A plumber on Checkatrade in 2026 typically pays £100 to £300 a month all in, combining membership with per-lead fees of £5 to £40, on a 12 month contract, for leads shared with competitors. A Google Maps position carries no per-lead fee and the enquiries are exclusive. Clienthax builds the second without asking you to cancel the first.
The short answer
In 2026, a plumber on Checkatrade typically pays somewhere between £100 and £300 a month all in once membership and per-lead fees are combined, on a 12 month contract, for leads that are shared with competing trades. A Google Maps position costs nothing per lead, generates exclusive enquiries, and belongs to you rather than to the platform. The catch is that ranking takes work up front, where a lead platform starts sending leads the week you join.
What the membership costs
Member-reported Checkatrade membership sits at roughly £60 to £120 a month for most trades, rising to around £180 in competitive areas and higher tiers. That is before you have received a single lead. It is a fixed cost that continues whether the phone rings or not, and it is normally committed for 12 months.
What the leads cost on top
Per-lead fees are charged separately and scale with job size. Members typically report around £5 to £15 for smaller jobs and £20 to £40 for larger ones. That sounds reasonable until you multiply it by the number of leads you need in order to win one job, and remember that the same lead has usually gone to two or three other trades at the same time.
A worked example
Take a plumber on a mid-tier membership at about £100 a month who takes 15 leads at roughly £20 each. That is £100 plus £300, so about £400 a month, or around £4,800 a year. If one in four of those leads becomes a paying customer, the real cost per acquired customer lands somewhere between £80 and £200 depending on how competitive your area is and how fast you answer.
None of that £4,800 buys you an asset. Stop paying and the leads stop the same day.
What a Google Maps position costs
There is no per-lead fee. Someone searches "emergency plumber Reading", sees three businesses in the Map Pack, and rings one of them. If that is you, the call costs you nothing, it has not been sold to three competitors, and the customer is usually further along than a form-fill lead because they have chosen to phone.
The honest trade-off is time. A lead platform works from week one. Ranking does not. Most local businesses see improvement in 30 to 60 days, and whether you reach the top three depends heavily on how close your verified business address is to the person searching. That is why we are careful about promising Map Pack positions in towns you are nowhere near.
Side by side
| Checkatrade | Google Maps | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | ~£100 to £300 all in (member-reported) | No per-lead fee |
| Cost per lead | ~£5 to £15 small jobs, £20 to £40 larger | £0 |
| Exclusivity | Shared with competing trades | Exclusive, they rang you |
| Contract | Typically 12 months | None |
| Speed to first lead | Days | Weeks |
| What you own at the end | Nothing | A profile and a ranking that stay yours |
Should you cancel Checkatrade?
Not on day one, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. The sensible sequence is to keep the platform running while you build the Map Pack position, then review the membership once Google is producing enquiries on its own. Plenty of trades end up keeping both and simply taking fewer paid leads, which is a perfectly good outcome.
What we would push back on is treating a lead platform as a permanent marketing strategy. It is rented demand. The moment you stop paying, you are invisible again.
Work out your own number
Before you compare anything, calculate your real cost per acquired customer:
- Add up everything you paid the platform last month, membership and lead fees together.
- Count how many of those leads turned into paid work.
- Divide the first number by the second.
Most trades who do this for the first time are surprised. If the answer is over £150 a customer and your average job is a £90 call-out, the maths is not working, and no amount of answering the phone faster will fix it.
Common questions
Member-reported figures put it at roughly £5 to £15 per lead for smaller jobs and £20 to £40 for larger ones, charged on top of a monthly membership of about £60 to £120, rising to around £180 in competitive areas. Checkatrade does not publish full pricing, so treat all of these as ranges rather than quotes.
It depends entirely on your cost per acquired customer. Add up your membership plus lead fees for a month, divide by the number of leads that became paid work, and compare that to your average job value. Many trades find the real figure lands between £80 and £200 per customer, which works for larger jobs and does not for call-outs.
They are usually higher intent, because the customer chose you from three options and phoned rather than submitting a form that goes to several trades at once. They also cost nothing per lead. The trade-off is that ranking takes weeks to build, where a paid platform starts sending leads immediately.
Most local businesses see improvement in 30 to 60 days. Reaching the top three depends heavily on how close your verified address is to the searcher, plus your review count and profile quality. We run a geo-grid heatmap before starting so you can see your actual baseline rather than a guess.
Want your own number? We will run a free geo-grid heatmap on your primary keyword and show you where you actually rank today, then tell you honestly whether we can move it. No obligation. See your ranking, free or call 0118 211 5373.
Related reading:Local SEO guide for Reading businesses, how to rank higher on Google Maps, and marketing for plumbers in Reading.