Angi vs Google Local Services Ads: A Job-Level Cost Comparison for Contractors Tired of Shared Leads
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This comparison reflects platform rules published as of October 2026. Local Services Ads are moving into Performance Max through 2027, so recheck after your account migrates. General marketing guidance for US contractors, not legal advice.
Angi vs Google Local Services Ads: A Job-Level Cost Comparison for Contractors Tired of Shared Leads
Angi vs Google Local Services Ads comes down to what you pay for. Angi's own annual report says one homeowner request can become several paid leads, while Google charges only when a customer contacts your business. Neither price matters on its own. The number that decides where your budget goes is cost per booked job, with credits and dead leads taken out.
- The FTC did not fine Angi for selling shared leads. In April 2023 it finalized a consent order requiring HomeAdvisor to pay up to $7.2 million in redress, settling charges about the quality and source of its leads. [1]
- Google Local Services Ads charge for each valid lead: a message, a voicemail, a call you answer, a missed call you return or a booking request. [2]
- Google credits bad Local Services Ads leads automatically, usually within 30 days, but no longer credits "job type not serviced" or "geo not serviced" leads. [3]
- What the ranking comparisons on this topic leave out: Angi's 2025 annual report states that "a single Service Request can result in multiple Leads", which is the plain-language definition of a shared lead. [4]
- Lead price is the wrong scoreboard. Compare cost per booked job across every source, and book a free consultation if you want a second set of eyes on your lead sources.
The anger in contractor forums is real, and so is the confusion. One widely repeated claim says the FTC fined Angi for lying about exclusive leads. The FTC's own release names a different party, HomeAdvisor, Inc., and a different charge. [1] Meanwhile, Google has rebuilt its own lead product: Google Verified replaced the Google Guaranteed badge [5], credits are now automated [3], and Local Services Ads are moving into Performance Max. [6]
This guide puts both models side by side, using the platforms' own pages, Angi's SEC filing and the FTC record. It then turns lead price into the only number that pays your crew: cost per booked job.
Aggregators and Google Sell Leads Under Different Rules
Angi and HomeAdvisor sell a homeowner's request to contractors as matches, and one request can be sold as more than one lead. Google Local Services Ads charge a contractor only when the customer contacts that business directly through the ad. Both are pay-per-lead in name. They are different products, and they fail in different ways.
Start with definitions, because the arguments online mix them up.
A shared lead is one homeowner request sold to more than one business. Angi's annual report defines a lead as a connection between a consumer and a pro resulting from a service request, and adds that "a single Service Request can result in multiple Leads." [4] The same filing says US lead revenue comes from "fees paid by Pros for consumer matches (regardless of whether the Pro ultimately provides the requested service)". [4] You pay for the match. The job is your problem.
A pay-per-lead charge on Google is different in mechanics. Local Services Ads charge for each valid lead, and Google lists what counts: a text message or email, a voicemail, a phone call you answer, a missed call you return, or a booking request. [2] Google says lead prices vary by location, job type, lead type and bidding mode. [2] The customer reached your business, not a pool of businesses.
That does not make a Google lead exclusive. A homeowner can call three plumbers from the same results page. The difference is where the competition starts: on Google the homeowner picks whom to contact, one call at a time; on an aggregator a single request can be matched to several pros. [4]
Angi is not a single brand, either. The company was formed in 2017 by combining IAC's HomeAdvisor business with Angie's List, and it still runs the Angi, Angie's List, HomeAdvisor and Handy brands. [4] In 2025, pros could buy full-priced leads within a monthly budget, discounted leads in a subscription package, double opt-in leads one at a time, and pre-priced jobs. [4]
Homeowners are searching either way. In a 2026 Scorpion and Dynata survey, 83% of homeowners said they begin their search online and 22% said they use AI tools like ChatGPT. [8] My view is simple: the channel a homeowner chose is the strongest signal of intent you can buy, and a request that a platform resells to several pros carries less of it by design.
What the FTC Order Against HomeAdvisor Actually Says
The FTC did not fine Angi for selling non-exclusive leads. In April 2023 the FTC finalized a consent order against HomeAdvisor, Inc., requiring it to pay up to $7.2 million in redress and settling a 2022 complaint that charged it with false, misleading or unsubstantiated claims about the quality and source of its leads. The release does not mention exclusive leads.
The record is short and public. Here is what the FTC's release states, in order:
The company
The order is against Denver-based HomeAdvisor, Inc., which the FTC describes as "a company affiliated with Angi". [1] Angi is named as an affiliate. HomeAdvisor is the party.
The charge
The FTC's March 2022 administrative complaint charged that since at least mid-2014 HomeAdvisor made false, misleading or unsubstantiated claims about the quality and source of the leads it sold to service providers. [1]
The job-rate allegation
The complaint also alleged that HomeAdvisor "often told service providers that its leads result in jobs at rates much higher than it can substantiate." [1]
The money
The order requires HomeAdvisor to pay up to $7.2 million for redress. [1]
The rule going forward
The order prohibits false or misleading claims about HomeAdvisor's leads, including that they concern people ready to hire a service provider or people who submitted a request directly to HomeAdvisor. [1]
The vote
The Commission approved the final consent order 3 to 0. [1]
Two corrections follow from the text. First, this was a consent order settling allegations, not a court finding that HomeAdvisor broke the law. [1] Second, the word "exclusive" does not appear in the release. Not once. The charge was about the quality and source of HomeAdvisor's leads. [1]
That second point matters more for your budget than the dollar figure. Two of the FTC's allegations map to questions every contractor should ask any lead seller: where did this lead come from, and how often do leads like it become jobs. [1] Those are the same two questions this guide's worksheet answers with your own numbers.
What I call the job-rate test follows from it: when any lead seller, Google included, tells you how often its leads close, ask for the basis in writing and check it against your own booking rate after 90 days. [1]
Paying for leads you cannot trace to booked jobs? Book a 15-minute consult and bring your last 90 days of lead source data. We will look at it with you, source by source, before anyone talks about budget.
Book Your Free Consultation →Shared Leads vs Pay-Per-Lead on Google
Aggregator leads can be shared: Angi's own filing says one service request can become multiple leads. Google Local Services Ads charge only when a customer contacts your business through your ad. Thumbtack says customers choose the pro and advertises "limited competition per lead", which is not the same as exclusive. The table compares the rules each platform publishes.
| Rule | Angi and HomeAdvisor | Thumbtack (its own pro page) | Google Local Services Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | A consumer match, whether or not you do the job [4] | Leads within a budget you set [9] | Each valid lead: message, voicemail, answered call, returned missed call or booking request [2] |
| Can one request go to several pros | Yes: "a single Service Request can result in multiple Leads" [4] | "Limited competition per lead" [9] | You are charged when the customer contacts your business [2] |
| Fees beyond leads | Membership subscriptions sold to pros; referrals generally cost extra [4] | No subscription cost, no membership fees [9] | Charged per valid lead; price varies by location, job type, lead type and bidding mode [2] |
| Bad-lead credits | No pro-facing credit rule in the pages reviewed for this guide | No credit rule on the page reviewed | Automated; most post within 30 days [3] |
| Trust badge | Not covered here | Not covered here | Google Verified, which replaced Google Guaranteed and Google Screened; money-back guarantee discontinued [5] |
| Changes under way in 2026 | Not covered here | Not covered here | Moving into Performance Max with pay-per-lead goals [6] |
The last row is the one most comparisons miss. Google is moving Local Services Ads into Performance Max campaigns. You still pay only for valid leads, but manual bidding is no longer supported, budgets become daily averages, and Local Services Ads performance reports do not transition to Google Ads. [6] Export your lead history before your account moves.
The schedule depends on your trade. Google's first phase, from August 2026, covers select US home and storefront categories including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing and pest control. Service-area businesses without storefronts follow in late 2026, and remaining categories and non-US accounts in 2027. [10] Our guide to Local Services Ads vs Google Ads in 2026 walks through that migration in detail.
Read the Thumbtack column with care: every claim in it is Thumbtack's own description of its product, taken from its page for pros, not an independent measure. "Limited competition per lead" is the company's own marketing claim, and limited is not none. [9] The honest summary is that only Google ties the charge to a customer contacting your business, and even Google does not promise that customer called no one else. [2]
Lead Rules Side by Side
Does not estimate cost and is not a guarantee of placement or citation. Source: the comparison table in "Shared Leads vs Pay-Per-Lead on Google", the credit rules in "Refunds, Credits and Who Absorbs a Bad Lead" and the steps in "A Job-Level Comparison Worksheet" of this guide.
Choose a lead source to see what you pay for, whether one request can reach several pros, how bad leads are handled and what is changing, each with its source. It does not estimate cost and is not a guarantee of placement or citation.
Refunds, Credits and Who Absorbs a Bad Lead
On Google Local Services Ads, bad leads are credited automatically: Google's models reassess charged leads and most credits post within 30 days. Google no longer credits leads marked job type not serviced or geo not serviced, and health care verticals get no credits. On aggregators, the published sources reviewed here do not set out a pro-facing credit rule, so ask for it in writing.
Every lead source produces junk: wrong numbers, out-of-area jobs, spam, people price shopping. The question is who pays for it.
Google's answer has changed. Charged Local Services Ads leads "get reassessed by our models over time" and can be credited automatically if they are later judged low quality, and Google says most credits reach your account balance within 30 days. [3] Two old dispute reasons are gone: Google no longer credits leads for a job type you do not service or a location you do not serve. [3] Credits are also unavailable for health care verticals, tax specialists and advertisers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. [3]
That shifts work onto your profile. If out-of-area and wrong-job leads are no longer credited, then the service list and service area in your Local Services Ads profile are the only controls left. [3] Set them narrowly.
The badge story changed too. Google Verified replaced the Google Guaranteed and Google Screened badges, and Google discontinued the money-back guarantee that came with Google Guaranteed. [5] A homeowner who sees a Google badge today is not seeing a refund promise from Google.
Aggregators handle this differently. Angi's filing describes fees "regardless of whether the Pro ultimately provides the requested service", which puts the risk of a lead that never becomes a job on the pro. [4] Its annual report lists a liability for potential refunds and customer credits among its accounting estimates, but the filing does not publish any credit rule a pro can apply, and this guide found no published Angi credit rule or lead price to quote. [4] Thumbtack's pro page does not state a credit rule either. [9]
No platform is free of bad actors. Google removed over 10,000 fake Business Profile listings run by a group impersonating locksmiths and sued those behind them; in December 2025 the main defendant settled and a court issued a stipulated permanent injunction. [11] If spam leads are eating your budget on any platform, our guide to fake leads, bot clicks and spam calls shows where they come from.
A Job-Level Comparison Worksheet
To compare Angi and Google Local Services Ads fairly, divide everything you paid a source in a period, minus credits, by the jobs that source booked. That is cost per booked job. A lead price only becomes meaningful after you know how many leads it takes to book one job, and that booking rate differs by source.
This is a static worksheet, not a calculator. Run it for each lead source over the same 90 days.
Total spend
Add lead charges, membership or subscription fees and add-ons. Angi sells memberships to pros, and referrals generally cost extra. [4]
Subtract credits
Use credits that actually posted, not credits you requested. On Google, most post within 30 days, so close the window a month after the period ends. [3]
Count real leads
Remove spam, wrong numbers and duplicates. Google's invalid traffic page defines invalid traffic as activity that does not represent genuine interest, including bots and competitors. [12]
Count booked jobs
Only jobs on the calendar, attributed to the source by call tracking or by asking the customer.
Divide
Net spend divided by booked jobs is cost per booked job. Compare sources on that number alone.
Here is why step 4 decides the answer. LocaliQ's benchmark of 3,211 US home services search campaigns put the median plumbing cost per lead at $129.02. [7] That is a search ads figure, not an Angi or Local Services Ads price, and it says nothing about cost per job on its own. Cost per booked job is the lead price divided by the share of leads that book, so only your own booking rate for each source turns a lead price into a comparison.
Most contractors never run this. In the Scorpion and Dynata survey, 67% of home service operators said they cannot connect marketing spend to revenue. [8] For the lead prices themselves, see our breakdown of cost per lead by trade, and for how this fits with the rest of your budget, the guide to paid and organic search as one system.
Frequently Asked Questions About Angi and Google Local Services Ads
Did the FTC fine Angi for selling shared leads?
Are Angi leads shared with other contractors?
Are Google Local Services Ads leads exclusive?
Does Google refund bad Local Services Ads leads?
Is HomeAdvisor the same company as Angi?
Is Angi worth it for contractors in 2026?
References
- Federal Trade Commission. FTC approves final order against HomeAdvisor. 2023-04-21. ftc.gov
- Google LSA Help. How Local Services Ads pricing works (7195435). no page date. support.google.com
- Google LSA Help. Lead credits (15100654). no page date. support.google.com
- Angi Inc. (SEC filing). Form 10-K for fiscal year ended December 31, 2025. filed 2026-02-20. sec.gov
- Google LSA Help. Google Verified (16498018, 7549288). blog 2025-08-20. blog.google support.google.com
- Google Ads Help. Local Services Ads transition to Performance Max (17213585). no page date shown; read 2026-10-05. support.google.com
- LocaliQ. 2025 Search Ad Benchmarks for Home Services. updated 2026-07-15. localiq.com
- Scorpion with Dynata. 2026 State of Home Services Marketing Report. 2026-02-19. prnewswire.com
- Thumbtack. Thumbtack for pros (thumbtack.com/pro). no page date; read 2026-10-05. thumbtack.com
- Google Ads Help. LSA to Performance Max timeline (17326460). no page date. support.google.com
- Google. Google affirmative litigation (Google LLC v. Asayag). 2025-04-07 (blog); injunction 2025-12-05. blog.google affirmativelitigation.withgoogle.com
- Google Ads Help. About invalid traffic (11182074). no page date. support.google.com
The Cheapest Lead Is the One That Books
Angi and Google Local Services Ads are not two versions of the same product. One sells matches, and a single homeowner request can become several of them. [4] The other charges when a customer contacts your business, credits low-quality leads automatically [3], and is changing shape as it moves into Performance Max. [6] The FTC record shows why the source and quality of a lead matter more than its price. [1]
So run the worksheet before you move a dollar. Ninety days of spend, credits, real leads and booked jobs per source will tell you more than any forum thread, any sales rep and any benchmark, including the ones in this guide.
Most Ambrose clients invest roughly $1,200 to $4,000 a month in marketing, often across more than one channel; the platforms, the number of markets, ad spend and scope move the number.
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Book Your Free Consultation →This article is general marketing information as of its last-updated date, not legal advice. Platform rules change; confirm current terms on each platform's own pages before you change budgets.