Angi vs HomeAdvisor vs Thumbtack vs CheckedHomePros (2026 honest comparison)

I am Romain. I built CheckedHomePros, so this comparison is biased. Here is how I tried to mitigate that: every line in the table below cites a public source or my own product knowledge. Where I do not know, I say so. Where we lose, I say so. Where Angi, HomeAdvisor, or Thumbtack is genuinely a better fit for your case, I link out and tell you to go use them. The point of this page is to be the one comparison a Reddit thread or a journalist can quote without having to caveat it.

• Angi (the brand formed when Angie's List and HomeAdvisor merged in 2017) runs the largest contractor network in the US. Contractors pay $15 to $100 per lead. Vetting is a basic background check plus license self-attestation, so match quality is the lowest of the three.
• HomeAdvisor is now folded into the Angi brand and uses the same network and the same lead-fee model. Old HomeAdvisor URLs redirect to Angi properties for most categories.
• Thumbtack has the largest gig-economy footprint. Contractors pay per quote sent, the minimum-vetting bar is low, and the platform is strongest for one-time tasks like TV mounting, IKEA assembly, and small handyman jobs.
• CheckedHomePros runs the smallest network of the four. A 9-point vetting checklist gates entry: state license verified at the source, $1M general liability pulled annually, a 4.5 star floor with 50+ reviews, BBB pull, background check on the qualifier, trade certs, permit-pull history, and a 90-day re-audit. Contractors pay a flat per-lead fee. No pay-for-placement.

The 2024 FTC complaint against HomeAdvisor settled at $7.2M and covered misleading "free" claims to contractors and unqualified leads sold as qualified. Angi's contractor-side reviews on Glassdoor and Trustpilot split roughly 50/50 on lead quality and refund handling. Thumbtack pros report 30 to 60% ghost-lead rates, meaning the homeowner never responds after the pro pays to send a quote. We log every lead we route, refund pros within 24 hours when a lead is confirmed unqualified, and audit weekly. We will publish our refund-rate and routed-lead stats at the end of Q3 2026 at /vetting-standards/. If those numbers are bad, you will see them too.