Which? Trusted Traders review (2026): the £248 assessment, the £69 a month fee, what the visit involves, and a simpler alternative
Which? Trusted Traders is the endorsement scheme run by the consumer group Which?, with a one-off £248 assessment, a trading standards visit, and monthly fees from £69 for firms with up to three staff. It has 436 Trustpilot reviews at 4.6. Growth Bull is £69 a month for the Google review and ranking part, with no assessment to pass.
Written by Tom Riley, founder of Growth Bull
8 min read Prices checked October 2026
Which? Trusted Traders is not really a lead platform. It is an endorsement: the consumer group Which? sends a trading standards professional to assess your business, and if you pass you can use its logo and appear in its directory. The join page lists a one-off £248 assessment fee and monthly fees from £69 for firms with up to three staff. On Trustpilot the scheme has 436 reviews at 4.6, and most of them are from traders rather than homeowners.
Growth Bull is a different kind of trust signal: £69 a month of software that gets Google reviews from every paid invoice and shows where you rank. This review is for the tradesperson weighing an endorsement badge against building the Google reviews that every homeowner, Which? subscriber or not, reads first.
Written by Tom Riley, founder of Growth Bull. Where Which? Trusted Traders is the better choice, we say so. Facts and prices checked 1 October 2026.
For the other vetting badge, see our TrustATrader review, and for all the platforms side by side, the best lead generation for tradesmen in the UK.
Growth Bull vs Which? Trusted Traders
Which? Trusted Traders is an endorsement rather than a lead machine, worth it for firms whose customers know the Which? name and want proof of a proper business, while Growth Bull is a £69 a month tool that builds the Google reviews every homeowner checks whether or not they know Which?.
Choose Growth Bull if
you want more Google reviews and a clear view of your map and search rankings for a fixed monthly price, with nothing to pass and no contract.
Starting price: £69/mo, no contract
Choose Which? Trusted Traders if
you sell to customers who trust the Which? brand, you can pass a trading standards assessment, and you want an endorsement logo for your van and website more than a stream of leads.
Starting price: £248 assessment, then from £69/mo
Side by side
What each company says about itself, on its own website, next to ours.
Both screenshots show the public websites as they looked on 1 October 2026. The Which? Trusted Traders screenshot belongs to Which? Trusted Traders and is shown here for a fair, like-for-like comparison.
Both screenshots show the public websites as they looked on 1 October 2026. The Which? Trusted Traders screenshot belongs to Which? Trusted Traders and is shown here for a fair, like-for-like comparison.
At a glance
Growth Bull ahead: 3Which? Trusted Traders ahead: 1Level: 4
| What you get | Growth Bull | Which? Trusted Traders |
|---|---|---|
| What you are buying | Software: review requests, Rank Map, Keyword Tracker, AI Visibility | An endorsement after assessment, a listing and a dispute resolution service |
| Gets new Google reviews automatically | Yes, one text and one email after every paid invoice | No; reviews are moderated and shown on the Which? site |
| Sends you leads | No; it grows the free enquiries from Google | Enquiries through the Which? directory; no matched leads promised |
| Map and search rank tracking | Yes, Rank Map and Keyword Tracker on Complete Growth | Not offered |
| Published price | Review Builder £69 a month, Complete Growth £129 a month | £248 assessment; £69, £89 or £124 a month by staff count; VAT not stated |
| Commitment | None, 7-day free trial, cancel any month | Term not published; assessment fee non-refundable |
| Public reviews | Growth Bull is new; see the live examples on our site | Trustpilot 4.6 from 436 reviews |
| Company | UK, prices in pounds and dollars | Which? Limited, London, incorporated 1960; scheme run from Cardiff |
The tick marks the stronger option on that row. Prices per month, checked 1 October 2026.
Who are Which? Trusted Traders and what do they sell?
Which? Trusted Traders is part of Which?, the consumer group that has published product tests since the 1950s. The company behind it, Which? Limited (company number 00677665), was incorporated on 13 December 1960, traded as Consumers' Association Limited until 1995, and is registered at 2 Marylebone Road in London. The Trusted Traders scheme itself is run from Cardiff, which is the address on its Trustpilot profile.
What a trader buys is an endorsement and what comes with it:
- An assessment: a credit report, customer reference checks and a visit from a Which? Trusted Traders trading standards professional, with an onsite interview of around 90 minutes covering processes, paperwork, staff and complaints handling.
- The right to use the Which? Trusted Trader logo on your website, workwear and vehicles.
- A profile in the Which? directory with moderated customer reviews, a dedicated account manager, access to a dispute resolution service and a subscription to Which? magazine.
Which? says it aims to take a trader from application to endorsement within 30 working days. It also partners with trade bodies such as CIPHE, HETAS and Certass, whose members get discounts.
What does Which? Trusted Traders cost and what is the commitment?
The join page is unusually clear. The assessment fee is £248, paid once and not refunded if you fail. The monthly fee then depends on headcount: £69 a month for 0 to 3 employees, which it states as £828 a year; £89 for 4 to 9; £124 for 10 to 14; and a custom price for 15 or more. The page does not say whether VAT is included, and does not state a minimum term. When we checked, a banner offered 50 percent off the assessment and the first six months for businesses trading at least six months with up to 29 staff, ending 11 November 2026.
In our view the cost is modest for what the badge can do in the right trade, and the assessment is the real price: it is a day of preparation and a 90-minute interview about how you run the business. If your paperwork is in order that is a formality; if it is not, the assessment is a useful push.
What do customers say about Which? Trusted Traders?
The scheme has 436 reviews on Trustpilot with a TrustScore of 4.6: 84 percent five-star and 12 percent one-star. Because the reviewers are mostly traders, this is one of the few directory Trustpilot pages that tells you about the membership itself. A recent five-star review reads "The assessment was professional, but you were made to feel at ease" (Callum James Powell, Trustpilot, September 2026).
Trustpilot's summary praises the staff and the onboarding, and notes frustration in the critical reviews with ongoing communication, administration and the mechanics of the review system. We could not retrieve Google or Facebook review counts from public pages, so they are not published here.
Who does Which? Trusted Traders suit?
Which? Trusted Traders suits an established firm selling higher-value work to cautious homeowners: kitchens, bathrooms, roofing, windows, heating. The Which? name is one of the few consumer brands older homeowners trust on sight, and the logo on a quote can decide a job. It also suits a firm that wants an outside check on its processes.
It suits a sole trader doing small, fast jobs less well, because those customers pick from Google and rarely look for a Which? logo, and the directory is not built to send a volume of matched leads. And like every scheme, the reviews collected there live on the Which? site, not on your Google listing.
Where Growth Bull fits instead
Growth Bull builds the trust signal everyone checks. 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. Those reviews sit on your Google Business Profile, lift you into the map pack (the box of three businesses with a map at the top of Google), and are read by every homeowner whether or not they know Which?. 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; Keyword Tracker, which follows your search positions; and AI Visibility, which asks ChatGPT, Claude and Google's AI who they recommend in your town and shows whether you are named.
Growth Bull does not assess your business or lend you a consumer brand. If the Which? logo would win you work, the scheme is good value, and running both is sensible: the badge for the quote, the tool for the Google reviews that get you the enquiry in the first place.
Verdict
In our view, Which? Trusted Traders is the most honest of the badges, because it publishes its prices, sends a real person to check your business and makes no promises about leads. It is worth the £248 and the monthly fee for a firm selling considered purchases to homeowners who trust Which?. It is not a substitute for Google reviews, which is what most homeowners check 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 badge or the reviews should come first for your trade.
Questions people ask
How much does Which? Trusted Traders cost?
The join page lists a one-off assessment fee of £248, which is non-refundable, and a monthly membership fee that depends on how many people you employ: £69 a month for 0 to 3 employees (£828 a year), £89 for 4 to 9, £124 for 10 to 14, and a custom price for 15 or more. The page does not say whether these figures include VAT. At the time of checking the page advertised 50 percent off the assessment and the first six months, ending 11 November 2026.
What does the Which? Trusted Traders assessment involve?
According to the join page, the assessment includes a credit report, customer reference checks and a visit from a Which? Trusted Traders trading standards professional. The onsite interview lasts about 90 minutes and looks at your business processes, paperwork, staff and complaints procedure. Which? aims to get from application to endorsement within 30 working days.
Is Which? Trusted Traders worth it?
It depends on who your customers are. The Which? name carries weight with older and more cautious homeowners, and the endorsement logo on a van and website is a real differentiator for higher-value work. It is not a lead platform: the directory brings enquiries, but Which? does not promise a volume of matched leads. For small, fast jobs where customers pick from Google, a £248 assessment plus £69 a month buys less than it does for a kitchen fitter or a roofer.
Who runs Which? Trusted Traders?
The scheme is part of Which?, the consumer group. Which? Limited, company number 00677665, was incorporated on 13 December 1960, was formerly called Consumers' Association Limited, and is registered at 2 Marylebone Road in London. The Trusted Traders scheme's Trustpilot profile gives an address in Cardiff.
What are the Which? Trusted Traders reviews like?
The scheme has 436 reviews on Trustpilot with a 4.6 TrustScore: 84 percent five-star and 12 percent one-star. Unusually for a directory, most reviewers are the traders themselves. They praise the staff and the assessment process; the critical reviews mention ongoing communication and administration, and mixed feelings about the review system.
What is a simpler alternative to Which? Trusted Traders?
If you want proof that customers trust you without an assessment, Google reviews are the evidence every homeowner checks. Growth Bull's Review Builder is £69 a month with a 7-day free trial and no contract, and asks every customer for a Google review after their invoice is paid. Complete Growth at £129 a month adds map, keyword and AI visibility tracking. Many endorsed traders would sensibly run both.