Is Rated People Worth It Now It Has Closed?
Search this question and you get forum threads. A plasterer swears by it, a sparky swears at it, and nobody shows their working. Worse, they answer a question you can no longer act on.
Rated People went into liquidation in September 2026, and its brand now belongs to Checkatrade. So the useful question is no longer "should I join?" It is "should I follow those leads to Checkatrade, and is any paid lead worth buying?"
The short version
- You cannot join Rated People any more. The company entered creditors' voluntary liquidation on 16 September 2026 and closed all trade memberships.
- Checkatrade Group bought the brand and website. Jobs posted there now go to Checkatrade trades.
- Rated People charged a membership fee plus a fee per lead. Its trade sign-up page, as archived in May 2026, showed no price.
- Any paid lead is worth it only if its price sits below your profit per job multiplied by your win rate. Work yours out below.
- Whatever platform you rent, build something you own alongside it.
Can you still join Rated People after its liquidation?
No. Rated People Limited passed a resolution to wind up voluntarily on 16 September 2026, and joint liquidators from S&W Partners LLP were appointed the same day. Checkatrade Group has bought selected assets, including the brand and website. Rated People's own trade page now says it "closed all memberships" before joining Checkatrade.
The statutory record is The London Gazette. Its resolutions for winding-up notice and appointment of liquidators notice, both published 24 September 2026, confirm a creditors' voluntary liquidation. In plain English, that is the route directors take when a company cannot pay its debts and they choose to wind it up.
Checkatrade's lawyers, Lewis Silkin, announced the deal as an "acquisition of selected assets". Trade title Insight DIY reported that the assets include "its brand and website". No price was disclosed.
The website still takes homeowner jobs. According to Rated People's trade page (archived copy, 26 September 2026), those leads "will now be routed to Checkatrade tradespeople", and "you need to join Checkatrade to continue accessing Rated People leads".
How did Rated People charge tradespeople?
Two meters at once. Rated People's payment terms said it charged trade businesses "a Membership Fee to access the Service", and "also" a fee for each job you wanted to quote on. The lead price varied with the job's size, location and demand. No monthly figure appeared on its trade sign-up page, as archived in May 2026.
That wording comes from an archived copy of the payment terms, captured in October 2025. The live page now redirects to the homeowner homepage.
A few clauses from those terms explain a lot of the forum anger:
- No guarantee of work. Homeowners were "free to select whom they like or even not to proceed", so "there is no guarantee that you will in fact be hired".
- Credits expired. Lead Credits bundled into a plan ran out at the end of each billing period. No rolling over, no refund.
- Notice to leave. The October 2025 version required 30 days' notice, and minimum-term plans could be billed to the end of the term. Notice periods changed over the years.
The unlimited plan
By May 2026 there was a second option. Rated People's trade page, as archived that month, advertised "one fee, unlimited leads", pitched at trades "who regularly quote under £4000", and "not available for some trades". That capture shows no price either.
So the honest answer to "how much does Rated People cost per month?" is that the public page did not say, and now it does not sell at all.
How many trades got the same job?
Up to three. Rated People's trade page, as archived in May 2026, said "no more than 3 tradespeople can buy the same lead". Checkatrade's new Opportunities Board, where Rated People jobs may now surface, uses the same number: once three trades have paid for a lead, it comes off the board.
That cap was one of the fairer things about Rated People. A written limit beats an open auction.
Three buyers still means racing two others to the same homeowner. Speed matters more than polish.
Checkatrade's Summer 2026 update page describes the Opportunities Board like this. Leads go to the board "if 3 trades haven't shown interest". Once three have paid, "it's removed from the board". Fixed Plan members "will always get first priority", and the feature is "being rolled out gradually", so you may not have it yet.
Checkatrade's published documents do not say whether a Fixed Plan lead goes to one member or several. Ask on the sales call, and get the answer in writing.
What if you were a Rated People member?
Your membership ended, your old leads are gone from your account, and your reviews stay on the Rated People site. Rated People says eligible former members were emailed by Checkatrade with instructions to get their jobs, contacts and invoices. If you think you are owed money, the people to contact are the liquidators, not Checkatrade.
Get your data out. If you had customer contacts, quotes or invoices in there, find that email and download everything. Those customers are future repeat work and referrals.
Money owed goes to the liquidators. The Gazette notice lists the joint liquidators at S&W Partners LLP, telephone 020 4617 5500. Whether prepaid fees or unused credits come back is not public. Do not assume either way.
Do not sign anything in a panic. Rated People's page frames the switch as "act now to keep getting leads". The Fixed Plan it points you to runs on a 12-month term. A year-long contract deserves a calm afternoon with a calculator, which is the next section.
How do you work out whether a lead pays for itself?
Multiply your gross profit on a typical job by the share of leads you actually win. That figure is the most a lead can cost before you lose money. If the platform charges less, it can work. If it charges more, it cannot, however busy it makes you feel.
The numbers below are made up to show the method. They are not Rated People's prices, Checkatrade's prices, or anybody's real results. Put your own in.
| Step | Hypothetical figure |
|---|---|
| Average job value | £800 |
| Gross profit after materials and labour (40%) | £320 |
| Leads bought per job won (you win 1 in 5) | 5 |
| Break-even price per lead (£320 ÷ 5) | £64 |
| Pretend lead price | £25 |
| Lead cost per job won (5 × £25) | £125 |
| Profit left per job before your quoting time | £195 |
On those invented numbers the leads pay back, with room to spare. Now change one thing. If you win 1 in 10 instead of 1 in 5, the break-even price halves to £32, and a £40 lead loses you money on every job.
Two costs people forget.
Your time. Five leads means five phone calls, maybe three site visits and three written quotes to win one job. If that is six hours, price the hours in.
The fixed fee. A monthly membership has to be spread across the jobs you win. At two wins a month, every pound of fee counts double against each job.
You need real inputs. Track every paid lead for eight weeks: what it cost, whether they answered, whether you quoted, whether you won. Our guide to tracking calls from Google covers the same discipline for your own enquiries.
Should you follow the leads to Checkatrade?
It depends on your maths and your diary, not on loyalty. If your own figures show a lead price comfortably under break-even, the pay-as-you-go Opportunities Board is the lower-risk way to test. If you do not yet know your win rate, a 12-month fixed contract is a bet you cannot price.
This is the "Rated People vs Checkatrade" question people search for, and the comparison has collapsed into one company. Checkatrade publishes its plans: Free at £0 a month, Approved at £30 a month, and Growth "from £59/mo". The per-lead price is not public.
If no tier suits you, the alternatives to Checkatrade charge in very different ways.
Who it suits
- New or quiet businesses with an empty diary and no reviews yet. Paid leads buy time while you build.
- Trades with a clear, repeatable job where a quick quote wins, such as boiler services, EICRs and small repairs.
- People who answer the phone fast. In a three-way race, the first sensible call often wins.
When to walk away
- Your win rate stays below break-even after eight honest weeks of tracking.
- You are paying for leads you would have got anyway, such as repeat customers finding you through the platform.
- You are full. Paying for enquiries you cannot book is paying to disappoint people.
- The contract outlives your evidence. A year-long term with no track record of your own is the wrong way round.
Forum threads about Rated People go back to at least 2013, when a Screwfix Community thread complained about refunds. Recurring themes are leads that never picked up and jobs already given away. Others report steady work. That is anecdote, not a measure, which is why your own tracking matters more.
What should you build alongside any lead platform?
Something you own. Every lead platform is a rented audience, and Rated People has just shown what renting means: the landlord can change, the account can close, and the reviews stay behind. Your Google Business Profile, your Google reviews and your own website come with you whatever happens to a platform.
Rated People is a clean example. As our UK citations guide found, its trade profiles were not public pages Google could crawl, so years of membership built no search visibility you could keep.
The owned pieces, in rough order of payback for most trades:
- Google Business Profile. The right category, real photos, service area set properly. It is free and it is where local searchers look first.
- Google reviews. Ask every happy customer, every time, including the ones who came from a paid lead.
- A plain website with a page per main service and your number at the top.
- Tracking, so you can compare what platforms cost against what your own channels produce.
None of this is quick. Months, not weeks. It does keep working after you stop paying someone.
At Business Opt we would rather tell a trade to keep buying leads while their own presence grows than pretend it grows overnight.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Rated People cost per month?
Nothing now, because it no longer sells trade memberships. When it did, it charged a membership fee plus a per-lead fee. Its trade sign-up page, as archived in May 2026, showed no monthly price. Any figure online without a Rated People source is a guess.
How do I cancel my Rated People membership?
You do not need to. Rated People says it closed all memberships before becoming part of Checkatrade. If you believe you were charged after that, or are owed money, contact the joint liquidators named in The London Gazette notice.
Which is better, Checkatrade or Rated People?
There is no choice now. Rated People's leads go to Checkatrade members, so the real decision is whether Checkatrade's paid leads beat your break-even price.
What to do this week
- If you were a member, find the Checkatrade data email and download your contacts, jobs and invoices.
- Note the liquidators' details from the Gazette notice if you think money is owed to you.
- Work out your break-even lead price. Average job, gross margin, win rate. Ten minutes with your last twenty jobs.
- Test before you commit. If the Opportunities Board is open to you, try a few leads and track them before signing a 12-month plan.
- Ask one question on any sales call: how many other trades get the same lead? Get the answer in writing.
- Send three review requests to recent customers, asking for a Google review.
The forums were never going to settle this for you. Your own numbers will.