HomeAdvisor vs Angi: Which One Gets You a Fair Quote?
Summary
Quick answer for the homeadvisor vs angi question: both sites are owned by the same company and both sell your request to several contractors at once, so neither is the exclusive-lead service some ads imply. HomeAdvisor edges ahead on trust score (3.0 vs 2.2 on Trustpilot) and offers a more detailed True Cost Guide by zip code, which matters most if you are still figuring out what a project should cost before you talk to anyone. Angi leans on reviews and fits smaller, recurring jobs better. Use either one as a starting point, not a final price.
HomeAdvisor
- True Cost Guide gives a real price range by zip code before you talk to a single contractor
- Instant Booking lets you grab an open slot on a pro's calendar without a phone call
- Higher Trustpilot score than Angi (3.0 vs 2.2) and more reviews to cross-check a pro against
- Not BBB-accredited, and BBB has logged over 1,200 complaints against it in the last three years
- Your project details still go out to as many as 8 contractors at once outside Instant Booking
- Membership pricing that pros pay gets baked into quotes on bigger, higher-fee categories
Better cost data and a stronger trust score, but the same shared-lead model as Angi underneath.
Angi
- Review-first listings make it easier to vet a pro before you ever request a quote
- Fits smaller, recurring jobs well: cleaning, lawn care, and handyman work
- Membership stays optional for pros, which can mean lower quotes on small jobs
- Trustpilot rating of 2.2/5 is meaningfully worse than HomeAdvisor's 3.0/5
- No instant-booking option, so expect a wave of calls and texts after you submit a request
- Cost guides are less granular by zip code than HomeAdvisor's True Cost Guide
Fine for small jobs and review-based vetting, but the lower trust score is hard to ignore.
At-a-glance
| HomeAdvisor | Angi | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing for contractors | ~$300+/yr membership + $15-$100+ per shared lead, scaled by trade | Optional annual membership + $15-$85 per shared lead, scaled by trade |
| Lead sharing | Sold to 3-8 pros at once, except on Instant Booking categories | Sold to 3-8 pros at once, no exclusive-lead option |
| Cost guide detail | True Cost Guide: price ranges by project type and zip code | Cost guides available, less consistently broken out by zip code |
| Booking a pro | Instant Booking on many categories: real-time calendar slot, no call | No instant booking; pros call or message you after you submit a request |
| Review platform trust | Trustpilot 3.0/5 (Average, 22k+ reviews); not BBB-accredited | Trustpilot 2.2/5 (Poor); BBB customer reviews average ~1.97/5 |
| Best project size | Bigger-ticket work: roofing, remodels, HVAC installs ($1,000+) | Smaller, recurring jobs: cleaning, handyman work, lawn care |
Verdict
Homeowners chasing a fair price should start with HomeAdvisor's True Cost Guide and its stronger review record, then run the same job through Angi if the first round of quotes still feels high. Both share the same lead-selling engine, so treat every quote from either site as a starting number, not a final one.
How we tested
We compared HomeAdvisor and Angi on their current homeowner-facing sites (pricing pages, cost guides, and category listings), captured September 2026, plus contractor pricing data reported by home-service marketing agencies and lead-generation consultants publishing in 2026. Trust scores are pulled from each platform's live Trustpilot and BBB profiles as of this writing. We did not request quotes ourselves for this piece: this is a platform-mechanics comparison, not a mystery-shopper test, and we are saying so plainly rather than presenting secondhand contractor pricing as our own lab data.
HomeAdvisor vs Angi comes down to one fact most homeowners do not know: both sites have been owned by the same company, Angi Inc., since 2017, and both sell your project details to several contractors at once. HomeAdvisor edges out Angi on trust score and cost transparency, but neither is the exclusive quote service its ads suggest. Treat every number you get from either one as a starting range, not a locked-in price.
Same company, two different front doors
HomeAdvisor and Angie's List merged into ANGI Homeservices (now Angi Inc.) back in 2017. Angie's List was rebranded to Angi in 2021, while HomeAdvisor kept its own name and its own homeowner-facing site.
On the back end, both draw from the same contractor database. A contractor who joins one platform is routinely pushed to buy leads on the other under the "Angi Leads" umbrella. That shared plumbing is why the two sites can feel interchangeable once you look past the logo.
What it actually costs
Both platforms are free for homeowners to search and request quotes on. The cost shows up on the contractor side, and it flows straight into the number you get quoted.
HomeAdvisor charges pros an annual membership fee, typically starting around $300, plus a per-lead fee that ranges from about $15 to $100 or more depending on the trade. A roofing or full remodel lead costs a contractor far more than a small handyman job.
Angi's fee structure is similar: an optional annual membership plus $15 to $85 per lead, again scaled by trade. Angi Leads is, in practice, the same backend system HomeAdvisor uses, just under a different name for the pro who is paying.
Here's what it should cost you as a homeowner to know: none of that fee is charged to you directly, but a contractor paying $50 or $80 per shared lead builds that cost into their quote. A pro working three platforms at once is not doing it for free.
The lead-sharing problem neither site advertises
Neither HomeAdvisor nor Angi sells you an exclusive contractor match by default. Your request typically goes out to three to eight pros at the same time, all of whom paid for the right to call you.
Industry lead-cost data puts the real cost per booked job (what a contractor actually pays once shared leads and close rates are factored in) at roughly $333 on both platforms. That expense does not disappear. It shows up in your quote.
Red flag: if a pro's first move is a rushed, high-pressure quote before they have even seen the job, that is often a contractor trying to close fast before you talk to the other five people who also got your number.
Trust score: HomeAdvisor comes out ahead
On Trustpilot, HomeAdvisor sits at 3.0 out of 5 across more than 22,000 reviews, rated "Average." Angi sits lower at 2.2 out of 5, rated "Poor."
BBB tells a similar story. HomeAdvisor is not BBB-accredited and has logged more than 1,200 complaints in three years, plus a $2 million Vermont attorney general fine in 2025. Angi's BBB customer reviews average about 1.97 out of 5 across roughly 2,300 reviews.
Neither number is great. Complaints on both sites cluster around aggressive sales calls right after a request, cancellation friction, and billing disputes over membership renewals. But the gap between 3.0 and 2.2 is wide enough to matter if you are choosing where to spend an afternoon typing in your project details.
Cost guides: HomeAdvisor's is more useful
HomeAdvisor runs a True Cost Guide: crowd-sourced price ranges pulled from completed jobs, broken out by project type and, in many categories, by zip code. It is the closest thing either site has to an honest starting number before you talk to a single contractor.
Angi publishes similar cost guides, but they are less consistently broken out by location. You will get a national or regional range more often than a number tied to your actual zip code.
HomeAdvisor also runs Instant Booking on a large share of its categories: real-time calendar slots with a participating pro, no phone call required. Angi has no equivalent feature; expect calls and texts once you submit a request on either site.
Which platform fits your project
HomeAdvisor skews toward bigger-ticket work: roofing, full remodels, HVAC installs, projects starting well above $1,000. Angi leans smaller and more recurring: cleaning, handyman jobs, lawn care, the kind of work you might book more than once a year.
If you are pricing out a $15,000 kitchen remodel, HomeAdvisor's category depth and True Cost Guide data will get you further. If you need someone to clean gutters or fix a fence panel, Angi's review-first listings are built for exactly that.
That split is not absolute. Both platforms list every category the other one does, and plenty of contractors run active profiles on both sites at the same time. The difference is which listings feel most built-out and which cost data feels most current for the specific trade you are searching.
Before you sign anything on either platform
A few checks apply no matter which site sends you a contractor.
Verify the state license number yourself on your state's licensing board site, not just the badge shown in the listing. Ask whether the quoted price includes a building permit when the job requires one; permit costs get skipped in a lot of shared-lead quotes. Confirm the workmanship warranty and materials warranty in writing before work starts, not after the first call.
Get two additional quotes outside either platform if the first number feels high for your state. Prices vary by location, material quality, and contractor, and San Francisco runs two to three times what Missouri does for the same job. Use these ranges as a starting point, not a binding estimate.
Our verdict
HomeAdvisor is the better starting point for most homeowners in 2026, mainly because its cost data is more specific and its trust score is meaningfully higher than Angi's. That said, both platforms run the same shared-lead model, so pull two or three quotes on either site and compare them against your own research, or an independent cost guide, before you sign anything.