressively you want to generate leads.

This is a deliberate model. Pricing varies significantly based on what they think the market in your area can bear. A plumber in central London will be quoted a very different number than a plumber in rural Yorkshire. The lack of transparency also makes it harder to comparison-shop before you've already started the sales conversation.

"You can't look up what Checkatrade costs. You have to go through a sales call first — which is the point. By then you're already in the funnel."

What Checkatrade Actually Costs: The Real Numbers

Based on reports from UK tradespeople across forums, review sites and trade communities, here is what Checkatrade memberships typically cost in 2026.

Membership Fees

• Basic listing: from around £60 per month — gets you a profile on the platform but limited lead volume and visibility
• Active membership: typically £100–£300 per month for most trades in most areas
• High-volume or urban areas: £300–£500+ per month, particularly in London, the South East and large cities
• Annual vs monthly: paying annually is cheaper — the widely cited annual rate is around £600 for a standard membership, versus £60–£80/month if paying monthly

Per-Lead Fees

On top of membership, Checkatrade charges per-lead fees in most plans:

• Small jobs (dripping tap, single socket): £5–£15 per lead
• Mid-size jobs (bathroom repair, boiler service): £15–£25 per lead
• Larger projects (boiler replacement, bathroom refit, rewire): £25–£40 per lead

Leads are typically shared with three to four other tradespeople at the same time. You pay the fee regardless of whether you win the job.

What This Looks Like Month to Month

Taking a typical plumber or electrician as an example:

• Quiet month: membership (~£100) + a small number of leads (~£75) = around £175
• Average month: membership (~£150) + active lead purchasing (~£250) = around £400
• Busy period: membership + higher lead volume = £600–£775+

The Renewal Problem: Prices That Creep Up

One of the most consistent complaints about Checkatrade is what happens at renewal. The rate you sign up at is frequently not the rate you pay in year two.

Tradespeople across forums and review sites report receiving renewal quotes that are meaningfully higher than their original rate — sometimes 20 to 40 percent more. The contract is often auto-renewed unless you actively cancel, and cancelling partway through a term typically carries an early exit fee.

This means the true long-term cost of Checkatrade is higher than the headline number you are quoted in the sales call. Factor in year-two and year-three renewals before calculating whether the investment makes sense for your business.

What Do You Actually Get for the Money?

Checkatrade membership is not just about leads. Your membership includes:

• A verified profile on the Checkatrade directory with your reviews, qualifications and contact details
• The Checkatrade badge — the logo you can display on your van, website and marketing materials. For certain trades this carries real consumer trust.
• Background and insurance vetting that gives homeowners confidence in your credentials
• Inclusion in Checkatrade's own marketing — they spend significantly on TV advertising, which drives homeowner traffic to the platform

These things have genuine value — particularly for newer trade businesses that have not yet built their own review profile or online presence. The question is whether they are worth £400 a month on an ongoing basis when the same budget could be building something you own permanently.

The Metric That Actually Matters: Cost Per Job Won

Membership fee and per-lead cost are inputs. The number that tells you whether Checkatrade is worth it is your cost per paying customer.

Here is how to calculate it:

• Add your total Checkatrade spend last month (membership + leads)
• Count the number of jobs you won that came from Checkatrade
• Divide the first number by the second

Based on real-world data from UK tradespeople, the typical cost per customer acquired through Checkatrade is £80 to £200. For high-value jobs (boiler replacements, bathroom fits, rewires), that can be an acceptable number. For smaller recurring work, it usually is not.

"If you can't tell me your cost per job won from Checkatrade, you don't know if it's working. And if you don't know if it's working, you're almost certainly overspending."

Compare that number to what Google Ads delivers for your trade in your area. Many tradespeople find they can acquire a paying customer for £30–£80 through well-managed Google Ads campaigns — half the cost, and the traffic goes to a website you own rather than a marketplace full of competitors.

Is Checkatrade Worth the Money in 2026?

Checkatrade is worth the money if:

• You are in an emergency or reactive trade — plumber, electrician, boiler engineer — where Checkatrade's brand recognition drives urgent homeowner searches
• You are new to the trade and need enquiries quickly while you build your own website and Google presence
• You can clearly calculate your cost per job won and it makes commercial sense against your average job value
• You are in a lower-competition area where fewer tradespeople are listed and your profile gets genuine visibility

Checkatrade is probably not worth the money if:

• You are spending £300+ per month and cannot clearly attribute profitable jobs to the platform
• You are in a saturated urban market with many competing listings in your trade category
• You have been on the platform for more than a year and your lead volume has not improved despite increasing spend
• Your job values are relatively low and a £150 customer acquisition cost does not make commercial sense

What the Same Budget Builds if You Own It

The question worth asking is not just "is Checkatrade worth it" but "what would this money do if it was building something I own?"

£400 a month pointed at a conversion-ready trade website and targeted Google Ads campaign means:

• Homeowners who find you on Google are looking at your site only — not comparing you to four competitors simultaneously
• Every review you collect goes to your Google profile — building your own ranking and reputation, not Checkatrade's
• Your website, your reviews and your Google presence belong to you permanently — stopping Google Ads pauses lead flow; stopping Checkatrade erases your presence entirely
• Over twelve to eighteen months, organic search and review velocity compound — your cost per lead typically falls over time rather than increasing at renewal

We are not saying Checkatrade is always the wrong choice. We are saying it should never be your only choice — and for many established UK tradespeople, the maths stops working long before they realise it.