Is hipages worth it for tradies? How to work out what a lead really costs

Is hipages worth it for tradies? There is no single answer, because it depends on your trade, your area, how fast you reply and what a job is worth to you. What you can do is work out the answer for your own business, with your own numbers, in about ten minutes. This guide explains how hipages, Airtasker and ServiceSeeking charge tradies, gives you a simple method to calculate what a won job really costs, and lists the alternatives, including the free ones.

How hipages charges tradies

hipages sells tradies a monthly subscription that includes lead credits. Its own FY26 results presentation to the ASX (24 August 2026) describes the model as at 27 October 2026:

• A homeowner posts a job, and it appears as a lead to businesses that match it.
• Up to three businesses can claim each lead.
• Claiming a lead uses the credits that come with your subscription.

The same report says hipages' average Australian subscriber brought in about $2,575 of revenue over the 2025–26 year. That is an average across every plan, not a price you will be quoted, but it gives a feel for what a year on the platform costs a typical business.

We could not open hipages' own pricing pages when we checked, so we have not printed plan prices or credit costs here. Before you sign, ask for the current plan sheet in writing, and check three things: how many credits a lead in your trade and area uses, whether unused credits carry over, and how long the contract runs before you can leave.

How Airtasker and ServiceSeeking charge

Airtasker works differently. Making an offer is free. If the customer assigns the task to you, Airtasker takes a service fee out of the payment. Its help centre says the fee ranges from 12.5% to 20% of the task price, depending on your tier, with tax added on top. You pay nothing on a job you don't win.

ServiceSeeking doesn't publish its business prices on its public pages. Its terms and conditions refer to paid business memberships, so ask what a membership costs and what it includes before you join.

How to work out what a lead really costs

The number that matters isn't the cost of a lead. It's the cost of a won job, because a lead shared with two other businesses is only worth something if it turns into work. Take the last three months of your own figures and fill in these:

• A: what you paid the platform in a month, including the subscription and any extra credits or top-ups.
• B: how many leads you claimed or quoted on that month.
• C: how many of those turned into paid jobs.
• D: your average gross profit on one of those jobs: the price, less materials and the labour cost to do it.

Then:

• Cost per lead = A ÷ B
• Win rate = C ÷ B
• Cost per won job = A ÷ C
• What the platform leaves you per won job = D − (A ÷ C)

For a commission platform, swap the last two: the cost per won job is the fee rate times the job price, so what is left is D minus that fee.

If the last number is comfortably positive, the platform is earning its place. If it is small or negative, you are working for the platform. Two more things to count honestly:

• Your time. Every lead you chase takes a call, maybe a site visit and a quote. Quotes on lost jobs are unpaid hours. If you price your time properly (see pricing a job so you actually make money), it often changes the answer.
• Repeat work. A customer who comes back, or refers a neighbour, is worth more than one job. If platform customers rarely come back to you directly, that counts against it.

When paid leads make sense

Paid leads tend to suit a business that is new to an area and has no word of mouth yet, has quiet weeks to fill, can answer within minutes, and does jobs big enough that one win covers the month. They suit a business less when the diary is already full, the jobs are small, or nobody is free to reply quickly, because a shared lead usually goes to whoever calls first.

hipages alternatives, including free ones

• A Google Business Profile. Free, and it is what shows on the map when someone searches for your trade nearby. Keep your area, hours and photos current and ask happy customers for a review.
• Referrals and repeat work. The cheapest job is the next one from a customer you already have. Offer the annual service, the follow-up visit, the second job you spotted.
• The BizzMate Marketplace. People post a job and the businesses near them that do that work are told. You send an offer, and if the customer chooses you the job lands on your board with their details. During the pilot there is no fee to list, to send an offer or to win a job. It is new, so in many areas there aren't many jobs posted yet. You can list your business free.
• Commission or membership platforms such as Airtasker and ServiceSeeking, costed with the same method above.

There is more on the free routes in getting more work as a tradie without paying for leads.

The short answer

hipages is worth it for you if the cost per won job, worked out from your own last three months, leaves a healthy profit after your time. Run the numbers before you renew, not after. Whatever you decide, keep building the free channels, so a paid platform is a choice and not the only way work arrives.

This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. Platform prices and terms change, so check each one's current terms before you sign up.