Lead marketplaces, website builders, and trade software — they all claim to get you more work. Here is what they actually deliver, and how TradesPro is different.
Get Your Site →"Stop renting your jobs from hipages."
hipages charges you a monthly subscription just to be listed — $129–$599+GST/month — then makes you pay extra per lead in credits that expire. Each lead goes to up to 3 other tradies at the same time. You're renting access to customers you never own. After a year on the Advanced plan at $229/month plus lead credits, you've spent nearly $8,000 and own nothing.
See the comparison →"Oneflare is getting more expensive and less reliable — own your leads instead."
Oneflare uses dynamic pricing — lead costs vary by trade, location, and demand. A plumber in Sydney might pay $25 for a lead that costs $8 in Geelong. No subscription required, but you never know the cost in advance. And just like hipages, your lead is shared. Oneflare does not disclose how many other businesses receive the same job — you just pay and hope you're fast enough.
See the comparison →"Predictable $30/month vs variable cost-per-lead."
Google LSA charges per lead with no cost ceiling — a single job enquiry could cost you $60–$120 depending on your trade and suburb. You set a budget but Google can exceed it. And LSA stops the moment you stop paying — no SEO, no compounding, no asset. TradesPro costs a flat $30/month and builds SEO equity that compounds over time.
See the comparison →"Stop paying for a hosting account that does nothing."
GoDaddy gives you a domain and a DIY builder starting at $10/month — but you're on your own to design, write, optimise, and maintain it. Most tradie websites on GoDaddy are static, slow, and invisible on Google. TradesPro builds and manages your site for you, with tradie-specific SEO, lead capture, and CRM built in from day one — no templates, no tutorials.
See the comparison →"WordPress is built for bloggers, not tradies."
WordPress requires plugins, updates, security patches, hosting fees, and usually a developer to set up properly. A basic tradie WordPress site costs $1,500–$4,000 upfront and $40–$100/month in hosting and maintenance. You still need to add your own lead capture, SEO, review workflows, and referral tools. TradesPro comes with all of that built in — done for you, no headaches.
See the comparison →"Tradies don't need Wix's ecommerce bloat."
Wix is a general-purpose builder with plans from $17–$159/month. You get hundreds of features you will never use — dropshipping, subscription products, advanced ecommerce — and zero trade-specific functionality. Building a decent Wix site takes 10–30 hours for a non-designer, and Wix sites have known SEO limitations. TradesPro is purpose-built for trade businesses, set up in 48 hours.
See the comparison →"Squarespace is beautiful — but tradies need more than a pretty template."
Squarespace is design-first at $16–$99/month but lacks the lead capture automation, local SEO depth, and CRM workflows a trade business needs. No automated review collection, no referral system, no service-area suburb pages. Pretty alone does not fill your calendar. TradesPro gives you a professionally designed site that actually generates calls and bookings.
See the comparison →"TradesPro is the missing piece in your Tradify stack."
Tradify is excellent job management software at $25–$55/month — scheduling, invoicing, quoting. But it doesn't get you found online. It manages jobs you already have. TradesPro handles the front end — getting you found on Google, capturing new leads via phone and forms, collecting reviews automatically, and generating referrals. Tradify + TradesPro is a complete system.
See the comparison →"Done for you vs do it yourself — your time is worth more."
DIY builders (Weebly, Jimdo, Site123, Google Sites) are cheap or free but time-consuming, and the result rarely performs. A tradie spending 20 hours building their own site is losing $2,000–$4,000 in billable time. TradesPro is built and managed for you — you get a better site without spending a weekend on it, with real-world results from day one.
See the comparison →Every option for getting leads online falls into one of three buckets. The difference is who owns the relationship — and whether the asset grows or dies when you stop paying.
HiPages, Oneflare, ServiceSeeking, Airtasker, Google LSA. These platforms aggregate homeowners and sell you access to them — usually via subscription + per-lead credits. The same lead is sent to multiple tradies simultaneously.
You pay whether you win the job or not. Invalid leads? No refund. Unused credits? They expire. Stop paying and your profile disappears — every review, every rating, every relationship gone. You are renting access to customers who belong to the platform.
High cost — zero ownershipGoDaddy, Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, Weebly. These give you tools to make a website — but they don't make it work for your trade. No lead capture strategy, no local SEO, no service-area pages, no review collection, no referral system.
You spend hours or weeks building, then discover your site doesn't rank on Google, doesn't convert visitors into calls, and doesn't collect reviews. You own the domain but the asset underperforms because it was built by someone who's not a marketing specialist.
Low cost — but you get what you pay forTradesPro builds you a professionally designed, SEO-optimised website on a domain you own — with lead capture, CRM, automated review collection, built-in referral system, and local suburb pages. Everything a trade business needs to generate its own leads.
You don't design it, you don't maintain it, you don't learn SEO. It's all managed for you, flat $30/month. Every lead is yours. Your Google ranking compounds. Your reviews stay on Google, not on someone else's platform. Cancel anytime — the site and all your assets stay with you.
Flat $30/mo — you own it allEvery category that matters to a real trade business — priced, ranked, and colour-coded for clarity.
| HiPages / Oneflare | GoDaddy / Wix / Squarespace | TradesPro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost structure | Subscription $129–$599/mo + per-lead credits $20–$80 | Monthly plan $10–$159/mo + domain + apps | Flat $30/mo — no per-lead fees |
| Lead ownership | ✗ Rented — shared with 3+ competitors | You own the domain — but no lead capture built in | ✓ Your leads go to you only |
| Setup time | Instant — profile live in hours | 10–40 hours of DIY work | 48 hours — done for you |
| Ongoing management | None — you just respond to leads | You maintain: updates, backups, SEO tweaks, content | ✓ Managed for you |
| Review collection | Reviews stay on their platform — not portable | None built in — you must add third-party tools | ✓ Auto-asks for Google reviews — yours forever |
| Referral system | ✗ They don't want you sending leads outside their platform | None built in | ✓ Branded referral links + rewards |
| Local suburb pages | Your profile appears — no SEO pages generated | You have to build each one manually | ✓ Built for your service areas automatically |
| Cancel — what you keep | Nothing. Profile, reviews, all gone. | The domain (if you own it) + raw files | Your site, domain, Google ranking, reviews — all stay |
Three common situations tradies face — and the honest answer for each.
Start with a lead platform. hipages or Oneflare will get you enquiries today — not a trickle, but a genuine flow. The trade-off is cost and ownership. You'll pay $400–$800/month for the privilege and you won't build anything you keep.
TradesPro recommends using both: keep the platform running while your website builds SEO authority. By month 3–6, organic leads will start replacing platform leads. By month 9, most tradies reduce or cancel their platform spend entirely.
→ Start with a platform, add TradesPro alongsideYou're playing the long game. You want a website that ranks on Google, generates direct enquiries, collects reviews you can take anywhere, and builds value over years — not months. DIY builders won't deliver this without massive time investment. A custom developer costs $3,000–$8,000 upfront.
TradesPro gives you the custom-built, professionally managed site you need — lead capture, local SEO, review automation, referral system — at a fraction of the cost of a developer, without the time commitment of a DIY builder.
→ Get a TradesPro website — $30/moYou're spending $200–$800/month and you're tired of the shared leads, the credit expiration, the sinking feeling that you're building someone else's platform. The question is how to transition without losing income.
The answer: overlap them. Start TradesPro now, run both for 90 days, then start cutting platform spend as organic leads from your website come through. Most tradies who do this are off HiPages within 6 months, saving $2,400–$4,800/year in platform fees alone.
→ Start your exit strategy todayHonest answers about moving from lead platforms and DIY builders to an owned system.
Not if you transition the right way. The smart approach is overlapping: keep your HiPages subscription active while your TradesPro website builds SEO authority. During the first 90 days, your Google Business Profile starts showing in local search results — that's the fast win. By month 3–6, your website's organic rankings kick in. When you cancel HiPages, you don't lose the income — you've replaced it with your own lead source.
Your HiPages reviews will stay on HiPages (they're not portable), which is why TradesPro's review automation focuses on Google reviews — these stay with you regardless of which platform you use.
It depends on your trade and location, but the typical arc is: 0–3 months — your Google Business Profile starts generating local enquiries (calls, direction requests, website visits). 3–6 months — your website's organic rankings kick in for service-area searches. 6–9 months — most tradies find their website is matching or exceeding their HiPages lead volume.
The economics help: TradesPro costs $30/month. A single job at $850 average value pays for 28 months of service. Every extra job from your own site is profit you'd have split with HiPages credits and subscription fees.
Yes. If you own the domain (not rented through GoDaddy's builder package), it can be transferred or pointed to TradesPro. We handle the migration — there's no downtime and no need to re-register. If you're renting the domain as part of a GoDaddy website package, we'll help you purchase it properly so you own it outright before we build your site.
This is one of the key differences between DIY builders and an owned system: with TradesPro, you own the domain and the website files. They're yours, not ours.
Significantly. A custom tradie website from a freelance developer typically costs $1,500–$4,000 upfront, plus ongoing maintenance at $50–$150/month for hosting, updates, and security. That's $2,100–$5,800 in year one — and you still need to add your own lead capture, SEO, review collection, and referral system separately.
TradesPro is $360/year flat — including the website build, domain, hosting, SEO, lead capture CRM, review automation, referral system, and ongoing management. You're not paying for a builder — you're paying for a complete lead generation system that's maintained and improved for you.
Three things. First, it's built specifically for trade businesses — not a general template you adapt. Every page, form, and call-to-action is designed around how homeowners search for and hire tradies. Second, it's managed for you — you don't touch the backend, write content, or learn SEO. Third, the system includes tools that generic websites don't have: automated review collection that asks every customer for a Google review, a referral system that turns happy clients into a lead channel, and individual suburb landing pages that each target a specific search term.
Most tradie websites are just online brochures. TradesPro is a lead generation machine that runs itself — and you own every part of it.
TradesPro gives you a website that generates your own leads for a flat $30/month — no bidding, no shared leads, no variable costs.
Get Your Site →