Checkatrade Cost in 2026: Every Price on Record
Checkatrade cost in 2026: officially from £30/month, members report £80 to £500. Plan prices, contract terms and cost-per-lead maths, all sourced and dated.
The Checkatrade cost question has a short official answer and a longer real one. Officially: £30 a month (+VAT) for an Approved listing, lead-generating Growth plans “from £59 a month”, no joining fee, 12-month fixed contracts. In practice, the Growth price depends on your trade and postcode, is only revealed during sign-up, and members report actual bills anywhere from £80 to £500 a month.
This guide collects every figure on record, with sources and dates, so you can see the full range before a sales call anchors you to one number. Prices were re-verified on 30 September 2026 and are maintained in the UK Trade Lead Cost Tracker, updated quarterly.
One clarification, because the same words cover two different questions. This page is about what Checkatrade charges tradespeople for membership. If you arrived looking for what a job should cost, the hourly and day rates a plumber or decorator charges a customer, that is Checkatrade’s own cost guides you want, not this one.
Checkatrade Membership Cost by Plan
| Plan | Published price | What you get | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approved | £30/month +VAT | Vetted badge and a profile homeowners can find | No lead stream. It is a reputation tier, not a marketing channel |
| Growth | ”from £59/month” +VAT | Directory placement plus an estimated annual lead volume | Real quote only appears after you enter trade and postcode; lead volume is an estimate, not a guarantee |
| Extras | varies | Search-boost credits (£100–£200 included on Growth), Checkatrade Pay | Members report credits needed for larger jobs; card fees run 1.29%–1.79% |
| Opportunities Board | credits, price unpublished | Extra leads you browse for free and pay to unlock | Bundles of 10 to 100 credits bought upfront, expiring after 6 months |
Source: join.checkatrade.com/pricing/, page updated 9 February 2026, accessed 30 September 2026. The page also lists a Free tier at £0 a month. VAT is not mentioned on the pricing page; Checkatrade’s own blog confirms prices are +VAT.
Every Checkatrade Price on Record
Official prices, third-party estimates and members’ own bills, labelled and dated. Where sources disagree, both figures stay on the record.
| What | Figure | Evidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approved plan | £30/month | Official | Checkatrade pricing page, accessed 30 Sep 2026 |
| Growth plan | from £59/month | Official | Checkatrade pricing page, accessed 30 Sep 2026 |
| Joining fee | £0 | Official | Checkatrade blog, accessed 30 Sep 2026 |
| Typical monthly cost, active members | £60–£120+/month | Third-party estimate | Local Search North, 8 Apr 2026 |
| Typical annual cost | £1,200–£2,000+/year | Third-party estimate | Local Search North, 3 Apr 2026 |
| Individual member-reported bills | £80, £306 and £442/month | Member-reported | Reddit and Facebook trade groups, 2024–2026 |
| 2026 contractor listing cost | £500/month | Member-reported | r/DIYUK thread, 2026 |
| 2026 business trying to exit | £390/month | Member-reported | r/smallbusinessuk thread, 2026 |
Where the sources disagree: Checkatrade’s blog says there is no joining fee, while one April 2026 third-party comparison claims a £300 to £500 one-off vetting cost I could not verify against any official source. Both claims stay on the record with their labels. The live version of this table, covering every big directory, is in the UK Trade Lead Cost Tracker.
What That Works Out At Per Lead
Divide the monthly fee by the estimated lead volume and the subscription turns into a per-lead price. Two real quotes from 2025 forum threads:
| Reported quote | Estimated leads | Cost per lead | Shared with |
|---|---|---|---|
| £150/month (electrician, r/ukelectricians, 2025) | 4/month | £37.50 | 3 other contractors (reported) |
| £129/month +VAT (Screwfix Community, 2025) | 7–8/month | ~£19 | 23 businesses in category (reported) |
A lead is not a job. Reported lead-to-job conversion on shared platforms runs 1 in 5 to 1 in 10, which puts the cost per won job at £95 to £375 on these two quotes. That is the number to compare against your gross profit per job, and it is why the break-even calculator on the tracker asks for your margin, not your turnover.
For comparison, a top-of-page Google Ads click for “plumber near me” runs £2.09 to £13.41 (Google Ads data, September 2026). A click is not a lead either, but a visitor to your own site is not shared with 3 to 23 competitors. The full ten-trade table is in the UK Trade Lead Cost Tracker, and if pay-as-you-go appeals more than a 12-month contract, the MyBuilder cost guide runs the same maths on shortlist fees and Checkatrade vs MyBuilder puts the two side by side.
Is There a Checkatrade Free Trial?
No. Checkatrade does not offer a trial you can walk away from. What it offers is a discount on a contract.
On 30 September 2026 the pricing page read “Limited Time Only: Get your first month FREE!”. In July the same page also advertised two months free on selected plans. That offer has gone.
Either way the membership runs for 12 months. One free month on a year is a discount of about 8%, and you are signed up for the other eleven before you have seen a single lead.
The pricing page does list a Free tier at £0 a month, below the £30 Approved plan. Even Approved comes with no lead stream, so a free listing tests nothing.
If you want to see how Checkatrade leads convert without a year’s commitment, the closest thing to a trial is the Opportunities Board.
The Opportunities Board: Checkatrade’s New Pay-Per-Lead Layer
The Opportunities Board is a feed of local leads that members browse for free and pay to unlock. Checkatrade added it in 2026 as a pay-per-lead layer on top of its subscriptions.
| What | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Credits, bought upfront in bundles of 10, 25, 50 or 100 | Checkatrade support, accessed 30 Sep 2026 |
| Price of a credit | Not published. “The more you buy, the lower the cost per credit” | Same page |
| Credit expiry | 6 months from purchase, no rollover | Same page |
| Refunds | Only for invalid leads, not for leads that do not convert | Same page |
| Competition | A lead comes off the board once 3 trades unlock it | What’s New Summer 2026, accessed 30 Sep 2026 |
| Which leads appear | Ones paying members did not take up, typically after about 4 hours | Checkatrade support, same page |
Read that last row twice. Plan members get first refusal, so the board carries the enquiries nobody on a subscription answered within about four hours.
That does not make them bad leads. It does mean the homeowner has usually waited half a day, which matters on an emergency call-out and barely matters on a fence.
One more thing to check. Rated People’s trade FAQ, which Checkatrade now runs, says creating an account for the board is free and “you only pay when you choose to unlock a lead”. Checkatrade’s own support page describes the board as something that “sits on top of your plan”. Ask which applies to you before you assume there is no membership fee.
What the Rated People Takeover Means for the Price
Rated People Limited went into liquidation on 16 September 2026, and Checkatrade Group bought the brand and website. Every Rated People trade membership was closed, and jobs posted there now go to Checkatrade members. The timeline is in my guide to what happened to Rated People.
For anyone pricing up Checkatrade, two things follow. There is one fewer competitor to quote against, and Checkatrade now fields the enquiries from two brands, which the announcement on Rated People’s site puts at “nearly 3 million consumers posting jobs across both platforms”.
Whether that shows up as more leads on your plan or a higher quote at renewal, nobody outside Checkatrade knows yet. I will record what members report in the next edition of the tracker, due in January 2027.
Two Things the Sales Call Won’t Mention
The contract used to be monthly. In 2020 Checkatrade’s entry price was reported at £84/month on a rolling monthly contract (This is Money, 24 October 2020). The move to 12-month fixed terms shifted the risk from the platform to the member. Get the estimated annual lead volume in writing; the Fixed Plan terms make it an estimate, not a commitment.
The spend disappears when you stop. £1,500 a year on membership buys visibility that ends with the contract, and your review history stays on their domain. The same money spent on your own site and Google Business Profile compounds instead. My full Checkatrade review weighs when each option makes sense, the Checkatrade alternatives guide prices every other route, and if you are mid-contract there is a cancellation guide too.
Want the same maths run on your own patch? See where you rank: a grid of your real position across your area, who’s above you, and the three changes worth making first. Sent the same working day, and you keep it whatever you decide.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is Checkatrade per month?
Officially £30/month (+VAT) for the Approved plan, which is a listing without a lead stream, and 'from £59/month' for lead-generating Growth plans. The actual Growth quote depends on your trade and postcode and only appears in the sign-up flow. Tradespeople report real bills of £80, £306, £390, £442 and £500 a month in threads from 2024 to 2026.
How much is Checkatrade per year?
Third-party analyses put typical annual spend at £1,200 to £2,000+. At the member-reported extremes, a £390/month bill is £4,680 a year and a £500/month bill is £6,000. Memberships are 12-month fixed contracts, so the annual number is the one to budget, not the monthly one.
Does Checkatrade have a joining fee?
Checkatrade says no: 'There is no joining fee. Checkatrade members only pay a monthly fee.' One April 2026 third-party comparison claims a £300 to £500 one-off vetting cost, which I could not verify against any official source. I show both claims and label the evidence.
Why won't Checkatrade tell me the price without my postcode?
Growth plan pricing is set by trade, postcode area and estimated lead volume, so the quote is generated inside the sign-up flow. The practical effect is that you cannot comparison-shop without handing over your details. Get the quote in writing, along with the estimated annual lead volume, before you sign anything.
What does a Checkatrade lead actually cost?
Divide the monthly fee by the estimated leads. A 2025 electrician's quote of £150/month for an estimated 4 leads is £37.50 per lead; a Screwfix member's £129 +VAT for 7 to 8 leads is roughly £19. Each lead is also shared with competing members, and reported lead-to-job conversion on shared platforms is 1 in 5 to 1 in 10, so the cost per won job can run into hundreds of pounds.
Does Checkatrade offer a free trial?
No. Checkatrade has no free trial you can walk away from. The offer on its pricing page on 30 September 2026 was 'Get your first month FREE', and in July the page also showed two months free on selected plans. Both sit inside a 12-month fixed membership, so a free month is a discount of about 8% on a year you have already committed to.
What is the Checkatrade Opportunities Board and what does it cost?
It is a live feed of local leads that members browse for free and pay credits to unlock. Credits are sold upfront in bundles of 10, 25, 50 or 100, expire after 6 months and are only returned if a lead is invalid. Checkatrade does not publish the price of a credit or how many a typical lead costs, so check inside the app before buying a bundle.
Do Checkatrade members get Rated People leads now?
Yes. Checkatrade Group bought the Rated People brand and website in September 2026, after Rated People Limited went into liquidation and closed every trade membership. Jobs that homeowners post on Rated People are now matched to Checkatrade members. Former Rated People members have to join Checkatrade from scratch to keep receiving them.
Is the Checkatrade lead volume guaranteed?
No. The Fixed Plan product terms describe the annual lead figure as an estimate that is not binding, and delivery can stop once the estimate is reached. Members report reduced visibility and upgrade prompts after using their allowance.
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