The short answer
TrustATrader is worth it when the calls from your listing pay for a year's fee, which you commit to up front. It publishes no price; reported figures run from £240 to £1,200 a year. Its 4.6 on Trustpilot comes mostly from homeowners; the three members among its 200 newest reviews all gave one star.
Is TrustATrader worth it? For a tradesperson, it is worth it when the calls from your listing pay for a year's fee that you commit to up front. Homeowners rate TrustATrader 4.6 on Trustpilot, but that score is about finding a trade, not about whether membership pays.
So this guide puts three things side by side: what TrustATrader's own terms say you sign up to, read on 27 October 2026; what its Trustpilot reviews are actually made of; and what the members who review it in public say. If you are weighing a monthly listing against a monthly cost for something with your own name on it, our pay monthly websites page explains the second.
We sell websites to trades, so we have an interest. That is not a reason to call TrustATrader bad: for an established trade in a busy area with a free slot, it can fill the diary. The point is to decide with the sums and the terms in front of you. If you are choosing between it and Checkatrade, our Checkatrade vs TrustATrader guide compares the two side by side.
How does TrustATrader get you work?
You pay to be listed, not per lead. TrustATrader puts your business in the trade categories and areas you agree with it, alongside no more than nine other traders in your trade. Homeowners search, read the profiles and reviews, and contact the ones they like directly by phone, text or email. It takes no commission.
What that means day to day:
- The cap is the selling point. Its terms promise no more than ten entries in the trade category you choose, in your area, at any one time, and its FAQ says many areas have a waiting list.
- Enquiries come straight to you. Its Textatrader service sends you a texting customer's name and number, and its app lets a homeowner contact up to four traders at once.
- Your profile decides your share. TrustATrader's own FAQ says "Companies who receive the most work via TrustATrader are those who have a decent number of recent reviews, have added photographs to their profile and provided as much information about their company as possible."
- The traffic figures disagree. Its how-it-works page says members appear in "481,969 searches made every month". Its FAQ says "700,000+ searches" a month. Neither is a figure for your trade or your postcode.
What does TrustATrader cost in 2026?
TrustATrader does not publish a price. Its FAQ says "We charge a yearly fee for membership", and neither its join page, its terms nor any page in its sitemap gives a figure (checked 27 October 2026). You apply online or ring 01438 870097 and get a quote.
What the terms do fix is how you pay: one subscription fee, "calculated and payable annually on the anniversary of the start of your Subscription (unless otherwise stated) in advance". In a reply to a member on Trustpilot on 15 October 2026, TrustATrader said "we do offer instalment plans", and that it asked that member to pay in one go because of missed payments on an earlier membership. Instalments or not, it is a year's fee.
Every figure you will find is someone else's:
| Figure | A month | Who says so | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| £240 to £750 a year | £20 to £62.50 | localadder.co.uk tracker, labelled as an estimate from two comparison sites | Verified 30 September 2026 |
| £1,200 for a year, taken up front | £100 | Two members' one-star reviews on Trustpilot | 24 July and 7 October 2026 |
| £1,200 a year | £100 | A member's one-star review on the App Store | 31 October 2022 |
The members' figure is above the estimate, so treat the estimate as a floor and get your own number. When you ring, ask for:
- The yearly fee for your trade and your postcodes, with and without VAT.
- Whether you can pay in instalments, and what that costs.
- How many traders are already listed in your trade and area, out of the ten.
- How many enquiries a typical member in your trade and area gets in a month.
Our Checkatrade vs TrustATrader guide puts that fee beside Checkatrade's published prices.
What is the contract, and how do you leave?
You commit to 12 months from the day your listing goes live, and you cannot leave early. The terms say: "Once live on the Website you cannot cancel the membership agreement prior to the expiry of the 12 month membership period." Fees are non-refundable, and because it is a business contract, the terms say the 14 day cooling-off period does not apply.
The good news is at the end. "We do not operate an automatic renewal system, we will contact you at the end of each year of your annual membership to discuss your renewal." So leaving is simple: say no when they call.
Things the terms let TrustATrader do:
- End your membership for unpaid fees seven days after telling you in writing.
- Count strikes. A customer rating under 60% that its team finds justified is a strike, and three strikes end your listing. A justified rating under 40% can end it at once. Its FAQ says a trader removed after an unresolved complaint gets a pro-rata refund, but the terms say fees are non-refundable whatever the reason it ends you. Go by the terms.
When it ends, you must stop using the TrustATrader name and logo and take them off your vans, paperwork and website. The terms also say you "must immediately cease to provide services to any customers and/or potential customers that have been referred to you via our Website", apart from work already started or agreed. They do not say whether that covers a membership that simply is not renewed, so ask before you sign.
The terms say nothing about what happens to your reviews when you go, and give you no right to take them with you.
What do tradesmen say about TrustATrader?
The members who review TrustATrader in public are mostly unhappy, and their complaints are the same ones: few enquiries, the year paid up front, and being told to bring their own reviews. These are the trade reviews we could read on 27 October 2026, short and in their own words.
On Trustpilot, three of the 200 newest reviews were written by members. All three gave one star.
- 7 October 2026. About six months in, they write that they had around six leads, "PURE SCRAPS", that TrustATrader "took my year payment in full", £1,200, and that the sales call "Promised me the earth lead wise". TrustATrader replied that it does not cold call, does not renew automatically, and that the member was halfway through their agreed membership.
- 24 July 2026. They write that "they immediately took £1200 and I soon found out that it was all incorrect information I was given." TrustATrader replied that it contacted the member at renewal in December 2025, that the member said "the service had not worked for your business", and that "91% of members chose to renew" that month.
- 28 July 2026. A member says their account was blocked without warning after a single customer complaint.
On the App Store, the TrustATrader app has 4.6 from 1,570 ratings, mostly homeowners. The page shows four reviews, three from traders:
- 17 December 2025, one star. They received "a small number of contacts, but none converted into actual work". The ongoing advice was about "uploading reviews from existing customers. However, these customers did not come through TrustATrader". Asking to cancel early, they were told it "was not possible due to the 12-month contract".
- 31 October 2022, one star. Nearly two years at "£1,200 a year", with "maybe 3 jobs gained from it" in a year, then removed after a negative review.
- 5 February, no year shown, five stars. A member thanks the person who set up their profile, and says "It is so important to be verified and to be on TrustATrader."
Threads on Reddit and the Screwfix forum also rank for this search. Reddit blocks automated reading and the Screwfix forum would not open a secure connection for us, so nothing from either is quoted here.
The fair reply to the members: the review advice is in TrustATrader's own FAQ, which tells members to hand review cards to every customer, "not just to your TrustATrader.com customers", because recent reviews decide who gets the work. That is how a capped list works. It is also why a member with no reviews can wait a long time for the first call, and it is worth knowing before you pay.
What do TrustATrader reviews on Trustpilot tell a trade?
Mostly what homeowners think of finding a trade through it. TrustATrader has a TrustScore of 4.6 from 8,733 Trustpilot reviews (27 October 2026), and 85.2% are five stars. Of the 200 newest, three came from members.
| Trustpilot, 27 October 2026 | Figure |
|---|---|
| TrustScore | 4.6 out of 5 |
| Reviews | 8,733, of which 625 in the last 12 months |
| 5 stars | 7,441 (85.2%) |
| 4 stars | 831 (9.5%) |
| 3 stars | 135 (1.5%) |
| 2 stars | 60 (0.7%) |
| 1 star | 266 (3.0%) |
Trustpilot says TrustATrader "invites their customers to review, whether positive or negative", and its customers are homeowners. The 200 newest reviews, posted between 14 July and 27 October 2026, look like that:
- 166 of the 200 gave five stars and 14 gave one.
- 183 carry Trustpilot's Verified label, which it gives "when we can confirm a business interaction took place".
- 158 never name TrustATrader. They praise the search ("Good website when looking for a reliable trades person") or the trade they hired ("The tradesman was thorough, polite and took care over details.").
- The complaints are mostly homeowners too: traders who did not turn up, poor work, or none listed nearby.
Trustpilot's own AI summary agrees: "reviewers overwhelmingly had a great experience with this company and its platform", though "some customers also noted serious concerns about the vetting of tradespeople".
For scale, Checkatrade had 17,286 Trustpilot reviews in the last 12 months when we read it on 25 October 2026. TrustATrader had 625. Our guide to Checkatrade reviews reads that profile the same way.
The reviews that matter to your enquiries are different again: the ones on your TrustATrader profile. TrustATrader says 564,868 reviews have been left for its members since 2005, and 803 on the site score below three stars. Reviews under three stars wait for its complaints team, and the customer can publish after 14 days once you have had the chance to reply.
Who does TrustATrader work for, and who not?
| Your situation | Does it tend to pay off? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Two years or more trading, five customers who will vouch for you, a free slot | Often worth testing | The cap means you share the list with nine others at most, and there is no charge per enquiry |
| Lots of past customers who will review you | More likely | Recent reviews decide who gets the work, and TrustATrader expects you to bring them |
| New business, under two years | Not yet | Two years' experience is an entry rule |
| Your trade and area are full | Not possible | Ask for the waiting list, and use the time on your Google profile |
| Thin cash flow | Risky | A year's fee up front, non-refundable, with no cooling-off period |
| Busy on referrals and Google reviews already | Rarely | You would pay for a year of enquiries you may not need |
If it is not right for you now, our Checkatrade alternatives guide compares the other routes, from pay-per-lead sites to a free Google Business Profile. If Checkatrade is the other one on your list, our guide to whether Checkatrade is worth it works through its membership the same way.
How do you check it pays before you sign?
Do the sum first, because you cannot cancel after. Take the yearly fee TrustATrader quotes you and divide it by the jobs you expect to win from it. Compare that with the profit, not the price, of a typical job.
Say the fee is £750 a year and the listing brings four enquiries a month, of which you win one. That is 12 jobs a year at £62.50 each in fees. At £1,200 and the same enquiries, each job costs £100. At one enquiry a month and one win in four, the £1,200 year costs £400 a job. Those inputs are examples: put in your own, here or in the full lead cost calculator, which can set TrustATrader beside other channels.
Then check what you would be giving up. If your Google Business Profile already brings in calls, TrustATrader is competing with free. And whatever you decide, ask every happy customer for a Google review, which stays with your business whoever you pay.
How much is TrustATrader per month?
TrustATrader does not publish a price (its join page, FAQs and terms, read 27 October 2026). Its terms set one yearly fee paid in advance, and it has told a member on Trustpilot that it offers instalment plans. A third-party tracker estimates £240 to £750 a year, about £20 to £62.50 a month (localadder.co.uk, verified 30 September 2026). Three members' one-star reviews, from 2022 to 2026, each report £1,200 for a year, which is £100 a month. Ask TrustATrader for the figure for your trade and postcode in writing.
Is TrustATrader any good for tradesmen?
It depends on your area more than the platform. It lists no more than ten traders per trade in an area and charges nothing per enquiry, which works if homeowners in your postcode search it. The members who review it in public are mostly unhappy: three of TrustATrader's 200 newest Trustpilot reviews were written by members, all one star, about few leads and the fee taken up front. TrustATrader says 91% of members chose to renew in December 2025. Ask how many enquiries members in your trade and area get before you sign.
Is TrustATrader reliable?
As a company, it is established. Trustatrader.com Limited was incorporated in June 2005, is active at Companies House and publishes its trader terms in full. It checks references, insurance and qualifications before listing you. Whether it is a reliable source of work for your trade is a separate question that no rating answers: only the enquiries from your listing in your area do.
Can you leave TrustATrader at any time?
No. Its terms say that once you are live you cannot cancel before the 12 month membership period ends, the fee is non-refundable, and the 14 day cooling-off period does not apply because it is a business contract. What you can do is decline to renew: TrustATrader does not renew memberships automatically and says it contacts you at the end of each year to discuss renewal.
Is Checkatrade reliable?
As a company it vets members before they get its tick, and homeowners rate it highly on Trustpilot. Whether it is reliable as a source of work for your trade is a different question, which our guide to whether Checkatrade is worth it answers.
Written by Janusz Wozniak, Founder & Lead Developer. Guides are updated when prices or platforms change; the dates above say when.