Angi, Thumbtack or your own marketing?
Lead sites rent you customers one at a time. Your own website, Google listing and reviews keep bringing them after you stop paying. Lead sites are fast; owning your marketing is what lasts. Most trade businesses do best leaning on the second and using the first to fill a slow week.
How Thumbtack charges
On Thumbtack you set a price you are willing to pay per lead for each service, plus a weekly budget, and each lead is charged at that price. Thumbtack says your price, profile, reviews and how fast you respond all affect how many leads you get, that it limits how many pros compete for a job, and that the customer picks the pro.
Source: Thumbtack help, setting your budget, checked November 2026.
How Angi charges
Angi's own investor reports say a single service request from a homeowner can turn into more than one lead, and that it has moved to a model where pros pay for leads when the homeowner selects them. Its early 2026 letter says it will offer pros a choice of paying per lead, per appointment or per job won.
Source: Angi investor relations shareholder letters, checked November 2026. Pricing changes by market and service, so check your own account for current numbers.
Rented leads or owned marketing, side by side
When lead sites make sense
When the calendar has gaps this week and you need work now, a lead site can fill them. It is also a fair way to test a new service or a new area before you invest in pages for it. The trouble starts when it becomes the only way customers find you: the cost never stops, and nothing builds up.
What owning it looks like
A website Google can read, a Google listing that is kept current, and a review asked for after every job. That is what Hausstack Marketing does for a flat monthly price. See what marketing costs for the numbers.
Not sure which is right for you?
Tell me what you spend on leads now. If they are working, I will say so.