Where should a UK hire business list itself?

Most hire businesses end up on several of these rather than choosing one, because they do different jobs: some are pure listings, some are lead-generation marketplaces where you pay per enquiry, and some vet you before you can appear at all. The differences that matter in practice are what it costs, whether anybody checks you are real, and whether you pay for leads that never convert.

Last reviewed 13 September 2026

Declare an interest: GetBrent is one of the entries below. We have given ourselves exactly the same fields as everyone else, including the limitations, and we have not claimed anything the others are not also allowed to claim. Judge it on that basis and check the sources.

GetBrent

This is us

Hire and sales directory, specialised by category and place

Who it is for: UK hire, sales and trade businesses; customers looking locally
How to join: Free self-service listing, or claim an existing one
Pricing: Free tier, plus paid tiers - see our own pricing page for current rates
Verification: Companies House matching, plus owner claim of the listing
Reviews: Yes, with review requests sent to real enquirers

Strengths

+Specialised in hire rather than general trades, so the categories match what is actually being searched
+Companies House verification is shown on the listing rather than kept internal
+No commission on hires and no charge per lead

Limitations

-Far smaller and younger than Yell, Checkatrade or Google, so less traffic today
-UK only
-Coverage is thinner in some categories and regions than in others

Source

Google Business Profile

Free business listing tied to Google Search and Maps

Who it is for: Any business at all
How to join: Free self-service creation or claim
Pricing: Free - Google states creating and listing a profile costs nothing
Verification: Several methods including postcard, phone code, email, video of the premises, or a live video call. Google decides which you get
Reviews: Yes, and they are central to how the profile performs

Strengths

+Free, and by a distance the most important single listing for local search
+Multiple verification routes, scaled to risk
+Feeds Maps directly, which is where a lot of local intent actually lands

Limitations

-Not hire-specific - no categorisation that understands the difference between plant hire and tool hire
-You do not choose your verification method, and some categories face stricter checks
-No comparison or shortlisting features; you are at the mercy of ranking

Source

Yell

General consumer business directory, descended from Yellow Pages

Who it is for: Any UK business
How to join: Free self-service listing; Yell says it then phones to verify details
Pricing: Free tier published. Paid package pricing is not published - it goes through sales
Verification: A phone call to confirm listing details. This checks the data, not your trade credentials
Reviews: Yes

Strengths

+Long established with strong domain authority
+Free tier includes review collection and a business app
+Some syndication to partner networks, subject to eligibility

Limitations

-No published pricing for paid packages
-Verification confirms details rather than competence or insurance
-Syndication is described as subject to eligibility rather than guaranteed

Source

Cylex

General free-to-list business directory operating in many countries

Who it is for: Any small or local business
How to join: Free self-service signup, or claim an auto-generated listing
Pricing: Free tier. Premium Entry published at 11.90 a month, or 9.90 a month billed annually, in pounds
Verification: No formal verification beyond claiming and correcting a listing
Reviews: Yes, with no stated reviewer verification

Strengths

+Genuinely free to appear
+Published premium pricing, which many competitors do not offer
+Straightforward to claim an existing listing

Limitations

-No vetting of listed businesses at all
-Listings are often auto-generated, so the data can be wrong until somebody claims it
-Premium tiers bundle general marketing products rather than anything hire-specific

Source

Checkatrade

Vetted trades directory with real applicant screening

Who it is for: Tradespeople, and consumers looking for vetted trades
How to join: Apply online, upload documents, ID verification, background checks. Live typically within 24 hours
Pricing: Not published - you must enter your trade and postcode areas before seeing a price
Verification: Four-step: identity, address, documentation and further checks before leads unlock
Reviews: Yes, verified by SMS, email or phone call to the reviewer

Strengths

+Genuine document and identity vetting before you can go live
+Reviewers are verified through more than one channel
+Strong consumer brand recognition

Limitations

-No public price list - cost is only revealed after you hand over your details
-Aimed at trades rather than equipment hire, so the fit is partial for a hire business
-Promotional offers imply a substantial ongoing membership cost that is never stated openly

Source

TrustATrader

Vetted trades directory that caps members per trade per region

Who it is for: Qualified tradespeople; homeowners
How to join: Apply with at least five references, proof of insurance, two years of trade experience and any legally required qualifications. Two to three weeks to process
Pricing: A yearly membership fee is charged, but the amount is not published
Verification: Reference and qualification checks, plus a cap on members per trade and area
Reviews: Only registered consumers can review; spot-check calls to reviewers; low scores trigger investigation before publication

Strengths

+Real reference and qualification vetting
+Proactive spot-checks on reviewers, which is rare
+Capping members per area limits how diluted your listing becomes

Limitations

-No published pricing at all
-Two to three weeks to join, against instant signup elsewhere
-Smaller reach than Checkatrade

Source

Bark

Pay-per-lead marketplace rather than a listing

Who it is for: Service professionals buying leads; consumers posting job requests
How to join: Free registration; you pay to unlock the contact details of leads you choose
Pricing: Credit packs. The per-lead cost varies by service, job value and local demand, so no fixed price is published. No commission on work won
Verification: No verification process found on the pricing pages reviewed
Reviews: Yes, on professional profiles

Strengths

+No upfront cost and no commission on completed work
+You choose which leads to pay for
+A money-back guarantee on the first pack if no business is won

Limitations

-You pay for the lead whether or not it converts, which is the fundamental risk of the model
-No transparent price list - cost varies by category and market
-Credits expire three months after purchase

Source

MyBuilder

Marketplace where homeowners post jobs and trades quote

Who it is for: Homeowners and tradespeople
How to join: Free registration, agreeing to their house rules
Pricing: Not published - you have to contact them
Verification: No pre-registration vetting found. Enforcement is reactive, through complaints, rather than checks at signup
Reviews: Tied to actual posted jobs, with anti-fraud checks; off-platform reviews require a paid invoice as evidence; trades can dispute

Strengths

+Large scale, with a very large body of job-linked reviews
+Review system has real evidence requirements rather than open submission
+Free for homeowners to post

Limitations

-No vetting before a tradesperson can bid
-Pricing for trades is entirely opaque on the public site
-Built around job bidding, which fits trades better than equipment hire

Source

FreeIndex

Free business directory with a review index

Who it is for: Small UK businesses across trades and services
How to join: Free self-service signup
Pricing: Free core tier including lead alerts and no success fees. A Premium Package exists but its price is not published
Verification: No formal verification described
Reviews: Yes, with rating badges and an embeddable widget. No explicit reviewer verification described

Strengths

+Genuinely free core tier with lead alerts and no commission
+States plainly that it does not cold-call members to upgrade
+Reviews drive ranking rather than payment

Limitations

-Premium pricing not published
-No business vetting
-Much smaller reach than Yell or Checkatrade

Source

Thomson Local

Legacy general business directory

Who it is for: Any UK business
How to join: Free self-service listing
Pricing: Free tier. A backlink add-on is published at 10 pounds plus VAT as a one-off. Higher tier pricing is not published
Verification: No verification process described
Reviews: No review feature found

Strengths

+Free basic listing
+The backlink add-on is cheap and clearly priced, which is unusual

Limitations

-No verification and no reviews
-Most premium pricing undisclosed
-Thin functionality compared with current directories

Source

What the table actually says

•Google Business Profile is free and is the one nobody should skip. Everything else is a supplement to it, not a substitute.
•Publishing a price is not universal. Cylex and Thomson Local publish theirs; Checkatrade, TrustATrader, MyBuilder and Yell make you ask. That is worth knowing before you spend an afternoon on enquiries.
•Vetting and reach trade off against each other. Checkatrade and TrustATrader actually check you and charge accordingly; free directories do not check anybody, which is exactly why a verification badge is worth something where it exists.
•Pay-per-lead is a genuinely different model from a listing. On Bark you pay for the enquiry regardless of whether it turns into work, which suits some businesses and ruins the numbers for others.
•Most hire businesses are best served by several free listings plus one paid channel they actually measure, rather than by paying for four at once.

Every figure here was taken from the named company's own published pages on the review date shown, and is linked. Pricing and features change - check the source before making a decision. Company names are the trademarks of their owners, used here to identify the services they refer to. If you run one of these and something is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it.