Checkatrade alternatives, compared on how the lead arrives
The 5 real alternatives to Checkatrade for a UK trade are MyBuilder, TrustATrader, Rated People, Bark and a properly filled Google Business Profile. They differ on one thing that matters more than price: whether the lead is sent to you alone or to 5 trades at once. Google Business Profile is free, sends the lead to you alone, and is the one almost every trade underuses.
- Last measured
- September 2026
- Keyword
- checkatrade alternatives
- Searches a month
- 470
Price is the wrong first question here. A lead that arrives on your phone alongside 4 competitors is a price comparison, and you will win roughly one in 5 at the bottom of the market. A lead that arrives only to you is a job.
| Route | How you pay | How the lead arrives | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Checkatrade | Monthly membership | Listing, customer chooses from several | Trades with no local reputation yet |
| MyBuilder | Pay per lead you shortlist for | You bid, customer shortlists | Trades who can write a good quote fast |
| TrustATrader | Monthly membership | Listing, customer chooses | Trades wanting a cheaper directory badge |
| Rated People | Credits per lead | A set number of trades get the lead | Trades with capacity to chase |
| Bark | Credits per lead | Several trades get the same lead, fast | Trades who will ring within minutes |
| Google Business Profile | Free | Customer rings you directly | All of them |
The free one that most trades half-fill
A Google Business Profile puts you in the map pack for your trade and your town, sends the customer straight to your phone, and costs nothing. It is the highest return on effort available to a UK trade, and the reason it underperforms for most of them is that the profile is half filled: no service list, no photographs newer than the day it was created, no posts, and no website linked to it.
A profile with a real website behind it also outranks one without, because Google reads the site to work out what you do and where. That is the piece the directories cannot give you, since their listing ranks under their domain and not yours.
The arrangement most trades settle on
One directory while you build up reviews, a Google Business Profile filled in properly, and a website of your own that both of them point at. The site is the part that keeps working when you stop paying for the other two. Ours is built before you pay for it and starts at £47 a month with VAT included.