Where each one fits
Bark
Trades who can respond within minutes, and anyone working outside home trades, which Bark also covers.
Watch out for: You are buying the right to contact somebody who did not ask for your call, alongside several others who bought the same right. See the full comparison with Bark.
Checkatrade
Established trades with enough steady volume that a fixed monthly cost works out cheaper per job than paying per lead.
Watch out for: The cost is fixed and the work is not. A quiet January costs the same as a busy June. See the full comparison with Checkatrade.
MyBuilder
Trades who would rather pay nothing in a quiet month and who win a high share of the jobs they are shortlisted for.
Watch out for: The fee scales with the job, so the jobs worth winning are the ones that cost most to chase, and you pay it before you know whether the work is yours. See the full comparison with MyBuilder.
Rated People
Trades wanting a long-established national platform and steady lead flow in areas where the newer platforms are thin.
Watch out for: You pay twice, once to be on the platform and again for each job you want to quote on, and both are payable whether or not you win. See the full comparison with Rated People.
TrustATrader
Trades who want a directory listing and review history without a separate charge every time they quote.
Watch out for: There is no public price list, so you cannot compare the cost against anything else until you have been quoted for your trade and area.
The last row of the table is not a platform and gets a section of its own below, because it is the one every trade on this page already has access to and most are not using properly.
What a Bark lead really costs you
The credit price is not the cost of a job. The cost is what you spent on leads in a month, divided by the jobs those leads won you.
- At one win in three: a £20 lead costs £60 for the job you won, which is cheaper than most memberships if you can keep that rate up.
- At one win in eight: the same £20 lead costs £160 for the job, plus the hours spent pricing the seven you lost.
Track it for one month before you change anything. Most trades have never worked the number out, and it is the only thing that says whether to move to a membership, stay where you are, or stop paying at the point of contact altogether. A membership reverses the bet: fixed cost, unlimited quoting, cheaper the busier you are and worse the moment the work goes quiet.
The leads nobody charges you for
A lead you did not buy converts better than one you did, because the customer came looking for you instead of having your details handed to them alongside three other people's. These take months rather than minutes, which is the trade-off, and they do not stop the day you stop paying.
- A Google Business Profile. Free, and the one listing you own rather than rent. It is what appears when somebody searches your trade and their town, and nobody can switch it off.
- Reviews, asked for on the day. At the end of the job, while you are still standing there, pointed at your own profile rather than at a platform that will charge you for the next lead.
- Local community groups. Town and village groups on Facebook and Nextdoor, where the trades who get recommended are the ones answering questions rather than posting adverts.
- The customers you have already worked for. Nobody buys a lead to do a second job for somebody who already has their number.
Choosing by the work you do
- If you cannot answer within minutes. Paying per lead rewards whoever replies first. If your day is spent on a roof or under a floor, you are buying leads that were settled before you read them, and a membership or a success fee will suit you better.
- Small jobs, many of them. A £20 credit against a £90 job is most of the margin gone before you pick up a tool. Any flat fee charged to make contact punishes small work, which is why small jobs get fewer responses on those platforms.
- Large jobs, few of them. The credit price stops mattering. One won bathroom covers a year of credits, so judge on lead quality and on how many others were sold the same lead.
- Work outside the trades. Bark covers tutors, photographers, event suppliers and a great deal more that the trades platforms do not. If that is part of your income it is a real reason to keep it, whatever you add alongside.
What none of them change
Bark charges you to make contact, a membership charges you to be listed, and a shortlist fee charges you to be considered. All three are collected before the customer has chosen anybody, so every trade who quotes pays and only one of them gets the work. That is the model rather than a fault of any one platform, and it is the thing worth changing rather than shopping around within.
Ace Services is a UK home services marketplace built the other way round. Quoting costs £0 always and there is no subscription: none. A success fee of 2% of the accepted quote, minimum £2 and maximum £10, is charged only when a customer accepts your quote. A job is capped at three tradespeople, and the customer's details go to the one they accept rather than to everybody who quoted.
Two honest limits, because you would find them out in week one anyway. The platform is younger than the names above, so there is less work flowing through it today than through a long-established national one, and there is no directory profile with years of reviews to inherit. It costs nothing to quote, so it is something to add alongside what you use now and judge on the jobs it wins you, not a reason to cancel anything on day one.
See what Ace Services costs a tradesperson, or read the full comparison with Bark.
Common questions
Is there a cheaper alternative to Bark?
Cheaper per lead is the wrong comparison. What matters is what you spend to win one job. A membership is cheaper than credits once your volume is high enough and worse in a quiet month, because it is payable either way. A success fee cannot cost more than the job it is charged on: Ace Services charges nothing to quote and 2% of the accepted quote, minimum £2 and maximum £10, only when a customer accepts. A Google Business Profile and the customers you already have cost nothing at all.
Is there an alternative to Bark with no lead fees?
Yes, and they charge somewhere else instead. Checkatrade and TrustATrader charge a membership, so the quoting is unlimited and the cost is fixed whether you work or not. MyBuilder charges when a customer shortlists you rather than when you make contact. Ace Services charges nothing to quote and a success fee only when a customer accepts your quote.
How many tradespeople get sent the same Bark lead?
Bark states a maximum of five professionals per lead, and real-world reports indicate this is sometimes exceeded. Rated People sends a job to up to three, each of whom has paid for the customer's details. Ace Services caps a job at three tradespeople, and none of them can contact the customer until a quote is accepted.
Why do I pay for leads from customers who never reply?
A lead fee buys an introduction, not a decision. The customer may be collecting prices, may have posted in several categories at once, or may have hired whoever rang first. No platform that charges at the point of contact can promise otherwise, which is why your win rate matters far more than the price of a credit when you compare one platform against another.
What does Ace Services charge instead of a lead fee?
Nothing to quote, and no subscription. A success fee of 2% of the accepted quote, minimum £2 and maximum £10, is charged only when a customer accepts. On a £100 job that is £2. On a £5,000 job it is £10. The customer's details go to the tradesperson they accept rather than to everybody who quoted.
Which alternative is best for small jobs?
Anything that does not charge a flat fee to make contact. A £20 lead fee is a fifth of a £90 job, and a shortlist fee behaves the same way at the bottom of its range. A percentage with a cap scales the other way: 2% of a £100 job is £2, and the cap only binds on the large jobs where £10 is immaterial.
Can I use Bark and another platform at the same time?
Yes, and most working trades do. The number to watch is your total fixed cost, because two subscriptions are both payable in a month when neither produces a job. A platform that charges only on the work you win adds nothing to that fixed cost, so it can be run alongside what you use now rather than instead of it.
