Checkatrade vs your own website
Rented leads or an asset you own? The two routes weighed on the things that actually decide whether the money comes back.
Roughly seven in ten trade jobs now start with someone searching, on Google, on a directory, or by asking a phone "who's good near me". The question is where you want to be standing when they look: in a queue of rivals on a platform you rent, or on a page that's only yours. Checkatrade and your own website both put you in front of that searcher, but they do it on completely different terms, one charges you every month and shares the lead, the other costs once and sends the enquiry straight to you.
This is an honest run at both. Checkatrade isn't a con, for the right trade at the right moment it does a real job, and I'll say exactly when. But for most working UK trades the two-year maths and who-owns-what both point the same way, and it's worth seeing why before you sign anything.
For most established UK trades, your own website wins over Checkatrade. Checkatrade is rented visibility you pay for monthly and share with competitors on every lead; a website is a site of your own, no build fee and £50 every four weeks, that works on Google, takes deposits and shows your own reviews. Checkatrade only clearly wins for a brand-new business with no reputation yet.
What you're really choosing between
Checkatrade is a monthly membership that rents you a spot in a vetted directory and feeds you shared leads; your own website sends every enquiry straight to you alone, for one flat monthly fee with no per-lead charge.
That split, renting access versus owning the channel, sits underneath every other difference below. Before comparing pounds, it's worth being clear on what each one actually is.
What Checkatrade actually is
Checkatrade is a paid directory. You're vetted, you get a profile, customers leave reviews on that profile, and you appear when people search your trade and town. In return you pay a membership fee every month for as long as you're a member. The pull is real: instant credibility borrowed from a brand people recognise, and enquiries from day one without waiting to climb Google.
What your own website actually is
Your own website is a set of pages built once and hosted under your domain. It shows your work, your accreditations, Gas Safe, NICEIC, NAPIT, your reviews and a way to get in touch, and it can rank in Google for "emergency electrician Shrewsbury" or take a deposit while you're up a ladder. It depends on no platform staying cheap or staying in business. What it needs is a few weeks to find its feet in search.
The trade-off in one line
Checkatrade trades long-term cost and ownership for instant, borrowed credibility. A website trades a slower start for an asset you keep, leads nobody else gets, and a cost that stops. Which matters more depends on whether you're starting from scratch or already have a name, covered below, and in more depth in is Checkatrade worth it.
Side by side: cost, leads, control and trust
On two-year cost, lead ownership and trust a website wins clearly; Checkatrade wins on day-one credibility for a trade with no reviews yet, and that single advantage is what its whole pitch rests on.
| What matters | Checkatrade | Your own website |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | Application Fee, £250 excl VAT in their terms | Nothing |
| Ongoing cost | Not published; reported £70 to £150+VAT/mo, forever | £50 every 4 weeks, all in |
| Two-year total | £2,000 to £4,000 reported | £1,300 |
| Who gets the lead | Shared with rivals | You only |
| Cancel any time? | By phone only, in a 35-day window before renewal | 3 months minimum, then rolling |
| Where reviews live | On Checkatrade | Yours + Google |
| Works on Google | Their listing ranks | Your site ranks |
| Who owns the site | Checkatrade, if you take their TradeSite | You, after twelve months |
| Time to first lead | Days | A few weeks |
Cost over two years
Start with what is actually published, because it is less than you would think. Checkatrade puts no membership price on any public page: you have to choose a trade category and enter the signup funnel before a figure appears. The only price in their own documents is in the Master Service Terms, which define an Application Fee of £250 excluding VAT. The £70 to £150 plus VAT a month you will see quoted everywhere, call it £1,000 to £2,000 a year, comes from third parties reporting what they were charged. It is useful evidence and it is not a price list, so treat it as a range rather than a number.
Against that, a hand-coded site from me has no build fee and nothing to pay on day one, then £50 every four weeks for hosting, SSL, security, domain renewal and unlimited small edits. Four-weekly billing means thirteen payments a year, not twelve, so be honest about it: that is £650 a year and £1,300 over two years. Still under a single year of a mid membership on the reported figures, and at the end of twelve months the site and the domain transfer to you. The same sum against the DIY route is in Squarespace against a hand-coded site.
Lead quality and who you compete with
This is the part that stings. Checkatrade leads are frequently sent to more than one trade at once, so the job often goes to whoever calls back first, not whoever's best, you're paying a monthly fee for the right to enter a race. A website enquiry arrives only to you, with no rival reading the same message. Fewer leads, but each one is yours. More on building that pipeline in get more work without paying for leads.
Trust and what customers see
Checkatrade lends you its brand's credibility, which genuinely helps when you've no track record of your own. But a good website earns trust directly: your real job photos, your Google reviews, your accreditation badges in the header. Customers increasingly check you on Google before they call anyway, so trust that lives on a page you own, and on a free Google Business Profile, works harder over time than trust you're renting.
The hidden and ongoing costs nobody mentions
Checkatrade's real cost isn't the headline monthly fee, it's that the meter never stops, the leads are shared, and the reputation you build can't be taken with you when you leave.
The subscription that never stops
Like any membership, the fee runs for as long as you're a member, and renewals have a habit of climbing. Stop paying and your profile comes down, every month is rent, not investment. We break the figures down in is Checkatrade too expensive in 2026, and Checkatrade's own guidance to members is worth reading against its pricing in what Checkatrade tells tradespeople to do.
Shared leads and the race to reply
Because leads are often shared, your cost-per-won-job can quietly balloon: pay for the month, chase five enquiries, win one because two went to faster rivals and two were tyre-kickers. The fee stays the same whether you win the work or not, which is the opposite of how a website behaves, it costs the same whether it brings one enquiry or twenty.
You can't take the reputation with you
Reviews gathered on Checkatrade stay on Checkatrade. Build up fifty five-star reviews over three years, cancel, and they don't come with you, they were never yours to move. Reviews on a Google Business Profile, by contrast, sit on a free asset you control and follow your business anywhere. That's the quiet lock-in: the longer you stay, the more it costs to leave.
Who Checkatrade genuinely suits, and who needs their own site
Checkatrade suits a brand-new trade with no reviews who needs work this week; your own website suits any established trade who wants leads nobody else gets and a cost that ends.
When Checkatrade is the right call
Be fair to it: if you've just gone out on your own, have no reviews and no website, and need the phone to ring before the directory does its slow work, Checkatrade can bridge that gap. It borrows credibility you haven't built yet and puts you in front of searchers from day one. As a short-term leg-up while you build your own channels, it earns its place.
When you need your own website
If you've got a few years and a few good reviews behind you, paying monthly to share leads with newer rivals is money leaking out of the business. An established trade is better off owning the channel, a site that ranks, takes enquiries directly and shows the reputation you've already earned. If you're weighing it against social too, see website vs Facebook page.
The recommendation for working UK trades
For an established UK trade, your own website is the better two-year value and the only channel you actually own, Checkatrade earns its keep mainly as a short-term bridge while a brand-new business builds a reputation.
The bottom line
Checkatrade isn't a bad product; it's built for a moment, the start, before you've a name of your own. It rents you credibility and shared leads for a fee that never stops. A website sends every enquiry to you, ranks on Google and shows reviews you keep. For most working trades past their first year, that's the one that pays for itself.
One update worth knowing before you weigh this up. Checkatrade now gives members a free website of its own, called a TradeSite, which changes the shape of this comparison but not the answer: their product terms keep the design, the domain and the site itself, and permanently de-commission it the day you leave. I went through it clause by clause in does Checkatrade give you a website you own.
See it before you decide
I'll build a free mockup of your actual business, your name, your trade, your area, before you pay anything. Like it? There is no build fee and no deposit, then £50 every four weeks for hosting, SSL, security, domain renewal and unlimited small edits, three months minimum and then rolling. If you do not like the finished site your first payment comes back, and after twelve months the site and the domain are yours with no exit fee. Sites are usually live in about a week. Apply at sitework.uk/#apply.