The short answer
Checkatrade has a 4.7 TrustScore from 89,625 Trustpilot reviews (25 October 2026), and 84.8% are five stars. Most are homeowners rating the tradesperson they hired: 183 of the 200 newest never mention Checkatrade. Three of those 200 came from members, and two were one-star complaints about leads and the 12-month contract.
If you are a tradesperson deciding whether to join Checkatrade, its reviews look like the easy check: 4.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot, from almost 90,000 reviews. Read what the reviews actually say, though, and most of them are not about Checkatrade at all.
We read Checkatrade's Trustpilot profile and its 200 most recent reviews on 25 October 2026. Below is what the score is made of, what the members who do review it say, and how to read the reviews before you sign anything.
One thing to be straight about first: we sell websites and SEO to trades, which is one of the alternatives to a Checkatrade membership. So the figures below are Trustpilot's own, and the quotes are left in the reviewers' words.
Checkatrade's Trustpilot reviews in numbers
| Trustpilot, 25 October 2026 | Figure |
|---|---|
| TrustScore | 4.7 out of 5 |
| Reviews | 89,625, of which 17,286 in the last 12 months |
| 5 stars | 76,023 (84.8%) |
| 4 stars | 6,273 (7.0%) |
| 3 stars | 1,270 (1.4%) |
| 2 stars | 807 (0.9%) |
| 1 star | 5,252 (5.9%) |
Trustpilot also labels the profile. Checkatrade claimed it in January 2015 and pays for a Trustpilot subscription, and Trustpilot says: "This company invites their customers to review, whether positive or negative." Trustpilot lets businesses invite reviews and shows when they do, so this is not a mark against Checkatrade. It is worth knowing when you read the score, because, as the next section shows, most reviewers are homeowners writing about a job that has just been done.
On the negative side, Trustpilot says Checkatrade has replied to 99% of negative reviews, typically within 48 hours, and that it may use AI-assist with replies.
Who writes Checkatrade's reviews
The newest 200 reviews on the profile were posted in under three days, between 22 and 25 October 2026.
- 188 of the 200 gave five stars, 6 gave four, 2 gave three and 4 gave one.
- 64 carry Trustpilot's Verified label, which it gives "when we can confirm a business interaction took place". The other 136 do not.
- 183 of the 200 never mention Checkatrade by name. They describe the tradesperson: "Garden waste removal. Did a great job. On time and budget." "Nice friendly service, good quality work." "Speedy response to repair request, excellent communication..."
Trustpilot's own AI summary of the recent reviews says the same thing in a different way. It reads that "reviewers overwhelmingly had a great experience" and that customers "frequently praise the professional and polite staff for consistently delivering prompt, exceptionally high-quality, and reliable property maintenance services". Checkatrade does not do property maintenance. Its members do.
Our reading: the 4.7 is mostly homeowners' verdict on the trades they found. That is worth something to a member, because it is part of why homeowners trust the name. It says much less about whether membership pays, because the people paying for membership are rarely the ones writing the reviews.
What Checkatrade members say on Trustpilot
Three of the 200 reviews were written by tradespeople about their own membership.
- A self-employed electrician, one star, 22 October. They raised concerns about "the quality and suitability of leads, including restrictions affecting the electrical enquiries I could receive", asked to cancel, and were told they "remained tied into a 12-month agreement". They write that they are "now being pursued for approximately £3,500, a figure which I strongly dispute", and advise other trades to "carefully examine the contract terms, cancellation provisions and any restrictions on the leads they can receive before signing up."
- Another member, one star, 22 October. "The leads have been very difficult to convert into paid projects", and "The cancellation restrictions and potential liability for the remaining term were not clearly explained to me during the sales call."
- A member, five stars, 23 October, thanked the person who helped them sort their profile out for the year ahead.
Three reviews are not a survey. They do match the complaints that come up most often in trade groups and forums, which our is Checkatrade worth it guide sets out with the fair reply to each: lead quality, the fee in quiet months, and being tied in.
The contract point is in Checkatrade's own terms. Paid memberships run for 12 months and renew automatically, and only the business owner can stop the renewal, by phoning no earlier than 35 days before the renewal date. Cancelling the Direct Debit does not cancel the contract. Our guide on how to cancel Checkatrade has the dates and the clauses.
How to read Checkatrade reviews before you join
- Filter Trustpilot to one and two stars and look for members rather than homeowners. Members usually say so: look for "leads", "membership", "my business" or "12-month".
- Read Checkatrade's reply under each one. It replies to nearly all of them, and the replies show you how a dispute is handled.
- Look at recent months, not the all-time score. The all-time figure is mostly older reviews; the newest ones show what joining is like now.
- Get the terms in writing before the sales call ends. Ask for the renewal date, what happens if you want to leave early, and which postcodes and job types your leads will cover. Showing up in area searches depends on the plan: our Checkatrade cost guide explains which.
- Ask members in your own trade and area. A plumber's experience in one town tells you little about a roofer's in another.
- If you join, count it yourself. Divide what you pay in a month by the paid jobs it brings in, and compare that with the profit on a typical job.
Reviews on your Checkatrade profile
The reviews homeowners leave about your work sit on Checkatrade's platform, not yours. However genuine they are, you cannot take them to your own site if you leave. In the trade forums, that is the loss members who leave after several years say stings most.
A Google Business Profile is different. It is free, the reviews stay attached to your business, and Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help a business's local ranking. Whatever you decide about Checkatrade, ask happy customers for a Google review as well. If you stay a member, you build both; if you leave, you keep one.
Is Checkatrade reliable?
Homeowners rate it highly: 4.7 on Trustpilot from 89,625 reviews on 25 October 2026, most of them about the trade they hired. For a tradesperson, reliable means whether the leads pay for the membership, and the score does not measure that. Read the members' one-star reviews and the contract terms before you join.
What are the monthly fees for Checkatrade?
When we checked on 15 September 2026, Checkatrade listed Free at £0, Approved at £30 a month and Growth from £59 a month. Showing up in trade and area searches needs a Fixed Plan under Growth, priced on your postcodes and a lead estimate. Paid plans run for 12 months and renew automatically. Our Checkatrade cost guide has the detail.
Which is better, MyBuilder or Checkatrade?
It depends on your job values and how fast you answer. Checkatrade charges a fixed monthly fee on a 12 month contract, whether or not the phone rings. MyBuilder is free to join and charges a shortlist fee each time a customer's details are shared with you. Our Checkatrade vs MyBuilder guide works through both, with fees checked on 17 September 2026.
Written by Janusz Wozniak, Founder & Lead Developer. Guides are updated when prices or platforms change; the dates above say when.