Thumbtack vs Angi for Contractors: Lead Costs, Fees and Which Is Worth It

Thumbtack vs Angi comes down to how you pay and how fast you reply. Thumbtack charges per lead with no membership. Angi charges per matched lead, plus a reported annual fee. Both share each request with several pros. Neither pays off unless you reply in minutes.

Key points

• Thumbtack is free to join and you pay to contact customers.
• Thumbtack says customers get quotes from up to 5 pros.
• Angi Leads charges a fee per matched lead and connects customers with multiple pros.
• Pros report Angi leads at about $15 to $85, plus about $300 a year.
• The real price is the cost per booked job, not the cost per lead.
• A pro who replies in minutes wins far more of the jobs.

Neither company publishes a lead price list. Prices depend on your trade, job size and market. So the ranges below are contractor reported estimates, and we label them that way.

How each platform works comes from its own pro pages. The comparison costs for Google channels come from our own accounts.

In this guide

• Thumbtack vs Angi side by side
• Is Thumbtack worth it?
• Is Angi worth it?
• What a marketplace job really costs
• How to win shared leads
• When to stop paying
• What works better
• Frequently asked questions

Thumbtack vs Angi: how do they compare for contractors?

They solve the same problem in slightly different ways. Both sell you a chance at a job a homeowner posted. Neither sells you the job.

	Thumbtack	Angi (Angi Leads)
Sign up	Free	Pros report about $300 a year
How you pay	Per lead or quote you send	A lead fee per matched lead
Reported lead price	About $10 to $100 plus	About $15 to $85
Who else sees it	Customers get quotes from up to 5 pros	Customers connect with multiple pros
Budget control	Weekly or monthly budget	You set budget and lead preferences

The reported prices come from a 2026 roundup of contractor reports by Housecall Pro. Both platforms change prices by trade and area. Check your own pro account for the real number.

Bigger jobs cost more per lead on both. Pros report roofing and HVAC Angi leads near the top of the range. Cleaning and handyman leads sit near the bottom.

Scale is not the issue on either side. Thumbtack says tens of thousands of customers use it each day. It also lists more than 200,000 pros, which is the competition you reply against.

Is Thumbtack worth it for contractors?

It can be, for small and medium jobs and a fast reply. Thumbtack is free to join. You see requests in your area and pay to send a quote.

What works in its favor:

• No membership fee to start.
• A weekly or monthly budget that caps spend.
• A profile with reviews that builds over time.

What works against it:

• You pay when you get the lead, not when you win the job.
• Leads that never reply are not refunded, by reports.
• Up to five pros can quote the same customer.

Is Thumbtack worth it? Only if you can reply within minutes and quote a clear price. A slow, vague reply pays for a lead the next pro books.

Want this done for you? Book a free 15 minute call or call (859) 710-8408. We will tell you what to fix first, no pitch.

Is Angi worth it for contractors?

Angi’s pro lead product runs as Angi Leads, the service that grew out of HomeAdvisor. Its pro page says you pay a fee for each lead you match to. Different sized jobs carry different fees.

Pros report an annual membership of about $300 on top. Angi also sells paid profile promotion, which some pros report at $300 a month or more.

There is history to know. In 2023 the FTC finalized an order against HomeAdvisor. The agency had alleged false or unsupported claims about the quality and source of the leads it sold. HomeAdvisor agreed to pay up to $7.2 million.

That does not mean every lead is bad today. It means you should judge Angi on your own booked jobs, not the sales pitch.

Is Angi worth it for contractors? It can help fill a new crew’s calendar in a busy trade. It works best with a fast reply, a clear price, and a dispute for every bad lead.

What does a Thumbtack or Angi job really cost?

Divide the lead price by how many leads you win. That is your cost per booked job, and it is the only number that matters.

An illustrative example. A $60 lead that you win 1 time in 4 costs $240 a job.

Angi’s own 2026 cost guide puts the average junk removal job at about $241. At that win rate, the lead cost would eat the whole ticket.

Now compare our own Google accounts:

• Local Services Ads for a junk removal client cost $15.09 a lead in September 2026.
• Google search ads for a lawn care client cost $31.36 per conversion, May to June 2026.
• Those leads came to the client alone, not to five pros.

Your win rate is the swing factor. Track it per platform for a month before you raise any budget. Our Google Ads cost guide shows the same math for search ads.

How do you win more jobs from shared leads?

Be first, be clear, and be easy to say yes to. With up to five pros quoting, the first clear reply has the edge.

The rules:

• Turn on app alerts and reply within five minutes.
• Call as well as message when a number is given.
• Give a price range, not “it depends”.
• Offer the next open slot by day and time.
• Follow up the same day if there is no answer.
• Dispute every lead that was spam or out of area.

Speed matters on every channel. A CallRail survey found 82 percent of consumers would call a competitor after an unanswered call. Our speed to lead guide has the full follow up sequence.

When should you stop paying for Thumbtack or Angi?

Set the exit rule before you start. Otherwise a platform can drain a budget for months without anyone noticing.

Stop or cut back when any of these is true:

• Your cost per booked job is higher than on Google channels.
• Lead costs take a large share of the average ticket.
• You cannot reply within minutes during the busy season.
• Most leads are price shoppers who never call back.
• Your own profile now brings more calls than the platform.

Pause rather than cancel when you can. Both platforms let you control your budget, so you can turn spend down in a busy month.

Keep the reviews you earned there. Ask happy marketplace customers to review your Google profile too, so the trust stays with you.

What works better than Thumbtack and Angi?

Channels where the lead comes to you alone. A homeowner who calls from your profile is not comparing five quotes at once.

The usual order we build in:

• Your Google Business Profile, with reviews after every job.
• Local Services Ads, paid per lead with disputes allowed.
• Google search ads for big ticket jobs.
• Service pages on your own website.

Reviews are the cheapest lever of all. Our guide on how to get more Google reviews covers the ask.

Marketplaces still have a place. They can fill gaps while those channels grow. Our contractor leads guide ranks every channel by cost per job. The marketing budget guide shows where marketplaces fit in the spend.

Frequently asked questions

Is Thumbtack or Angi better for contractors?

Thumbtack is cheaper to try because there is no membership. Angi can bring more volume in some trades but carries a reported annual fee. Test one for a month, track cost per booked job, and keep the one that wins.

How much does a Thumbtack lead cost?

Thumbtack does not publish a price list. Pros report about $10 to over $100 a lead. The price rises with job size, demand in your market and the number of competing pros.

Are Angi leads exclusive?

Standard leads are not. Angi’s pro page says customers are connected with multiple pros. Plan on competing with other contractors for every request.

Can I get a refund on a bad lead?

Policies differ and change, so check your pro account. Pros report that Thumbtack does not refund leads that simply never reply. Dispute anything that was spam, a wrong number or out of your area.

Is HomeAdvisor the same as Angi?

They are the same company. The HomeAdvisor pro product now runs as Angi Leads under Angi Inc. If you already pay HomeAdvisor, you are already in the Angi network.

Want to know what your leads really cost?

We will look at your marketplace spend, your Google profile and your call log. Then we will show you your cost per booked job by channel and where to move the money. Request the free audit or call (859) 710-8408.

Overcome Media is a marketing agency in Lexington, Kentucky. We help trades businesses across Kentucky, Ohio and the surrounding states own their leads. See our paid advertising services, or read the Google Ads for contractors guide.

Sources

• Google Ads data from an Overcome Media lawn care client, May 3 to June 29, 2026. Local Services Ads data from an Overcome Media junk removal client, September 2026. Clients and cities withheld.
• Thumbtack for pros, Thumbtack
• Service Professional FAQs, Angi Leads
• What is Thumbtack and how it works, Housecall Pro, May 2026 (contractor reported lead costs)
• What is Angi and how it works, Housecall Pro, 2026 (contractor reported lead costs and fees)
• HomeAdvisor vs Angi, Housecall Pro, August 2026
• FTC finalizes order with HomeAdvisor, Federal Trade Commission, April 2023
• Angi junk removal cost guide, 2026. CallRail consumer survey, 2025.