How Much Does Checkatrade Cost in 2026?

How Much Does Checkatrade Cost in 2026? Full Fee Breakdown

Checkatrade is a monthly subscription, not a pay-as-you-go service — most trades pay somewhere between £60 and £150 a month, tied into a 12-month contract, before any extra lead or advertising spend is added on top. The company does not publish a public price list, so your exact quote depends on your trade, your area and how competitive that area is. This breakdown walks through where the money actually goes and, more importantly, how to work out what Checkatrade costs you per job won — because that is the only number that tells you whether it pays.

Why there is no simple price

The honest answer to “how much does Checkatrade cost” is: it depends, and they will not tell you until you get on a call. Checkatrade prices membership by trade category and postcode, so a plumber in a busy town pays a different rate to a decorator in a quieter one. There is no online sign-up with a price on it, and no published rate card. That is worth knowing before you ring them — you are negotiating, not reading a menu.

What is consistent is the shape of the deal: a recurring monthly fee, a minimum term, and a handful of optional extras that push the real total higher than the headline figure.

The monthly membership fee

The core cost is the membership subscription. In 2026 most trades report paying roughly £60 to £120 a month for standard membership, with busier trades and more competitive postcodes sitting at the higher end. Some quotes come in above that once you are in a high-demand category.

That fee buys your listing, your profile, your verified reviews and your place in the search results homeowners see. It does not, on its own, guarantee you a single job. You are paying to be visible, not to be hired.

The 12-month contract

Membership is normally a 12-month commitment. That is the part that catches people out. If you sign up in a quiet season, decide after two months it is not working and want to walk away, you are generally still on the hook for the rest of the term. Before you sign anything, read the notice and cancellation terms and ask directly what happens if you want out early. A monthly figure of £90 is really a £1,080 decision.

The extras that add up

The subscription is rarely the whole bill. The costs that quietly inflate the total include:

Featured or premium placement. Standard membership puts you in the listings; paying more pushes you higher up them. In a crowded trade, plenty of members feel they have to pay for prominence just to be seen, which turns an £90 base into something closer to £130 or £150.

Lead or contact fees. Depending on your plan and category, some enquiries carry a per-contact charge on top of the subscription. These commonly land anywhere from a few pounds to £30 or more per enquiry, and you can pay for a lead that never turns into a paying job.

Setup and admin. Ask whether there is a joining or setup fee, and whether the monthly price is fixed for the term or reviewed at renewal.

Add these together and a trade who signed up expecting to pay £90 a month can end up spending £120 to £160 once placement and leads are in the mix.

The number that actually matters: cost per job won

Monthly cost is the wrong thing to fixate on. What matters is cost per job won — what you spend to actually land one paying customer. Work it out like this: take everything you paid Checkatrade over three months (subscription, placement, lead fees), then divide by the number of jobs you genuinely won from it in that time.

Say you paid £90 a month plus £30 a month in lead fees, so £360 over three months, and you won four jobs. That is £90 per job won. Whether that is good or terrible depends entirely on your average job value. For a heating engineer landing £2,000 boiler installs, £90 to win one is a bargain. For a handyman whose average job is £120, it is a disaster. Run this sum on your own numbers before you judge any lead source — including this one.

The trap is paying a flat monthly fee in your quiet months when you are winning almost nothing. Subscriptions charge you the same in December as in June; your workload does not work that way.

Is Checkatrade worth it?

For some trades, yes. If you are in an area where homeowners actively search Checkatrade, your average job value is healthy, and you convert enquiries well, the membership can pay for itself several times over. The verified reviews and the brand recognition carry real weight with cautious homeowners.

For others it stings. If you are in a saturated category paying for placement, in a quieter patch, or working low-value jobs, the fixed monthly fee can outrun the work it brings in — and the 12-month term means you cannot bail the moment it stops paying. The people who do well tend to be the ones who track cost per job won honestly and treat the listing as one channel among several, not their whole marketing plan.

How pay-per-lead compares

The core frustration with a subscription model is that you pay whether the work comes or not. A pay-per-lead model flips that: you only pay when an actual local job lands, so your cost tracks your workload instead of the calendar.

That is how Trade Pilot is built. It is free to join, there is no monthly subscription and no 12-month tie-in — you buy lead credits and only spend when a real job in your area comes through. Each lead is sold to a maximum of three trades in that area, so you are not one of fifteen firms cold-calling the same homeowner. When work is slow, you are not bleeding a fixed fee for nothing. It is a different way to answer the same question every trade is really asking: what does it cost me to win a job, and is that worth it?

FAQ

How much does Checkatrade cost per month in 2026? Most trades report paying around £60 to £120 a month for standard membership, though it can be higher in competitive trades and areas. Checkatrade does not publish a public price list, so you only get an exact figure by contacting them.

Is there a contract with Checkatrade? Membership is normally a 12-month commitment. Check the cancellation and notice terms carefully before signing, and ask what happens if you want to leave early.

Does Checkatrade charge per lead? Depending on your plan and category, some enquiries can carry a per-contact fee on top of the monthly subscription, commonly ranging from a few pounds to £30 or more. Plans vary, so confirm exactly what you would be charged.

Why won’t Checkatrade give me a price up front? Pricing is set by trade category and postcode and is handled over the phone rather than published online. Treat the call as a negotiation and ask for the full cost, including any placement and lead fees, in writing.

Is Checkatrade worth it for a small trade? It depends on your average job value and how well you convert enquiries. Work out your cost per job won over a few months and compare it against your margins before committing to a year.

What’s the alternative to a monthly Checkatrade fee? Pay-per-lead platforms charge only when a real job comes in, so your spend tracks your workload rather than a fixed subscription — useful if your work is seasonal or your margins are tight.

Related reading: is Checkatrade worth it? · Checkatrade alternatives · MyBuilder vs Checkatrade · how to get more work in 2026