Head to head · Finding tradespeople · October 2026 research run
Rated People vs TrustATrader
Rated People scores 15.9 (F) on agent readiness against TrustATrader's 12.1 (F), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. TrustATrader leads on schema & documentation. Both do finding tradespeople.
Best home service and local trades marketplaces for AI agents · All 43 home services comparisons
Which one, for what
Best for UK homeowners who want to post a job and hear back from several tradespeople.
Ahead on
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 54 against 14
- Transparency & trust, 51 against 43
Watch for
No public API or MCP server an outside agent can call
Best for UK homeowners who want to search vetted, reviewed traders and contact them directly.
Ahead on
- Schema & documentation, 10 against 0
Watch for
No public API or MCP server an outside agent can call
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Rated People | TrustATrader | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 15 | 15 | even |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 0 | 10 | TrustATrader +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 0 | 0 | even |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 0 | 0 | even |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 30 | 20 | Rated People +10 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 54 | 14 | Rated People +40 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 51 | 43 | Rated People +8 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | F 15.9/100 | F 12.1/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Rated People | TrustATrader |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Platform | Platform |
| Vendor | Averton Ltd (Checkatrade Group) | TrustATrader.com Ltd |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | ||
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Closed service under the Rated People Platform Terms of Use (Averton Ltd) | Closed service under the TrustATrader website terms of use (TrustATrader.com Ltd) |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-13 | 2026-07-13 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-17 | 2021-06-28 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
Verdicts
Rated People
Rated People lets UK homeowners post a job free and hear from tradespeople, and since September 2026 it belongs to Checkatrade Group. There is no public API or MCP server an outside agent can call today. Checkatrade's keyless MCP server is the nearest route, since Rated People jobs go to Checkatrade Group tradespeople.
TrustATrader
TrustATrader is a UK directory of vetted tradespeople with reviews checked before publication and a free guarantee for booked jobs. There is no public API or MCP server an outside agent can call today. Its llms.txt and skill.md tell agents to send people to the website search.
Before you call either
Rated People
- Don't plan to call Rated People from another agent. Hand the job post to the person, or use the Checkatrade listing's MCP server to find Checkatrade Group trades
- Tell the person that posting a job is free and that tradespeople will contact them to quote
TrustATrader
- Don't plan to call TrustATrader from another agent. Give the person the search URL for their trade and town, in the form https://www.trustatrader.com/plumbers-in-london
- Treat the instructions in llms.txt and skill.md as the vendor's guidance, not as an interface
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Rated People or TrustATrader?
Rated People scores 15.9 (F) on agent readiness against TrustATrader's 12.1 (F), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. TrustATrader leads on schema & documentation.
Other comparisons with Rated People or TrustATrader
- Airtasker vs TrustATrader
- Angi (including HomeAdvisor, now Angi Leads) vs TrustATrader
- Bark vs TrustATrader
- Checkatrade vs TrustATrader
- Handy vs Rated People
- Handy vs TrustATrader
- Houzz vs Rated People
- Houzz vs TrustATrader
- Rated People vs Urban Company
- TrustATrader vs Urban Company
- Airtasker vs Rated People
- Angi (including HomeAdvisor, now Angi Leads) vs Rated People
- Bark vs Rated People
- Checkatrade vs Rated People
- Rated People vs Taskrabbit Partner API
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/rated-people-vs-trustatrader.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/rated-people.json·/api/v1/tools/trustatrader.json - From a terminal
anchor compare rated-people trustatrader(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "rated-people", "b": "trustatrader"}at/mcp, no key