Angi charges you once you and the homeowner both show interest, whether or not you ever reach them, and up to four other pros can get the same request. Below: how 11 Angi alternatives charge, who else gets the lead, and what you sign.
Most lists quote price ranges from other blogs. We read each company’s own pricing, help or terms pages in October 2026 and asked the same four questions of each of 11 lead sources, flagging where a platform doesn’t answer. Then we show how to work out what each one costs you per booked job.
The short answer: for licensed trades, Google Local Services Ads are the first Angi alternative to test, because the homeowner contacts you from your own ad. Thumbtack works most like Angi, but you set the lead price and a weekly cap. Remodelers should look at Houzz Pro, and Bark suits cheap tests on small jobs.
Key takeaways
- HomeAdvisor and Angie’s List are the same company as Angi, so moving between them isn’t a real switch. HomeAdvisor and Angie’s List
- Most marketplaces let four or five pros chase each request. How crowded each lead is
- Local Services Ads still charge per lead, but Google is moving them into Google Ads in 2026, and setting a max cost per lead goes away. Local Services Ads changes
- Houzz Pro paid plans run $99 to $399+ a month, ads start at $499 a month, and Houzz says its standard subscription is a 12-month commitment. Houzz Pro pricing
- Google, Bing, Yelp and Nextdoor listings are free, and Google says you can’t pay for a better local ranking. Free alternatives
- Test one alternative for 30 days while Angi runs turned down, and note your Angi renewal date first. Leave Angi without a gap
Angi alternatives at a glance
Each row comes from the platform’s own pricing, help or terms pages, checked in October 2026.
| Option | How you pay | Who else gets the lead | What you commit to | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angi (baseline) | Per lead, at a fee Angi sets | Up to 5 pros per request | Pay per lead, or an auto-renewing subscription | The yardstick |
| Google Local Services Ads | Per lead: a call or message from your ad | Each call comes only to you; messages can go to other pros too | Your budget. You can pause any time | Licensed trades: plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing |
| Thumbtack | A lead price you set, per service | Up to 5 pros in the first 4 hours | No contract, membership or annual fee | Small and mid-size jobs, testing a new service |
| Google search ads | Per click | The click lands on your site, though rival ads sit beside yours | Your budget and bids | Shops with a page that turns visits into calls |
| Yelp Ads | Per click, and a quote request counts as a click | Your page, but quote requests can go to others too | Yelp says you can edit or cancel ads anytime | Markets where your customers check Yelp |
| Houzz Pro | Monthly plan ($99 to $399+), ads from $499 a month | Not stated | 12-month subscription | Remodelers, designers, design-build |
| Bark | Credits ($2.35 each at the standard rate), price shown before you pay | Up to 5 pros per customer | Credits expire after 3 months | Handyman and small jobs, cheap tests |
| Networx | Prepaid, $14 to $100 per lead | Up to 4 contractors | Credits refill on their own until you cancel | Trades that want a steady shared lead flow |
| Nextdoor | Free page and posts; ads from $5 a day | No lead fee. Neighbors contact you, but a recommendation thread may name several pros | Pay as you go or a subscription on ads | Local repair and recurring service |
| Home Depot Pro Referral | Points you earn on Home Depot purchases, 40 per lead | The homeowner can pick up to 5 pros | A $41.99 background check, good for 2 years | Installers and repair pros who already buy at Home Depot |
| HomeGuide | Per lead, when an interested customer contacts you | “Limited,” no number posted | No membership fee; weekly budget cap | Cheap tests in a new service or area |
| Modernize | Per lead, no public price list | Up to 4 pros per homeowner | No public contract; QuinStreet’s default client terms allow shared leads | Shops with a sales team that calls back in minutes |
Sources are linked in the sections below.
Read two columns before the price: who else gets the lead, and what you commit to.
Are HomeAdvisor and Angie’s List Angi alternatives?
No. Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor are Angi. Moving your budget between the names doesn’t change who sells you the lead.
Angi Inc. started in 2017, as ANGI Homeservices, to combine HomeAdvisor and Angie’s List. Its 2022 annual report says Angie’s List was renamed Angi in March 2021. Its 2025 annual report still lists Angi, Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor as brands it owns and runs.
The FTC’s case caption settles it. The company is named as HomeAdvisor, Inc., “d/b/a Angi Leads, d/b/a HomeAdvisor powered by Angi.” In 2023 the FTC finalized an order requiring HomeAdvisor to pay up to $7.2 million over what it called deceptive and misleading tactics in selling leads to pros. Later that year the FTC said it was sending 110,372 refund checks to businesses that had paid for HomeAdvisor memberships.
So if a rep offers to move you from “Angi” to “HomeAdvisor,” that’s a new contract with the same seller. Ask the four questions below, and get the renewal terms in writing.
The four questions to ask about any lead site
When we review a contractor’s Angi spend, we line up each month’s charges against the jobs they booked, because the invoice never shows that number. Then we ask four questions of the source. Here they are, answered for Angi.
- When am I charged? On Angi, as soon as you and the homeowner both show interest, and whether or not you open or answer the lead.
- How many other pros get it? Angi matches each request with no more than five pros.
- Who sets the price? Angi does. Its fees change with the task, the homeowner’s location and demand for the work.
- What do I sign? Pay per lead within a monthly budget, or a subscription. Angi’s Pro Agreement says subscriptions renew on their own, and the fee can go up by as much as 10% over the price you paid the term before. And Angi’s credit page says leads on an annual subscription don’t get credits at all.
If you want the full Angi breakdown first, read our Angi leads review. Our Thumbtack vs Angi comparison goes rule by rule.
Google Local Services Ads
For most licensed trades, Local Services Ads are the first Angi alternative we’d test. The homeowner searches on Google, sees your ad with your reviews, and calls or messages you. Google says you only pay when a customer gets in touch from your ad.
- When you’re charged: when a customer reaches you from the ad. Calls come through Google, and you’ll hear a “Call from Google” notice before you’re connected.
- Who else gets it: calls come straight to you, though other pros’ ads sit on the same page. Messages are different: Google prices message leads partly on whether the customer has contacted other local advertisers, so treat every message as shared.
- Who sets the price: Google, based on your location, job type, lead type and bid settings. Google says message leads are typically priced lower than phone leads, though not always.
- What you sign: you set a budget, and Google says you can stop receiving leads at any time.
Google’s credit list is narrower than Angi’s in one way that matters. Google’s lead credit page says leads it judges invalid or low quality aren’t charged. It also says Google no longer gives credits for wrong job type or wrong service area. Angi’s credit page still lists wrong location and service mismatch as reasons it may give a credit on pay-per-lead accounts. So set your job types and ZIP codes tight from day one.
Google says a consistently fast response time could improve your ad’s ranking. If calls roll to voicemail, fix that before you spend another dollar.
What changes in 2026
Google is moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads. Its transition page says existing campaigns are being moved to a Performance Max campaign type with pay-per-lead goals. The ads show in the same spots on Search and Maps, and you still pay per lead, not per click.
The first U.S. phase began in August 2026 for select trades, including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing and pest control. Broader groups, including service-area businesses without a storefront, follow in late 2026, and remaining categories in 2027. Four changes matter if you’re leaving Angi for this:
- Manual bidding, like setting a maximum cost per lead, isn’t supported in Google Ads.
- Your average weekly budget gets split into a daily budget (divided by 7).
- Your Local Services Ads reports don’t move over, so screenshot your cost per lead first.
- Your account admin gets an email 14 days before the move, and Google says performance can take up to two weeks to settle after it. Keep Angi running through that stretch.
New accounts still start at g.co/localservices for now. After the move, a manual max cost per lead and separate per-trade targets both go away, so watch cost per lead weekly for the first month. If you’re already verified, the Google Verified badge carries over.
You’ll need to pass Google’s screening. Our post on the Google Guaranteed and Google Verified badges covers the checks, and our Local Services Ads guide walks through setup and settings.
Thumbtack
Thumbtack is the closest thing to Angi, except you set the price.
- When you’re charged: when a customer contacts you from search results and the job fits the preferences you set, you auto-pay for the lead. On Opportunities, the jobs you reach out to first, you pay only if the customer writes back.
- Who else gets it: Thumbtack’s Quality Commitment caps it at five pros in the first four hours of a customer’s search, and you can see the count right on the lead.
- Who sets the price: you do. You set the lead price for each service with a slider, and that’s exactly what you pay per lead. A weekly budget caps your spending. Hit it and you drop out of search results until it resets the next Monday.
- What you sign: nothing long term. Thumbtack’s pro page says there are no contracts, no annual fees and no membership fees.
Thumbtack refunds a lead automatically if the customer replies to no pro within 72 hours. Angi’s credit page goes the other way: a homeowner who never answers your calls or messages isn’t eligible for a credit.
Thumbtack is the easiest place to test the same kind of lead as Angi at a price you pick. It’s still shared, so answer within minutes. We walk through the break-even math in is Thumbtack worth it.
Google search ads
With search ads you pay for a click, not a lead, and that click lands on your website instead of a shared inbox.
That makes the lead yours alone. The catch is that a click isn’t a lead. If your page is slow, vague or hard to call from a phone, you pay for visits that go nowhere.
What does a lead cost once clicks become calls and forms? LocaliQ published cost per lead from 3,211 home services search campaigns run by its own customers on Google and Microsoft Ads, from April 2024 to March 2025. LocaliQ says its “averages” are really medians. A few trades from its 2025 benchmark report:
| Trade (LocaliQ category) | Median cost per lead |
|---|---|
| Handyman Services | $54.05 |
| Electricians & Electrical Contractors | $93.69 |
| Plumbing | $129.02 |
| Air Conditioning Installation & Repair | $127.74 |
| Heating & Furnaces | $129.02 |
| Roofing & Gutters | $228.15 |
Treat these as a ballpark: they’re one company’s customers, and the data stops at March 2025, so it’s about 19 months old.
Search ads fit a shop that already has a page built for the job being searched, with the phone number up top. If you don’t have that page yet, build it first.
Yelp Ads
Yelp Ads work like search ads inside Yelp. You pay per click, so read how Yelp defines one.
- When you’re charged: each time your ad is clicked, at a price per click that changes with supply and demand. Yelp’s advertising terms count a click as more than a tap on the ad. Requesting information, a quote or an appointment counts too.
- Who else gets it: the click comes to your page, but Yelp lets a customer send the same quote request to other businesses too. Yelp says your ad can also show on competitors’ pages.
- Who sets the price: Yelp sets the price per click, and it can change during the month. You set the monthly budget, and Yelp says it won’t charge you more than that.
- What you sign: Yelp’s ads page says you can edit or cancel your ads anytime, and spend as little as $5 a day on average.
First, search Yelp for your trade in your town like a homeowner would. If you see real reviews and competitors buying ads, it’s worth a small test. If the results are thin, we’d put that money into Google first. Either way, claim your free Yelp page.
Houzz Pro
Houzz Pro is job management software for remodelers and designers, with an advertising package on top.
Besides a free plan, the pricing page lists three paid plans: Design at $99 a month, Pro at $199 and Teams starting at $399. The Advertising Package is an add-on that starts at $499 a month. Houzz says it includes a preferred directory spot and entry into its lead generation program, which matches you with homeowners by budget, project type and more.
- When you’re charged: monthly, for the plan and the ads. Its pricing page doesn’t list a price per lead.
- Who else gets it: Houzz’s pricing and ad pages don’t say how many pros it matches to each homeowner. Ask the rep.
- What you sign: Houzz’s own comparison page says standard subscriptions are a 12-month commitment, billed monthly or paid up front, with a 30-day free trial that needs a card. Ask what you’d owe if you quit in month three, and whether the ads run during the trial, since that trial is your only test window.
Run the yearly number first: Pro plan plus the starting ad package is $698 a month, or $8,376 a year. Keep 25% gross profit on a $40,000 kitchen and one job covers the year. (Example numbers. Use yours.)
Houzz makes sense if you’d use the software anyway and your work photographs well. If you just want the phone to ring for repairs, skip it.
Bark
Bark lets you test with a small credit pack and no contract.
- When you’re charged: only when you choose to contact a customer. Bark’s pricing page says you spend credits on the customers you want, with no commission and no hidden fees.
- Who else gets it: up to 5 pros can respond to each customer. You can see how many already have before you buy.
- Who sets the price: Bark. Its credit help page lists a standard rate of $2.35 per credit (bigger packs cost less per credit), and the number of credits a lead costs depends on the type of service and the size of the job. Multiply the credits by what you paid per credit to get the dollar price.
- What you sign: a credit pack, not a contract. Watch the clock, though: credits bought since November 1, 2025 expire 3 months after purchase. Unused credits can’t be refunded.
Bark also has a first-pack promise: if you don’t win business with your first credit pack, its pricing page says it will return all your credits. That’s credits back, not cash. Our Bark.com review for contractors walks through the conditions.
Bark fits handyman work, small repairs and cheap tests in a new area. Buy the smallest pack, favor leads with few responses so far, and keep auto top-up off while testing.
Networx
Networx sells leads the old way: prepaid, per lead, shared with a few other pros.
- When you’re charged: up front. Networx’s leads page calls its prepaid plan the most popular, with each lead costing anywhere from $14 to $100.
- Who else gets it: its help center says a pay-per-lead request goes to up to 4 contractors in total. It also mentions a separate Exclusive Lead Plan, which costs more per lead.
- Who sets the price: Networx. Ask for your trade and ZIP codes in writing.
- What you sign: Networx says you aren’t locked into a long-term contract. But once your credits run out, the account automatically renews and charges your card. It warns you at about 2 leads left, and again before the charge. To stop, you contact them.
Networx also lists when it gives a credit back: a wrong phone number, a lead for the wrong industry, or a renter instead of an owner.
Four shops per lead instead of Angi’s five is a small edge, not a different product. Set a reminder for when your first pack runs low, and let the tracking sheet decide whether you buy another.
Nextdoor
Nextdoor isn’t a lead site at all. It’s where neighbors ask each other who to call, and a business page there costs nothing.
Nextdoor’s small business page lists a free Business Page, free Business Posts, and free recommendations from customers. Ads are the paid layer. Nextdoor says ads start as low as $5 a day, and its help center describes two ways to pay for ads: pay as you go, billed for impressions after your ad runs, or a subscription.
There’s no lead fee, though a “who should I call” thread may name several pros. On ads you’re paying for eyeballs, not contacts, so it’s harder to tie a dollar to a job.
Claim the free page and ask your last ten happy customers to recommend you there. Hold off on ads until you see whether that alone brings calls. It fits repair and recurring work close to home: plumbing, HVAC tune-ups, lawn care, pest control, handyman.
Other sites like Angi you’ll hear about
Home Depot Pro Referral
This one doesn’t charge cash per lead. It charges points you earn by shopping at Home Depot. Its pro help center says you earn 2 points for every $1 on qualifying purchases, and every lead costs 40 points, whatever the service. So each lead uses up the points from about $20 of qualifying purchases.
- Who else gets it: the homeowner FAQ says the customer picks up to five pros to connect with, and Home Depot tells homeowners those pros will reach out within 24 hours.
- What you sign: a $41.99 background check and ID verification, good for 2 years.
- Passing on a lead: pass within 48 hours and the points come back on their own.
If you already buy your materials there, these leads cost you no extra cash. If you don’t, lead flow is capped by your store spend.
HomeGuide
HomeGuide’s pro page says your profile is free, with no membership, subscription or annual fees. You pay only when an interested customer contacts you, and you set a weekly budget cap you can pause anytime.
Two gaps: HomeGuide says it limits the competition but posts no number, and it doesn’t publish lead prices. Get both in writing for your top three services.
Modernize
Modernize is owned by QuinStreet, which says its Modernize brand works in trades like solar, windows, air conditioning, roofing and siding. Its homeowner FAQ says it matches each homeowner with up to 4 pros. QuinStreet’s default client terms say leads “may be matched with other QS clients,” give you five business days to ask for a credit, and expect you to try to reach each lead within one business day.
There’s no public price list. We pulled the products, the fine print and the break-even math into our Modernize leads review.
Free Angi alternatives
Every paid source above stops when you stop paying. The free listings below cost nothing but your time. Add a website that ranks and the phone still rings in a month you buy nothing.
Your Google profile is free. Google’s local ranking help page says there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Results come down mainly to relevance, distance and popularity. So fill out every field, pick the right categories and services, and keep reviews coming.
Start here:
- List every service you sell on your profile, not just your main category. Our Google Business Profile guide shows where each field lives.
- Ask for a review after every job, by text, the same day. Our free review link generator gives you one short link to send.
- Build one page on your site for each money job (water heater replacement, roof repair, AC install), with your phone number at the top.
That last step is where contractor SEO starts. It takes months, not weeks. Our guide to lead generation for contractors puts paid and free side by side.
The other free listings take an afternoon to claim:
- Bing Places. Bing lists businesses for free. Match your Google details exactly, as our guide to local SEO for contractors explains.
- Apple Maps. Apple’s business tools now live in Apple Business, and claiming your location on Maps is the first step there. Apple says ads on Maps are coming to the U.S. and Canada, and that businesses must claim their location first.
- Yelp. A Yelp business page is free, and homeowners can request a quote through it. Log in now and then: Yelp says a claimed page can flip back to unclaimed if nobody logs in for 90 days.
- Nextdoor. The free page and recommendations, covered above.
Thumbtack, Bark and HomeGuide are free to join, but you pay for leads. And the folks at your supply house counter hear about jobs every day. Make sure they have your card.
Compare Angi alternatives on cost per booked job
Lead price is the wrong number to compare. Ten $30 leads that book one job cost $300 per job, and so do two $150 leads that book one (example numbers). The number that matters is cost per booked job: everything you spent on a source, divided by the jobs it booked.
How crowded a lead is drives that number, because it drives how many you win:
To get cost per booked job for each way of paying:
- Per lead (Angi, Thumbtack, Bark, Networx, HomeGuide, Modernize, Local Services Ads): lead price divided by your close rate.
- Per click (Google search ads, Yelp): cost per click, divided by the share of clicks that become calls or forms, divided by your close rate.
- Flat monthly (Houzz Pro, an Angi subscription, Nextdoor subscription ads): the monthly cost divided by the jobs it booked that month.
Example math with made-up numbers (the $10 click is close to LocaliQ’s $10.49 median plumbing click):
| Source type | What you pay | How it turns into jobs | Cost per booked job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared lead | $60 per lead | You win 1 in 5 | $300 |
| Cheaper shared lead | $35 per lead | You win 1 in 8 | $280 |
| Per click | $10 per click | 1 in 10 clicks calls, you win 1 in 3 | $300 |
| Flat monthly | $698 a month | 1 job every 2 months | $1,396 |
The flat monthly row looks awful until you check job size. On a $40,000 remodel, $1,396 is cheap.
So set your ceiling from your own books: the gross profit on a typical job, times the share you’ll spend to win it. Say a water heater install leaves you $800 after parts and labor, and you’ll spend up to 25% of that to land it. Your ceiling is $200 per booked job, so every example row above would lose money. (Example numbers again. Plug in yours.)
Which Angi alternative fits your trade
Emergency jobs and remodels get bought differently. The homeowner with water on the floor tends to call the first result that looks solid. The one planning a kitchen often browses photos for weeks.
| Your work | Start with | Add next | Go slow on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency repair (plumbing, HVAC, water damage) | Local Services Ads | Google search ads sent to a page for that job | Anything you can’t answer in minutes |
| Roofing and storm work | Local Services Ads | Search ads, but watch cost per lead closely | Shared leads on big-ticket jobs |
| Remodeling and design-build | Houzz Pro, if you’d use the software | Search ads plus a strong project gallery | Bark and other small-job sites |
| Handyman and small repairs | Thumbtack or Bark | Nextdoor’s free page | Houzz Pro and 12-month deals |
| Brand-new shop, small budget | Google Business Profile and Nextdoor (both free) | One paid test: Local Services Ads if you qualify, or Thumbtack | Anything with a contract |
Why roofing gets a warning: Roofing & Gutters had the highest search ad cost per lead in the LocaliQ table above, at $228.15. And a shared lead on a roof replacement can put three or four other shops on the same homeowner’s phone. Our roofing leads guide runs that math for every source.
For the remodeler, one sale can pay a monthly fee. The risk is a 12-month term before you know whether Houzz homeowners near you hire at your price. Our Houzz Pro cost breakdown runs the yearly numbers and the contract terms.
How to test a lead site in 30 days
Never sign up on a sales call. Test for 30 days with a cap, and track every lead. Not sure which to test first? Our best lead sources by job type can narrow it down.
Seven questions to ask the rep first
Get the answers in writing. Email is fine.
- When exactly am I charged, and am I charged if I never open the lead?
- How many other pros get the same request?
- What does a lead cost for my top three services in my ZIP codes?
- How do I cap my spend, and can a lead push me past the cap?
- Which bad leads get a credit, and what are the deadlines? (Angi wants a lead under 45 days old and a call attempt within 24 hours.)
- Is there a contract, an auto-renewal or a price increase at renewal?
- How do I pause, and how do I cancel?
If a rep’s answer doesn’t match the help center, believe the help center.
The tracking sheet
One row per lead, one tab per platform, filled in by whoever answers the phone. When a contractor sends us their lead invoices, the first thing we check is how many charged leads never got a callback. This sheet answers that in a minute. Here’s the layout, with a made-up row:
| Date | Service | Paid | Minutes to call back | Reached? | Quoted? | Booked? | Job value | Credit asked / got |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 14 | Water heater | $45 | 6 | Yes | Yes | No | $0 | No / No |
Keep or kill on day 30
Work out your cost per booked job, then use our rule of thumb (not platform data). Check callbacks first: on a shared lead, a slow callback is the first leak we look for. Over 10 minutes? Fix that and run another 30 days.
If callbacks were fast: under your ceiling, keep it and raise the cap 20 to 25%. Between 1 and 1.5 times your ceiling, give it one more month. Over 1.5 times, cut it and test the next one. On long sales cycles like remodels, judge day 30 on quotes set and bookings at 90 days.
How to leave Angi without a gap in leads
Don’t cancel Angi on day one. Turn it down, not off, until the new source proves itself. Angi’s own rules make that easy:
- Find your renewal date. Angi’s Pro Agreement says a subscription renews on its own unless you give notice before the new term starts. Put it on the calendar now.
- Cut volume first. On pay per lead, Angi’s leads FAQ lets you cut services, shrink your service area, lower your monthly budget or pause automatic leads. On a subscription, your monthly budget is set annually by contract, so call (877) 947-3639 or live-chat Customer Care (weekdays, 8 AM to 8 PM Eastern) to change volume. Paused or not, Opportunities you accept are charged on top of your monthly budget.
- Mind your credits. Angi’s credit page says credits are applied to future lead charges and expire six months after they’re issued. It also lists charges made while your leads were paused as a reason it may give a credit (not on annual subscriptions), so check for those. Stop buying leads and a late credit can die unused.
- Cut over on day 30. If the new source beats Angi’s cost per booked job, move the budget. If not, you haven’t lost a month of calls.
Angi alternatives FAQ
What is the best alternative to Angi for contractors?
For most licensed trades, we’d test Google Local Services Ads first, because the homeowner picks you from your own ad, each call goes to you instead of a shared list, and you set the budget, though Google still sets the lead price. If you want a marketplace like Angi with more control, Thumbtack lets you set your own lead price and weekly budget. Remodelers should look at Houzz Pro instead.
Is there a free alternative to Angi?
Yes. Your Google Business Profile is free, and Google says you can’t pay for a better local ranking. Bing Places, a Yelp business page and a Nextdoor business page are free too, and you can claim your location on Apple Maps. Thumbtack, Bark and HomeGuide are free to join, but you pay for leads. Free sources build slowly, so we’d pair them with one small paid test.
Is HomeAdvisor the same as Angi?
Yes, it’s the same company. Angi Inc.’s 2025 annual report lists Angi, Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor as its brands, and the FTC’s case names HomeAdvisor as doing business as Angi Leads. In 2023 the FTC finalized an order requiring HomeAdvisor to pay up to $7.2 million over how it sold leads to pros. Switching between the two names isn’t switching sellers.
Does anyone still use Angie’s List?
The name lives on, but the site is Angi now. Angi’s 2022 annual report says Angie’s List was renamed Angi in March 2021, and the company put its marketing behind the Angi brand. Its 2025 annual report still lists Angie’s List as a brand it owns. So if you’re looking for an Angie’s List alternative, you’re really comparing options to Angi.
Which lead sites give exclusive leads?
Shared is the norm. Angi and Bark cap a request at five pros, Home Depot Pro Referral lets the homeowner pick up to five, Thumbtack caps it at five in the first four hours, and Networx (pay per lead) and Modernize at four. Networx also sells a separate Exclusive Lead Plan at a higher price. Search ads and your own website send each lead to you alone, and Local Services Ads calls come only to you, though the homeowner may call the next ad too.
Are Thumbtack leads better than Angi leads?
Neither is better everywhere. Thumbtack gives you more control: you set the lead price and a weekly cap, and it refunds a lead if the customer replies to no pro in 72 hours. Angi sets the price, its credit page says a homeowner who never answers isn’t eligible for a credit, and annual subscription leads get no credits. Test both and compare cost per booked job.
What to do this week
Keep Angi running, turned down, while you test one alternative against it.
- Pull last quarter’s Angi or HomeAdvisor charges and count the jobs they booked. That’s your cost per booked job to beat.
- Set your ceiling: gross profit on a typical job, times the share you’ll spend to win it.
- Pick one alternative from the trade table above. Ask the rep the seven questions, in writing.
- Claim your free Bing, Apple Maps, Yelp and Nextdoor listings, and tighten your Google Business Profile while the test runs.
Send us your business name and we’ll check your Google profile, reviews and site, then tell you the two or three things costing you calls. Free.
