Tradie Guide · Updated September 2026
The hipages model is simple: you pay for leads, you compete against other tradies, you win some and lose some. hipages’ own FY25 results put the average Australian tradie’s spend at $2,381 a year, on a 12-month subscription that renews itself. Here is every alternative worth knowing about, what each one costs, and what each one actually is.
Quick read: most hipages alternatives are still lead marketplaces with the same pay-per-lead problem. If your phone already rings, the better first move is usually the thing that runs the business you have: answers the calls, quotes, books, invoices. That is what BackOnTools is, and it is the only option on this page that is not a marketplace.
BackOnTools wrote this guide. We have a product in this category. We’ve tried to represent every option fairly, but read critically.
The complaints are about the economics, and the numbers are public. hipages Group’s FY25 results (ASX, 22 August 2025) report average revenue of $2,381 per Australian tradie for the year, up 8%, across 36,600 subscription tradies, on 12-month products. The ACCC found hipages engaged in misleading conduct between October 2018 and January 2022 over how it disclosed auto-renewal and early termination fees. On ProductReview, tradies describe lead prices of “up to $200 per lead” and being charged “$900 to cancel”.
The maths work for high-margin trades on large jobs. A $10,000 kitchen reno can absorb $200 in wasted quotes and still be profitable. A $350 plumbing call-out cannot.
The second complaint is lead quality: tyre-kickers who want a free price check, customers who ghost after getting 5 quotes, and the constant race-to-the-bottom on price.
$2,381
Average revenue per Australian tradie, FY25 (hipages, ASX)
12 months
Subscription term, auto-renewing (ACCC finding on disclosure)
$900
“to cancel”, one tradie's review on ProductReview
Trade-business OS (not a marketplace)
$59 to $349/month, 30 days free, no contract
Flat monthly fee
Strengths
Weaknesses
Verdict:Best for the sole trader whose phone already rings and who does the office work at night
Lead Marketplace
$8-$80+ per lead credit
Pay-per-lead
Strengths
Weaknesses
Verdict:Better than HiPages on competition per lead, still a credit model
Gig Marketplace
22% commission to taskers + 15% to customers
Commission on job value
Strengths
Weaknesses
Verdict:Not built for tradies, commission model erodes margins on any real job
Lead Marketplace
Subscription + per-lead credits
Hybrid
Strengths
Weaknesses
Verdict:Worth testing if HiPages is oversaturated in your trade/suburb
Lead Marketplace
$1 per lead reveal (credit-based)
Pay-per-reveal
Strengths
Weaknesses
Verdict:Worth adding as a secondary lead source if HiPages ROI is poor
Lead Marketplace (UK)
$150-$400+/month in credits
Credit bundles
Strengths
Weaknesses
Verdict:Avoid, credit bundles and no AU verification make it a risky spend
Every alternative above. Oneflare, Airtasker, ServiceSeeking, ServiceTasker, is a lead marketplace. They solve the same problem: how do I find new homeowners who are looking for a tradie?
None of them address the other problem, which is often bigger: the calls already coming in that you’re missing. The average tradie misses 27-62% of inbound calls during working hours. On a flat-out day you can lose 40% of calls without realising it.
Each missed call that had a real job behind it, a plumbing emergency, a full reno quote, a repeat customer, goes to whoever answers first. At an average Australian tradie job value of $800-$1,500, missing 4 calls a week means potentially $160,000 in lost annual revenue.
The two problems aren’t either/or
Use a lead platform to generate new demand. Use BackOnTools to answer the calls that already come in, quote them, book them and invoice them. Most tradies need both, but if the budget is tight, fix the leak in your existing pipe before buying more water.
How much does hipages cost tradies?
hipages does not publish one price. Its FY25 results (ASX, 22 August 2025) report average revenue of $2,381 per Australian tradie for the year, up 8%, on 12-month subscription products. Tradies on ProductReview describe lead prices of up to $200 for larger jobs and a lead price that moved from about 42 to 75 credits in a year.
Can I cancel hipages?
Not freely mid-contract. hipages subscriptions run 12 months and renew automatically; the ACCC found hipages engaged in misleading conduct between October 2018 and January 2022 over how it disclosed auto-renewal and early termination fees. One ProductReview review from September 2026 reports a $900 charge to cancel.
Is hipages worth it for tradies in 2026?
It depends on job size. At $2,381 a year against leads that several tradies also buy, the maths works for high-margin work (a $10,000 renovation absorbs a few wasted quotes) and rarely for $350 call-outs. If your phone already rings, the cheaper problem to fix first is the calls you miss.
What is the best hipages alternative for a sole trader?
For a sole trader who already has word-of-mouth and Google traffic, BackOnTools is usually a better first move than another marketplace: it answers the calls you already get as your business, quotes them off your price book, books them and invoices them, from $59 a month with no contract. A marketplace only makes sense once every inbound call is being caught.
Can I use BackOnTools instead of hipages?
They are different products. hipages sells you leads; BackOnTools runs the business you have: the phone answered 24/7, quotes, jobs, invoices, crew, compliance, plus a free marketplace inside it where you bid free and keep 100%. It does not buy you homeowner leads. Plenty of tradies run both: keep the leads that pay, let BackOnTools answer, quote and invoice them.
What is the cheapest alternative to hipages?
ServiceTasker charges $1 per lead reveal with no subscription, the lowest barrier among the lead platforms. BackOnTools starts at $59 a month (Tools) or $99 with the AI answering your phone, 30 days free, month to month, and works on every call you already get rather than selling you new ones.
Sources
Ring a demo line and hear it answer as a business in your trade, quote a job and book it. Then start free: 30 days, nothing charged, no contract at the end.
From $59 a month · 30 days free · No contract · Australian trades only