Lead source review · 2026

Is Angi worth it for contractors? An honest look at Angi Leads in 2026.

Angi is the biggest name in paid home service leads, and contractors are split on it. Some book steady work from it; others say they paid for leads they never had a real shot at. This guide explains how Angi Leads, formerly HomeAdvisor Pro, actually works in 2026, from how leads are shared and billed to what lead credits cover, what the FTC case was about, and how to decide whether it’s worth it for your business.

By Josh Turgut, Founder of ECHVOUpdated October 10, 202612-minute read

Roofer with a clipboard inspecting a home’s roofline. — **Shared leads reward the fastest call.**

Angi in 60 seconds

Leads are shared: Angi matches each request with no more than five pros [1].
You pay whether or not you respond, and prices change with the task, location and demand [1].
Credits are limited: account credits only, for leads under 45 days old, and none on annual subscriptions [2].
The FTC case settled: HomeAdvisor agreed in 2023 to pay up to $7.2 million in redress, without admitting wrongdoing [3] [4].
Angi is shrinking for now: Q2 2026 revenue fell 11% and active pros fell 17% [5].
Worth it? For fast responders doing common jobs, it can be. Test it month to month and judge it by cost per booked job.

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The short answer

Angi can be worth it for contractors who call every lead within minutes, take only the job types that fit, and measure cost per booked job. It’s a harder fit for remodelers and other high-ticket contractors, because standard Angi leads go to as many as five pros and you’re charged whether or not you win the job, or even respond.

Plenty of contractors search for the answer: about 11,000 searches a month in the U.S. for “angi leads” and another 800 for “angi leads reviews” [6]. The reviews you’ll find are split, and both sides are usually right about their own situation. Angi works best as a volume channel for businesses built to respond fast. It works worst as a set-and-forget lead source.

We don’t sell Angi and have no relationship with it. Everything below comes from Angi’s own help center and SEC filings, FTC records and court documents.

What Angi is in 2026

The names are confusing, so here’s the short version. In 2021, Angie’s List became Angi and HomeAdvisor became “HomeAdvisor, powered by Angi” [7]. The pro product you buy leads through is now called Angi Leads, “formerly HomeAdvisor Pro” [8]. Angi’s 2026 annual report says the company “continues to operate under multiple brands including Angi, Angie’s List, HomeAdvisor, and Handy” [9].

According to that report, pros could buy four kinds of offerings in 2025: full-priced leads within a monthly budget, discounted leads in a subscription package, “double opt-in” leads bought one at a time, and pre-priced services [9]. Angi also sells membership subscriptions to pros [9]. In 2026 it started testing an AI tool called AI Front Desk that automates lead follow-up and scheduling [5].

How Angi Leads work

A standard Angi lead starts as a homeowner’s project request and ends up with several contractors:

RequestA homeowner submits a project on Angi.
MatchAngi matches it with no more than five pros.
ChargeYou’re charged for the lead, whether or not you open it.
RaceEvery matched pro calls the homeowner.
Win or loseOne pro, at most, gets the job.

How a standard Angi lead works, based on Angi’s help center [1]. Some leads are matched to you directly at the homeowner’s choice, and those can cost more.

The fine print in Angi’s help center matters more than the sales pitch. These are the rules worth knowing before you start:

Shared, not exclusive. “Each time a homeowner submits a project request, we will match them with no more than five pros” [1].
You pay even if you don’t respond. “You are charged for leads whether or not you open or respond to them” [1].
Prices move. “Lead fees change based on task, homeowner location, and demand for the work” [1].
Budgets can be exceeded. Angi’s own example: with a $500 monthly budget and $480 spent, a $40 lead takes you to $520 [10].
Some leads are extra. “Opportunities” you accept are “billed in addition to your monthly budget” [11], and some leads are “an optional, extra fee” [12].
Billing is frequent. Pros without an annual subscription are billed weekly; annual subscribers are billed monthly [10].
Memberships renew. HomeAdvisor-branded memberships are annual and auto-renew unless otherwise stated [8].

The second point is the one that catches people. If a lead arrives while you’re on a roof and you don’t call until the evening, you’ve still paid for it, and up to four other pros may have called already. That’s why speed matters even more on Angi than on your own leads. Our speed to lead guide covers how to respond faster without hiring.

Designer showing material samples to a couple in a kitchen showroom.

How much Angi leads cost

Angi doesn’t publish lead prices. Its help center says “lead pricing varies based on task, homeowner location, and demand for the work” [10], and its annual report says lead revenue depends on factors including “the service requested” and the “product experience offered” [9].

The numbers you’ll see quoted online are old, and some were never prices at all:

Angi lead prices you’ll find online, and where they come from
Figure you’ll see	Where it comes from	Is it current?
$287.99 a year membership	The FTC’s 2022 complaint described this as HomeAdvisor’s annual membership fee, charged on top of per-lead fees [13]	No. It’s a 2022 figure
$8 to $140 per lead	A 2020 court opinion summarizing what contractors alleged in their lawsuit [14]	No. It was an allegation, not a price list
Leads chosen directly by the homeowner cost more	HomeAdvisor’s older help pages say you “may be charged more” when a homeowner picks you [15]	Possibly; confirm with Angi

The only reliable price is the one Angi quotes you for your tasks and ZIP codes. Ask for it in writing, along with the contract length, renewal terms and how to cancel, before you sign.

Lead credits: what you can get back

Angi doesn’t give cash refunds for bad leads. It issues account credits, which “are automatically applied toward future lead charges” [2]. The current rules in Angi’s help center:

Time limit. “The lead must be less than 45 days old” [2].
Try first. Angi expects you to have tried to call the homeowner within 24 hours [2].
No credits on annual subscriptions. “If you have an annual subscription, you can report leads, but credits are not offered for those leads” [2].
Credits expire after 6 months, and requests are reviewed within 5 business days [2].

What qualifies is narrow:

Can qualify

When Angi may credit a lead

Wrong or invalid contact information
The job is outside your service area
The request doesn’t match a service you offer
A duplicate of a lead from the last 45 days
You were charged while your leads were paused

Won’t qualify

When Angi says no

The homeowner doesn’t answer
They hired someone else
They changed their mind or were just shopping
You lost the bid
You’re on an annual subscription

Angi’s lead credit rules, summarized from its help center [2]. Credits go toward future leads, not cash, and expire after 6 months.

Angi says the cases that don’t qualify, like a homeowner who never answers or hires someone else, are already priced into its leads [2]. In practice that means the real cost of an Angi job includes the leads that went nowhere. Track them all.

The FTC case and lawsuits

HomeAdvisor’s lead quality has been challenged by regulators and contractors. The record, without the spin:

HomeAdvisor’s legal history on lead quality
Date	What happened
2016	Contractors filed a class action, In re HomeAdvisor, Inc. Litigation, in federal court in Colorado [16].
March 2022	The FTC filed an administrative complaint alleging HomeAdvisor made “false, misleading, or unsubstantiated claims” about its leads since at least 2014 [13].
April 2023	The FTC approved a final order requiring HomeAdvisor to pay up to $7.2 million in redress and banning misleading claims about its leads [3]. The settlement “does not constitute an admission” [4].
November 2023	The FTC sent more than $3 million to 110,372 businesses [17].
2024	The court certified a nationwide class on one claim but denied nationwide and state classes on the deceptive practices claims [16]. We couldn’t confirm how the case has progressed since.

The FTC’s complaint alleged, among other things, that many leads came from consumers who didn’t intend to hire soon, and that “many of the leads it sells are actually purchased from affiliates” rather than coming from HomeAdvisor’s own website [13]. Those were allegations. The case ended in a settlement, not a ruling, and the money was redress to contractors, not a fine [3]. The order runs for 20 years and bans misleading claims about the leads [4].

What it means for you today: the order requires Angi to be accurate about its leads, but it doesn’t change how shared leads work. Judge Angi by your own numbers.

Angi’s business in 2026

Angi is a public company, so its results are a useful reality check on the sales pitch:

$248.0MAngi revenue in Q2 2026, down 11% from a year earlier

106Kaverage monthly active pros, down 17%

4.8Mleads delivered in the quarter, down 13%

6.0%average monthly pro churn, improved from 6.8%

Angi Inc. second quarter 2026 results, released August 4, 2026 [5]. Angi said revenue fell “due primarily to macroeconomic conditions causing a reduction in Pro spend.”

Angi’s full-year 2025 revenue was $1.03 billion, down 13% from 2024 [18], and in early 2026 it said it expected to return to growth that year [18]. By August, MarketBeat reported that Angi hadn’t reinstated guidance, and that its CEO said pros now win “about one in six leads,” up from about one in nine two summers earlier [19]. That’s the company’s claim, relayed by the press, not an audited figure.

Fewer active pros could mean less competition for each lead in some markets, but Angi doesn’t publish market-level data. The only way to know what it means in your area is to test it.

Contractor shaking hands with a homeowner inside a home under renovation.

Screening and the Happiness Guarantee

Homeowners may assume every pro on Angi has been thoroughly vetted. The actual screening, per Angi’s own FAQ: the business’s owner, principal or relevant manager must pass a criminal background check, the checks “are performed only on the owner or principal,” and pros “attest to their licensing” rather than Angi verifying it [20]. Pros need to keep at least a 3-star average once they have reviews [20]; Angi’s annual report says pros rated below 3.5 generally aren’t eligible for approved status [9].

Angi’s Happiness Guarantee covers services “when you book and pay with Angi,” up to the full purchase price, and up to $2,500 for pre-priced services under its Book Now terms [21]. It covers pre-priced services booked and paid through Angi [20], so a typical roofing or remodeling job you quote and invoice yourself isn’t covered.

Angi vs. other lead sources

Angi is one of several ways to buy leads. The biggest differences are how you pay and who else gets the same homeowner:

Angi compared with other ways contractors buy or earn leads
Lead source	How you pay	Who else gets the lead
Angi Leads	Per lead, within a monthly budget, plus optional subscriptions and memberships [9]	Up to five pros per request [1]
Google Local Services Ads	Per lead from your own ad: calls, messages and bookings [22]	The homeowner contacted you directly
Thumbtack	Pros pay for leads; Thumbtack says it has 300,000+ pros [23]	Not published on the pages we could access
Houzz Pro	Software from $99 a month; advertising packages from $499 a month [24]	Not stated
Yelp Ads	Self-serve budget, as little as about $5 a day on average, no term contracts [25]	People who find your ad and contact you
Modernize and HomeBuddy	Not published; QuinStreet describes HomeBuddy leads as “exclusive, high-intent homeowner inquiries” [26]	“Exclusive,” by the company’s own description
Your own website and Google Ads	Per click or your own SEO work	The homeowner contacted only you

Leads from your own marketing cost more effort to build, but they’re yours: the homeowner contacted only you, and the channel keeps working as long as you maintain it. Angi can fill gaps while you build those channels. Our remodeling leads guide compares the options for remodelers, and our Local Services Ads guide covers Google’s pay-per-lead option.

When Angi is worth it

Whether Angi pays off depends far more on how your business handles leads than on Angi itself:

Can work

When Angi tends to be worth it

You can call every lead within minutes
Your jobs are common, fast-turnaround services
You’re building a new business and need volume
You track every lead to a booked job and a cost
You stay on month-to-month terms while you test

Usually not

When it usually isn’t

Calls wait until the end of the day
You sell large, considered projects with long sales cycles
You need exclusive leads to justify your sales time
You can’t tell which jobs came from Angi
You signed an annual deal before testing

Angi rewards speed and volume. It’s a harder fit for high-ticket work where you need time with each homeowner.

The math is simple, even if the inputs take discipline to collect. Add up everything you paid Angi in a period, including leads that went nowhere, and divide by the number of jobs you booked from it. Compare that cost per booked job, and the profit on those jobs, with your other lead sources. If you can’t calculate it, you can’t say whether Angi is worth it.

How to test Angi

If you decide to try Angi, set it up as a test with a clear end date:

Before you sign

Set it up narrowly

Ask your rep for typical lead prices for your tasks and ZIP codes.
Get the contract terms, renewal and cancellation steps in writing.
Pick only the tasks you want and can do profitably.
Keep your service area tight.

First 60–90 days

Run a clean test

Set a monthly budget you can afford to lose.
Call every lead within 5 minutes, with a follow-up cadence.
Log every lead: charge, contact, estimate, booked, revenue.
Request credits for bad leads within Angi’s window.

Decision point

Judge it on jobs

Calculate cost per booked job and profit per job.
Compare it with Google Ads, Local Services Ads and referrals.
Keep, narrow or cancel based on the numbers.
Don’t lock into a longer term until it’s proven.

How to test Angi without guessing. The goal is a clear answer in a few months, not a feeling.

Because annual subscribers don’t get lead credits [2], we’d avoid an annual commitment until a month-to-month test has shown the leads work in your market. And if you cancel, Angi’s help center says you’ll need to contact Customer Care; it offers a pause of up to two weeks as an alternative [27].

Common Angi mistakes

Calling back hours later. You paid for the lead either way, and other pros got there first.
Turning on every task. Leads for jobs you don’t want still cost money.
Judging by lead count instead of cost per booked job.
Missing the credit window. Report bad leads promptly.
Signing an annual deal first. Annual subscriptions don’t get lead credits.
Not reading the contract for renewal and cancellation terms.
Relying on Angi alone instead of building lead sources you own.
Quoting old prices from the FTC case or lawsuits as current.

Angi for contractors FAQ

Is Angi worth it for contractors?

It can be, if you respond to every lead within minutes, take only the jobs that fit, and track cost per booked job. Angi sends each request to as many as five pros and charges you whether or not you respond, so it’s a tougher fit for slow responders and high-ticket specialists. Test it on a small budget and judge it by booked jobs, not leads.

How much do Angi leads cost?

Angi doesn’t publish lead prices. Its help center says lead fees change based on the task, the homeowner’s location and demand. Older figures you’ll see online, like a $287.99 annual membership or $8 to $140 per lead, come from a 2022 FTC complaint and a 2020 court summary of a lawsuit, not current pricing. Ask your Angi rep for prices for your tasks and ZIP codes in writing.

Are Angi leads shared with other contractors?

Standard leads are. Angi says each homeowner request is matched with no more than five pros. Leads where the homeowner picks you directly are different, and Angi’s older help pages say those can cost more.

Can I get a refund for bad Angi leads?

Not a cash refund. Angi may give an account credit toward future leads if the contact information is wrong, the job is outside your area or service list, or it’s a duplicate, generally for leads under 45 days old. It doesn’t credit leads when the homeowner doesn’t answer or hires someone else, and annual subscribers don’t get credits.

Is HomeAdvisor the same as Angi?

They’re the same company. HomeAdvisor has run as “HomeAdvisor, powered by Angi” since 2021, and its pro product is now called Angi Leads, formerly HomeAdvisor Pro. Angi’s 2026 filings say it still operates the Angi, Angie’s List, HomeAdvisor and Handy brands.

Did the FTC fine HomeAdvisor?

Not exactly. In 2023 the FTC finalized an order requiring HomeAdvisor to pay up to $7.2 million in redress to service providers and banning misleading claims about its leads. HomeAdvisor settled without admitting wrongdoing. The FTC later sent more than $3 million to over 110,000 businesses.

How do I cancel Angi?

Angi’s help center says you need to contact its Customer Care team to cancel your agreement; it offers pausing leads for up to two weeks as an alternative. Check your contract for renewal dates and terms before you sign, and get the cancellation process in writing.

Is Angi better than Thumbtack or Google Local Services Ads?

It depends on your trade and market, so test them side by side. The key differences are who else gets the lead and how you’re charged. Angi shares standard leads with up to five pros. Local Services Ads leads come from homeowners who contacted your business through your own ad. Thumbtack doesn’t publish its pricing details on the pages we could access.

Sources

We link every fact in this guide to its source: Angi’s own help pages and SEC filings, FTC records and court documents. Angi doesn’t publish lead prices, and its help pages change, so confirm terms with Angi before you sign anything. We have no relationship with Angi. Search volumes are Ahrefs estimates for the United States.

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