What's your platform actually costing you?

A lead price is not a cost until you divide it

You pay for every lead and win only some of them, so the number that belongs in your pricing is the lead price divided by the share you close. Here is the same estimated $40 Thumbtack lead, priced three ways.

Nothing about the platform changed across those three figures. Lead prices are estimates that vary by market, category and job size. Job value cuts both ways too: a lead fee is flat while a commission is a percentage, so at a 25% close rate the two models cross at roughly $3200 a job, and above that ticket the estimated lead fee is the cheaper one. That crossover assumes the lead for a job that size still costs an estimated $40, and since lead prices climb with job size, the real crossing point sits higher.

Common questions about lead costs

What does a lead actually cost to win?

As of July 2026, an estimated $40 Thumbtack lead costs about $160 to win one job at a 25% close rate, because you pay for every lead and win only some of them. A lead price is a purchase price, not a cost of sale. The number that belongs in your pricing is the lead price divided by the share of leads you turn into paid work. That division is the whole of the arithmetic, and it is what the calculator above runs.

How does my close rate change what a lead costs?

As of July 2026, the same estimated $40 Thumbtack lead costs $400 to win a job at a 10% close rate, $160 at 25%, and $80 at 50%. Nothing about the platform changed across those three figures. The only thing that moved is how often a paid lead becomes paid work, which means a lead fee is priced by your own conversion rather than by the platform. Two providers on identical terms can pay very different real costs per job.

Is there a close rate that makes lead fees cheaper than a commission?

As of July 2026, not on the $100 job this page uses: even at a perfect close rate an estimated $40 Thumbtack lead costs more than the $5.75 Naibrly Core works out to per job. Job value is what actually decides this, and it decides it in both directions. A lead fee is flat while a commission is a percentage, so the commission grows with the ticket and the lead fee does not. At a 25% close rate the two models cross at roughly $3200 a job, above which the estimated lead fee is the cheaper of the two. That crossover assumes the lead for a job that size still costs an estimated $40, and lead prices climb with job size, so the real crossing point sits higher.

How do I work out my own close rate?

As of July 2026, every cost-to-win figure on this page assumes a 25% close rate, meaning 4 paid leads for each job won. Yours is easier to find than most providers expect: count the jobs you won over a period, count the leads you paid for in that same period, and divide the first by the second. Use a window long enough that one strong week does not flatter it, and count leads you were billed for rather than conversations you had. Then run your own number in the calculator above instead of ours.

Does a commission change with my close rate?

As of July 26, 2026, no: Naibrly Core charges 5% of completed jobs plus $15 a month, so a quote you do not win costs nothing and a job you do win costs the same whatever your close rate is. These are published rates, not estimates. That is the practical difference between the two models: a lead fee is a bet on your own conversion, and a percentage of completed work is not. On the $100 job used here Core works out to $5.75 a job at 20 jobs a month, leaving $94.25 before payment processing.