Answers

Should you buy leads from sites like Angi or Thumbtack?

Ascent Vision · Published October 16, 2026

It can be worth it, but judge each lead site by the jobs you actually win from it, not by how many leads it sends. Leads on these sites are often shared with other businesses, so a fast, useful first reply matters. Record every lead with its source and outcome, and keep each customer's details in your own lead list, not only inside the site's app.

How pay-per-lead sites charge

On these sites you usually pay for each lead, not for a spot in a list; the related answer on paid directory listings covers listings. Angi's help center says its lead fees change with the task, the homeowner's location and demand for the work, and that pros are charged for leads "whether or not you open or respond to them". Thumbtack tells pros that they control their pricing and budget for leads, and that this decides how many leads they get.

Shared leads are a race

A shared lead goes to more than one business. Angi says it matches each homeowner's project request with no more than five pros, and Thumbtack lists "Limited competition per lead" among its features. With a shared lead, the first useful reply often wins, and some people are only collecting prices.

A lead nobody else received, such as a referral or someone who found your own website, is usually worth more, because you are not competing in the same hour. Weigh a shared lead accordingly, and answer it fast.

Judge the site by jobs won

• Tag every lead from the site with the channel paid and the site's name.
• Record each outcome: won, lost or still open, with a reason when lost.
• If many are lost as the wrong job or the wrong area, tighten the services and areas you chose on the site.
• Ask for a credit when a lead breaks the site's own rules. Angi lists reasons such as invalid contact details, a project outside your ZIP codes and duplicate leads, and says a homeowner who never answers or hires another pro does not qualify.
• Compare the jobs won with what the site cost, as the related answer on paid directory listings describes.

Who owns the customer

The site makes the introduction; everything after it should run through you. Copy each lead's name, contact details and job into your own lead list the day it arrives, and handle the quote, the follow-up and later work through your own email and phone where the site's terms allow; call or text only with the person's consent. That way your record of those customers stays with you if you stop paying, and a customer who comes back later is a direct lead you did not pay for. Read each site's terms on contacting the customers it sends, since rules differ.

Sources

1. Angi, "Opportunities and Leads: Frequently Asked Questions" (Angi for Pros help center)
2. Angi, "How to Request a Lead Credit" (Angi for Pros help center)
3. Thumbtack, "Pros - Thumbtack" (Thumbtack for pros)

Related answers

• Are paid directory listings worth it for a small business?
• How fast should a business reply to a new lead?
• How do you work out what a customer is worth to your business?