Checkatrade vs MyBuilder vs Rated People — Which Is Best for UK Tradespeople? (2026)

Checkatrade, MyBuilder and Rated People are three of the most widely used lead platforms for UK tradespeople. They all promise more work, but they operate on completely different models — and the difference matters. Paying for the wrong platform, or not understanding how each one works, is one of the fastest ways to burn your marketing budget and come away with nothing to show for it.

This guide breaks down exactly how each platform works, what it costs, the vetting requirements, the quality of leads you can realistically expect, and which platform makes sense depending on where you are in your business.

How Each Platform Works

Checkatrade

Checkatrade operates on a subscription model. You pay an annual membership fee — typically between £400 and £900 per year depending on your trade and location — and in return your profile appears in their directory. When a homeowner searches for a plumber or electrician in your area, your profile can appear alongside others. If they like what they see, they contact you directly.

This is an important distinction: you are not paying per lead. You are paying for visibility in a directory. There is no guarantee of enquiries. What you get is the chance to be found by customers who are already searching for someone like you — and the Checkatrade brand badge to put on your van and website, which carries meaningful consumer recognition in the UK.

MyBuilder

MyBuilder uses a pay-per-lead model. It is free to create a profile. Customers post jobs on the platform — "I need a boiler service in Leeds" or "looking for a plasterer in Bristol" — and you pay to express interest and receive the customer's contact details. Lead prices vary by job type, typically running from £3 to £20 per lead.

The catch: you are not the only tradesperson competing for that job. Multiple tradespeople can quote, and the customer decides who they contact or hire. You pay for the lead whether or not you win the work.

Rated People

Rated People works similarly to MyBuilder. Customers post jobs; you buy "quote credits" to access the customer's details and express interest. Credit prices typically range from £3 to £12. Again, multiple tradespeople can quote on the same job, so competition is baked into the model.

Rated People tends to attract slightly smaller domestic jobs on average, though the range is broad depending on trade. The fundamental dynamic — pay to compete — is the same as MyBuilder.

Vetting Requirements

The level of scrutiny you face before you can trade on each platform is very different, and that difference matters both to you and to customers.

Checkatrade has the most rigorous vetting process. To join, you'll typically need to provide proof of ID, evidence of relevant qualifications, public liability insurance, and for some trades (anything involving work in domestic properties with vulnerable people) a DBS check. Checkatrade also monitors reviews on an ongoing basis and can remove members for poor performance. The vetting is part of the product — it's what justifies their brand promise to consumers and why homeowners are willing to pay more to hire someone they found there.

MyBuilder and Rated People both have lighter-touch vetting. You can typically get set up with basic business registration and start quoting relatively quickly. Reviews from completed jobs build your profile over time. The lower barrier to entry means more competition on the platform, and less inherent trust from customers compared to what the Checkatrade badge signals.

Lead Quality: What You Actually Get

This is where the platforms diverge most sharply — and where most tradespeople eventually form a strong opinion.

On Checkatrade, when a customer contacts you, they have already found your profile, read your reviews, looked at your photos, and made a decision to reach out to you specifically. That's a higher-intent contact. They are not simultaneously requesting five other quotes from the platform's interface. The conversion rate from enquiry to booked job tends to be higher as a result — assuming your profile is strong.

On MyBuilder and Rated People, the customer has posted a job and multiple tradespeople are competing for it. Many of those customers are explicitly looking for the cheapest quote. Conversion rates are typically lower — experienced tradespeople often report winning one in eight to one in twelve leads, sometimes worse. You are paying for every lead you attempt, including the ones that go nowhere.

This does not make pay-per-lead platforms worthless — but it does mean you need to be clear-eyed about the real cost per job won, not just the cost per lead.

What Tradespeople Actually Report

Talking to experienced tradespeople across the UK, a few consistent patterns emerge:

• Checkatrade works well for established trades with strong consumer brand recognition — plumbers, electricians, gas engineers, roofers, builders. In these trades, homeowners actively search Checkatrade by name before hiring anyone.
• In areas where Checkatrade has high membership density (many competing profiles), standing out requires excellent reviews and an optimised profile. The subscription fee alone does not guarantee enquiries.
• MyBuilder and Rated People can be useful for newer businesses, niche trades, or trades where Checkatrade charges a premium and the competition is intense. The pay-per-lead model lets you test the market without a large upfront commitment.
• Most experienced tradespeople eventually reduce or eliminate their use of pay-per-lead platforms as they build direct referral networks and Google presence.

ROI Analysis: Which Is Actually Cheaper?

The question is never which platform has the lowest headline cost. The question is which platform generates the most profit per pound spent.

Consider a Checkatrade membership at £700 per year. If it generates three extra jobs per month at an average value of £300, that is £900 in revenue per month from a £58/month cost. The ROI is exceptional — but only if the leads actually convert, which depends heavily on your profile quality and the competitiveness of your local market.

Now consider MyBuilder at £20 per lead (for a larger job type) with a 10% conversion rate. That means spending £200 in leads to win one job. If that job is worth £300, your margin after lead cost is thin. If the job is worth £2,000, the economics look much better. The platform that wins depends entirely on your average job value and your conversion rate — neither of which the platforms will tell you upfront.

The practical implication: track your numbers. Do not rely on gut feel about which platform "seems to be working." Know your cost per booked job on each platform and compare it against your margin.

Profile Optimisation Matters More Than You Think

On all three platforms, your ranking and enquiry volume are heavily influenced by factors you control. Photo quality, the number and recency of your reviews, how quickly you respond to enquiries, how complete your profile is — all of these affect where you appear and whether customers choose you over a competitor.

A well-optimised Checkatrade profile in a competitive area with 80 recent reviews will consistently outperform a thin profile with 12 old ones, even if the thin profile is technically cheaper because it's in a lower-cost membership tier. The same applies on MyBuilder and Rated People: tradespeople with strong review histories get better visibility and higher customer confidence.

The Review Loop

Every platform amplifies reviews. More reviews drive better visibility, which drives more enquiries, which creates opportunities for more reviews. Getting started from zero is the hardest phase — you need a few strong reviews before the flywheel starts to turn.

The practical approach: complete a job, ask for the review the same day (not a week later), and make it easy for the customer by sending a direct link. Tradespeople who build a systematic review request habit grow their profile significantly faster than those who ask occasionally or hope customers leave reviews unprompted.

Do You Have to Pick Just One?

No — and most experienced tradespeople don't. The most common approach among established businesses is to use Checkatrade as a credibility signal (the badge on the van, the logo on the website, the directory presence) combined with a strong Google Business Profile for free organic search traffic, and to avoid pay-per-lead platforms entirely once the pipeline is healthy enough to sustain without them.

This approach costs less per job over time because the marginal cost of a job from Google organic or direct referral is close to zero, whereas every job from MyBuilder or Rated People has a real lead cost attached.

Track What Actually Converts

The most common mistake tradespeople make is paying for multiple platforms and having no idea which one is generating actual revenue. They know they're getting enquiries but can't tell whether they're coming from Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Google, or someone who found them through a friend.

You can solve this with simple methods: use a separate phone number for each platform (call tracking services are inexpensive), ask every new enquiry how they found you and record the answer, or use a tool like Trade2Base to tag each lead source and track it through to booked revenue. Without that data, you cannot make good decisions about where to spend your marketing budget.

Which Platform Should You Choose?

The honest answer depends on where you are in your business:

• Established, with good reviews: Checkatrade's subscription model gives you more control and typically better-quality enquiries. Invest in optimising your profile and collecting reviews systematically.
• Starting out or in a niche trade: MyBuilder or Rated People let you generate some leads quickly without a large upfront commitment. Use them while you build your Google presence and review base, then reassess whether the cost per job still makes sense.
• In a highly competitive Checkatrade market: If your local area has dozens of strong profiles in your trade, the subscription may not generate enough enquiries to justify the cost. Test MyBuilder or Rated People alongside it and track the numbers.

Building Your Own Pipeline Is the Long Game

The goal for any trade business should be to reduce dependency on paid platforms over time. Google Business Profile, a well-built website, direct referrals from happy customers, and repeat work from existing clients are all channels that cost less per job than any lead platform once they are working.

Lead platforms are a valid tool — particularly when you're growing — but they should be a supplement to your pipeline, not the foundation of it. When a platform raises its prices or changes its algorithm, businesses that depend entirely on it have no fallback. Businesses with a diversified lead mix carry on.

The tradespeople who grow most consistently are those who treat platforms as one input among several, track their actual ROI on each, and steadily shift budget toward the channels that cost the least per booked job. That usually means investing in your own digital presence — your Google profile, your website, your reviews — rather than permanently renting space on someone else's platform.