Angi vs. Thumbtack: The Best Lead Generation Platform
By Kay FleuryUpdated on August 14, 2024
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If you’ve made it here, then you probably belong to the home services industry or are a homeowner who is looking to hire a professional. In both cases, you are either evaluating the best platform for your business and needs or have probably signed up on other sites like Angi, only to be dissatisfied because you aren’t getting your money’s worth. Let us help you make this process easier.
In this article we will be comparing Angi vs. Thumbtack, which are two prominent tech platforms in the home services industry.
What is covered in this article
- Angi overview: the best for home service pros looking for short-term assignments
- Thumbtack overview: the best for every kind of working professional
- Thumbtack vs Angi comparison table: how these sites stack up
- Thumbtack vs Angi: most & variety of services offered
- Is Angi or Thumbtack’s review system better?
- Who has better fees for contractors: Thumbtack or Angi?
- Which service provides the most leads for contractors?
With the hope that by the end of this article you have a better understanding of which platform is right for your business, let’s begin!
Angi overview: the best for home service pros looking for short-term assignments
Angi (formerly Angie’s List) is the gold standard in the home services industry. Being one of the very first players in the market, they’ve set up best practices and processes for those who came in after. While they started off as a paid-only model to build a solid database of service professionals, by 2016, they changed it to ‘free to join, pay to play’. Check out our article to learn more about how Angi works.
To grow on Angi and appear on top of the results page, professionals have to maintain an A or B grade on their profile. These grades determine whether or not you can advertise with pay-per-click ads. Since Angi prides itself on getting more than 60,000 reviews every month, prospective buyers of your services have access to see them all before they choose to hire a professional.
Who is Angi best for?
If you are looking to get some repair work or a small home improvement project underway, then make sure to check Angi to hire professional help. Angi has a great database of home service professionals, so if you are in that business, it’s critical that you list your services.
Angi Pros
- Free for homeowners and service professionals to join.
- Angi boasts more than 12 million verified and authentic reviews.
- For professionals who don’t have any internet presence, Angi can be a great place to start.
- If you communicate well with a lead, you will be able to convert them into a client.
- Most customers who sign up on Angi aren’t just price shopping, so chasing a lead can be worth it.
Angi Cons
- Only member reviews can help professionals build a solid reputation.
- Since Angi has been around for more than 25 years, they have a large directory of home service professionals making it difficult for a newbie to build a reputation on the platform.
Thumbtack overview: the best for every kind of working professional
Unlike other sites operating as home service directories, Thumbtack is open to professionals from other sectors as well. Whether you are looking for a wedding photographer or a plumber, you can find professionals for pretty much anything!
A customer can scroll through the list of professionals for the service that they are looking for and contact the one they want to work with. Professionals, on the other hand, only pay for the leads they want to send a message to and pursue. Pros can buy a leads subscription on Thumbtack to have automatic access to leads. To learn more about how this works, check out our article reviewing Thumbtack for contractors.
Who is Thumbtack best for?
If you are a professional or a freelancer looking to find more work and want to build a clientele, then you’ve got to list yourself on Thumbtack. On Thumbtack, you can find attorneys, magicians, personal chefs, electricians, and motivational speakers. For a customer, having access to such a wide range of professionals in one place makes it convenient to shop for all their needs. Professionals, on the other hand, need to have a well-crafted mission statement on their profile that is enticing enough for a potential customer to click.
Thumbtack Pros
- Free for customers and professionals to join.
- One-stop shop for professionals in every service industry.
- Professionals pay only for the leads they want to go after.
- Professionals can purchase a lead subscription at 20% discount.
- Easy-to-use and intuitive platform.
- Thumbtack’s Instant Match feature allows professionals to automatically get assigned to jobs, saving them from having to wait to respond to a job request.
- In case a customer doesn’t respond within 48 hours, Thumbtack refunds the lead cost back to the professional.
Thumbtack Cons
- Leads are not exclusive, so there is no guarantee that a customer will pick you.
- Professionals are paying for communication, not leads. Chatting with a customer who probably is just price shopping costs the professional.
- For a service professional, standing out among the crowd can require a bit of investment in ads.
- There have been a few cases where professionals haven’t been vetted.
Thumbtack vs. Angi comparison table: how these sites stack up
In the table below, we will be comparing Thumbtack against Angi on some basic parameters that can help you quickly decide between the two platforms.
Feature | Thumbtack | Angi |
|---|---|---|
Average Job Cost | $40-70/hr | $50-120/hr |
Membership Fees | Free to join | Free (Green); $24.99/year (Silver); $99.99/year (Gold) |
Lead Generation Cost | $8-25 | $25-100 |
Review System | Customers review professionals after job completion. A pro’s rating and review is what determines their future assignments. | Customers grade a company on a scale of A to F, with A being the best and F being the worst, on five parameters: price, quality, responsiveness, punctuality, and professionalism. The ratings in each category are averaged out to create an overall rating. |
Coverage | All 50 states in the US | All 50 states in the US |
# of Services | 2000+ | 720+ |
Customer Service | Very responsive | Very responsive |
Privacy | Professionals and the customer can communicate with each other only through Thumbtack. | Professionals and the customer can communicate with each other only through Thumbtack. |
How Customers Connect with You | Customers can look for a professional by just entering their ZIP code and no other personal details. | Customers have to fill out a detailed questionnaire about the project, enter their ZIP code, name, email, and phone number to get matched with a pro. |
Thumbtack vs. Angi: most & variety of services offered
Winner: Thumbtack
Thumbtack is a business directory and a lead generation platform for service professionals from every field. They have professionals offering more than 2000 services, making it convenient from a customer’s point of view who may have used the service for another job or service before. Angi, on the other hand, is best for home service professionals who haven’t invested much in their online presence.
Is Angi or Thumbtack’s review system better?
Winner: Angi
Angi has a report card style review system from A to F, with A being the ‘Best’ and F being the ‘Worst’, whereas Thumbtack has a star rating system. Professionals on Angi can also respond to reviews to enable the customer’s decision making process. Additionally, members can only submit a report on a service experience once in six months, to ensure that nobody can “stack the deck” in favor of or against a company.
Who has better fees for contractors: Thumbtack or Angi?
Winner: Angi
Since Angi is the leader in the home services industry, most service professionals on the platform have built a strong reputation for their services, thereby allowing them to charge what they deserve for their expertise. Thumbtack, on the other hand, is a crowded marketplace with professionals with different levels of experience. To stay in the competition, sometimes contractors may have to short-sell themselves.
Which service provides the most leads for contractors?
Winner: Thumbtack
As Thumbtack encompasses everything from home services to event planning and hiring niche pros, customers tend to flock towards this platform. This ensures more leads for contractors as customers enjoy the convenience of a one-stop shop for all their needs. For example, a contractor who offers plumbing and lawn maintenance services can rank for both these jobs and have a higher probability to get contacted in comparison to someone who specializes in one or the other, as the customer has the convenience of booking the services of one professional for both the jobs.
As an independent contractor or home services professional, sites like Thumbtack and Angi are great for getting started and bringing in some cash flow, but they are certainly not conducive to long term success of your business. You can leverage the existing network on these sites to give your business exposure and gain traction. However, these sites do take small fees and there is no guarantee that you will beat other contractors, and win the job.
Alternatively, you can invest in building your own online presence on sites like Weebly so that you can form long term relationships with leads that you generate from these platforms.