Checkatrade review (2026): what membership costs, what the 12-month contract means, and a cheaper way to get the reviews

Who are Checkatrade and what do they sell?

Checkatrade is a trading name of Vetted Limited (company number 04285394), incorporated on 11 September 2001 and registered at City Point, Ropemaker Street in London. The business itself is older: Kevin Byrne set it up in Selsey, West Sussex, in September 1998 after rogue traders targeted the town. HomeServe bought a 40 percent stake in February 2017 and the rest later that year, and Brookfield acquired HomeServe in 2022, so Checkatrade is now part of a Brookfield-owned group. According to Wikipedia it has more than 53,000 member businesses. In September 2026 Checkatrade Group also bought the Rated People brand and website after Rated People Limited went into liquidation, and Rated People's help pages now send its former trades to Checkatrade.

What a tradesperson buys is a vetted listing, and on the paid plans, leads:

• The Free plan is a profile page that collects and displays reviews but does not appear in Checkatrade search.
• Approved, at £30 a month, adds the Checkatrade verification tick, one-click review requests, job management tools, a listing in the UK Trade Directory and partner discounts.
• Growth, from £59 a month, adds lead volume options, direct booking by customers, between £100 and £200 of search credit, Checkatrade Pay (1.29 to 1.79 percent fees) and profile analytics.

New members complete an ID, address and documentation check before they get leads. At the time of writing the join page offers the first month free on fixed memberships.

What does Checkatrade cost and what is the commitment?

The published prices are £0, £30 a month and "from £59 a month". The pricing page does not state whether VAT is included, and the Growth price is the floor, not the typical figure: it depends on your trade, your postcode area and how many leads you choose to receive. Every paid plan is a 12-month fixed membership.

In our view the two things to pin down before you sign are the real monthly figure for your trade and area, and what happens if the leads do not come. Twelve months of a Growth plan is a four-figure commitment for most trades, and Trustpilot's own summary of the reviews mentions concerns about lead delivery against subscription costs. Get the number and the cancellation terms in writing.

What do customers say about Checkatrade?

Checkatrade has 87,929 reviews on Trustpilot with a TrustScore of 4.7: 85 percent five-star and 6 percent one-star. Read them carefully, though. Most are homeowners reviewing the tradesperson they found, not tradespeople reviewing the membership. A typical recent one reads "Very professional, great communication, Superb workmanship" (Gerald, Trustpilot, October 2026), which tells you Checkatrade's members do good work, not whether the membership paid for itself.

The one-star share is where the member reviews cluster, and the themes are lead quality and the cost of the contract. We could not retrieve a separate member-only score from public pages, so there is none here.

Who does Checkatrade suit?

Checkatrade suits a tradesperson who wants to be where homeowners already look, in a trade and area where the leads are plentiful, with the cash flow to carry a 12-month membership while it beds in. For emergency and small-job trades in busy towns, the directory can keep a diary full, and the vetting badge means something to older homeowners in particular.

It suits a new business or a specialist less well. If your area is thin on searches, or your work is large and infrequent, a year of membership can pass with few usable leads, and you are still bound by the contract. And whatever plan you are on, your Checkatrade reviews stay on Checkatrade; they do not help you on Google.

Where Growth Bull fits instead

Growth Bull works on the enquiries you do not pay for. Growth Bull's Review Builder connects to Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, FreeAgent, HubSpot or Pipedrive and sends one text and one email asking for a Google review after every paid invoice. Reviews are one of the main things Google uses to decide who appears in the map pack (the box of three businesses with a map at the top of Google), and they are what a homeowner reads before ringing, whether they found you on a directory or a search. It is £69 a month, with a 7-day free trial and no contract.

Complete Growth at £129 a month adds Rank Map, which scans a grid of points around your town and names who holds number one for your trade, so you can watch the map pack change as reviews come in. Keyword Tracker follows your search positions, and AI Visibility asks ChatGPT, Claude and Google's AI who they recommend in your town and shows whether you are named.

Growth Bull does not send you leads and makes no promise about job numbers. If you want matched leads from a directory, Checkatrade is the biggest one, and plenty of our customers run both: the directory for the leads, the tool for the Google reviews that make those leads ring.

Verdict

In our view, Checkatrade is the directory to pick if you are going to pay for one, because it has the searches and the name. The things to go in with eyes open on are the 12-month term and the gap between "from £59" and what your plan actually costs. Ask for both in writing.

If you would rather build the free enquiries first, Growth Bull's Review Builder is £69 a month with a 7-day free trial at growthbull.io/signup, or book a call with Tom and we will tell you honestly whether a directory is worth it for your trade.