Last Updated on August 17, 2026
Every figure was checked on 28 July 2026 against Bark’s own help centre, its published policies, and user reports. Where Bark does not publish a number, we say so. No affiliate links on this page.
Bark sells leads by the credit, and the credit price looks small: £1.80 plus VAT. The real question is what a customer costs you once silent leads, shared leads and expiring credits are counted. Here is the maths.
Bark prices at a glance (July 2026)
| Item | Figure | Published? |
|---|---|---|
| Credit list price | £1.80 + VAT per credit | Yes |
| Discounted pack rate | Roughly £1.20 to £1.50 + VAT | No, estimated |
| Pack sizes and prices | Shown only inside a pro account | No |
| Small lead (cleaning, repairs) | 5 to 8 credits, £7 to £14 + VAT | No, third-party reported |
| Mid lead (plumbing, electrical) | 8 to 15 credits, £14 to £22 + VAT | No, third-party reported |
| Large lead (rewires, extensions) | 15 to 20+ credits, £22 to £40+ + VAT | No, third-party reported |
| Elite Pro subscription | Price not published; roughly £20 to £30 a month reported | No |
| Credit expiry | 3 months, for credits bought from 1 November 2025 | Yes |
| Pros per lead | Up to about 5, sometimes more reported | Partially |
The November 2025 change that matters
Credits bought on or after 1 November 2025 expire three months after purchase, down from twelve. Unused credits cannot be refunded. That changes the buying strategy completely: the big pack that lowers your per-credit price is now a bet that you will spend it all inside 90 days.
The refund policy, in plain English
Bark returns credits, not cash, and only at its discretion, requested within 14 days. Two things are explicitly not eligible in Bark’s own policy: a customer not answering, and a customer who hired someone else. Which means the most common failure mode, silence, is not refundable. User reports put non-response at more than half of paid leads.
What a job actually costs to win
A domestic cleaner. Ten leads a month at 6 credits each is £108 plus VAT, about £130. Roughly half the leads respond; win 1 in 4 conversations and you book a little over one client. Roughly £90 to £130 per won client. Viable for a weekly clean worth £2,000 plus a year. Painful for one-off jobs.
A photographer. Ten leads at 12 credits each is £216 plus VAT, about £260. Photography response rates run lower than trades, and price shopping is heavy. Win 1 in 10 and a booked job costs roughly £260. That works for a £1,200 wedding and fails for £150 portrait sessions.
The working rule from pros who make Bark pay: your average job value needs to clear 5 to 7 times the lead price, and fast responders convert about 1 in 3 contacted leads against 1 in 6 for slow ones.
The review split you should know about
Bark’s Trustpilot score is around 4.0 from over 100,000 reviews, but most of those come from consumers using Bark to find a professional. On seller-side review sites the picture inverts: one independent site shows 44% five-star against 37% one-star with almost nothing in between. The buyers rate Bark well. The people paying for leads, the people reading this page, are split down the middle.
How the alternatives compare
Checkatrade runs £60 to £120 plus a month on a 12-month contract. MyBuilder is free to list with £2 to £20 per lead only when you choose to quote. Rated People runs a rolling subscription plus lead fees. A Google Business Profile is free and compounds. Local Facebook groups cost nothing and work well for cleaners and personal trainers, just slowly.
Common questions
How much does a Bark lead cost in 2026?
Most leads cost between 5 and 20 credits, which at £1.20 to £1.80 plus VAT per credit works out at roughly £7 to £40 per lead. Small jobs like domestic cleaning sit at the £7 to £14 end and large projects can exceed £40.
Do you get your money back if a Bark lead never replies?
No. Bark’s own policy states that a customer not answering does not qualify as an invalid lead, and user reports suggest more than half of paid leads never respond.
How many other businesses get the same Bark lead?
Bark’s model limits each lead to around five professionals, and 2026 trade guides report three to five competitors contacting each customer. Assume you are never quoting alone.
Do Bark credits expire?
Yes. Credits bought on or after 1 November 2025 expire three months after purchase, down from twelve months. Unused credits are not refundable, so a big discounted pack can backfire.
What does Bark really cost per job won?
Realistic 2026 figures put it at roughly £50 to £150 per won job for trades and cleaners, and £250 or more for photographers, once silent leads and lost quotes are counted.
Three things to do before you buy credits
- Price the whole funnel, not the lead. Only buy leads where the job value or client lifetime value clears 5 to 7 times the lead cost.
- Buy small and reply fast. Credits expire in 90 days and speed is the one lever that works: 15-minute responders convert roughly twice as often.
- Treat Bark as a top-up, never a foundation. A Google profile, reviews and a basic site cost less per year than two months of heavy Bark spend and keep producing after you stop paying.
Before you pay for leads, check your foundations
The free Whito AI Visibility Scorecard checks how findable and trusted your business looks to customers and AI search in about two minutes, and tells you the one thing to fix first.
