hipages vs your own website
These are not really competitors. One is a way to buy work today and the other is a way to stop having to. Most tradies who get this right use both, in a particular order.
By Jack D. · 25 August 2026
They solve different problems
A lead directory sells you access to people who are already looking. You pay for the enquiry, and the enquiry usually goes to several trades at once, so part of what you are buying is a race.
Your own website is the opposite trade. Nothing arrives on day one, it takes time to be found, and then the enquiries that come are yours alone and cost nothing per lead.
Framing it as either-or is what causes the bad decisions. The useful question is which problem you have right now: not enough work this month, or too much dependency on someone else's platform.
Where a directory genuinely wins
When you need work now. A new site takes time to be found, and a directory does not. If the diary is empty this month, that difference matters more than anything about ownership.
When you are brand new. No reviews, no history, no search presence. A platform lends you its audience while you build your own, and that is a legitimate thing to pay for.
When you want to fill gaps. Established trades often use directories tactically, for quiet weeks or to test a new service area, rather than as their main source of work.
Anyone telling you directories are simply a rip-off is selling something. They do a real job. The question is what happens if they are the only thing you have.
What the model costs you beyond the fee
You are usually not the only one who got the lead. That means competing on response speed and often on price, with someone who has the same information you do.
The relationship belongs to the platform. The customer found the platform, not you, and next time they will go back to the platform rather than to you.
Nothing compounds. Money spent on leads buys those leads. It does not build anything that keeps working afterwards, so the cost never stops and never reduces.
The day you stop paying, your presence stops. That is the part worth thinking hardest about, because it is the difference between a marketing channel and a dependency.
Worth checking yourself: We have not put any figures in this guide for what hipages or any other directory charges, per lead or per month. Their terms change and vary by trade and region, and a number in a guide goes stale quickly. Check current pricing with the platform directly, and work out your own cost per job won rather than cost per lead.
What your own site does that a directory cannot
The enquiries are yours. Nobody else got the same one, so you are not racing anyone to the phone or discounting to win a job you already paid for.
It compounds. A site that is found for your trade and your suburbs keeps producing without a per-lead cost, and gets better as reviews and content accumulate rather than resetting each month.
It works on the customers who already know you. Referrals, van signage, past clients: all of them search your business name, and what they find decides whether they call. A directory profile does not serve that at all.
You own it. The domain, the content and the audience stay yours, which is the whole difference between building an asset and renting an audience.
Slower to start
Being honest: a new site does not produce enquiries in week one. If you need work this month, it is not the answer to that problem.
Cheaper as it goes
The cost is flat rather than per lead, so the more work it produces the less each job costs you to win.
What most established trades actually do
Use the directory for what it is good at, which is work now, and build the site alongside it rather than instead of it.
Track where jobs actually come from. Ask every caller how they found you and write it down for three months. Many tradies are guessing about this.
Once the site is producing steadily, reduce the directory spend rather than cutting it dead. Keep it for quiet weeks if it earns its keep, and drop it if it does not.
The measure that matters is cost per job won, not cost per lead. A cheap lead you lose to three competitors is more expensive than an enquiry that only came to you.
Common questions
Should I quit hipages and build a website?
Not on day one. A new site takes time to be found, so cutting your lead source before the replacement is working leaves a gap. Build alongside, then reduce the spend once the site is producing.
Is one cheaper than the other?
It depends on your cost per job won, which is not the same as cost per lead. Track how many directory leads turn into paid work, then compare against a flat monthly cost. We have not published their prices because they change.
Do I need a website if I get enough work from a directory?
You do not need one. It is worth being clear-eyed that a business whose entire presence sits on someone else's platform has a single point of failure, and no say in what it costs next year.
Will my own site get me leads straight away?
No, and anyone promising that is guessing. Being found through search builds over time. What a site does immediately is serve the people who already have your name and are checking you out.
Can I do both?
That is what most established trades do, and it is usually the right answer. Use the platform for work now and the site to reduce how much you need it later.
Worth reading next
- Why your business needs a website: the real numbers
The Australian data on this, checked against its original source, including the figures that did not hold up.
- How to buy a domain
Checking what's available, what .com.au actually requires, and what to do once you own one.
- Website subscription vs buying outright
The honest trade-offs both ways, including where a subscription is the wrong choice.
Would rather someone else just did it?
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