Thumbtack vs Angi is a choice between two ways of paying for a shot at a homeowner. Neither sells you a job. The differences that hit your bill: who sets the price, what you get back on a dead lead, and whether there’s a contract.
We checked both companies’ help pages and terms on October 9, 2026. (Angi’s Pro Agreement was last updated October 6, 2026. Thumbtack’s Terms of Use, July 10, 2026, and its budget terms, May 19, 2026.) Every rule below links to the page it came from.
Our short answer: for most contractors, Thumbtack is the lower-risk one to test. You set your own lead price, your weekly budget is a hard stop for leads that come to you, and there’s no term contract. If a customer never replies to any pro, Thumbtack refunds the lead on its own, as long as you followed its rules.
Angi can work for shops that answer fast and have margin to spare. Angi says it matches each request with no more than five pros, while Thumbtack’s limit lifts after four hours. If you try Angi, use pay per lead and skip the subscription until your own numbers back it.
Key takeaways
- Neither sells exclusive leads. Angi caps a request at five pros. Thumbtack caps it at five for the first four hours. Side-by-side table
- HomeAdvisor and Angi share a parent company, Angi Inc., so start with the Angi column. Where HomeAdvisor fits
- You set an exact lead price on Thumbtack. Angi sets its own, and its monthly budget can run over. How each one charges
- Thumbtack auto-refunds a lead if the customer replies to no pro in 72 hours and you followed its three reply rules. Angi doesn’t credit a homeowner who never answers. Refund rules
- Angi’s subscription renews on its own, the fee can rise up to 10% each renewal, and its leads get no credits. Contracts and exits
- Judge each site by net spend divided by jobs won, not by lead price. Cost per job math
Thumbtack vs Angi at a glance
These are the rules that change your bill. Every row comes from each company’s own help center or terms, checked in October 2026. Neither one posts a price list, so you won’t find a flat lead price in this table. If a blog or a rep gives you one price for every trade and ZIP code, ask where it came from.
| Thumbtack | Angi | |
|---|---|---|
| How the customer finds you | Picks you from search results and contacts you | Picks from pros Angi matches to the job |
| When you’re charged | When a customer reaches out and the job fits your preferences (Smart Match leads can fall outside them) | When you and the homeowner both show interest |
| Who sets the lead price | You set an exact price per service | Angi, based on task, location and demand |
| Budget | Weekly limit (or set it to unlimited). Leads stop when you hit it | Monthly target. One last lead can push you over |
| Pros per customer | Up to 5 in the first four hours, more after that | No more than 5 per request |
| Customer never replies to anyone | Automatic refund if you followed the rules | Not eligible for a credit |
| Window to dispute a bad lead | 45 days from the charge | Lead under 45 days old, and you tried to call within 24 hours |
| Contract | No term contract, membership or annual fee | Pay per lead, or a subscription that renews on its own |
| Leaving | Pause services or close your account any time | Pause automatic leads in your account. To cancel, call Customer Care, and pay an early exit fee if your contract has one |
Sources: Thumbtack’s lead price, budget, Quality Commitment and refund pages, plus its pro page and terms. Angi’s leads FAQ, billing page, credit page and Pro Agreement.
Both limit how many pros a customer reaches. Angi says it matches each request with no more than five pros. Thumbtack’s limit lifts after four hours, so a slow request can reach more pros. Neither one sells you an exclusive lead. Control is where they split. On Thumbtack you pick your price and your weekly ceiling. On Angi, Angi picks the price and one last lead can push you past your monthly budget. If neither fits your shop, our list of alternatives to Angi and Thumbtack shows how other lead sources charge.
Angi can still pay off. A shop that answers in minutes, closes well and has room in its margins can make the numbers work there, especially on bigger tickets where one win covers a lot of misses. But if you’re testing a lead site for the first time, Thumbtack lets you lose less money finding out. (For where lead sites fit next to SEO, ads and referrals, see our guide to lead generation for contractors.)
Where HomeAdvisor fits in
HomeAdvisor isn’t a third option. Angi Inc.’s 2025 annual report says the company owns and operates Angi, Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor, and that its basic annual membership includes a profile page on HomeAdvisor.com. So a HomeAdvisor pitch is an Angi Inc. pitch.
That makes “HomeAdvisor vs Thumbtack” close to the same question as “Angi vs Thumbtack.” If a rep calls it HomeAdvisor, ask which agreement you’d be signing, then check it against the Angi column here.
In 2023 the FTC finalized an order requiring HomeAdvisor to pay up to $7.2 million over how it marketed leads to pros. Among other things, the order bars it from falsely claiming its leads come from people who are ready to hire. Our takeaway for any lead site, Thumbtack included: judge it by what your own leads close at, not by what a rep says they usually do.
How Thumbtack and Angi charge you
Both charge you when a homeowner connects with you, whether or not you get the job. What’s different is who picks the price and how hard your budget stops.
Thumbtack: you set the exact price
On Thumbtack, a customer finds you in search results and reaches out. If the job fits the preferences you set, you auto-pay for the lead. Thumbtack says prices vary with the type and size of the job, how many pros are available and your market.
One exception to the preferences rule: with Smart Match, Thumbtack may send leads outside your usual preferences when it predicts a good fit. If one isn’t, decline it and say so, and Thumbtack’s refund policy says it refunds that lead automatically.
Many older articles still describe Thumbtack as a credit system. It now uses exact lead prices. You pick a price for each service, and that’s what you pay per lead. Set a higher price on the work you want most (say, water heater installs over faucet swaps) and Thumbtack says that makes you more competitive for those leads.
To change it in the Thumbtack Pro app, tap Services, then Manage lead prices, and move the slider. As you move it, the app estimates how many leads to expect. Price isn’t the only thing that matters, though; Thumbtack lists your profile, star rating and reviews, how fast you respond and local demand too.
And if your prices are at or near Thumbtack’s minimum, they may go up on their own when Thumbtack changes its minimums. It says it will always tell you when that happens.
Your budget is weekly. Every lead comes out of it, and once you hit it you drop out of search results until the Monday reset unless you raise it. Thumbtack’s own example: a $10 lead price and a $90 weekly budget means nine leads, then you’re done for the week.
How much does Thumbtack charge for leads?
Thumbtack doesn’t post a price list. You set the price per lead for each service, at or above Thumbtack’s minimum, and that’s exactly what you pay. Before you spend a dollar, open Manage lead prices and write down two things for each service: the price the app shows and its lead estimate.
Then work backward: if you win 1 in 5 leads and want each job to cost you $150 or less in leads, your lead price can’t go above $30. (Example math, not Thumbtack’s numbers.) We run this math for three trades in our guide to whether Thumbtack is worth it.
Is Thumbtack free for contractors? Joining is: no membership or subscription. Leads cost money. When a customer contacts you and the job matches your preferences, you auto-pay for the lead. That happens before you reply, so you pay even if you never answer. Declining gets you an automatic refund when it’s a Smart Match lead outside your settings and you tell Thumbtack it wasn’t a fit.
Angi: Angi sets the price
Angi doesn’t post prices either. On Angi, you’re charged once you and the homeowner both show interest. You pay whether or not you open or answer the lead. Angi sets the fee based on the task, the homeowner’s location and demand for the work. On an Opportunity, you see the fee before you show interest. For automatic leads, ask the rep for the fee range for your tasks and ZIP codes, in writing.
Angi’s budget is monthly, and it bends. Its billing page gives this example: with a $500 budget and $480 spent, one more $40 lead can land and you end the month at $520. Without a subscription you’re billed weekly (Wednesday for a bank account, Friday for a card). On a subscription, the budget is set by your contract for the year.
Opportunities sit outside both budgets
Both platforms have a second lead type called Opportunities. These are jobs you browse and reach out to first. You see the fee before you commit, and Thumbtack also shows how many pros that customer has contacted and how many have replied. On both sites, the fee doesn’t count against your budget.
- Thumbtack: you pay only if the customer responds, and the cost doesn’t come out of your weekly budget. It goes to your payment method on file.
- Angi: Opportunities are charged on top of your monthly budget, and you pay once you both show interest.
So your budget isn’t your real ceiling on either platform. If your office manager taps on a handful of extra jobs during a slow week, the bill grows past the number you planned. We’d set one rule: nobody accepts an Opportunity without the owner’s OK for the first month.
Where refunds and credits differ most
Thumbtack refunds a lead on its own when the customer goes silent on every pro. Angi won’t credit a homeowner who never answers. If a third of your leads never answer anyone, that one rule could cut your net lead spend by about a third, as long as you met all four conditions on each one. (Example math, not a promise.) The math section below shows how.
Thumbtack’s Fair Shot Refunds
Thumbtack’s Fair Shot Refund policy pays you back automatically when a customer doesn’t reply to any pro within 72 hours of sending the request. You don’t file anything. But you only qualify if all four are true:
- Communicated through Thumbtack: its messenger or a Thumbtack phone number.
- Accepted the lead and replied within four business hours of the request (business hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. your time).
- Didn’t share your own phone number or email before the customer’s first reply.
- The customer stayed silent with every pro, not just you.
The phone number rule trips people up. Plenty of pros put their cell number in the first message so the customer can just call. On Thumbtack, that can cost you the refund. Keep the first exchange inside the app or on a Thumbtack number, then share your number once they’ve answered. One more catch: a reply counts if the customer calls you, even if you miss the call. So a missed call from them ends Fair Shot on that lead. Call back fast.
The refund lands in your Thumbtack balance for future leads.
Outside of Fair Shot, you can ask for a refund within 45 days of the charge. Thumbtack’s refund policy lists the cases most likely to qualify:
- An invalid or disconnected phone number
- A duplicate request from the same customer for the same job within 45 days
- A job that changed a lot, like moving outside your travel area
- A fixed date you’d already blocked on your calendar
- An Opportunity where the customer’s first message is a clear no
Thumbtack decides each one at its discretion. It usually answers in 24 to 48 hours, or up to four days if it needs a closer look. Approved refunds go to your balance too, but you can ask to move one to your original payment method within 10 business days of the approval.
Angi’s lead credits
Like Thumbtack’s default, Angi pays you back in platform money: credits toward future leads. Its credit page says they’re applied to future lead charges and doesn’t mention moving them to your card. It gives them only for a short list of reasons on its credit page: bad contact info, a job outside your ZIP codes, a task you don’t offer, a duplicate within 45 days, or a charge while your leads were paused.
To be considered, the lead has to be under 45 days old, you should have tried calling within 24 hours, and your account can’t have an overdue balance. Credits expire after six months.
Two big gaps. First, Angi won’t credit a homeowner who never answers, hired someone else, or was just collecting quotes. Second, annual subscribers get no credits at all. You can report a lead, but you won’t get a credit for it.
Neither site pays you back for losing a bid. Refunds and credits cover bad info, wrong fits and, on Thumbtack, customers who ghost everyone.
Contracts, renewals and getting out
Thumbtack has no term contract. Its pro page says there are no contracts, no annual fees and no membership fees, and its terms say you can close your account at any time. Want to stop for a while? In the app, open Services, pick a service and tap Pause under job preferences.
One thing to skip on Thumbtack: prepaid packages. Its budget and fees terms say all sales of prepaid packages are final and any unused portion isn’t refundable. If a promo pushes one at you before you know your numbers, pass.
Angi gives you two ways to pay. Pay per lead with a monthly budget you can adjust in the app, or an annual subscription where the budget is set by your contract. Per the Pro Agreement (last updated October 6, 2026), the subscription is a fixed-term commitment where you prepay for leads and earn a discount. Here’s what you agree to on a subscription:
- It renews on its own, and Angi can raise the fee up to 10% over your last term.
- To stop the renewal, you have to give notice before the new term starts.
- Leaving early can mean an early termination fee, if your contract includes one.
- Cancel, and you won’t get back any part of the fee for the current term.
- Subscription leads don’t get credits (see above).
On pay per lead, you can pause automatic leads or lower your budget in your account. On a subscription, Angi’s help center says to call Customer Care at (877) 947-3639 to change your volume or budget. To cancel either way, the agreement says to call that same number and pay the early exit fee, where your contract has one.
Any lead estimate Angi gives you is, in its agreement’s words, “an estimate only and is not guaranteed.” Thumbtack’s budget terms say the same about its own estimates: “not a guarantee.” Treat a projected lead count from either site as a guess.
If you’re still talking to an Angi rep, get these in an email before you agree to anything:
- Is this pay per lead or a subscription?
- What’s the term length and the renewal date?
- What’s the early termination fee in dollars, and does one apply on pay per lead?
- What’s the lead fee range for my tasks and ZIP codes?
Thumbtack vs Angi math: cost per booked job
Reps quote lead prices. What you need to know is what each booked job cost you. Refunds can move that number more than the lead price does.
Here’s the formula we use for any paid lead source:
- Cost per booked job = (everything you paid the platform, minus refunds and credits you actually got back) ÷ jobs you won
- Gross profit per job = the price of the job minus labor and materials
- Our rule of thumb: if cost per booked job runs past about a third of gross profit, the source is eating your margin
Here’s an example. These numbers are made up to show how the rules play out, not what either site charges. Say you’re a plumber buying water heater leads at $40 each on both platforms. You get 20 leads in a month and win 3 jobs. Six of those 20 customers never reply to anyone.
| Example month | Thumbtack | Angi, pay per lead | Angi, subscription |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leads charged | 20 × $40 = $800 | 20 × $40 = $800 | Discounted, say 20 × $34 = $680 |
| 6 silent customers | Refunded if you met the rules: minus $240 | No credit | No credit |
| 1 disconnected number | Request it: minus $40 | Request it: minus $40 | No credit |
| Net spend | $520 | $760 | $680 |
| Cost per booked job (3 wins) | About $173 | About $253 | About $227 |
If each water heater job leaves you $900 in gross profit, a third of that is $300. All three columns pass in this example. Change one thing, say you only win 2 jobs instead of 3, and both Angi columns land over the line ($380 and $340 a job). Thumbtack, at $260, is still under it.
Flip it around. If Angi’s leads close better for you and you win 5 there instead of 3, Angi pay per lead lands at about $152 a job, under Thumbtack’s $173. So you have to test both.
Two caveats. First, Thumbtack’s refund only kicks in when the customer ignores every pro. If they reply to someone else and not you, you still pay. Second, in real life the two sites probably won’t charge you the same price for the same job, and your close rates will differ.
Also notice that the six ghosted leads drive most of Thumbtack’s edge here. If your customers rarely ghost everyone, the gap shrinks. So treat these numbers as a demo, not a forecast. Your own 60 days will tell you.
Look at the subscription column. Here the discount saves $80 over Angi pay per lead. But have a month with three dead numbers instead of one, and that saving drops to zero, because subscription leads get no credits. That’s before any renewal increase or exit fee.
Thumbtack or Angi for your kind of shop
It mostly comes down to job size and how fast someone answers the app. Here’s how we’d call it for five common kinds of shops. These are our opinions, based on the rules above, not promises from either site.
| Your shop | Where we’d start | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Handyman, painter or small repairs ($150 to $600 jobs) | Thumbtack | Small jobs can’t absorb many dead leads. A hard weekly cap and automatic refunds for ghosts protect thin margins. |
| HVAC or plumbing shop with an office | Thumbtack first, Angi pay per lead second | Someone can answer inside four business hours, which keeps Thumbtack refunds alive. Add Angi once you know your numbers. |
| Roofer or remodeler (big tickets) | Either, on pay per lead only | One win can cover a lot of misses, so both can pencil out. Skip any subscription until a test proves it. |
| Brand-new shop with few reviews | Build Google reviews first, then a small Thumbtack test | Both sites weigh reviews. A small weekly budget limits what you can lose while you build them. |
| Restoration or emergency work | Neither as your main source | A form request isn’t a 2 a.m. phone call. Your Google profile and Local Services Ads fit urgent jobs better. |
A note on that new-shop row. Thumbtack says your star rating and reviews affect how many leads you get. Angi’s agreement says its lead estimates depend on ratings, review count and response time. Both sites count reviews when deciding how many leads you get, so a new profile starts at a disadvantage. Meanwhile, work on getting more Google reviews too. Those bring in calls you don’t pay for by the lead.
For emergency trades, we’d put the money into Google Local Services Ads and your own profile before either marketplace. When a basement is flooding, we think most homeowners grab the phone instead of filling out a form and waiting.
Can you run both? Yes. Give each its own budget and its own column in your lead log, or in six months you won’t know which one paid.
How to test Thumbtack and Angi without getting burned
The only way to know which one works in your market is to run both on the same kind of job for 60 days.
First messages that keep your refunds alive
The two sites reward different first moves. On Thumbtack, reply within four business hours by messaging in the Thumbtack app or calling through a Thumbtack number, and hold your own cell number until they answer. On Angi, the credit rules expect a phone call within 24 hours, so call fast.
Thumbtack first message (sent in the Thumbtack messenger):
“Hi [first name], [your name] here from [company]. Thanks for reaching out about your [job]. Quick question so I can give you a real price: [one trade question]? I can come look [day] between [time] and [time]. Does that work?”
No phone number, no email, no link to your site yet. Once they reply, share whatever you like.
Angi first call (same day, and log the time you called):
“Hi, this is [name] with [company]. You asked about [job] on Angi. Is now a good time for two quick questions? … Great. I’ve got an opening [day] at [time]. Can I put you down?”
If they don’t pick up, leave a short voicemail and text the same thing. Your call log is your proof if you need to ask for a credit on a dead number later.
Good trade questions keep it short: “Is the water heater leaking now, or just not heating?” for plumbers. “How many rooms, and same color or a change?” for painters. “Is the AC blowing warm air, or not turning on?” for HVAC.
A 60-day head-to-head with a kill number
- Write down your kill number before the first lead: the most you’ll pay per booked job. Use the one-third rule from the math above.
- Pick the same two or three high-margin services on both sites, with the same service area.
- Thumbtack: set lead prices on just those services and a weekly budget you could lose without pain. Angi: pay per lead only, with a monthly budget about four times your Thumbtack weekly number.
- Leave Opportunities alone on both for the first month.
- Log every lead in one sheet: date, site, service, price, replied or not, quoted, won, job value.
- Every Friday, check refunds and credits. Request any that qualify, and note which ones came back.
- On day 60, work out net spend ÷ jobs won for each site. Over your kill number? Turn that one off. Under it? Keep it, and only then add budget.
If one site sent you fewer than about 15 leads in 60 days, that’s too few to judge. Run it another month before you decide. That cutoff is our rule of thumb, not a statistic.
Thumbtack vs Angi FAQ
Is Thumbtack or Angi better for contractors?
For most shops testing a lead site, we’d start with Thumbtack: you set the price, there’s no term contract, and ghosted leads can be refunded. Angi can work for fast shops with good margins, on pay per lead.
Is Thumbtack cheaper than Angi?
Neither posts a price list. You set Thumbtack’s price per service, while Angi’s fees depend on task, location and demand. Compare net spend divided by jobs won after 60 days.
Do you pay for leads you don’t win?
Yes, on both. Angi’s Pro Agreement says you pay even if you don’t win the job, and its help center says you’re charged whether or not you open the lead. Thumbtack says it can’t guarantee the outcome or return on a lead, so it doesn’t refund leads just because you weren’t hired. Angi doesn’t credit those either.
Is HomeAdvisor the same as Angi?
Angi Inc. owns and operates both, per its 2025 annual report. If you’re weighing HomeAdvisor against Thumbtack, start with the Angi column here and get the exact agreement in writing.
Can you get refunds for bad leads on Thumbtack and Angi?
Sometimes. Thumbtack auto-refunds ghosted leads if you followed its rules, and you can request others within 45 days. Angi credits bad numbers, wrong ZIP codes, wrong tasks, duplicates and paused charges if you called within 24 hours, but not on annual subscriptions.
Can you use Thumbtack and Angi at the same time?
Yes. Run both on the same services for 60 days with separate budgets, log every lead by source, and leave Opportunities alone at first.
What to do this week
- Already on one? Pull last month’s charges, subtract refunds and credits, and divide by jobs won.
- On an Angi subscription? Find your renewal date and exit fee and put both on the calendar.
- On Thumbtack? Make sure whoever answers leads replies in the app within four business hours, without your cell number in the first message.
- Starting fresh? Write your kill number down, then set up the 60-day test.
You don’t own lead site customers. They help in a slow month, but the calls stop the day you stop paying. For more, see our full Angi leads review and our breakdown of HVAC lead sources. Our free Google review link generator gives you one link to text after every job.
If you’d rather own more of your calls, start with your Google profile. Our free local SEO audit shows what’s holding it back and what to fix first.
