Angi, Thumbtack, HomeAdvisor and what a lead really costs

Shared marketplace leads look cheap per lead and are rarely cheap per job. Here is the arithmetic.

Parker Scherer · October 3, 2026 · 6 min read

Are Angi and Thumbtack leads worth it for contractors?

Marketplace leads are cheap per lead and expensive per signed job, because the same enquiry is sold to several contractors at once and the conversation starts on price. The number to compare is not cost per lead, it is cost per signed contract. At a 5 percent close rate a $40 lead costs $800 a job; your own channel at a 20 percent close rate makes a $150 lead cost $750, and it keeps working when you stop paying.

Why cost per lead flatters the marketplaces

A marketplace lead is cheap because it is not exclusive. The same homeowner form fill is sold to three, four, sometimes five contractors in the same ZIP code at the same time. Every one of them calls within the hour, and the homeowner now has four quotes they did not ask for and one obvious way to choose between them.

That is the product working as designed. It is a price comparison engine with a contractor directory attached, and it is a perfectly reasonable thing to buy if you know what you are buying.

The arithmetic

Take a remodeler with a $40,000 average job. Compare the two channels on the only basis that matters.

Marketplace: $40 a lead, 5 percent close. Twenty leads to a job, so $800 per signed contract, and the moment you stop paying it stops entirely.
Your own search and ads: $150 a lead, 20 percent close. Five leads to a job, so $750 per signed contract, and the rankings keep producing after you stop spending.

The marketplace lead is four times cheaper and the job it produces costs slightly more. The difference is the close rate, and the close rate is a function of whether you were the only person who called.

When the marketplaces are still worth it

They are good at one thing: volume on demand, immediately. A new crew with an empty schedule next week cannot wait three months for a page to rank, and nobody should pretend otherwise.

What they are not is a position. You cannot build equity in somebody else's directory, the price per lead is theirs to raise, and your reviews there do not help you anywhere else. The sane use is as a floor under a bad month while you build something you own, not as the business.

What to measure instead

Track cost per signed contract by source and nothing else at the top level. It is the only number that survives contact with a real schedule, and it is the only one that makes two channels comparable.

Then track close rate by source underneath it. That is the number that tells you whether you have a traffic problem or a follow-up problem, and those have completely different fixes.

Questions people ask

Are Angi leads worth it for contractors?: They are cheap per lead and expensive per signed job, because the enquiry is shared with several contractors and the conversation starts on price. They work as short-term volume, not as the foundation of a business.
What is a good cost per lead for a remodeler?: It depends entirely on close rate, which is why the question is the wrong one. A $150 lead that closes at 20 percent beats a $40 lead that closes at 5 percent. Compare cost per signed contract.
How do I stop competing on price on shared leads?: You mostly cannot, which is the point. The alternative is a channel where you are the only contractor the homeowner contacted, which means your own rankings, your own ads and a follow-up that reaches them first.

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Are Angi and Thumbtack leads worth it for contractors?

Why cost per lead flatters the marketplaces

That is the product working as designed. It is a price comparison engine with a contractor directory attached, and it is a perfectly reasonable thing to buy if you know what you are buying.

The arithmetic

Take a remodeler with a $40,000 average job. Compare the two channels on the only basis that matters.

Marketplace

$40 a lead, 5 percent close. Twenty leads to a job, so $800 per signed contract, and the moment you stop paying it stops entirely.

Your own search and ads

$150 a lead, 20 percent close. Five leads to a job, so $750 per signed contract, and the rankings keep producing after you stop spending.

The marketplace lead is four times cheaper and the job it produces costs slightly more. The difference is the close rate, and the close rate is a function of whether you were the only person who called.

When the marketplaces are still worth it

They are good at one thing: volume on demand, immediately. A new crew with an empty schedule next week cannot wait three months for a page to rank, and nobody should pretend otherwise.

What to measure instead

Then track close rate by source underneath it. That is the number that tells you whether you have a traffic problem or a follow-up problem, and those have completely different fixes.

Questions people ask

Are Angi leads worth it for contractors?

They are cheap per lead and expensive per signed job, because the enquiry is shared with several contractors and the conversation starts on price. They work as short-term volume, not as the foundation of a business.

What is a good cost per lead for a remodeler?

It depends entirely on close rate, which is why the question is the wrong one. A $150 lead that closes at 20 percent beats a $40 lead that closes at 5 percent. Compare cost per signed contract.

How do I stop competing on price on shared leads?

You mostly cannot, which is the point. The alternative is a channel where you are the only contractor the homeowner contacted, which means your own rankings, your own ads and a follow-up that reaches them first.