Every tradie gets asked the same question by their accountant eventually. Where is the work coming from, and what is it costing you?
For most tradies, the answer is a mix. Some jobs come from word of mouth, some from a lead platform, and some from Google. But very few know what each source really costs per job won.
This post is an honest comparison of tradie leads from hipages, from Oneflare (which has changed a lot this year) and from your own website. I'll show where each one makes sense, and where it quietly eats your margin.
First, what happened to Oneflare
If you used Oneflare, you've probably noticed it's gone. Airtasker bought Oneflare in 2022, and on 30 June 2026 it retired the Oneflare platform and moved users across to Airtasker.
So the real choice now is between hipages, Airtasker and your own website. Other platforms, like Service Seeking, still exist too, but hipages and Airtasker are the two most tradies weigh up.
Hipages: a subscription plus credits
Hipages charges a monthly subscription that includes credits. You spend credits to accept leads.
As of November 2026, the plans are:
| Plan | Per month (ex GST) | Credits per month |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $139 | 155 |
| Advanced | $249 | 310 |
| Premium | $449 | 595 |
| Platinum | $649 | 850 |
A few things to know:
- Credit costs move. Hipages doesn't publish a fixed price per lead. The credits a lead costs change with your trade, location, job size and demand.
- Leads are shared. Each lead can go to up to three businesses, so you're competing on every one.
- Contracts are long. Plans start with a six-month introductory term, then roll into 12-month renewals. Cancelling mid-term can leave the rest of the fees owing.
- Credits expire. Unused credits only roll over for one or two months, depending on the plan.
You pay whether or not you win the job.
Airtasker: a fee on the jobs you win
Airtasker works differently. Posting offers is free, and Airtasker takes a service fee from the jobs you complete. According to Airtasker, that fee ranges from 20% down to 12.5% (ex GST), depending on your tier. Higher tiers pay lower fees.
That sounds better, because you only pay when you win. But the fee grows with the job:
| Job value | Fee at 20% | Fee at 12.5% |
|---|---|---|
| $300 | $60 | $37.50 |
| $1,200 | $240 | $150 |
| $5,000 | $1,000 | $625 |
For small, quick jobs, that can be fine. For bigger jobs, a percentage fee gets expensive fast. And you're still competing on price with other tradies making offers.
Your own website: a cost that builds
Leads from your own website and Google Business Profile work differently again. Nobody else gets the enquiry, and you don't pay per lead or per job.
The costs are:
- A website that's built to turn visits into calls. My guide to a website for tradies covers what it needs.
- Ongoing SEO, either your own time or a monthly fee. For most trades, that's a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars a month, depending on how competitive your area is.
- Time. Most tradies see meaningful ranking movement after three to six months, with steadier enquiries building from there.
The cost stays roughly the same each month, but the number of jobs it brings in grows. Pages you build this year keep bringing in calls for years.
The number that matters: cost per job won
The price of a lead tells you very little. What matters is how much you spend for every job you actually win.
Here's a worked example for a tradie whose average job is $1,200. The numbers are illustrative, so swap in your own.
Hipages (Advanced plan). Say your credits cover about 12 leads a month and you win one in four. That's three jobs for $249, or about $83 a job before GST. Add the site visits and quotes for the nine jobs you didn't win.
Airtasker. On a $1,200 job, the fee is $150 to $240 depending on your tier. That's per job, every job, with no ceiling.
Your own website. Say you spend $1,500 a month on SEO. In the first few months, you might win one or two jobs from it, which looks expensive. Once your rankings build, eight jobs a month brings it to about $188 a job. Fifteen jobs brings it to $100. The more you rank for, the lower it goes.
The honest conclusion: early on, hipages can be the cheapest per job. Over time, and especially for bigger jobs, your own website usually wins, because the cost doesn't rise with the number or size of jobs. Airtasker suits small jobs best.
Side by side
| Hipages | Airtasker | Your own website | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Monthly plan plus credits | Fee on completed jobs | Website plus ongoing SEO |
| Leads shared? | Up to 3 businesses | Open to offers | No, they're yours |
| Pay if you lose the job? | Yes | No | Fixed monthly cost |
| Cost rises with job size? | Sometimes, via credits | Yes, it's a percentage | No |
| Contract | 6 months, then 12-month renewals | None | Depends on provider |
| Speed | Fast | Fast | Three to six months to build |
| What you keep if you stop | Nothing | Your profile and reviews | Your website and rankings |
When platforms make sense
Platforms aren't a bad idea. They can be the right call when:
- you're new and need work while your website and reviews build
- you have a quiet month and need to fill the diary
- you're testing a new area before investing in pages for it
- the jobs are small, where a percentage fee or a few credits doesn't hurt
The problem isn't using platforms. It's relying on them as your only source of work.
Get recommended by AI tools too
More homeowners now ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI Overviews questions like "who's a good electrician in Toowoomba?" or "what does it cost to replace a hot water system in Brisbane?". These tools pull their answers from websites, reviews and business listings, and often name just a few businesses.
That's a lead source a platform can't sell to three other tradies. To give yourself the best chance of being mentioned:
- say clearly on your website what you do, where you work and your licence details
- keep your business name, phone number and service areas the same everywhere online
- build a steady flow of Google reviews
- answer common questions on your site, like typical costs and timeframes
Most of this is the same work that helps you rank. That's the focus of AI search optimisation.
How to shift the balance
You don't have to cancel anything today. Here's a sensible order:
- Track every job's source. For three months, record where each job came from, its value and what it cost to win.
- Fix your Google Business Profile. It's free and often the fastest win.
- Ask every customer for a Google review, including platform customers.
- Build service and suburb pages. One page for each main service and area you cover, with good on-page SEO.
- Reduce platform spend as your own enquiries grow, so the diary never runs dry.
If you're a roofer, my breakdown of why buying roofing leads costs more than ranking for them runs the numbers for your trade.
Rent some leads, own the rest
Hipages and Airtasker can fill gaps, but they rarely build a business. One charges whether you win or not, and the other takes a cut of every job. Your own website takes longer to build, but the leads are yours, and the cost per job keeps falling.
If you'd like help, SEO for tradies covers your profile, pages and local rankings together, and managed SEO keeps it running while you're on the tools. I work with tradies across Toowoomba and Brisbane. Book a free SEO strategy call and I'll help you work out what your leads are really costing you. Let's talk.
Questions tradies ask about leads
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Airtasker bought Oneflare in 2022 and retired the platform on 30 June 2026. Oneflare users were moved across to Airtasker.
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As of November 2026, plans run from $139 to $649 a month plus GST, and each plan includes credits you spend to accept leads. The credit cost of each lead changes with your trade, location and demand.
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Airtasker takes a service fee from completed jobs, ranging from 20% down to 12.5% (ex GST) depending on your tier. The fee rises with the value of the job.
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It can be, especially when you're new, filling quiet months or doing higher-value jobs. Track your cost per job won, not just the cost per lead, and build your own leads alongside it.
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Usually over time. SEO has a fixed monthly cost, so the cost per job falls as your rankings grow. It takes three to six months to build, so keep some paid leads while it does.
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Yes. Homeowners increasingly ask AI tools for local tradie recommendations. Clear service pages, consistent business details, steady reviews and helpful answers on your website improve your chances of being mentioned.