How much does Checkatrade cost? 2026 UK price guide
Short answer
Checkatrade's basic plan starts from £30 + VAT a month, which lists you but sends no leads. Plans with leads are priced by your trade and postcode and aren't published, and there's no joining fee. It's worth it if the jobs it wins you make more profit than the monthly fee.
Checkatrade's price moves around with the plan you choose and how many leads it includes, and it is quoted before VAT is added. The question that actually matters is not the sticker price, it is whether the extra jobs it brings in cover that cost, which is a sum you can work out yourself before you sign anything.
What Checkatrade actually charges
Checkatrade offers three kinds of membership: a basic plan, a fixed membership and a bespoke option for bigger firms. The basic plan starts from £30 + VAT a month and lists you so customers can find you by name, but it doesn't send you leads. The fixed membership is sized around how many leads Checkatrade sends you, and there's no joining fee.
The exact figures move around and differ by trade and postcode, so the only number worth trusting is the one on their current pricing page at the moment you call. Ask the sales call for the monthly fee, any per-lead charge, and whether VAT sits on top, then get it confirmed in writing before you agree to anything.
Is it worth it for a sole trader? Work out your own breakeven
Whether any lead site is worth it comes down to a single sum: does the extra work it brings in cover what it costs you. Here is how to do that sum with your own numbers.
- Work out your profit on a single job, not the sale price. Say you build conservatories at £17k a job and keep around £5,100 of that as profit once materials and labour are paid for.
- Call the site and ask for the exact monthly fee and any per-lead charge for your trade and postcode today, because tiers and prices change.
- Divide that figure by your profit per job. That tells you roughly how many extra jobs the platform needs to win you before it has paid for itself.
- Compare that number to the extra jobs you can realistically expect some months and not others, given how conservatory enquiries tend to pick up from spring through summer.
If the breakeven number is low, a trial is low risk. If it is higher than the jobs you can realistically win, that is your answer, whatever the sales call tells you.
VAT, tax and the contract small print
Treat any price you are quoted as excluding VAT until someone tells you otherwise, because that is how most business to business pricing works in the UK. Ask the question directly on the call and get the answer in writing.
On tax, GOV.UK confirms that a trade body or professional membership fee related to your business is an allowable expense you can claim through Self Assessment. Checkatrade membership should fall under that same rule because it is a cost of running your business, but check the specifics with your accountant before you rely on it.
Lead sites like this also commonly sell membership on a fixed term rather than a rolling monthly deal, and they often auto-renew unless you cancel inside a set window before the renewal date. The exact length and the cancellation method change over time, so do not rely on anything you read online, including this guide.
Before you sign, ask these on the call and get the answers sent to you in an e-mail:
- how long the initial term runs
- exactly how and when you need to give notice to stop it renewing
- whether the price quoted already includes VAT
Then put the renewal date straight in your diary the day you join.
Cheaper vetted alternatives to look at before you sign
Citizens Advice lists TrustMark as the Government's own trader scheme, alongside the Consumer Codes Approval Scheme, Buy with Confidence and Which? Trusted Trader, and warns that a trader might claim to belong to a scheme without actually being a member, so always check directly on the association's own website. Being part of a scheme like this is a different thing to paying for a lead site, and it can sit alongside your own marketing rather than replace it.
The Federation of Master Builders charges £62.69 plus VAT a month, with an extra inspection fee of £14.85 plus VAT a month in the first year, or a single £178.20 plus VAT annual inspection fee, and membership involves vetting checks plus an on site inspection of your completed work, with no long contract to sign. That gives you a trade body behind your name and a real inspection, which is worth weighing against the breakeven sum above.
That FMB fee is small next to the profit figure above, which puts any lead site's cost in perspective once you've done your own breakeven sum.
Track where every enquiry comes from, answer fast and chase every quote
Before you renew anything, spend a month writing down, for every enquiry, exactly which source it came from: Checkatrade, your own website, a Google search, or a recommendation. Most sole traders are paying for more than one source and have never actually checked which one earns its keep. A notebook by the kettle or a note on your phone is enough, and within a month you will have a real answer rather than a guess.
On lead sites, several firms often get the same enquiry at once, and homeowners usually go with whoever replies first and sounds like they know what they are doing. Call every new enquiry back within the hour if you can, even if it is only to say you will send a proper quote by a set time.
Sending the quote is not the end of the job either. A lot of silence after a quote just means the customer is still deciding, not that they have said no, and our guide on how to chase a quote without being pushy covers exactly what to say. If a customer has gone quiet for longer than a couple of weeks, the advice in what to do when a customer stops replying after a quote is worth a read before you write that job off.
Is your own website or Google Business Profile the cheaper long game?
A lead site is rented attention: stop paying, and your profile and reviews stay behind on their site, not yours. Your own Google Business Profile and website are not free to build well, but once they are set up, enquiries through them do not carry a monthly fee or a per-lead charge. If you want to test dropping a lead site, run it alongside your own website first, and only cancel once your own enquiries cover the gap, which is exactly the breakeven sum from earlier in this guide.
What happens to your reviews if you leave?
Reviews collected through a lead site's own review system usually stay tied to your profile on that site and do not automatically move anywhere else when you cancel. If being found and reviewed matters to you, keep asking happy customers for a Google review too, since that one lives on your own Google Business Profile rather than inside someone else's platform.
None of this means Checkatrade is a bad idea. It means the only honest answer to how much it costs is the one you work out for your own trade, your own margin, and your own patch, not a number lifted from somewhere else online.
Questions people ask
How much does Checkatrade cost per month?
The basic plan starts from £30 + VAT a month and doesn't send you leads. Plans with leads are priced by your trade and postcode and aren't published, so ask the sales team for a written price before you sign.
Is Checkatrade worth it for a sole trader?
Work out your profit on a typical job, find out the actual monthly cost for your trade and postcode, then see how many extra jobs you would need to cover it. If that number feels realistic for a normal month, it is worth a trial; if it is far higher than the jobs you can land, it probably is not.
Can I cancel my Checkatrade membership early?
Lead sites like this often sell membership on a fixed term that auto-renews unless you cancel inside a set window before the renewal date, so check the exact length and cancellation method with them directly and get it confirmed in writing. Put your renewal date in your diary as soon as you join so you are never caught out.
Do Checkatrade's prices include VAT?
Treat any price you are quoted as excluding VAT until you are told otherwise, since that is standard for most UK business to business pricing. Ask directly on the call and get written confirmation either way.
Can I claim Checkatrade fees against tax?
A trade body or professional membership fee related to your business is generally an allowable expense for Self Assessment, and a cost like this should fall under that same rule. Check the specifics for your situation with your accountant.
What happens to my reviews if I leave Checkatrade?
Reviews collected on a lead site's own system usually stay tied to your profile there and do not move with you when you cancel. Keep building reviews on your own Google Business Profile as well, since those stay under your control.
Whoever answers first gets the first look.
Imagine three extra conservatories a month at £12k each, that's £36,000 on the diary. Homeowners send the same enquiry to a few firms at once, and whoever answers first gets the conversation. We answer every enquiry inside a minute, day or night. Book a free 20-minute call with Ben or Sam.
Prefer to talk now? Call Sam: 07407 610646
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