By Project Genie Admin ·
September 3, 2026
If you're a service professional weighing where to spend your lead budget, Angi, Thumbtack, and HomeAdvisor are the names you'll run into first — and Project Genie works differently from all three. Here's a fair, factual look at how each one actually works, so you can decide with real information instead of marketing copy.
This isn't a takedown of any of these platforms — they all have real scale and real service professionals who make them work. The goal here is simply to lay out the actual mechanics side by side, since the pricing pages themselves rarely make the differences this clear.
Quick answer: Angi and HomeAdvisor (same parent company) sell shared leads plus an annual membership fee. Thumbtack sells you the chance to bid using purchased credits, no membership. Project Genie charges nothing to post a job, browse jobs, or place a bid — you only pay if you win the exclusive lead.
Pricing figures below are general, publicly reported ranges, not a quote from any platform — verify current pricing directly before budgeting around it, since it shifts by trade, market, and over time.
What Each Platform Actually Is
Angi and HomeAdvisor are now under common ownership and the largest, most brand-recognized names in the space — most homeowners have heard of at least one. Thumbtack is a broader services marketplace covering everything from home repair to events and lessons, not home services exclusively. Project Genie is a home-services-focused marketplace where customers post a project free and licensed service professionals bid for it directly.
All three of the larger platforms built their scale over many years and carry real brand recognition with homeowners — that's genuinely worth something, and it's a fair reason some service professionals stick with them despite the cost. The comparison below is about the mechanics of how you pay, not a claim that bigger is worse.
How Each One Charges Service Professionals
This is the part that actually matters for your budget, and it's where the three platforms genuinely differ:
Angi / HomeAdvisor: Leads are typically priced $15–$100 depending on trade and location, plus an annual membership commonly reported around $288–$300. Leads are shared — the same homeowner's contact info generally goes to three to eight businesses at once, so you're paying for access to a lead, not a guaranteed customer, and you're competing on response speed as much as anything else. The membership fee is owed for the year regardless of how many of those leads actually turn into booked jobs — it's a fixed cost you're carrying through slow months as much as busy ones.
Thumbtack: No annual membership, but you spend credits (roughly $25–$75 worth) to send a quote on a job request. The same request typically goes out to five or more pros, and a homeowner can decline to respond to any of them — including you — after you've already spent the credits. That flips the usual risk order: instead of paying for a contact and then competing for the job, you're paying just to be one of several quotes the homeowner sees at all, with no guarantee any of them get a reply.
Project Genie: No membership fee, no cost to browse jobs, no cost to place a bid. Customers post their project free; service professionals bid for it; the winning bid gets the exclusive lead — full contact info, no split with other companies. You only pay for jobs you actually win.
Side-by-Side
| Platform | Lead Type | Membership Fee | Typical Lead Cost |
|---|
| Angi / HomeAdvisor | Shared (3–8 businesses) | ~$288–$300/yr | $15–$100/lead |
| Thumbtack | Shared (5+ businesses) | None | $25–$75/quote sent |
| Project Genie | Exclusive (1 business) | None | Free unless you win the bid |
Where Project Genie Is Actually Different
The structural difference isn't marketing spin — it's the mechanism. Angi/HomeAdvisor and Thumbtack both sell you access: a contact, or a chance to be seen, regardless of whether it turns into a job. Project Genie sells neither — you bid on jobs you actually want, and you only pay when you win one. There's no annual fee sitting on your books during a slow month, and no split with other companies once you've won a lead. If you don't bid, or don't win, you haven't spent anything — the cost only shows up attached to work you actually got.
That also means the customer on the other end isn't fielding five simultaneous calls the moment they post — they're hearing from the pro who won the bid. For more on why that changes conversion rates, see our exclusive vs. shared leads guide.
See how Project Genie's bidding model works.
Which Should You Actually Use?
This isn't necessarily an either/or decision — many service professionals use more than one channel and track which one actually produces booked jobs at the best real cost. Angi and HomeAdvisor's scale can be worth the membership fee if you have the sales capacity to work a high volume of shared leads. Thumbtack's no-membership model can work if you're comfortable paying for visibility rather than a guaranteed contact. Project Genie fits well if you'd rather not carry a fixed cost regardless of outcome, and would rather pay only for jobs you actually win. The honest answer is to track cost per booked job on whatever you're using now, not just take any platform's word for which is "best." If you've never actually measured that number, it's worth doing for a single month before deciding anything — it usually tells you more than any comparison article, including this one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Angi and HomeAdvisor the same company now?
They're under common ownership (both part of Angi Inc.), though they still operate as separate platforms with their own lead pricing and membership structures.
Does Thumbtack guarantee a lead if I pay for credits?
No. Credits pay for the chance to send a quote on a job request; the homeowner can choose not to respond to any quote, including yours, after you've spent them.
Do I have to choose only one platform?
No — many service professionals use multiple lead sources and compare which one actually produces booked jobs at the best cost per job, not just cost per lead.
Does Project Genie charge anything upfront?
No. Creating a profile, browsing jobs, and placing bids are all free. You only pay when you win an exclusive lead.
Compare for Yourself
Every platform has a different model — the right one depends on your trade, your volume, and how you'd rather pay: for access, or for outcomes. See how Project Genie's bidding model works and bid on your first job free.