Published 6 September 2026 · Updated 6 September 2026
HomeStars vs TrustedPros vs Local Services Ads vs your own ads: what Canadian contractors pay for a lead (2026)
HomeStars' shared shortlists, TrustedPros' flat membership, Jiffy's commission, Google Local Services Ads and running your own Google and Meta campaigns, compared in Canadian dollars with sourced prices.
The Canadian lead market in one paragraph
Canada has one dominant review-and-leads site (HomeStars, part of Angi since 2017), a couple of flat-fee directories (TrustedPros, and Yellow Pages' YP.ca), a commission marketplace (Jiffy), and — unlike Australia or New Zealand — Google Local Services Ads, live since 2018 with seventeen home-service categories. Thumbtack, Angi and HomeAdvisor are US-only; HomeStars is Angi's Canadian brand. Prices below are in Canadian dollars and dated; where a platform hides its rate card we say so.
The comparison
| Platform | How you pay | Reported price | Lead exclusive? | Best at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HomeStars | Subscription for placement + leads shared with 3–5 pros | C$200–500+/mo, leads about C$25–75 each (third-party reported) | No — shared shortlist | The best-known Canadian review site; a strong profile ranks for your name |
| TrustedPros | Premium membership priced by location | C$49 / C$69 / C$89 per month; prepay discounts | No — it is a listing | Low fixed cost |
| Jiffy | Commission on completed jobs | 30% rate-based, 20% quoted | No — you accept a task | No fixed cost |
| Google Local Services Ads | Pay per lead in 17 categories, after background checks and insurance verification | Agency estimates: plumber C$30–80, electrician C$25–70, HVAC C$35–90, roofer C$50–120 | The call is yours; placement is shared | Google Verified badge above the results, automated bad-lead credits |
| GetFindable | Flat monthly subscription; you pay ad spend direct to Google and Meta | Two tiers, monthly rolling, no contract | Yes — your ads, your portal | Exclusive leads from Google Search, Local Services Ads, Meta, TikTok and AI search |
What your own ads cost per lead in Canada
Canada is the most expensive of the English-speaking markets we work in. Home-services clicks average about C$8.70 nationally, C$8–20 in Toronto and C$4–10 in Calgary; Toronto and Vancouver run 30–50% above London, Halifax or Kelowna. Reported cost per lead for plumbing and HVAC is C$75–200 on Google Search, C$50–150 for electricians. Nobody publishes a Canadian Meta cost-per-lead for trades, so we run Meta as a measured test, not a promise. Realistic home-services budgets are C$1,500–5,000 a month in the big cities.
Local Services Ads change the arithmetic for the seventeen categories they cover: a verified plumber paying C$30–80 per phone lead, with wrong-number and wrong-area leads credited back automatically, is often the cheapest lead in the country. The catch is the onboarding — licences where the province requires them, liability insurance, background checks for the business and for fieldworkers in the urgent trades, and a verified Google Business Profile — three to four weeks of paperwork.
Two rules that apply in Canada and nowhere else we operate
- Ontario electrical contractors must show their ECRA/ESA licence number on every ad, their website and their vehicles; BC's Technical Safety BC requires the licence number on all digital ads. We build that into your site and your ad copy.
- Canada's anti-spam law (CASL) has no business exemption: any marketing email or text to a lead needs a consent record, a mailing address and an unsubscribe. Our lead follow-ups are built around it.
Where HomeStars is genuinely better
HomeStars' review pages rank for a business-name search, and a homeowner who has already heard of you will look for you there. A strong HomeStars profile is worth keeping whatever else you do. Its weakness is the lead product: the same request goes to three to five pros, so you are paying to race. TrustedPros is fair value as a cheap listing. Jiffy suits a pro who wants tasks handed to them with no marketing at all and does not mind the commission.
Sources
- HomeShowOff — is HomeStars worth it for contractors (2025-03)
- TrustedPros — pricing by location (2026-09)
- Jiffy — how does pricing work (2024-02)
- Google — Local Services Ads categories and requirements, Canada (2026-09)
- TrustedWeb — Google Local Services Ads cost per lead (Canada) (2026)
- SearchPod — how much do Google Ads cost in Canada (2026-03)
- Brand Butter — Google Ads Canada cost and strategy 2026 (2026-04)
- ESA — display your licence (2026-09)
- Technical Safety BC — advertising requirements directive (2024-05-02)
- Government of Canada — CASL (2026-09)