Stop renting your jobs from hipages.

Every lead you buy from hipages is shared with 3–5 other tradies. You pay first. Then you compete. Then you lose — and still don't get a refund.

Get your own website — $30/mo → See how it works ↓

No contracts. 30-day satisfaction guarantee.

What hipages typically costs a working tradie
Monthly subscription (metro, mid-trade) $400/mo
Lead credits — 8 leads × ~$50 each $400/mo
Jobs booked (25–30% conversion) 2–3 jobs
Cost per booked job $267–$400
Annual platform cost $9,600
TradesPro — full year $360/yr

Based on publicly listed hipages subscription and credit rates. Actual spend varies by trade and metro area.

The bit they don't put in the brochure.

The hipages pricing model has two separate charges most tradies don't fully clock until they're already in it.

01

You pay a monthly subscription just to be listed.

Before you receive a single lead, hipages charges a recurring monthly subscription — typically $200–$600 depending on your trade and whether you're metro or regional. This is not a lead budget. It's an access fee. It keeps your profile live on their platform. That's it.

02

Then you pay again — in credits — to actually contact a job.

The subscription doesn't buy you leads. It buys you the right to then purchase credits, which you spend to "accept" (i.e. see the contact details for) a job. Each lead typically costs an additional $20–$80 in credits on top of your subscription, depending on the trade and job size. Two separate charges. Two separate line items on your bank statement.

03

That lead was also sent to 3–5 other tradies at the same time.

When you pay to accept a job, you're not getting an exclusive contact. hipages sends the same homeowner's details to multiple tradies simultaneously. You're not buying a lead — you're entering a race. Whoever calls fastest, or quotes lowest, usually wins. The platform has no economic incentive to give you fewer competitors.

04

Invalid leads — customer already found someone? No refund.

This happens regularly. You spend $22–$50 in credits to contact a homeowner who replies "I've already started it, I found someone." You report it. hipages's position: that's a valid listing, no refund. The homeowner never removed their job post, so the lead counts. Credits gone.

The scenario, matter-of-factly: paid $22 to contact a customer who replied "I've already started it, I found someone." hipages: that's a valid listing. No refund issued.
05

Unused credits expire. Stop paying and everything disappears.

Credit balances are time-limited — unused credits can be forfeited at subscription renewal or cancellation. When you stop your subscription, your profile goes dark, your leads stop, and your reviews stay on their platform, not yours. Five years of work and you're starting from zero the day you leave.

06

Your reviews are trapped on hipages. TradesPro puts them where they count — on Google.

Every 5-star review you earn on hipages stays on hipages. It doesn't show on Google. It doesn't help your SEO. And the moment you leave, it's gone. TradesPro automatically asks every customer for a Google or Facebook review when a job is won — a one-click link, with a gentle follow-up that stops once they've reviewed. The reviews live on your Google Business Profile. You own them. They compound year after year regardless of which tools you use.

TradesPro also includes a built-in referral system. Every happy client gets a branded referral link and a special offer to pass on to friends and family. New enquiries are auto-captured and attributed, reward prompts go out automatically, and you track it all from your dashboard. hipages gives you no referral tools at all — because sending jobs to your own network instead of buying more leads from them isn't in their interest.

What does hipages actually cost per job?

Worked example — a tradie running 8 leads a month at typical metro rates.

hipages — monthly

Typical metro tradie, mid-range subscription

Monthly subscription $400
8 leads accepted × $50 avg credit cost $400
Total monthly platform spend $800
Conversion rate (25–30%) 2–3 jobs
Cost per booked job $267–$400
Annual platform cost $9,600

Plus your time on the phone competing with 3–5 other tradies per job. Assets owned at year end: zero.

TradesPro

Own your website. Leads come to you.

Monthly subscription $30
Per-lead cost (ongoing) $0
Shared with competitors Nobody
Customer mindset at enquiry Already decided
Break-even (avg job $850) < half a job/yr
Annual platform cost $360

Website, domain, and Google ranking stay with you if you cancel. One extra job in month one pays for the whole year.

hipages subscription and credit rates are publicly listed on hipages.com.au. Credit consumption estimates based on published per-category rates. Figures are illustrative — actual spend varies by trade and location.

Side by side.

An honest look at what each platform actually gives you.

hipages TradesPro
Monthly cost $200–$600/moSubscription tier $30/mo flatNo per-lead fees
Per-lead cost $20–$80 per leadCharged in credits, on top of sub $0Leads come from Google to you
Leads shared with 3–5 competitorsSimultaneously YesNobody — you're the only one
Invalid lead refund? NoCredits expire. Invalid leads: no refund. N/AYou own your website
What you own NothingStop paying = no leads, no profile Your site, domain, rankingAll stays with you
Customer relationship hipages owns itYou can't contact them outside the platform YesDirect to you from day one
Cancel and keep results? NoProfile goes dark YesWebsite and rankings stay
Setup time InstantProfile live immediately 48 hoursCustom website, your domain
Automated review collection (you own the reviews) Reviews stay on hipagesLeave hipages and they're gone YesAuto-asks for Google reviews — you keep them forever
Built-in referral system NoNo referral tools YesTurns happy clients into new jobs automatically
Real tradie. Real review.

A carpenter watched $660 disappear into hipages over six months.

Here's his honest account of what he got for it — three small jobs, no big ones, and one $22 lead where the customer had already hired someone else.

"When you pay $100 you get $200 in credit — but it's a false economy. You've given them $110 and they're saying it was $200 worth. It's not. It's just credit."

"There was a lady on there — I paid $22 to get her contact details. She replied straight away: 'Don't worry, I've already started it, I've found someone.' hipages said: 'That's a valid listing.' So I said, is this borderline fraud?"

"I've got $200 in credit and it can be gone within five leads. Then you've got to buy more. You're paying for something that's not a guarantee. The people don't even reply to you."

"I drove 40 minutes to a job. Someone answers the phone: 'I haven't asked you to do anything.' They gave me the wrong phone number. Just no good."

— British carpenter based in Australia. 6 months on hipages. 3–4 small jobs. 5,700+ tradies have watched this review.

What tradies on ProductReview.com.au say.

These are real, publicly verifiable reviews from Australian tradies. hipages has been rated an average of 2.0/5 on ProductReview.com.au across hundreds of tradie reviews.

★★★★★
★☆☆☆☆

"Paying $680 a month for 4 months, accepting leads... and nothing. Account manager unhelpful. They advertise 3 tradies per lead — in reality far more are receiving the same job."

Bill P. · NSW Contractor · ProductReview.com.au
★☆☆☆☆

"Credits don't roll over month to month. Had a quiet month, stockpiled credits, came back to a backlog of jobs and discovered the credits had expired. No refund, no rollover. Just gone."

Tina · Victoria · ProductReview.com.au
★☆☆☆☆

"Signed up and was told I would get 6–8 leads per week. I received TWO jobs in six months. Locked into an extended contract by the account manager before I knew what was happening."

Kahlee · Queensland · ProductReview.com.au
★☆☆☆☆

"Ceiling fan install job — lead price was $90–$112. For a ceiling fan. Customers can't understand why tradies don't respond. It's because the lead costs more than the profit on the job."

DJ K. · Queensland Contractor · ProductReview.com.au
★☆☆☆☆

"6 months, $80 a month, absolutely nothing in return. They kept ringing me from different numbers after I asked them to stop. Filed a complaint with the ACMA for harassment."

Braden W. · ProductReview.com.au
★☆☆☆☆

"The moment I stopped paying hipages, the phone went quiet. I'd spent years on there and had nothing to show for it. No website. No ranking. No reviews I could take with me."

Brett O. · NSW Plumber · Sole trader
⚖️
ACCC regulatory action — hipages subscription trap conduct

The ACCC found hipages engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct between October 2018 and January 2022 — failing to disclose automatic 12-month renewals, not clearly explaining early exit fees, and continuing to charge after cancellation requests. Over 34,000 tradespeople and small businesses were affected. ACCC media release →

What TradesPro gives you instead.

A website you own, on a domain you own, that ranks on Google — from $30/mo.

Questions tradies ask before switching.

Honest answers — including the parts that aren't all upside.

Will I lose work when I first switch? +−

Honestly — there's a 3–6 month ramp while your website builds SEO authority. During that window, your organic Google presence is growing but not yet generating consistent inbound leads on its own.

Most tradies handle this by running both in parallel for the first 90 days: keep hipages going while your website and Google Business Profile spin up. Then, once you start getting jobs from your own site, you can decide whether hipages is still worth the monthly subscription. Most find they reduce hipages spend progressively as organic picks up.

What if my website doesn't rank? +−

Google Business Profile (your Maps listing) gets you visible on Google within days, not months. That's the fast win. When someone searches "plumber near me" on their phone, your GBP listing shows up in the local pack — immediately after setup and optimisation.

The website itself builds organic rankings over 3–6 months. Less competitive areas and specialist trades rank faster. "Plumber Sydney" is harder. Either way, the lead magnet and booking form on your website work from day one — before any ranking kicks in — because you can drive traffic to them via your existing customers and GBP listing.

hipages gives me leads tomorrow — your website takes months +−

Yes — that's the accurate trade-off. hipages is fast and immediate. A website compounds but takes time to mature. Nobody should tell you otherwise.

The question to ask yourself: after 12 months of hipages, what have you built? A profile on their platform that disappears when you cancel. After 12 months of a TradesPro website, you have a Google-ranked site, a GBP with reviews, and a customer list you own. Most tradies who've done both describe the same arc: use hipages for the quick wins, watch the website slowly overtake it, then cancel hipages when the maths stop working. That usually happens around month 6–9 for an active tradie.

How many extra jobs do I need to make TradesPro worth it? +−

The maths: $360/yr ÷ average tradie job value ($850) = less than half a job per year. One extra booked job in the first month pays for the whole year. That's not a difficult bar.

Compare that to hipages at $9,600/yr — you'd need roughly 11 extra jobs at $850 just to cover the platform cost. Every job from your own website costs you nothing in platform fees beyond the $30/mo subscription.

Can I keep my hipages reviews? +−

No — your hipages reviews live on hipages's platform and stay there when you leave. They're not portable, not embeddable, and invisible to anyone who doesn't already search on hipages. That's a real loss when you switch, worth being clear about.

The practical response: TradesPro's setup moves your review focus to Google Business Profile, where reviews are indexed by Google and visible to anyone searching your trade and suburb. Google reviews compound — they don't disappear if you change platforms. Over 6–12 months of active review requests (which we set up for you), most tradies end up with a stronger Google presence than they ever had on hipages.

Your next job shouldn't cost you $267 in platform fees.

Own your website, your Google ranking, and your customer relationships. $30/mo — and it all stays with you if you ever cancel.

Get your TradesPro website — $30/mo →

30-day satisfaction guarantee. You keep your files if you cancel.

Get TradesPro — $30/mo →