Your own website vs Checkatrade and the directories
One is an asset you own. The other is a lead you rent, often alongside your rivals.
- Checkatrade costs from around £60 a month, commonly £100 to £150 before a single lead, plus £5 to £40 per lead on top.
- Those leads are usually shared with three or four rival tradespeople, so you pay whether you win the job or not.
- A website you own is a one-off £199 to £999, every enquiry is yours alone, and it does not expire. See the prices.
Directories like Checkatrade, Bark and MyBuilder can send you work, and for a brand-new trade with no reputation, that is genuinely useful. But it helps to be clear-eyed about what you are buying, because it is not the same as owning a website.
What Checkatrade actually costs in 2026
- Membership starts around £60 a month, but it is common to pay £100 to £150 a month before a single lead comes in.
- Higher tiers run £199 to £399 a month, depending on your trade and area. That is £2,400 to £4,800 a year for visibility.
- Leads cost extra on top: £5 to £15 for a small job, £20 to £40 for a bigger one like a boiler or a bathroom.
- It is typically a 12-month contract you cannot leave mid-term.
The part that stings: shared leads
The lead you pay for is usually sent to three or four tradespeople at once. So you might pay £30 for an enquiry that also went to your competitors, and only one of you wins the job. The other two or three paid for nothing. You are not buying a customer, you are buying a chance to compete for one, and paying whether you win or not.
Side by side
| Your own website | Checkatrade | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | £199 to £999, once | £60 to £399 a month, plus per-lead fees |
| Who gets the enquiry | You alone | Shared with 3 to 4 rivals |
| Do you own it? | Yes, site and domain | No, you rent the listing |
| Contract | None | 12 months, no mid-term exit |
| What happens if you stop? | You keep everything | The listing disappears |
What your own website is instead
A website is an asset you own. You pay once to build it, then it works for you every day. When someone finds you through it and gets in touch, that enquiry is yours alone. Nobody else paid for it, and nobody else received it. Over a year, the maths is not close.
Consider the numbers. A full Starter website from us is £199, less than two months of a mid-tier Checkatrade membership, and it does not expire. A Standard site at £499 is roughly a quarter of what many trades spend on directories in a single year. And the enquiries it brings in are exclusively yours, forever.
It does not have to be either/or
Plenty of trades keep a directory listing while their own site finds its feet, then quietly let it lapse once the website is bringing in the calls. That is a sensible path. The point is simply this: the directory rents you leads; the website is the thing you own. Build the asset first, and let the rented leads become optional. If you want a starting point, here is what we build for plumbers and heating engineers.
Common questions.
Is Checkatrade a scam?
No, it is a legitimate service and it does send work. The issue is value: you pay a monthly fee plus per-lead costs, the leads are often shared with rivals, and you never own the relationship. It can be worth it early on, but it is renting, not owning.
How does a website compare on cost?
A one-off Starter build is £199 and a Standard site £499, versus £1,200 to £4,800 a year for a directory before per-lead fees. The website does not expire, and every enquiry through it is yours alone rather than shared with two or three competitors.
Should I cancel my directory membership?
Not necessarily on day one. A common approach is to keep it running while your website builds momentum and your Google presence grows, then let it lapse at the end of the contract once the site is doing the heavy lifting.