What is the best hipages alternative?
The best hipages alternative depends on how you'd rather pay. ServiceSeeking charges a flat monthly membership, Airtasker takes a fee from each job you complete, and Bark sells credits you spend to contact each lead. Your own website, Google Business Profile and Google Ads take more effort up front, but those leads aren't shared with anyone.
Here's how they compare as of November 2026. Prices are in AUD and rounded. Check each platform before you sign up, because they change.
| Option | How it charges | Price as of November 2026 | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| hipages | Monthly plan with a set number of credits, spent on each lead you accept | About $139 to $649 a month + GST, with custom plans for larger businesses | Tradies who want steady homeowner jobs without running their own marketing |
| ServiceSeeking | Monthly membership with unlimited quotes, no per lead fee or commission | From about $129 a month including GST for most members | Tradies who quote a lot and want a fixed monthly cost |
| Airtasker | Free to make offers, service fee taken from each completed task | 12.5% to 20% of the task price, plus GST on the fee | Small jobs, handyman work and filling gaps in the week |
| Bark | Credit packs, spent to contact each lead | Credit cost shown on each lead, varies by job and area. No AUD pack prices on its pricing page | Services that suit a pay as you go test |
| Word of Mouth | Free review listing, with paid Essentials and Pro plans | Free to register. Paid plan prices not published | Collecting reviews alongside other channels |
| Your own website, Google Business Profile and Google Ads | You pay for the build and the clicks. Nobody takes a cut | Profile free. Website from $1,750 + GST. Google Ads management from $950 a month + GST plus ad spend | Tradies who want leads that aren't shared |
Oneflare is no longer an option. Airtasker owned it and retired it on 30 June 2026, and the Oneflare site now redirects to Airtasker.
How does hipages charge tradies?
hipages charges a monthly subscription that comes with a set number of credits, and you spend credits on each lead you choose to accept. As of November 2026 its lead plans run from about $139 to $649 a month + GST in AUD, with a custom plan for businesses with 10 or more staff.
To be fair to hipages, plenty of tradies do well on it. It has a large audience of homeowners posting jobs, you choose which leads to accept, it takes no commission on the work you win, and each lead is capped at 3 businesses. For a new business with no reviews or website yet, it can be the fastest way to fill a calendar.
The trade offs tradies raise most often:
- Shared leads. Up to 3 businesses get the same job, so the fastest clear reply has the advantage.
- Contract terms. hipages' NRMA member offer describes a 6 month initial term that then renews for 12 months. Read your own agreement before you sign.
- Credit costs vary. The credits a lead costs change with the job and demand, so your cost per job won moves around.
- You're renting, not building. If you stop paying, the leads stop, and the profile you built stays on hipages rather than your own site.
The plan prices above come from published pricing trackers checked in November 2026, so confirm them with hipages before you commit.
How do ServiceSeeking, Airtasker and Bark charge?
Each one charges in a different way. If you're weighing a hipages alternative, the right one depends on how many jobs you quote and how big they are.
ServiceSeeking
ServiceSeeking sells monthly memberships with unlimited quotes and no pay per lead fees or commissions. As of November 2026, its own pricing article says packages start from about $129 a month including GST for most members, priced by your category and area, with Standard (10 km), Plus (20 km) and Pro (50 km) coverage. Paying quarterly saves 20% and paying yearly saves 40%. Jobs still go to several businesses, so speed still matters.
Airtasker
Airtasker is free to join and make offers. When you complete a task, it takes a service fee of 12.5% to 20% of the task price, plus GST on the fee, depending on your tier. Bronze pays 20%, Silver 18.5%, Gold 14.9% and Platinum 12.5%, based on what you've earned in the last 30 days. It suits small jobs and quiet days more than big quotes.
Bark
Bark sells credit packs. Each lead shows its credit cost before you respond, and that cost depends on the service, the job value and demand in your area. You pay once to contact a lead, follow up messages are free, and credits last three months. Bark says it returns your credits if you don't win any work from your first pack.
Word of Mouth
Word of Mouth is mainly a review site, though customers can post jobs for quotes too. Registering your business is free, and it offers paid Essentials and Pro plans without published prices. Treat it as a reviews and listing channel that sits alongside your others.
Are lead platforms worth it for tradies?
They're worth it when they bring in jobs for less than any other way, and only your numbers can tell you that. Divide what you paid in a month by the jobs you actually won from it. That's your real cost per job.
A simple example: a $249 + GST plan that wins you 3 jobs a month costs about $83 a job, before the time spent quoting the ones you lost. If your average job is $3,000, that's cheap. If it's $250, it isn't.
Lead platforms tend to pay off when:
- You're new, with no reviews, website or Google presence yet.
- You have gaps in the calendar and need work this month.
- Your trade gets a lot of small to medium jobs.
- You can reply to a new lead within minutes, even on the tools.
That last point matters more than most tradies think. A study by MIT and InsideSales found leads contacted within 5 minutes were 21 times more likely to qualify than leads contacted at 30 minutes. On a shared lead, speed is often the difference.
How do you get leads you own instead of renting them?
Build the channels that keep working after you stop paying a platform: a website with a page for each service, a complete Google Business Profile, steady reviews, and Google Ads for when you need work now. Leads from these come to you alone, which makes them the most durable hipages alternative.
| Channel | Upfront cost (ex GST) | Ongoing cost | Lead shared? | Time to first leads |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | $0 | Your time, photos and reviews | No | Weeks to months, faster with reviews |
| Website with a page per service | $1,750 for one page, $3,250 for 5 to 8 pages | Hosting about $10 to $50 a month | No | Usually 2 to 3 months for local searches |
| Google Ads | Landing page from $950 if needed | Management from $950 a month plus ad spend, typically $500 to $5,000 | No | From the day ads go live |
| SEO | None | From $950 a month | No | Builds over months |
| Lead platforms | Usually none | A monthly fee, credits or a cut of each job | Usually yes | Days |
Your Google Business Profile is the cheapest place to start, because it's what puts you in the map pack. Then add a site built like our websites for tradies, with your licence, service area and real job photos. Trades and home services in Perth average $3 to $8 a click on Google, so Google Ads for tradies can bring in jobs while the rest builds up.
Should you quit hipages?
Not if it's making you money. Drop a lead platform when your cost per job won is higher than your own channels cost, or when the jobs it sends aren't the ones you want.
The approach that works for most tradies is staged:
- Keep the platform running while you set up your own channels, so the calendar doesn't empty out.
- Fix your Google Business Profile and get a proper website live, with a page per service and your suburbs listed.
- Ask every happy customer for a Google review, including the ones who found you on a platform.
- Track where every job comes from for 2 to 3 months.
- Drop or downgrade the platform once your own leads cover the work, ideally timed to the end of your contract term.
Some tradies keep a small platform plan for good, as a top up for quiet weeks. That's a fair choice too. If you want the whole system in order, our guide to digital marketing for tradies covers what to do first at each stage.
How do you answer every lead fast enough to win it?
Automate the first reply. Whether a lead comes from a platform, your website or an ad, the business that answers first and asks the right questions has the best shot at the job.
For leads from your own channels, Omega CS, our CRM built in Perth, texts every new web form, Facebook and Instagram lead back in seconds from your own Australian mobile number. It asks the job details, scores the lead cold, warm or hot, sends you a summary of the hot ones, follows up quotes until the customer says yes or no, and texts back missed calls. It doesn't answer phone calls, and leads inside a platform's app still get answered in that app.
Self Serve starts from $199 a month with a 14 day free trial. Run For You is from $350 + GST a week with $0 setup, built and run by Source Digital. It suits tradies who already get enquiries and lose some to slow replies. If you're not getting enquiries yet, start with your profile and website.
