Checkatrade Costs £1,440/Year. Here's What £108/Year Gets You Instead.

Here's a question nobody at Checkatrade wants you to do the maths on.

You're paying Checkatrade somewhere between £800 and £2,000 a year. Maybe more — plenty of tradespeople on forums report £1,500+ after the latest price hikes. You're locked into an annual contract with a 14-day cancellation window. And every review you collect lives inside Checkatrade's platform. Cancel your membership, and those reviews disappear with it.

Now here's the alternative. A Google Business Profile costs £0. Collecting Google reviews costs £0. Automating the whole thing with a tool like TapReview costs £9/month — £108/year.

That's not a rounding error. That's a 13x difference at Checkatrade's cheapest, and a 18x difference at the prices many tradespeople are actually paying.

So where should your money go?

TL;DR

Checkatrade costs £800-£2,000/year and locks you into annual contracts. The reviews you collect there disappear if you cancel. Google reviews are free, permanent, and visible to 71% of consumers who check Google before hiring. Automating Google review collection with TapReview costs £108/year. The maths: invest in something you own (Google reviews) rather than something you rent (Checkatrade visibility). Run both during the transition if you need to — TapReview at £9/month barely registers against a Checkatrade subscription.

What Checkatrade actually costs in 2026

Checkatrade doesn't make their pricing easy to find — you have to fill in a form and wait for a call. But tradespeople talk, and the numbers are consistent across forums.

Basic membership: £70-£120/month (£840-£1,440/year) depending on trade and area. Many tradespeople report paying towards the higher end.

Enhanced packages: £150-£400+/month. Priority listings, enhanced profiles, and additional visibility features push costs further up.

Hidden costs: Annual contract with a narrow 14-day cancellation window. Miss that window and you're locked in for another year. Tradespeople on Trustpilot and trade forums consistently cite this as a major frustration.

One electrician shared on ToolTalk that he earned only £80 from Checkatrade leads over four months while paying nearly £500 in fees. Another reported his renewal jumped from £800 to nearly £2,000 with no explanation.

For a sole trader, Checkatrade can easily be the single biggest marketing expense of the year.

What Google review automation costs

Google Business Profile: £0. Free to set up, free to maintain, free forever. Full setup guide: How to Set Up a Google Business Profile as a Tradesperson.

Collecting reviews manually: £0. Send your Google review link to customers via WhatsApp after each job. Works well — the problem is remembering to do it consistently.

Automating review collection with TapReview: £9/month (£108/year). TapReview is a £9/month tool that helps UK tradespeople get more Google reviews by sending automated review requests via WhatsApp and SMS after every job. No contract, cancel anytime. No annual lock-in, no 14-day cancellation trap.

Total annual cost: £108 vs Checkatrade's £840-£2,000+.

The real comparison: what your money buys

Let's put £1,440 (a typical mid-range Checkatrade subscription) next to £108 (TapReview) and see what you actually get for each.

With Checkatrade at £1,440/year you get:

A listing on Checkatrade's platform. Leads from homeowners browsing Checkatrade. Reviews that live inside Checkatrade's ecosystem. The Checkatrade "approved" badge.

What you don't get: Any improvement to your Google ranking. Any visibility in Google Maps. Any reviews that consumers can see on Google (where 71% of them look). Any asset you own — cancel and it all vanishes.

With TapReview at £108/year you get:

Automated WhatsApp and SMS review requests sent after every job. Google reviews that sit permanently on your Google Business Profile. Improved ranking in Google Maps as your review count grows. Visibility to the 97% of consumers who read online reviews before hiring.

What you don't get: Instant leads from day one. The Checkatrade badge. A customer support team to call when things go wrong.

The difference is simple: Checkatrade is renting leads. Google reviews are building an asset.

The compounding effect Checkatrade doesn't have

Here's the bit that makes the maths even more lopsided over time.

Every Google review you collect this year keeps working next year. A plumber who collects 50 Google reviews in 2026 starts 2027 with 50 reviews already on their profile, generating organic enquiries without paying another penny. By the end of 2027, they might have 100. By 2028, 150.

Checkatrade doesn't compound. You pay £1,440 this year. You get leads this year. Next year, you pay £1,440 again — possibly more, given the consistent price increases tradespeople report. Stop paying and the leads stop instantly.

Over three years, the numbers look like this:

Checkatrade: £1,440 × 3 = £4,320 spent. Zero lasting assets.

TapReview + Google Reviews: £108 × 3 = £324 spent. 150+ Google reviews permanently on your profile, generating organic enquiries indefinitely.

The gap isn't just 13x in year one. It widens every single year.

The revenue argument

According to research from Harvard Business School, a one-star improvement in your rating translates to 5-9% more revenue. For a tradesperson earning £50,000/year, that's £2,500-£4,500 in additional revenue.

Womply's research found that businesses with more than 25 Google reviews earn 108% more revenue than average.

So the question becomes: would you rather spend £1,440/year renting leads, or £108/year building the review profile that independently drives 5-9% more revenue?

For the full breakdown of what each review is worth in pounds, see: What Is a Google Review Actually Worth?

When Checkatrade still makes sense

Being fair — Checkatrade isn't always the wrong choice.

If you're brand new with zero reputation, zero reviews, and zero online presence, Checkatrade gets you in front of homeowners immediately. You don't have to wait for Google rankings to build. The leads are real, even if the cost is high.

If you've moved to a new area and need to rebuild your customer base quickly, Checkatrade can bridge the gap while you establish yourself locally.

If your trade is highly competitive on Google in your area (e.g., plumbers in central London), Checkatrade might provide leads that are harder to win organically.

The key is treating Checkatrade as a temporary bridge, not a permanent strategy. Use it to generate initial work, collect Google reviews from every Checkatrade job, and transition to Google-driven enquiries over time.

The transition plan

You don't have to choose one or the other overnight. Here's the smart way to make the switch:

Month 1-2: Sign up for TapReview alongside your existing Checkatrade subscription. Start collecting Google reviews from every job — including jobs that came through Checkatrade. Total extra cost: £9/month.

Month 3-6: Monitor where your enquiries come from. Ask every new customer: "How did you find me?" Track Checkatrade leads separately from Google/organic enquiries.

Month 6-12: By now you should have 30-60+ Google reviews. Check whether Google is generating consistent work. If it is, you have the data to decide whether Checkatrade is still earning its keep.

When you're ready: Cancel Checkatrade during your 14-day renewal window. Your Google reviews stay. Your Google ranking stays. Your £1,440/year saving starts immediately.

For the full feature-by-feature comparison, see: Checkatrade Reviews vs Google Reviews: Which Actually Gets You More Work?

The bottom line

Checkatrade: £1,440/year. Annual contract. Reviews locked inside their platform. Stop paying, everything disappears.

Google Reviews via TapReview: £108/year. No contract. Reviews on the platform where 71% of consumers look. Every review stays forever and compounds over time.

The question isn't whether Google reviews work — the data is overwhelming. The question is how long you want to keep spending £1,440/year renting someone else's platform when you could be building something you own for £108.

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FAQ

Should I cancel Checkatrade and use Google reviews instead?

Don't cancel until you have an alternative source of work. Set up your Google Business Profile, start collecting reviews consistently, and track where your enquiries come from. When Google generates enough work to replace Checkatrade leads, you can cancel with confidence. Many tradespeople run both in parallel during the transition.

Is Checkatrade a waste of money for established tradespeople?

It depends on your return. If you're paying £1,440/year and winning £5,000+ of work from Checkatrade leads, the maths work. If you're paying £1,440 and getting a handful of tyre-kickers, it's a bad deal. Track your actual Checkatrade-sourced revenue for three months, then compare it to what Google enquiries bring in.

How long does it take for Google reviews to replace Checkatrade leads?

Most tradespeople start seeing organic Google enquiries within 3-6 months of consistently collecting reviews — typically once you pass 20-30 reviews. The timeline depends on your area, competition, and how quickly you build review volume. Automating requests with a tool like TapReview speeds this up significantly.

What happens to my Checkatrade reviews if I cancel?

They stay on Checkatrade's platform but become less visible. You lose your active listing, your profile drops in search results, and no new customers find you there. The reviews don't transfer. Google reviews stay on your profile permanently regardless of what tools or services you use.

Can I afford both Checkatrade and TapReview?

TapReview costs £9/month, so yes. Many tradespeople run both while transitioning. Use Checkatrade for immediate leads while building your Google review profile. Once Google is generating consistent work, make an informed decision about dropping Checkatrade.

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Related reading

• Checkatrade Reviews vs Google Reviews: Which Actually Gets You More Work?
• Checkatrade Alternatives UK: The Complete Guide for Tradespeople (2026)
• Best Google Review Tools for UK Small Businesses (2026 Comparison)
• What Is a Google Review Actually Worth? The Real Numbers for UK Tradespeople

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TapReview helps UK tradespeople get more Google reviews with one tap. Try it free →