HomeAdvisor and Angi are the same company. IAC combined Angie's List and HomeAdvisor under one parent, ANGI Homeservices Inc., in October 2017, and the 2021 rebrand retired the Angie's List name and folded HomeAdvisor's professional product into what's sold today as Angi Leads. Before paying for either Angi's per-lead product or its pay-per-click ads, three things matter more than the sales pitch. The Federal Trade Commission fined HomeAdvisor's operating company up to $7.2 million in January 2023 for misleading contractors about lead quality and matching. Starting in January 2025, Angi stopped auto-sending every network lead to every paying pro and switched to a model where the homeowner picks who gets contacted, which cut Angi's own reported network lead volume sharply. And neither product publishes a fixed price: the real cost depends on your trade, your market, and how many other pros are paying for the same request.
By the numbers
- The HomeAdvisor and Angie's List brands have shared one parent company since October 1, 2017, when IAC combined the two under ANGI Homeservices Inc. The 2021 rebrand retired the Angie's List name entirely and renamed the parent Angi Inc., folding HomeAdvisor's contractor-facing product into what's marketed today as Angi Leads. INDEPENDENT RESEARCH
- The FTC ordered HomeAdvisor's operating company to pay up to $7.2 million in redress in January 2023, after alleging it misrepresented that pros would only receive leads matching their stated services and service area, overstated how often leads converted to paying jobs, and misled pros about a "free" first month of a help-desk subscription. The order bars further false or misleading lead-quality claims; it is not framed as an admission of wrongdoing. GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTED
- Angi's own disclosures state its entire third-party network channel had been "fully automatched" before January 2025, when the company rolled out a change requiring the homeowner submitting a job to personally select every pro who receives their contact information, rather than the platform distributing it automatically. ANGI DOCUMENTED
- Angi's own quarterly results show that change sharply cut the network lead volume it reports: service requests and leads in that channel fell 33% and 57% in Q1 2025, then 67% and 81% by Q3 2025, with total Network Revenue down 79% in Q4 2025 against the prior year. Angi has stated it expects to return to overall revenue growth in fiscal 2026. ANGI DOCUMENTED
- Neither Angi Leads nor Angi Ads publishes a public rate card. Independent trackers and competing vendors report an Angi Leads membership commonly starting near $300/year plus a per-lead charge roughly in the $15-$85 range (higher-ticket trades like roofing are reported well above $100 per lead), with a lead often sold to more than one pro at once; Angi Ads placements are reported to carry separate monthly minimums, commonly cited from roughly $200-$550+, often inside a one-year term. Treat every figure here as a third-party estimate, not a quoted price. INDEPENDENT RESEARCH
- Angi's own Help Center states leads can be paused, not just cancelled outright, for up to two weeks at a time (accounts on its newer Opportunities model work differently and instead stop accepting new matches rather than pausing the same way), the same policy detail already verified and cited in full on our 90-day lead-gen off-ramp guide. ANGI DOCUMENTED
One account, three different things to evaluate
"Angi" isn't one product, and it hasn't been for years. A contractor deciding whether to pay for it is really weighing three separate pieces, each with its own pricing logic and its own 2025 change underneath it.
Angi Leads (pay per lead)
The direct descendant of HomeAdvisor's original product: an annual membership plus a per-lead charge, billed whether or not the lead turns into a job. Independent trackers report the same lead sold to more than one pro at a time, which is the mechanism the FTC's 2023 order specifically targeted when it barred misleading claims about lead matching and quality.
Angi Ads (pay per click)
The older, Angie's List-style placement product: visibility inside Angi's own site and app, billed on a pay-per-click basis against a monthly minimum, commonly inside a one-year commitment. You're paying for a position, not a guaranteed lead, which is a different bet than the per-lead product above.
Homeowner choice (the 2025 network rule)
The newest layer, and the one most "how Angi works" write-ups online still don't reflect: as of January 2025, a homeowner submitting a job on Angi's third-party network now personally picks which pros receive their contact details. Before that, the entire channel ran on automatic matching. That single rule change is what's behind the steep network-lead declines Angi itself has reported through 2025.
Why the 2025 rule actually matters to your budget
For most of the last decade, the pitch for Angi Leads was volume: pay the membership, and the algorithm sends your business to every matching job request in your area, automatically. That's the mechanism the FTC's 2023 settlement partly targeted, and it's also the mechanism "homeowner choice" ended for Angi's third-party network. A homeowner now sees a list of pros and picks who gets their phone number and address, rather than the platform fanning the request out to everyone paying for that category.
The practical read for a contractor isn't that Angi got worse or better in the abstract. It's that the volume math changed. Fewer leads reach any given pro's account than did before January 2025, by Angi's own reported numbers, because fewer homeowners are being auto-matched to the full paying roster. Whatever a sales rep quotes for expected lead volume today should be checked against that specific change, not against a pitch written before it happened.
Where Angi actually sits next to the channels you already use
| Question | Angi (Leads/Ads) | Owned Map Pack ranking | Other shared leads (Thumbtack, Porch) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who else gets this exact lead? | Depends: a homeowner-chosen match can go to one pro, but Angi Leads can still be sold to more than one pro at once | No one. A call to your number is yours alone | Usually 2-4 other businesses, at the same time |
| What happens if you stop paying? | Leads stop; a 2-week pause exists, no published safe-taper rate | Nothing stops; it keeps sending calls | It stops the same day |
| Has a federal regulator acted on its lead claims? | Yes: an FTC order (January 2023) bars misleading lead-quality and lead-matching claims | N/A, it's your own asset, not a vendor's product line | Not established here; check each platform separately |
| Is the matching mechanism the same as a year ago? | No: "homeowner choice" replaced automatic network matching starting January 2025 | N/A | Varies by platform; confirmed separately for Porch |
The practical read: Angi is the oldest and largest name in this category, which is also why it has the most regulatory and policy history to check before signing. That's a reason to ask specific, current questions rather than rely on what the platform looked like five years ago, the same caution covered in full for shared leads generally on our lead-gen-trap guide.
The order that actually works
- Ask the rep directly how homeowner choice is affecting match volume for your specific trade and area right now, not the industry average from before January 2025.
- Start on Angi Leads' lower-commitment tier before an annual Angi Ads contract. Confirm real lead quality and the current match rate before adding a fixed monthly ad-spend commitment on top.
- Confirm which account model you're on before trying to pause. The standard model's 2-week pause and the newer Opportunities model's stop-accepting-matches option work differently; know which one applies to you.
- Track cost per booked job for a fixed trial window, the same discipline as any paid lead platform, not just cost per lead.
- Keep building the Map Pack ranking regardless of what the trial shows. It's the one channel in this comparison with no per-lead bill, no shared-lead competition, and no 2025-style policy swing attached to it.
Questions we get
Frequently asked questions
Are HomeAdvisor and Angi still two different companies?
No. They've shared one parent company since October 2017, when IAC combined Angie's List and HomeAdvisor under ANGI Homeservices Inc. The 2021 rebrand retired the Angie's List name and renamed the parent Angi Inc., and HomeAdvisor's contractor-facing product is sold today as Angi Leads. "HomeAdvisor" is now a legacy name for the same company and the same underlying product.
What did the FTC actually find about HomeAdvisor, and does it still apply?
In January 2023, the FTC ordered HomeAdvisor's operating company to pay up to $7.2 million in redress after alleging it misrepresented lead matching and lead quality to contractors, and misled some about a "free" first month of a help-desk subscription. The order's conduct terms, barring future misleading lead-quality claims, remain in force; it did not include an admission of wrongdoing by the company.
How much does an Angi lead actually cost?
Angi doesn't publish a rate card for either product. Independent trackers and competing vendors commonly report an Angi Leads membership starting near $300/year plus a per-lead charge roughly in the $15-$85 range, higher for premium trades like roofing, with Angi Ads placements carrying separate monthly minimums often cited from roughly $200-$550+ inside a one-year term. Treat any specific figure as a starting point for your own quote, not a guaranteed price.
What is "homeowner choice," and why did it cut Angi's own reported lead numbers?
Starting in January 2025, Angi changed its third-party network so the homeowner submitting a job personally selects which pros receive their contact information, instead of the platform auto-matching every paying pro in that category. Angi's own quarterly results show the network channel's leads and revenue falling sharply through 2025 as a direct result; fewer homeowners are now being matched to the full paying roster than before the change.
Can I pause Angi leads instead of cancelling outright?
Yes, with limits, and it depends on your account type. Angi's own Help Center allows pausing leads for up to two weeks at a time on the standard model; accounts on the newer Opportunities model work differently and instead stop accepting new matches rather than pausing. The specific steps and a full taper plan are covered on our 90-day lead-gen off-ramp guide.
Should Angi replace building my own Map Pack ranking?
No. An Angi lead, whether auto-matched or homeowner-chosen, is a purchased referral that stops the moment you stop paying, the same structural limit every shared-lead platform has. A Map Pack ranking is your own asset in Google's index: slower to build, but it keeps sending calls with no per-lead bill and no policy change to track once it's built. The two aren't substitutes for each other.
Sources
- Wikipedia, "Angi" and "Angi Inc.": the October 2017 combination of Angie's List and HomeAdvisor under ANGI Homeservices Inc., and the 2021 rebrand retiring the Angie's List name, cross-checked against contemporaneous 2021 news coverage of the rebrand announcement (WRAL, ABC17, KRDO).
- Federal Trade Commission, administrative settlement with HomeAdvisor's operating company (announced January 2023): the up-to-$7.2-million redress order and its conduct terms. The FTC's own press release was not directly reachable while researching this guide, so the allegations and order terms were cross-checked across TechCrunch, Search Engine Journal, Mondaq, FKKS Advertising Law, and Woodfloor Business, all reporting the same named FTC action identically.
- Angi Inc., quarterly earnings materials and shareholder letters (Q1, Q3, and Q4 2025): the "homeowner choice" rollout, the prior "fully automatched" state of the third-party network, and the reported network service-request, lead, and revenue declines. Angi's own investor-relations site and SEC filings were not directly reachable while researching this guide, so each figure was cross-checked across multiple independent earnings-transcript summaries (InsiderMonkey, Fool.com, Yahoo Finance/StockStory, MarketBeat, Quartr) reporting the same underlying disclosures.
- Angi Help Center, How to cancel your Angi agreement: the 2-week lead-pause option and the Opportunities-model distinction, already verified and cited in full on our 90-day lead-gen off-ramp guide.
- Independent lead-pricing write-ups (Housecall Pro, EcoHome, Phonely, Elevarus, GetNextPhone, Adapt Digital Solutions): the commonly-reported membership fee and per-lead cost ranges for Angi Leads, and the monthly-minimum range for Angi Ads. These figures conflict across sources by a wide margin and are not confirmed against an Angi-published rate card; this guide states that gap plainly rather than quoting any one figure as fact.
Angi does not publish current public pricing for either its per-lead or pay-per-click products, and angi.com, ir.angi.com, ftc.gov, and sec.gov were all unreachable through this environment's egress proxy while researching this guide. Every specific figure above was cross-checked across multiple independent secondary sources reporting the same underlying filing, press release, or help-center article before being cited here.