For most contractors doing $1M or more, Google Local Services Ads beat Angi, HomeAdvisor and Thumbtack, because the homeowner calls you straight from Google and you pay only for valid leads. Across 7 contractor accounts we manage, a charged LSA lead cost $96.20 from October 2025 to September 2026. Judge every platform on cost per booked job.
I'm Daniel Gonzalez, founder of DG Agency. We run Local Services Ads for roofers, plumbers, electricians, flooring and solar companies. We don't run Angi or Thumbtack for anyone, so I'll be straight about what I know. The LSA numbers below are our own. The Angi, HomeAdvisor and Thumbtack facts come from their own pages, quoted word for word, with the link.
Last updated October 21, 2026.
The short answer
| Google Local Services Ads | Angi Leads (HomeAdvisor) | Thumbtack | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Per lead | A fee for each lead you match to | You set your lead budget |
| What the platform says | "you pay for valid leads" | "Different sized jobs have different Lead Fees." | "No subscription cost." |
| Does the homeowner see other pros? | Yes, other LSA ads sit next to yours | The site connects customers "with multiple" pros | Thumbtack advertises "limited competition per lead" |
| Who gets the call | You, straight from Google | You and the other matched pros | The pros the customer picks |
| Bad lead credits | Google credits some invalid leads | Not covered on the FAQ page we checked | Not covered on the page we checked |
My view, for a $1M+ shop: start with LSA and your Google Business Profile. Use Angi or Thumbtack only to fill a gap, and cut them the month they stop booking jobs at a cost you can live with.
Is Google LSA worth it?
For most contractors over $1M, yes, as long as someone answers the phone. Google's own help page says it plainly: "With Local Services Ads, you pay for valid leads." Google also says leads it decides are invalid or low quality are not charged.
Here is what that looked like in our accounts. These come from the Google Ads API for the 7 contractor LSA accounts we manage. Full detail is in our Google LSA statistics study.
| What we measured | Number | Window |
|---|---|---|
| Average cost per charged lead | $96.20 ($100,043.13 over 1,040 charged leads) | Oct 2025 to Sep 2026 |
| Share of leads Google charged for | 72.6% (1,238 of 1,705) | Aug 20 2025 to Oct 16 2026 |
| Charged leads Google later credited back | 2.7% (34 of 1,238) | Aug 20 2025 to Oct 16 2026 |
| Answered calls marked booked | 30.5% | Nov 2025 to Oct 16 2026 |
| Missed calls marked booked | 7.7% | Nov 2025 to Oct 16 2026 |
That last pair is the whole game. A missed LSA call booked about one time in thirteen. An answered one booked about three times in ten. And Google can still bill a missed call. Its lead page counts a missed call during your business hours as valid if the customer stays on the line for more than 20 seconds.
Credits are rare, so don't plan on getting your money back for junk. Google says it no longer credits leads marked "job type not serviced" or "geo not serviced". Your job types and service area are the filter. Set them before the phone rings. We review and rate every lead weekly so Google credits the junk back, and we fix the settings that let it in.
Two named results from our accounts. Legacy Plumbing Group in Oak Harbor, WA went from 15 LSA leads in May 2026 to 64 in August. TMC Roofing went from 46 charged LSA leads in January 2026 to 202 in September. TMC's spend rose about five times over that stretch, and cost per charged lead crept from $94.92 to $107.50, over the owner's own $100 ceiling. More leads cost more money. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.
Is Thumbtack worth it?
It can be for a small shop or a trade with lots of small jobs. For a $1M+ contractor, I'd treat it as a supplement. Thumbtack's pro page says "No subscription cost" and "There's no charge to join, no annual fees and no membership fees." It also says "You control your pricing and budget for leads, which determines how many leads you get."
So the budget you set decides your volume. Thumbtack says "Customers choose pros directly", which means the homeowner is browsing a list of pros, not calling you from a search. Thumbtack doesn't publish a price per lead on that page, so you'll only learn your real cost by testing. Test it with a small budget, track every lead to a booked job, and decide after 60 to 90 days.
Is Angi worth it? And what happened to HomeAdvisor?
HomeAdvisor's pro site now carries the label "HomeAdvisor powered by Angi", and its FAQ calls the program the Angi Leads network. On cost, that FAQ says "you pay a nominal fee for each lead you match to" and "Different sized jobs have different Lead Fees."
The line that matters most for a contractor is how it describes the homeowner side. The site exists to "connect customers with multiple Angi Leads service professionals." When the same homeowner hears from several pros, whoever calls first and quotes best usually wins. You pay either way.
Where it can make sense, in my opinion:
- You're brand new, with no reviews and no Local Services Ads approval yet, and you need calls while you build.
- You're testing a new town before your Google profile ranks there.
- Your office calls back inside a few minutes, every time, and you track which leads close.
If none of those fit, I'd put the money into LSA and your Google Business Profile first.
Thumbtack vs Angi vs Google LSA: how to compare them
Don't compare cost per lead. Compare cost per booked job. The math is simple:
Cost per booked job = what you spent on the platform ÷ jobs you booked from it
Here's a made-up example. A $40 lead that books 1 time in 10 costs $400 per job. A $96 lead that books 3 times in 10 costs $320 per job. Run that for each platform with your own numbers for the same 90 days. Use your CRM or call tracking to tie each lead's phone number to the invoice. That's how we tie leads to jobs for Kinetic Electric, whose September 2026 LSA and Yelp leads became 8 invoiced jobs worth $33,265.
Then ask each platform three questions in writing:
- How many other pros get this same customer?
- What leads can I get credited, and how?
- How do I cancel, and is there a term?
Who owns the customer
This is the part most owners skip. With Local Services Ads, the reviews and the Google Business Profile behind your ad stay with your business. If you stop paying, the profile and reviews keep working in the map. With lead marketplaces, the customer found the platform first, and the platform will offer the next job in that zip code to whoever is paying.
That's why I start every contractor on channels they own: LSA, the Google Business Profile, reviews and Yelp where it pays. We cover when Yelp earns its keep in is Yelp advertising worth it. Shared lead sites can fill a slow month. They shouldn't be the plan.
Where DG fits
DG Agency runs Google Local Services Ads, Google Business Profile, Yelp and reviews for home service contractors doing $1M or more. Retainers start at $5,000 a month, month to month, and ad spend goes straight to Google. See what a contractor marketing agency costs for how that compares, or the TMC Roofing and Legacy Plumbing Group case studies for month-by-month LSA numbers, including where cost went up.
