Checkatrade is the most popular lead-generation platform for UK tradespeople. Thousands of plumbers, electricians, and other trades are on it.
But Checkatrade is not a website. It is a marketplace. And like any marketplace, you compete heavily for every single lead.
Is Checkatrade better than a dedicated website? Or should you use both? Here is an honest comparison.
What Checkatrade Is and What You Pay
Checkatrade is a directory of vetted UK tradespeople. Customers find your profile and contact you for quotes.
Check current membership terms, lead fees and cancellation conditions directly with Checkatrade for your trade and region.
You get your profile on the platform. You get access to leads sent through Checkatrade. You get customer reviews on the Checkatrade site.
Millions of UK customers use Checkatrade to find tradespeople. This is Checkatrade’s strength.
How Checkatrade Leads Work
A customer needs work done. They go to Checkatrade. They post a job or search for plumbers in their area.
Your profile appears alongside dozens of other plumbers. The customer reads reviews, looks at pricing, and contacts the ones they like.
You are now competing directly with every other plumber in that search. Price, reviews, response speed. The customer might contact three plumbers and go with the cheapest or the fastest responder.
Checkatrade does not send you exclusive leads. It sends you public leads that every other plumber on the platform sees too.
The Problem With Renting Leads
This is the fundamental issue with Checkatrade and similar platforms.
You are renting leads. You do not own them. You do not own the customer relationship. You do not own the platform.
You pay your membership fee. The leads keep coming. You stop paying. The leads stop.
This is fine if Checkatrade generates enough leads to justify the cost. But you are forever dependent on their platform, their algorithm, their rules.
If Checkatrade changes their pricing, you have no choice but to accept it or leave.
If Checkatrade changes how they rank profiles and you drop in visibility, you lose leads immediately.
You are a tenant, not an owner.
What ProBizMate Does Differently
ProBizMate builds a website specifically designed to rank on Google for your local area.
Your website ranks organically. When a customer searches “plumber Manchester” or “electrician near me” in your area, your website appears in the results.
These leads are not competed for. They come directly to you because Google ranks you highest for that search in that location.
You own the website. You own the customer relationship. You own the leads.
There is no middleman. No platform taking a cut. No competing for leads with dozens of other tradespeople.
Compare the whole cost
Compare the current written website quote with the current platform terms. Include the build, hosting, care, membership and any lead fees. Older fixed ProBizMate package prices are no longer the current offer.
A website and a directory serve different purposes. A directory can provide an additional discovery route; your website gives you a place to explain your services, show your work and receive direct enquiries. Neither guarantees a particular number of jobs.
Can You Use Both
You can use a directory alongside your website if the work it brings justifies its costs. Record the source of each enquiry and the jobs won before deciding what to keep.
Measure the return for your business
Track qualified enquiries, jobs won, collected revenue and the costs of delivering those jobs. Subtract channel and website costs from the contribution those jobs produce. Compare both routes over the same period. A lower cost per lead is useful only if the enquiries become profitable work.
The Real Advantage of a Website
A website is an asset. You build it once and it generates leads for years.
When you leave Checkatrade, the leads stop immediately. You own nothing.
When you leave your website, it keeps ranking. If you pause your subscription, it is still there. If you sell your business, it has value.
A website with good Google ranking is a real business asset. Checkatrade profile is a rental.
Reputation and Reviews
On Checkatrade, your reputation is on their platform. Your reviews are on their site.
With a ProBizMate website, your Google reviews appear on Google, on your website, on Google Maps. These are portable. They follow you everywhere.
Google reviews are more trusted anyway. More people check Google than Checkatrade.
The Decision
If you have no leads right now, Checkatrade can help in the short term while your website is building.
But build a website simultaneously. Do not rely on Checkatrade long-term.
The best situation is a mix early on. Checkatrade while your website builds. Then eventually, your website becomes your primary lead source.
The Timeline
Month 1-6: Checkatrade generates leads. Website is building. Month 6-12: Both Checkatrade and website are generating leads. Month 12+: Website is generating the majority of your leads. Checkatrade becomes supplementary.
This is the path most successful UK tradespeople follow.
Checkatrade works. But it is expensive and you do not own the asset. A website you own and control outperforms Checkatrade in the long term.
Consider both. But build a website and make it your foundation.
Guide navigation and next steps checked 8 October 2026. The article publication date is shown above.