Last Updated on July 10, 2026
Ask an electrician what a lead costs and you usually get a shrug. The platforms do not make it simple, and the honest answer depends on how you pay. So we gathered the published 2026 pricing from the main UK lead sites and put it side by side. Then we did the part that actually matters, which almost nobody does.
The mistake: comparing the sticker price
Most electricians compare lead sites on one number. A membership fee. A price per lead. Whichever looks cheapest wins.
That is the wrong number. A £15 lead is not cheaper than a £30 lead if you win one in twenty of the first and one in three of the second. What a lead costs is not what you should be measuring. What a won job costs is.
What the platforms actually charge
Here is the published 2026 pricing, grouped by how you pay.
Checkatrade. A fixed monthly membership, roughly £60 a month at the basic end and £120 to £180 in competitive areas. Some plans add a per lead fee on top, around £5 to £40 depending on the job size. The catch is that the membership is fixed. You pay it in a quiet month with no work just the same as in a busy one.
MyBuilder. You pay per shortlist, roughly £15 to £40 a lead, and only when a homeowner picks you to quote. No standing fee, but you are paying for the chance to quote, not for the job.
Rated People. Pay per lead, roughly £5 to £10 for a small job like an EICR and £20 to £30 or more for a big one like a rewire or an EV charger install. There is an optional subscription, around £40 a month, that discounts the lead prices.
Bark. You buy credits and spend them each time you respond to a lead. The credit price varies, and a single lead can cost anywhere from a few pounds to £40 or more depending on the job value. The same enquiry is sold to several tradespeople.
For an electrician the pattern holds across all of them. A small job like an EICR or a socket sits at the cheap end. A consumer unit, a rewire or an EV charger install sits at the expensive end.
The number that actually matters
Here is the sum the platforms will never show you.
Cost per won job = cost per lead divided by the share of leads you actually win.
Pay £20 a lead and win one in five, and each job cost you £100 in lead fees. Win one in ten and it cost you £200. Same lead price. Double the cost per job.
Two things quietly push that number up. On the pay per lead sites, the same enquiry is often sold to three, four or five trades, so your win rate is lower than it feels. On the membership sites, a slow month does not reduce the fee, so your cost per job balloons exactly when you can least afford it.
So which is cheapest?
There is no single answer, and that is the honest finding. It depends entirely on two things: how many jobs you win, and how fast and well you respond.
A busy electrician who replies within the hour and converts well can make almost any of these platforms pay. A slow one who lets enquiries go cold will lose money on all of them, membership or pay per lead. The platform is not the variable that decides it. You are.
The sharp takeaway
Do not pick a lead platform on its headline price. Work out your likely cost per won job on each, using your real win rate, then decide. And before you spend a penny more on leads, fix the thing that sets that win rate: how fast you reply, how clearly you quote, and whether people can trust you before they call.
Figures in this study are typical published 2026 pricing from Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Rated People and Bark, gathered from public sources. Pricing changes and varies by area and plan, so confirm current rates with each platform.
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