TradeKind vs Checkatrade: Which Is Better for Sussex Tradespeople?

For most independent Sussex tradespeople, TradeKind is the sensible no-cost place to start, while Checkatrade may be worth considering when a business wants access to a much larger established audience and is prepared to pay for that reach.

That does not make either platform universally better.

Checkatrade is a major national trade platform with a well-known name, millions of reviews, formal membership checks and paid plans designed to help tradespeople find and manage work.

TradeKind is a newer Sussex-focused trade network where local businesses can currently create a detailed public profile and receive homeowner requests without paying a setup fee, subscription or commission.

The real question is not simply which website is bigger.

It is:

What does your business need, what does each platform provide and what will it cost you to find out whether it works?

TradeKind and Checkatrade at a glance

Feature	TradeKind	Checkatrade
Main coverage	East Sussex and West Sussex	UK-wide
Core trade profile	Completely free	Free profile available
Checked membership	Profile approval before publication	Paid members can receive the Checkatrade tick after checks
Direct homeowner requests	Included on approved profiles	Available through relevant paid membership features
Setup fee	None currently	Depends on the selected product
Monthly subscription	None for the current core profile	Approved from £30 per month; Growth from £59 per month
Commission on ordinary requests	None currently	Membership model; separate fees may apply to certain payment or booking services
Website link	Included on approved TradeKind profiles	Profile features vary by plan
Geographic focus	Sussex-only	National
Existing audience	New and growing	Large and established
Public reviews	Yes	Yes
Workmanship guarantee	No TradeKind workmanship guarantee	Discretionary guarantee up to £1,000, subject to eligibility and terms
Private contact details	Phone number and email remain private	Contact options depend on the profile and membership

Prices and features can change. Businesses should confirm the exact agreement, VAT position, contract length and included services before purchasing any paid plan.

What is the main difference between TradeKind and Checkatrade?

Checkatrade is primarily an established national trade marketplace and membership product.

It helps homeowners find tradespeople and offers members a combination of business profiles, customer enquiries, reviews, quoting tools, booking options, payment features and business-management support.

TradeKind is built around a different idea.

It gives Sussex tradespeople a public local-business profile that can show:

• Services offered
• Sussex towns and areas covered
• Work photographs
• Frequently asked questions
• Reviews
• Team members
• Independent partner trades
• A business website link
• A private homeowner request route

The purpose is not only to deliver an isolated job enquiry.

The profile itself is intended to become a useful public asset for the individual business: somewhere homeowners can understand what the company does, where it works and how it operates before making contact.

That creates two different propositions.

Checkatrade sells access to an established national platform and its existing customer demand.

TradeKind currently gives Sussex businesses another public place to establish and promote their own identity without adding a monthly marketing bill.

How much does TradeKind cost?

TradeKind is currently free for tradespeople operating in East Sussex and West Sussex.

The current core profile includes:

• A public TradeKind business page
• A logo and cover image
• Gallery photographs
• Services
• Frequently asked questions
• Sussex areas covered
• Reviews and profile trust signals
• Team and partner-trade information
• A business website link
• The Request This Trade contact route

There is currently:

• No setup fee
• No monthly subscription
• No commission on homeowner requests
• No charge to unlock the core profile features

TradeKind may introduce optional paid support or promotional features in the future. That is different from saying every feature will remain free forever.

The accurate promise is that the current core Sussex trade profile is free, and any future changes should be communicated clearly rather than appearing as surprise charges.

Create your free Sussex trade profile.

How much does Checkatrade cost?

Checkatrade currently advertises three main levels for tradespeople.

Free

The free option is listed at £0 per month.

It provides a business profile that can be shared with customers and used to collect and display reviews.

This can be useful for reputation building, but it should not be confused with full checked membership or a paid lead plan.

Approved

The Approved plan is currently advertised at £30 per month.

It includes features such as:

• The Checkatrade tick after the relevant checks
• Appearance in the Checkatrade trade directory
• Review-request tools
• Quoting and job-management features
• Customer communication tools
• Member benefits and partner savings

Growth

Growth plans currently begin at £59 per month.

These plans are intended for businesses that want additional customer enquiries and may include:

• A selected level of enquiries
• Direct booking options
• Search credits or additional visibility
• Profile-performance information
• Checkatrade Pay features
• Tools intended to support a fuller diary

The eventual cost can depend on the trade, postcode areas, chosen services and the level of work requested.

Checkatrade also states that its fixed-plan memberships normally run for 12 months. That makes it important to look beyond the displayed monthly figure.

A £59 monthly price represents £708 over 12 months before any VAT or separately chargeable services, unless a confirmed promotion changes the amount.

The relevant question is therefore not:

“Can I afford £59 this month?”

It is:

“Can this agreement produce enough profitable work to justify its complete cost and commitment?”

Does Checkatrade have a bigger audience?

Yes.

Checkatrade has operated for many years, advertises nationally and is already widely recognised by homeowners.

It currently reports:

• More than 48,000 checked and reviewed trades
• More than six million reviews
• A large volume of people searching for trades through its platform

That established audience is Checkatrade’s clearest advantage.

A homeowner with an urgent plumbing problem, roofing concern or decorating job may already know the Checkatrade name and begin their search there.

TradeKind is a newer platform and should not pretend to have the same present traffic, review volume or national recognition.

Its opportunity is different.

TradeKind concentrates on Sussex rather than dividing its attention across the whole UK. Its trade profiles, town pages, service pages and homeowner requests are intended specifically for businesses working across East Sussex and West Sussex.

That local focus may become valuable over time, but it does not guarantee that a newly created profile will immediately generate work.

A fair comparison is:

• Checkatrade currently has the stronger established audience.
• TradeKind currently has the lower financial barrier and narrower Sussex focus.

How do homeowners contact tradespeople?

On an approved TradeKind profile, homeowners can use the Request This Trade button.

The request is sent through TradeKind, which means the business does not need to display its private telephone number or email address publicly.

Homeowners can also browse profiles or post a job using the relevant trade category, job details and Sussex area.

A request is an opportunity to discuss the work. It is not a guaranteed booking, and TradeKind does not promise that every profile will receive enquiries.

Checkatrade provides several possible contact routes depending on the membership, profile and service being used.

These can include:

• Direct calls
• Quote requests
• Messages
• Bookable services
• Scheduled consultations
• Fixed-price services

Its Growth products are more directly centred on maintaining or increasing workload.

This may be attractive to a business that has staff, vehicles or overheads that make empty diary space expensive.

It may be less attractive to a sole trader who is already booked several months ahead and mainly wants to strengthen the visibility of the business itself.

Which platform does more for your own brand?

Both platforms provide business profiles, but TradeKind places particularly strong emphasis on the identity of the individual Sussex business.

An approved TradeKind profile can include a link to the company’s own website.

It can also be shared through:

• Facebook
• WhatsApp
• Email
• Quotations
• Invoices
• The business’s website
• Other directory profiles
• Printed marketing material

That gives the tradesperson a clean page where a potential customer can see services, work examples, FAQs, coverage and reviews together.

For a business without a website, it can act as a useful professional introduction.

For a business that already has a website, it can provide another relevant route through to the company’s own online presence.

Checkatrade profiles can also be detailed and persuasive. They can include photographs, reviews, services, qualifications, accreditations and company information.

The difference is not that one platform promotes businesses and the other does not.

The difference is the broader commercial model around the profile.

Checkatrade’s profile sits inside an established national marketplace with paid membership and lead-generation products.

TradeKind’s current profile sits inside a Sussex-focused network without a core monthly charge.

Which platform has stronger checks?

Checkatrade currently has the more developed and recognisable checking proposition.

It says members can undergo up to 12 checks before receiving the Checkatrade tick.

Depending on the business and trade, these may include:

• Identity checks
• Address checks
• Qualification checks
• Company-history checks
• Financial checks
• County Court Judgment checks
• Customer-experience checks
• Enhanced business checks
• Director searches
• Open-source checks

Members must also commit to the Checkatrade Standard.

TradeKind reviews profiles before allowing them to appear publicly.

That review is intended to help keep the platform local, relevant and usable. It should not be described as a guarantee that:

• Every statement on a profile has been independently proven
• Every photograph shows work completed by that business
• Every service is professionally accredited
• The business will complete every job successfully
• TradeKind guarantees workmanship

TradeKind approval means the profile has passed TradeKind’s publication process.

It does not remove the homeowner’s responsibility to check insurance, qualifications, references, quotations and regulatory requirements where appropriate.

What is the Checkatrade guarantee?

Checkatrade currently offers homeowners a free discretionary guarantee of up to £1,000, subject to its eligibility rules and terms.

For work covered by the current scheme, eligibility can depend on factors including:

• The homeowner contacting the trade through Checkatrade
• The work being completed by a Checkatrade tradesperson
• The issue relating to substandard work
• The claim being raised within the required period
• The homeowner providing the necessary evidence
• The circumstances not falling within an exclusion

It is a discretionary guarantee rather than an automatic insurance policy covering every disagreement or loss.

TradeKind does not currently provide an equivalent workmanship guarantee.

This is a genuine Checkatrade advantage and should not be minimised.

It may give some homeowners additional confidence when deciding whether to make contact through the platform.

How do reviews compare?

Checkatrade has an enormous head start.

Its millions of reviews create a mature reputation system, and many established members have built substantial review histories over several years.

Checkatrade also provides tools for requesting, displaying, responding to and managing reviews.

TradeKind’s review system is much newer.

That means many early profiles will naturally have fewer reviews than long-standing profiles on Checkatrade.

However, a new review profile is not useless simply because it is smaller.

For an individual Sussex business, TradeKind provides another place to begin showing genuine customer experiences alongside:

• Work photographs
• Services
• Frequently asked questions
• Coverage areas
• Website information
• Team and partner details

Businesses should avoid copying reviews between platforms in a way that falsely suggests the review was originally submitted through each service.

Reviews should remain accurate about where they came from and what the customer actually experienced.

Will TradeKind help a business rank on Google?

TradeKind profiles are designed to be understandable by search engines and AI platforms.

That can support the discoverability of the business over time, particularly when a profile clearly explains:

• The trade
• The services offered
• The Sussex locations covered
• The type of work completed
• Common customer questions
• The identity of the business

However, neither TradeKind nor Checkatrade can guarantee a particular Google ranking.

Search visibility can depend on many factors, including:

• The quality and completeness of the profile
• Competition in the local area
• The business’s own website
• Google Business Profile
• Reviews
• Mentions elsewhere online
• The age and authority of the page
• Changes to search-engine systems

A TradeKind profile should therefore be treated as one part of a broader local presence, not a shortcut that makes every other form of marketing unnecessary.

Which is better for a new Sussex trade business?

TradeKind is usually the lower-risk starting point.

A new business often needs:

• Somewhere professional to send potential customers
• A clear explanation of its services
• Work photographs
• A list of areas covered
• A route for enquiries
• Reviews
• Visibility beyond a social-media page

TradeKind currently provides those core profile features without adding a monthly bill.

A new business can build the profile while also setting up:

• A Google Business Profile
• Its own website
• Relevant social-media pages
• Relationships with other local trades
• A process for requesting genuine reviews

Checkatrade may become valuable when the business has the capacity and budget to pursue more work through an established platform.

Paying for reach before the business is ready to answer enquiries, quote promptly or complete the work can waste both money and opportunities.

Which is better for an established Sussex trade?

That depends on what the business is missing.

An established business that is already fully booked may not need a paid stream of additional enquiries.

It may benefit more from:

• A free TradeKind profile
• A link back to its own website
• Another local review presence
• A public page showing its services and working area
• Connections with partner trades
• A profile that can develop while the platform grows

An established business with a quiet diary, additional employees or plans to expand may place greater value on Checkatrade’s existing customer audience.

The cost may be commercially reasonable when:

• The average job value is high enough
• Enquiries match the business’s services
• The selected area is practical
• The business responds quickly
• Quotes are followed up
• Results are recorded properly

The platform should solve a specific business problem rather than being purchased simply because its name is familiar.

How many jobs would Checkatrade need to produce?

A paid platform should be judged by profitable completed work, not the raw number of enquiries.

Start with this calculation:

Annual platform cost ÷ average gross profit from one completed job = jobs required to cover the platform cost

For example, a plan costing £708 per year would need to generate:

• Just over one job if the average gross profit is £600
• Nearly three jobs if the average gross profit is £250
• More than seven jobs if the average gross profit is £100

That still does not account for:

• VAT
• Time spent answering enquiries
• Travel to quotations
• Unsuccessful quotations
• Materials bought unnecessarily
• Administrative time
• Additional paid features
• Jobs that are unsuitable or outside the preferred area

Record each source of work separately.

For every enquiry, track:

1. Where it came from
2. Whether it matched your service
3. Whether you quoted
4. Whether you won the job
5. The final job value
6. The approximate gross profit
7. Whether the customer later provided repeat work or referrals

Without this information, a busy phone can feel successful even when the advertising behind it is not producing a worthwhile return.

Questions to ask before joining a paid trade platform

Before agreeing to a paid plan, ask for clear answers to the following:

• What is the exact monthly cost?
• Is VAT included?
• What is the total cost over the full agreement?
• How long is the contract?
• Does it renew automatically?
• What is the cancellation process?
• Which services will the profile appear for?
• Which postcode areas are included?
• How many opportunities are expected?
• Are those figures guaranteed or estimated?
• How many other trades may receive the same opportunity?
• Can the service be paused when the diary is full?
• Which features cost extra?
• Are booking or payment fees charged?
• What happens if the expected work does not materialise?

Keep copies of the quote, agreement, selected areas and any statements made about anticipated results.

Do you have to choose between TradeKind and Checkatrade?

No.

For some Sussex tradespeople, using both may be the strongest approach.

Checkatrade can be used for:

• Access to an established homeowner audience
• The recognised Checkatrade tick
• Its established review system
• Additional enquiries
• Quoting, booking or payment tools
• The discretionary homeowner guarantee

TradeKind can be used for:

• A free Sussex-focused public profile
• A link to the business’s own website
• Local service and coverage information
• Private homeowner requests
• Work photographs and FAQs
• Team and partner-trade connections
• An additional long-term local presence

The platforms do not have to perform exactly the same job.

A sensible approach is:

1. Create the free TradeKind profile.
2. Complete every useful field properly.
3. Continue using recommendations, Google and existing successful channels.
4. Add a paid platform only when there is a defined need for more work.
5. Measure the paid service against profitable completed jobs.
6. Keep the channels that produce genuine commercial value.

The verdict: TradeKind or Checkatrade?

Checkatrade currently offers something TradeKind cannot yet match: an established national name, a large audience, millions of reviews, extensive member checks and paid systems designed to generate and manage work.

TradeKind offers something different.

Sussex tradespeople can currently build a detailed local profile, link to their own website and receive private homeowner requests without paying a setup fee, subscription or commission.

That makes TradeKind the logical first step for many independent Sussex businesses.

Creating the profile does not require the business to abandon Checkatrade, Google, Facebook, recommendations, leaflets or any other source that already works.

Checkatrade is a separate commercial decision.

It may be worthwhile when:

• The business needs more work
• The selected plan reaches suitable customers
• The contract is understood
• The likely job values justify the cost
• The business has time to respond and quote
• Results will be measured properly

The fairest conclusion is:

Start with TradeKind as a free Sussex-focused foundation. Consider Checkatrade when its established paid reach addresses a specific and measurable need within the business.

Continue the TradeKind comparison series

Compare the other main ways Sussex tradespeople can advertise and find work:

• TradeKind vs MyBuilder: Which Is Better for Finding Work in Sussex?
• TradeKind vs Rated People: Which Is Better for Sussex Trades?
• TradeKind vs TrustATrader: Which Platform Suits Sussex Tradespeople?
• TradeKind vs Friday-Ad: Where Should Sussex Tradespeople Advertise?
• TradeKind vs Local Facebook Groups: Which Works Better for Sussex Tradespeople?
• TradeKind vs Sussex Business Directories: What Does a Trade Listing Actually Give You?
• TradeKind vs Local Print Advertising: Online Profile or Door-to-Door Reach?
• TradeKind vs Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Rated People and TrustATrader Compared
• Where to Advertise a Trade Business in Sussex: Free and Paid Options Compared

Information checked against the official TradeKind and Checkatrade websites on 25 July 2026. Prices, features, promotions and membership terms can change. TradeKind is independent and is not affiliated with Checkatrade.

KEY TAKEAWAY

TradeKind is the strongest no-cost starting point for a Sussex trade that wants a detailed local profile, a website link and direct homeowner requests. Checkatrade offers a much larger established audience, extensive checks and recognised consumer trust signals, but its paid services should be judged by whether the resulting profitable work justifies the full cost and commitment.

FAQ JSON

```json
[
  {
    "question": "Is TradeKind free for Sussex tradespeople?",
    "answer": "Yes. TradeKind is currently free to join. Approved Sussex trade profiles can include services, photos, FAQs, reviews, areas covered, a website link and private homeowner requests with no setup fee, subscription or commission."
  },
  {
    "question": "Does Checkatrade offer a free trade profile?",
    "answer": "Yes. Checkatrade currently offers a free business profile that can be shared with customers and used to collect and display reviews. This is separate from its paid checked membership and lead-focused plans."
  },
  {
    "question": "How much does Checkatrade cost for tradespeople?",
    "answer": "At the time this article was checked, Checkatrade advertised a free plan at £0 per month, an Approved plan at £30 per month and Growth plans starting from £59 per month. The eventual cost can depend on the trade, selected postcode areas and services required."
  },
  {
    "question": "Can a trade business use TradeKind and Checkatrade together?",
    "answer": "Yes. A Sussex business can use Checkatrade for access to its established national audience while using TradeKind to develop an additional free Sussex-focused profile and promote its own business."
  },
  {
    "question": "Does TradeKind approve trade profiles?",
    "answer": "Yes. TradeKind reviews profiles before they appear publicly. Approval helps keep the network local and relevant, but it is not a workmanship guarantee, professional accreditation or blanket verification of every statement made by the business."
  },
  {
    "question": "Does Checkatrade guarantee work completed by its members?",
    "answer": "Checkatrade currently offers homeowners a discretionary guarantee of up to £1,000 for eligible work, subject to its terms, evidence requirements and exclusions. It does not automatically cover every job or disagreement."
  },
  {
    "question": "Which platform is better for a new Sussex trade business?",
    "answer": "TradeKind is generally the lower-risk starting point because its current core profile is free. Checkatrade may become useful when the business is ready to pay for greater established reach and can properly measure whether enquiries become profitable jobs."
  }
]

INTERNAL LINKS JSON

[
  {
    "anchor": "create your free Sussex trade profile",
    "url": "/for-trades"
  },
  {
    "anchor": "TradeKind vs MyBuilder",
    "url": "/blog/tradekind-vs-mybuilder"
  },
  {
    "anchor": "TradeKind vs Rated People",
    "url": "/blog/tradekind-vs-rated-people"
  },
  {
    "anchor": "TradeKind vs TrustATrader",
    "url": "/blog/tradekind-vs-trustatrader"
  },
  {
    "anchor": "TradeKind vs Friday-Ad",
    "url": "/blog/tradekind-vs-friday-ad"
  },
  {
    "anchor": "TradeKind vs Local Facebook Groups",
    "url": "/blog/tradekind-vs-local-facebook-groups"
  },
  {
    "anchor": "TradeKind vs Sussex Business Directories",
    "url": "/blog/tradekind-vs-sussex-business-directories"
  },
  {
    "anchor": "TradeKind vs Local Print Advertising",
    "url": "/blog/tradekind-vs-local-print-advertising"
  },
  {
    "anchor": "TradeKind vs Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Rated People and TrustATrader Compared",
    "url": "/blog/tradekind-vs-trade-platforms"
  },
  {
    "anchor": "Where to Advertise a Trade Business in Sussex",
    "url": "/blog/where-to-advertise-a-trade-business-in-sussex"
  }
]