Angi vs Thumbtack vs owning your leads: a side-by-side for service pros

Which is better for contractors, Angi or Thumbtack?

Neither is better across the board. They differ in how a homeowner reaches you, how much competition you face on each request, and what happens when a lead goes nowhere. They agree on the thing that matters most: you pay for a chance at the customer, and the customer first met you through the platform's brand.

The third column in the table above, owning your leads, is a different kind of option. It is slower to start and asks more of you at the beginning. It is also the only one of the three where the path back to you next year runs through your own name, number and website instead of a marketplace.

How Angi works in 2026

Angi Inc., the company behind the Angi, Angie's List and HomeAdvisor brands, sells pros access to homeowners through several products. Its 2025 Form 10-K lists full-priced leads under a monthly budget, discounted leads in subscription packages, double opt-in leads purchased individually, and pre-priced offerings. Membership is billed separately.

Two facts from that filing shape the economics. First, pros owe the fee on each match even when another company ends up with the work. Second, one homeowner request can turn into more than one paid lead; the filing counts roughly 20.2 million leads against 15.5 million requests for the year.

The biggest recent change came in January 2025, when Angi switched nearly all domestic experiences to homeowner choice, so consumers connect only with pros they select (Angi Q1 2025 release). Bad leads can earn a credit if you meet the conditions in Angi's lead credit article, including a call attempt within 24 hours. Credits go toward future lead charges rather than back to your card, and they lapse after six months unused.

Angi is also shrinking and changing. Its second-quarter 2026 release reports revenue of $248.0 million for the quarter (down 11%) and an average of 106,000 monthly active pros, 17% fewer than a year before. The same release says Angi began testing AI Front Desk in July 2026, an agent that handles lead follow-up and books appointments for pros.

How Thumbtack works in 2026

On a standard Thumbtack lead, the customer makes the first move. According to its help center, a customer who contacts you from search results about a job that fits your job preferences triggers an automatic lead charge. Pros set their own lead prices with a slider, and Thumbtack says prices vary with the type and size of the job, how many pros are available, and your market. On Opportunities, where you message first, you pay only if the customer answers.

Thumbtack's Quality Commitment caps early competition: a customer can contact up to five pros in the first four hours, then more after that. Thumbtack adds that customers usually reach out to fewer pros than the limit. If the customer replies to none of the pros they contacted within 72 hours, Thumbtack refunds the lead automatically.

Other refunds follow Thumbtack's refund policy. You have 45 days to ask, approval is at Thumbtack's sole discretion, and the money goes to your Thumbtack balance unless you ask for it back on your original card within 10 business days of approval. Under that policy, a customer choosing a different pro doesn't qualify you for a refund. The Terms of Use Thumbtack revised on July 10, 2026 add that once Thumbtack suspends or terminates an account, prepaid packages and promotional credits stop being redeemable.

Where Angi and Thumbtack really differ

• Who picks whom. Both are now built around the customer choosing; Angi made that change in January 2025. On Thumbtack the customer contacts the pros they pick, capped at five in the first four hours. On Angi, the filing confirms that one request can still turn into several paid leads, and the help center caps that at five pros per request.
• Price control. Thumbtack gives you a dial on your lead prices. Angi sells leads inside monthly budgets, subscription packages and one-at-a-time double opt-in purchases, and its 10-K says prices vary by service, product and location.
• What you get back. Angi gives credits with an expiry date. Thumbtack gives refunds that land in your platform balance by default, with a short window to get cash back instead.
• Published prices. Neither publishes a price list. Third-party reports put Angi at roughly $15 to $85 per lead and Thumbtack at about $10 to over $100, in 2026 articles from Housecall Pro, a software vendor (Angi, Thumbtack). Use your own invoices instead.

A third paid option deserves a mention because owners often weigh it against these two. Google Local Services Ads also charge per lead, and Google's help page counts texts or emails, voicemails, answered or returned calls, booking requests, and missed calls during business hours when the caller holds on past 20 seconds as leads. Google's models decide which leads are credited back, and Google says most credits land within 30 days. In August 2026 Google also began shifting Local Services Ads into Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals inside Google Ads, starting with select U.S. home and storefront service businesses. The difference from the marketplaces is that the ad runs on Google, where your free Business Profile can also appear, so the same homeowner may find you next time without a paid lead. Our guide on Local Services Ads versus SEO compares the two.

Where they are the same

Strip away the product names and both marketplaces rent you a chance. The homeowner searched on their site, saw their brand and met you through their screens. If that homeowner goes back to the platform next year, you may pay for the introduction again or lose the job to a pro who answered faster.

Both also reward speed. Angi ties its lead credits to a call attempt inside 24 hours. Thumbtack's refund page tells pros that many customers hire the quickest and most helpful pro. If you buy from either one, how fast your office answers affects what you get for the money. That is true on your own channels too, which is why answering every call comes first in any plan. See speed to lead for contractors.

What owning your leads means in practice

Owning your leads is a stack you control end to end:

• a website with pages for every service and area, and forms that land in your CRM;
• a Google Business Profile and local search work, so you can show up in the map results without paying per contact;
• a business phone number that rings through, texts back missed callers and is answered after hours;
• a CRM holding every customer, every quote and the source of every job;
• a customer list you email and text each season.

The tradeoff is time. A marketplace can put a lead on your phone this week. Search visibility builds over months, and a website on its own does nothing until it ranks or you send people to it. Our own service companies use this same stack, and we tell owners up front that no one can promise when, or whether, a page will rank.

How to decide for your company

Pick by situation, not by brand:

• Starting out with no reviews: a marketplace can bring first jobs. Put every customer you win into your own CRM from day one.
• You answer within minutes and quote from photos: Thumbtack says many customers hire the quickest pro, which suits a fast office.
• Crews in the field, nobody on the phone: fix call coverage before buying any leads. Otherwise you are paying for calls you miss.
• Seasonal work with a short peak: a lead budget can cover the first rush while you build a list to market to the following year. Every peak-season customer you serve is someone you can email before next season starts.
• Established with good reviews: consider shifting money into owned channels. Run a marketplace only for the services where your cost per booked job still holds up.

Whatever you choose, measure cost per booked job, not cost per lead. Our lead cost calculator does that in a minute, and the full Angi alternative and Thumbtack alternative pages go deeper on each platform.

Frequently asked questions