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Comparison

TradeDoc AI vs Checkatrade: which actually wins you jobs?

Checkatrade's built-in quote tool is free — but only if you're paying £50–£100+/month for membership. TradeDoc AI is free for your first 100 docs a month, Pro £15/month, and covers every quote, certificate, and invoice a UK tradesman sends. Here's the honest side-by-side.

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The 30-second verdict

Pick Checkatrade if…

  • • You need leads more than you need documents
  • • You're happy paying £50–£100+/month for membership
  • • You only do quote-style jobs (no CP12, EIC, MW, EICR)
  • • You want customer reviews attached to a public profile

Pick TradeDoc if…

  • • You've already got leads — you're losing them on slow paperwork
  • • You issue compliance certs (CP12, EIC, EICR, MW) as well as quotes
  • • You want a document tool that works without paying for a directory
  • • You want every quote and cert saved in your own account forever

Lots of tradespeople use both — Checkatrade for lead flow, TradeDoc for the paperwork that closes the job.

Feature-by-feature

Every row is something we've verified against Checkatrade's public pricing and their built-in tool. If anything here is out of date, email us.

Feature
TradeDoc AI
Checkatrade tool
Starting cost
£0 — free for the first 100 docs a month
£50–£100+/mo Checkatrade membership required
Paid tier (if you need it)
Pro £15/mo — custom branding, one-tap email, unlimited
No cheaper tier — membership or nothing
Professional quotes
AI-generated from job description, branded PDF
Manual templates, typed line by line
Gas safety records (CP12)
Yes — Regulation 36-compliant
No
EICs, EICRs, Minor Works
Yes — BS 7671 A2:2022-aligned
No
CIS invoices with labour/materials split
Yes — auto-formatted
No
Stage-payment schedules (HGCRA 1996)
Yes — statutory payment mechanism
No
Document vault / history
Free: 90-day rolling · Pro: unlimited history
Locked inside Checkatrade — leave the platform, lose access
Lead generation / directory listing
No — documents only
Yes — that's the main product
Customer review collection
No
Yes — built into the profile
Works without being a member
Yes — no directory tie-in
No — cancel membership, lose the tool
Try before paying
Free forever — no card at sign-up
No — monthly membership contract

The true cost of the “free” Checkatrade tool

Checkatrade's quote tool is only free if you're paying for membership. Here's what that actually adds up to.

Checkatrade membership (typical sole trader)£50–£100+/month
Separate cert app for CP12 or EIC (e.g. Gas Safety App)£7.50–£12/month
Accountancy workaround for CIS invoicing£10–£25/month
Total stack£70–£140+/month
TradeDoc — everything above, one tool
£0 Free · £15 Pro
Free covers 100 docs a month. Pro adds branding, one-tap email, unlimited.
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Moving from Checkatrade to TradeDoc

There's no one-click import — Checkatrade doesn't expose your quote data. But most tradespeople are up and running in under 15 minutes. Here's the sequence.

  1. 1
    Download any past quotes you want to keep
    Checkatrade → your profile → documents. Download the PDFs to your phone or computer. You only need these for your own records.
  2. 2
    Sign up to TradeDoc (no card required)
    Free forever on your first 100 docs a month. You get full access to quotes, CP12s, EICs, MWs, EICRs, CIS invoices, and stage schedules from minute one.
  3. 3
    Add your business details once
    Trading name, address, VAT number, Gas Safe / NICEIC / NAPIT / TrustMark reg numbers, UTR if you deal with CIS. These auto-fill every document going forward.
  4. 4
    Generate your first quote
    Describe the job in a sentence or two. TradeDoc writes the line items, applies the right VAT, includes the Consumer Rights Act clause, and emails the PDF — in about 2 minutes.
  5. 5
    Keep your Checkatrade membership if you want the leads
    Nothing stops you using both. Lots of tradespeople do — Checkatrade for the directory traffic, TradeDoc for the documents that close the job.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Checkatrade quote tool actually free?+

Only if you're already paying for a Checkatrade membership, which typically runs between £50 and £100+ a month depending on your trade and region. Factored in that way, the quote tool costs roughly 5-10× more than TradeDoc AI on its own. If you're not a member, you can't use the tool at all.

Can I use both?+

Plenty of tradespeople do. Checkatrade handles lead generation and reviews; TradeDoc handles every document you send after the lead comes in — quotes, CP12s, EICs, MWs, EICRs, CIS invoices, stage-payment schedules. They're complementary, not direct replacements.

What if I cancel my Checkatrade membership — do I lose my quotes?+

Yes. Quotes generated inside Checkatrade are stored on their platform. If your membership lapses, you lose access to your quote history. TradeDoc stores your documents in your own account, and you keep them whether you're subscribed or not.

Does Checkatrade generate gas safety records or electrical certificates?+

No. Checkatrade's built-in tool is quote-only. It does not produce CP12 gas safety records, EICs, EICRs, Minor Works Certificates, or any compliance document required under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 or BS 7671. If you're a Gas Safe or NICEIC-registered engineer, you'll need a separate tool for those — which is the core of what TradeDoc is built for.

How do I move my existing Checkatrade quotes into TradeDoc?+

There's no automatic import — Checkatrade doesn't expose an export of customer data through the built-in tool. What most people do: export any PDFs they still need from Checkatrade (profile → documents → download), then recreate their quote template inside TradeDoc in about 10 minutes. From that point forward, every new quote goes through TradeDoc and lives in your account permanently.

Is TradeDoc right for me if I only do a few quotes a month?+

Yes — the Free tier gives you up to 100 documents a month at zero cost, no card at sign-up. That covers almost every sole trader. If you want your logo and signature on the PDFs, one-tap customer email, vault beyond 90 days, or more than 100 docs in a month, Pro at £15 handles that. Either way, the first CP12 or EIC you save 40 minutes on pays for the whole year of Pro.

TradeDoc is free. Upgrade only if it earns it.

First 100 documents a month are free — every doc type a UK tradesman sends. Pro at £15/month adds custom branding, one-tap customer email, and unlimited docs. No card at sign-up.

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