COMPARE
THUMBTACK ALTERNATIVES FOR CONTRACTORS.
On Thumbtack, you pay for each lead at a price you set, and a customer can contact up to five pros from search in the first four hours. The main alternatives are other marketplaces like Angi and Modernize, subscriptions like Houzz Pro, and your own ads, run by your team or a partner like BINA, where no other contractor gets the lead.
How Thumbtack charges pros
What Thumbtack says on its own pages, checked in November 2026:
- No membership or subscription fee: you pay per lead.
- You set a lead price for each service, and that is the exact amount you pay. Thumbtack says prices vary with the type and size of the job, how many pros are available and your market.
- You pay automatically when a customer who matches your job preferences reaches out to you. For Opportunities, you contact the customer first and pay only if they respond.
- You set a weekly budget across your services. If a lead costs more than what is left of it, you pay the full price, which can take you over by up to 40% of the budget or $40 plus 2% of it, whichever is less.
How many pros reach the same customer
Thumbtack says a customer can contact no more than five pros from search per project in the first four hours, and more after that. Other interested pros can message the customer too, and its Get 3 quotes button contacts three pros at once.
Refunds and contracts
- No contracts and no hidden fees, and you can change your budget at any time.
- If a customer replies to none of the pros they contacted within 72 hours, those pros get the lead refunded automatically.
- All refunds are at its discretion. For other cases, you request one within 45 days of the charge.
- Refunds go to your Thumbtack balance by default. To get the money back on your card, you ask within 10 business days of the refund's approval.
- A disconnected or invalid phone number can be refunded after review, but Thumbtack says it cannot guarantee that customers will answer.
Thumbtack and BINA side by side
| What differs | Thumbtack | BINA |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Per lead, at a price you set | 20% of your ad spend, plus a one-time $1,500 setup fee |
| Who else gets the lead | Up to 5 pros from search in the first 4 hours, more after; other pros can message | No other contractor: we never share it |
| Where the leads come from | Thumbtack search, when customers contact you | Ads we run for your business on Meta and Google |
| Contract | None | No long-term contract: month to month |
| Minimum | None listed | $5,000 a month in ad spend |
The alternatives to Thumbtack
- Angi: pay per lead, with the price set by the task, location and demand, and each request sent to up to five pros.
- Modernize: leads, inbound calls and live transfers, with each homeowner who requests quotes matched with up to four contractors.
- Houzz Pro: a software subscription from $99 a month, with advertising sold separately from $499 a month.
- Your own ads on Meta and Google, run by your team or a partner like BINA: you pay the platforms for the ad spend, and no other contractor gets the leads they bring.
Which one fits
Thumbtack can suit a team that wants to set its own price per lead and change its budget any week, with no contract. BINA suits contractors with a sales team who want every lead to themselves: we run the ads, set up the CRM and the dialer your reps call from, and AI follows up with every lead 24/7, starting at $5,000 a month in ad spend. Exclusive vs shared leads shows how to weigh the two.
Sources
Prices and policies change, so check Thumbtack's current terms on its own pages:
- Thumbtack for pros, on fees and contracts.
- Paying for leads, on lead prices and when you pay.
- Setting your budget, on the weekly budget.
- Quality Commitment terms, on the five-pro limit and automatic refunds.
- Refund policy, on other refunds.
- Finding pros on Thumbtack, on how customers contact pros.
