Checkatrade Free Trial: What the 2 Months Free Offer Commits You To

There is no Checkatrade free trial. What Checkatrade offers in November 2026 is 2 months free on a 12-month Fixed Plan, and its own terms say plainly that “any promotional offer or free period given to You is not a trial period”.

So the question to ask is what the offer commits you to. On day one you are agreeing to 10 paid months, plus a renewal that runs itself unless you phone in the right 35-day window.

I read the November offer terms, the Master Service Terms and the Fixed Plan terms on 7 November 2026. Below is what they say, what the first year costs on real member prices, and what to set up in week one. For every plan price on record, see my Checkatrade cost breakdown.

Is There a Checkatrade Free Trial?

No. Checkatrade has no trial you can walk away from once it ends. Its sign-up offers are discounts on a 12-month Fixed Plan, and the Master Service Terms say a free period “is not a trial period”. Your only penalty-free exit is the 2 business days after your start date.

There are two things people mistake for a trial.

The first is the free profile at £0 a month. Checkatrade’s Free Profile terms (updated 4 October 2025) say you are “only visible on the Platform when You are searched for by name and We will not provide You with leads”. It collects reviews. It does not test whether Checkatrade can fill your diary.

The second is the 2 business day cooling-off. Clause 8 of the Master Service Terms gives you 2 business days from the start date in your Confirmation Email to cancel “without having to pay anything further”. Sign on a Friday and those two days are Monday and Tuesday. No leads worth judging will arrive in that time.

The November 2026 Offer, Line by Line

Checkatrade publishes a new offer page most months. The one live today is headed “Limited Time Only: Get 2 Months FREE” and was last updated on 3 November 2026.

Term	What it says	Source
Sign-up dates	1 to 30 November 2026 inclusive	Offer terms, clause 1
Most trades	100% off the first 2 months, across 69 categories from Air Conditioning to Windows/Doors/Conservatories	Offer terms, clause 1
Roofers and Fascia/Soffits/Guttering	50% off the first 2 months only	Offer terms, clause 1
Which plan	12-month Fixed Plan memberships only, with an active direct debit	Offer terms, clauses 1 and 2
How the discount is worked out	On the membership price excluding VAT	Offer terms, clause 1
When it applies	Only “where it is expressly confirmed and applied by Checkatrade at the time of sign-up”	Offer terms, clause 2
Stacking	Cannot be used with any other Checkatrade promotion or discount	Offer terms, clause 2
Clawback	If you breach the membership terms, Checkatrade “may withdraw the Offer or require reimbursement of the value of the Offer”	Offer terms, clause 3

Two things in that table deserve a second look.

Roofers get half the deal everyone else gets. If you are a roofer, a £300 a month plan saves you £300 over the two months, not £600. (My roofer websites page covers the route that does not involve a directory.)

The clawback clause means the free months are conditional for the whole year. Miss a payment or fall foul of the Checkatrade Standard and Checkatrade can ask for the value of the discount back.

The pricing page and the offer page also disagree today. On 7 November 2026, join.checkatrade.com/pricing/ still showed a banner reading “Get your first month FREE”, with sign-up links tagged “First_Month_Free”, while its footnote linked to the November terms promising two. That is why the “expressly confirmed” line matters. Whatever the salesperson says, the offer you get is the one written into your Confirmation Email.

Offers change month to month

When I checked the same pricing page on 30 September 2026, it offered a free first month. In July 2026 it showed two months free on selected plans. The offer rotates, so if you are reading this after November, open the current offer page from the pricing page footnote before you take anyone’s word for it.

One more free route exists. Logic4training gives selected plumbing and heating course students a voucher for 6 or 12 months of free Checkatrade Approved membership. Approved sends no leads, and Logic4training’s terms say a 6-month voucher’s renewal reverts to 12 months.

What “2 Months Free” Actually Commits You To

Taking the offer signs you up to a 12-month Fixed Plan that starts on the date in your Confirmation Email. The two free months are months one and two of that year. Months three to twelve are invoiced in advance at full price, and the plan then renews for another 12 months automatically.

Here is what the terms commit you to, clause by clause.

• The term. The agreement starts on the Commencement Date in your Confirmation Email and runs for the contract period set out there. The pricing page footnote says “Memberships are for 12 months”.
• Billing. The Fixed Plan terms (last updated 19 December 2024) say you are invoiced “in advance, with the first invoice on (or shortly after) the Commencement Date” and on the same date each month after.
• Stopping payment. Cancelling your direct debit “does not constitute a valid termination”, and you “remain liable to pay the full Fees for Your remaining Agreement Term”.
• Renewal. It renews for the same period unless the business owner phones 0333 014 6190 “no earlier than 35 days before the Renewal Date”. Checkatrade can raise the fee at renewal on 30 days’ notice.
• The application fee. The Master Service Terms define a “£250 excluding VAT” application fee for vetting that Checkatrade “may charge” and that is non-refundable. Checkatrade’s own blog says “there is no joining fee”. Ask which applies to you, in writing, before you sign.
• Leads. You get an estimate of how many leads to expect. The Fixed Plan terms say it “is not binding” and that Checkatrade can “stop providing You with Leads if you reach or exceed any estimate”.

That last one changes how you should count. Checkatrade’s definition of a lead includes phone calls, messages, quote requests “and/or clicks from the Platform to Your website”. A click from your profile to your site counts towards the estimate the same as a phone call.

The First-Year Maths

Two free months take 16.7% off the first year. Here is what that looks like in pounds, using the published entry price and the member-reported bills in my lead cost tracker.

Monthly plan price (ex VAT)	Normal first year	With 2 months free	You save	Paid first year inc VAT
£59 (published “from” price)	£708	£590	£118	£708
£150 (2025 electrician quote on Reddit)	£1,800	£1,500	£300	£1,800
£300 (2026 Reddit reports of “over £300”)	£3,600	£3,000	£600	£3,600
£500 (2026 Reddit report)	£6,000	£5,000	£1,000	£6,000
£300, roofer on 50% off	£3,600	£3,300	£300	£3,960

Add the £250 application fee if it is charged, and the £118 saving on a £59 plan becomes £132 out of pocket. On the cheapest plans the fee can cost more than the offer saves.

The bigger number is the one in the third column. On a £300 plan you have agreed to pay £3,000 plus VAT before you have seen how the leads convert. Work out how many jobs that needs.

If your average job leaves you £400 gross profit, £3,000 is eight won jobs in ten months just to stand still (nine if you are not VAT registered and pay the £3,600). The break-even calculator on the tracker does this for your trade and win rate.

Why the Free Months Flatter the Numbers

The two free months land exactly where members say Checkatrade performs best. In the forum threads I went through for my Checkatrade reviews roundup, one member with around 200 reviews described two strong opening months followed by a steady fade, despite improving his profile.

New-member boosts are common across directories. If yours happens, you see your best leads during the months you are not paying for, then pay full price for the months after.

So judge Checkatrade on months three and four. And remember the timing. By the start of month three you still have ten full-price months to pay.

What to Set Up in Week One

You cannot use the free months to decide whether to stay, because the decision is made when you sign. What you can do is make sure you know the real numbers by renewal time.

1. Get the offer in writing. Check the Confirmation Email shows the discount and the start date. If it does not, raise it inside the 2 business days while you can still cancel for nothing.
2. Settle the application fee. If the email or first invoice includes £250, query it straight away. You have 14 days from receiving an invoice to dispute it by phone (Master Service Terms, clause 38).
3. Write down the lead estimate. Note the number Checkatrade gave you. You will compare it with what arrives, and you will know if leads stop because you hit it.
4. Log every lead. Date, job type, postcode, whether it was a call, a message or just a click to your website, whether you quoted, whether you won, and the job’s value. A notebook works. So does a spreadsheet.
5. Diary the renewal window now. Count back 35 days from your renewal date and set two reminders. The business owner has to phone 0333 014 6190. My guide to cancelling Checkatrade walks through the call.
6. Fill the profile. The Fixed Plan terms tie lead numbers to “how many reviews You get” and how “up to date and appealing You make Your Profile”. Ask your last ten happy customers for a review in week one.

By the time the renewal window opens, the log gives you a cost per won job. If it is higher than your margin can carry, you phone to cancel. If it works, you stay with evidence instead of a feeling.

Is the Offer Worth Taking?

If you have already decided to join Checkatrade, take it in November. Two months off is worth £118 to £1,000 depending on your plan, and nothing in the November terms makes the contract worse than an ordinary sign-up, apart from the clawback.

If you are only joining because two months are free, don’t. The discount is 16.7% of a year you cannot get out of, and the free months are the ones least likely to show you what the other ten are worth.

Run your numbers through the Checkatrade cost breakdown first, and look at the Checkatrade alternatives that charge per lead or nothing at all.

If you want a second opinion before you sign, book a free 20 minute call. I’ll go through what you spend now and the jobs you want more of, and tell you straight whether a website and Google Business Profile would get you there instead.