Shared leads vs exclusive leads vs referrals
Three different products sold under one word. Definitions first, then the economics of each.
Prices published
1 of 1
Five checks
Read this before
you buy a lead.
We sell exclusive referrals, so read us as critically as anyone else here. The honest map anyway: a shared UK lead costs £15–40 and gets sold to several trades at once. An exclusive, intent-confirmed referral costs £45–120 and goes to one business. Ours passes five published checks before it is sent. Fails one, not sent, not billed.
Why does a referral
agency publish this?
Because the number that settles the argument, total spend divided by jobs won, is the one this market hides. None of the five biggest UK platforms publishes a full price list, and two of them, Rated People and TrustATrader, publish nothing at all. So we priced the market ourselves and put a verified date on every row in lead prices in 2026.
Our bias, stated plainly: we sell exclusive referrals, one partner per area, no retainer and no lock-in on referral supply. That competes with almost everything on this page. Every number below names the source that published it, so you can check us the same way we checked them.
If you want the mechanism rather than the market, the five published checks set the billing line, and exclusive trade leads, one company per area shows what holding one area looks like in practice.
The comparison
library
Eight guides. Four take apart the products people call leads and what they cost, four take the platforms one at a time.
How the models differ
Referral vs lead
A lead is a record you buy. A referral is a customer told to expect your call. £15–40 against £45–120.
Pay per lead vs pay per call
One bills you for a form, the other for a ringing phone. Which fits depends on who answers yours.
Lead prices in 2026
Every major UK platform priced and dated, plus the US exclusive call and solar markets.
The platforms, reviewed
Checkatrade alternatives
TrustATrader, MyBuilder, Bark, Rated People, your own marketing, partnerships and the one-partner referral model, scored the same way.
Is Checkatrade worth it?
Membership is £30–500+ a month with no per-lead fee, and one enquiry goes to 10–20+ trades. When that adds up, and when it does not.
MyBuilder reviews
Shortlist fees, jobs shared with 3–5 trades, and where the £5–35 per lead maths starts to bite.
Bark reviews for tradespeople
Credits at £1.80 that expire after 3 months, and the complaint themes behind Bark’s 1.2-star rating on PissedConsumer from 223 reviews.
What does the
market charge?
£15–40 for a shared UK lead, £45–120 for an exclusive, intent-confirmed referral. The gap is the race: a shared enquiry is sold to several buyers at once, so all but one of them paid to lose it.
10–20+ trades
One Checkatrade enquiry is shared with that many member trades, on a £30–500+ monthly subscription with no per-lead fee. Source: UK Trade Lead Cost Tracker, 22 July 2026, and the platform’s own published terms. In fairness to them, Checkatrade also holds 4.6 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 75,000+ reviews, mostly homeowners rather than trade members.
2.3 companies
SolarReviews’ own published page states its leads are sold to 2.3 companies on average, with no returns, and that 93–97% will not close. That is the seller describing its own product, not a rival’s complaint.
3 months
Bark credits expire after three months. They cost £1.80 each, and a typical lead lands at £9–36+, rising to £30–70+ on high-value jobs, with up to 5 buyers on the same enquiry. Source: UK Trade Lead Cost Tracker, 22 July 2026.
£45–120
What an exclusive, intent-confirmed referral costs, against £15–40 for a shared lead. We publish our band because a comparison only works if both sides turn up with a number. The full dated table is in lead prices in 2026.
Is your area
still open?
One company per area, opened one at a time. If yours is held we tell you straight, and when it opens, the waiting list hears first.