An honest, side-by-side comparison of Checkatrade and Try Review Bloom — costs, what you own, and which builds a better long-term business.
This comparison is asked by thousands of UK tradespeople every month — particularly those coming up to renewal and questioning whether the cost is still justified. The honest answer depends entirely on what you're trying to build.
Checkatrade is a lead generation platform. Try Review Bloom is a reputation building service. They solve different problems — but for most established tradespeople, the long-term value of owning your Google reputation outweighs the short-term lead volume of a platform you're renting.
One platform you rent. One reputation you own.
| What matters | Try Review Bloom | Checkatrade |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | ✓ £297 — fixed | ✗ £199–£399 — rises at renewal |
| Annual cost | ✓ £3,564 | ✗ £2,388–£4,788 |
| Contract | ✓ None — cancel any time | ✗ 12 months — exit fees apply |
| Reviews ownership | ✓ Yours — on Google permanently | ✗ Theirs — vanish when you cancel |
| Lead source | ✓ Google Maps — 8bn searches/day | ✗ Checkatrade platform only |
| Shared leads | ✓ No — exclusive | ✗ Yes — 3–5 trades per enquiry |
| Google Maps impact | ✓ Direct improvement | ✗ None |
| AI overview visibility | ✓ Yes — Google reviews feed AI answers | ✗ No |
| Renewal surprises | ✓ None — same price | ✗ Common — 50–100% increases reported |
| Setup fee | ✓ None | ✗ Sometimes included in first year |
Instead of paying to appear on someone else's platform, Try Review Bloom builds your Google presence permanently — automated review requests after every job, AI replies to every review, full GBP management, and citation management.
Every completed job triggers a personalised SMS and email to your customer. No chasing. No forgetting.
Every Google review gets a professional, personalised response automatically. Keeps your GBP active 24/7.
Weekly posts, photos, category optimisation, heatmap tracking. Your Google profile working for you constantly.
Your business listed consistently across 50+ directories. Google uses this to verify who you are and where you work.
For someone just starting out with no customers and no reviews, Checkatrade can provide initial visibility. Try Review Bloom works best when you have at least some past customers to reactivate. Most tradespeople with 6+ months of trading will get faster results from Try Review Bloom.
Yes — many tradespeople run both during a transition period. As your Google reviews and Map Pack ranking grow, you'll find Checkatrade delivers diminishing returns relative to its cost, and can be dropped at renewal.
Your Checkatrade reviews stay on their platform. They don't transfer to Google. This is exactly why the earlier you start building Google reviews, the better — you're building an asset that belongs to you regardless of which platforms you use.
Most clients in competitive London areas see meaningful Google Map Pack ranking improvements within 4–8 weeks. At that point, the inbound volume from Google typically matches or exceeds what Checkatrade was delivering — at a lower or equal monthly cost.
£297/month. No contract. First reviews arrive within 24 hours. Every review lives on your Google profile permanently.