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Thumbtack or your own website: who keeps the customer?
Thumbtack is free to join and lets you set your own lead price. You still pay for every lead, including the ones you don’t win.
Updated October 1, 2026 · every source listed at the bottom
What does each job really cost you?
Thumbtack doesn’t publish lead prices by trade, so put in what your account charges. The answer is what each paying job costs you in leads.
Free to join. Not free to use.
Two kinds of leads
Direct leads are charged as soon as they arrive. Opportunities are charged only if the customer replies to you.
Refunds for a few reasons
A wrong number, a duplicate, or a job that changed a lot can be refunded if you ask within 45 days, at Thumbtack’s discretion.
Losing the job isn’t one
A customer who hired someone else isn’t a reason for a refund.
Refunds stay on Thumbtack
By default a refund goes back to your Thumbtack balance, to spend on more leads.
Leads you rent. A website you own.
| Thumbtack | Your own website | |
|---|---|---|
| Who else gets the customer | Up to 3 other pros in the first 4 hours, more after | Nobody |
| Your reviews | Live on Thumbtack | On your Google profile, which goes everywhere with you |
| The price of the next call | Your bid, above Thumbtack’s minimum | $0 |
| When you stop paying | The leads stop that day | The site keeps working; it’s paid for |
- 1Search
- 2Tap
- 3Call
Two taps from Google to your phone ringing.
Every site we build is set up to turn a search into a call. That’s the whole job of a contractor website, and it’s where most template and AI sites lose the customer.
- Search
- Tap the result
- Tap Call
- Search
- Tap the result
- Open the menu
- Find Contact
- Fill a form
- Wait for a reply
- Tap to call on every screenA call bar sits under their thumb from the first screen to the last.
- Tap to text a photoPeople with a cracked driveway would rather send a picture than explain it.
- A form that never loses a leadEvery request lands in your inbox and in our back office, spam filtered out.
- Calls you can countEvery tap on Call and Text is counted, so you know what the site brought in.
- Your trade and town up topSo Google, ChatGPT and the homeowner all know you work where they live.
- English and SpanishEvery site, both languages, no extra charge.
You don’t have to quit cold turkey.
Thumbtack still makes sense when
- You’re just starting and need the phone to ring
- You can answer within minutes, all day
- Your lead price is low next to your average job
Your own site starts paying off when
- People can find you by trade and town on Google
- You want reviews that build your own name
- You’re tired of paying for jobs you didn’t get
Asked by contractors, answered straight.
How much does Thumbtack cost for contractors?
Does Thumbtack send the same customer to other pros?
Can I get a refund on a Thumbtack lead?
Is a website better than Thumbtack?
Where these numbers come from.
Checked October 1, 2026. Platforms change prices and rules often, and none publishes a price list per trade, so estimates from third parties are marked as such.
More straight answers.
Or see finished sites: our work and how we built Creative Concrete’s.
Own your leads. See your site first, free.
Tell us your trade and town. We design a real homepage within 3 days, and you decide if it’s worth more than another month of leads.
Rather talk? Call or text (224) 225-9268.