- Checkatrade is legitimate and long established; its Trustpilot score is about 4.6/5 from roughly 68,000 reviews, but that pool mixes homeowners rating tradespeople with tradespeople rating the platform, so it is not a member verdict.
- Tradesmen's complaints cluster on three points: cost (£80–£500 a month reported), enquiries shared with other members, and 12-month contract terms. Some report leads that did not cover the fee. Members who answer fast and work uncrowded areas report it paying.
- Whether it is good for you depends on how many members already cover your trade in your area and how quickly you answer enquiries. Run a month and divide the fee by jobs booked.
Is Checkatrade legit and reliable?
Yes on both counts. Checkatrade is one of the UK's largest trade directories, vets members on identity, insurance and qualifications, and has run for over two decades. Nothing in the reviews suggests a scam. The questions tradesmen actually argue about are whether the membership pays and whether the enquiries are worth having, which are different questions from legitimacy.
What the review scores mean
Local Adder's 2026 review puts Checkatrade's Trustpilot score at about 4.6 out of 5 from around 68,000 reviews. Read the reviews and most are homeowners rating a tradesperson they found, or tradespeople who were happy that day; the platform's own performance for members is a minority of the pool. Reviews.io shows a smaller, more mixed set. Treat the headline score as a homeowner trust signal, which is genuinely useful to you as a member, not as a measure of whether membership pays.
| Theme | What members report |
|---|---|
| Cost | £80–£500 a month depending on trade and area; renewal quotes 20–40% higher than year one. Full cost breakdown |
| Shared enquiries | The same homeowner can contact several members; the first to answer usually wins |
| Contract length | 12-month terms are a recurring complaint from members who want to leave early |
| Lead quality | Mixed: some report leads that did not cover the fee; others in uncrowded areas report steady work |
| Homeowner trust | Widely praised: the badge and reviews help win jobs found elsewhere |
| Complaint handling | Homeowners complain of slow responses to disputes; some say only positive reviews get published |
The three complaints, and whether they apply to you
Price is the loudest. Members report anything from £80 to £500 a month, and the published plans (£30 Approved, from £59 Growth) are the floor rather than the bill. Whether that is expensive depends entirely on what a booked job is worth to you; a bathroom fitter and a tap-fixer should not judge the same fee the same way.
Shared enquiries are structural, not a fault: every directory sells the homeowner's enquiry to several members. It hurts most on big-ticket work where a lost shared job is hundreds of pounds, and least on quick call-outs. If you answer everything in the first minute you will do better than the reviews suggest; if you do not, worse.
The 12-month term is the one to read before signing. Members who joined in a quiet season and wanted out by month four are the source of most of the anger online. Diarise the renewal date the day you join.
What members praise
The badge and the reviews. Homeowners recognise Checkatrade, and members report that the profile helps win jobs that came from elsewhere: a referral who checks you out, a Google search that lands on your profile. Several keep the membership for that reason alone while getting their actual enquiries from other channels. That is a legitimate use of it, and cheaper than trying to buy the same trust another way.
How to decide
Search your trade and town on Checkatrade as a homeowner and count the profiles. Being one of four is a different product from being one of forty at the same fee. Then get a quote for your postcode, ask about the term, and run the cost-per-booked-job maths with your own numbers.
If the sums do not work, the alternatives fall into three groups: other directories (TrustATrader, MyBuilder, Bark), owned channels you build yourself, and outcome-priced systems. MyTradeBuddy is the last kind: demand generated for one business per area, every enquiry answered and chased, billed per booked survey with no contract.
Read next
- Checkatrade Cost 2026: Membership Fees, What Members Really Pay, and the Price Per Lead
- Is Checkatrade Worth It in 2026? The Cost-Per-Booked-Job Maths for UK Trades
- Checkatrade or Trust a Trader? Fees, Lead Sharing and Which Wins for UK Trades (2026)
- Checkatrade Alternatives for UK Trades (2026): Directories, Agencies and Pay-Per-Booked-Survey Compared
Frequently asked questions
It is legitimate and the badge helps win trust. Whether the membership pays depends on how many members already cover your trade and area and how fast you answer enquiries. Members in uncrowded areas who answer quickly report it working; others report fees that the leads did not cover.
Yes. It is one of the UK's largest and oldest trade directories and vets members on identity, insurance and qualifications.
About 4.6 out of 5 from around 68,000 reviews in 2026, but the pool mixes homeowners rating tradespeople with tradespeople rating the platform, so it is not a member verdict.
Cost (£80–£500 a month reported), enquiries shared with other members, and 12-month contract terms. Some report leads that did not cover the fee.
Run the numbers: count competing profiles in your area, get a quote for your postcode, and divide a month's fee by jobs booked. The maths is worked through in our Is Checkatrade worth it article.