GigNGo vs Craigslist: Know Who Is Coming to Your Door
An honest comparison for 2026. A Craigslist ad tells you almost nothing about the person who answers it. On GigNGo you can watch a local's own work, see who vouches for them, and choose the person yourself.
GigNGo vs Craigslist: Complete Comparison
Craigslist has been a place to find local help for a long time, and it is simple. When the person who answers your ad is going to be inside your home, though, a text ad and an email address are very little to go on.
Quick Summary
GigNGo: GigNGo charges no commission and no lead fees: the price a homeowner agrees with a local is the price that local keeps. Homeowners post and hire for free. Making a profile is free for locals; applying to jobs takes a flat monthly membership, with $0 per lead and 0% commission. Because we earn from a membership rather than from selling leads, we only make money if a local sticks around — so unlike a lead marketplace, we want you to find one person you trust and keep calling them.
Craigslist is a classified ads site. It charges $5 to post in services, and $3 to $10 for a gig post in the cities that charge for it (Craigslist posting fees). It has no profiles, reviews or screening of the people who post.
| Feature | GigNGo | Craigslist |
|---|---|---|
| Posting a job | ✓ Free for homeowners | $5 per services post; $3–$10 per gig post where charged |
| What locals pay | Free to make a profile; a flat monthly membership to apply. $0 per lead, 0% commission | Posting fees for their own ads |
| Profiles and reviews | ✓ A permanent profile with reviews | ✗ Text ads only |
| Video of their own work | ✓ Locals film and post their work | ✗ No |
| Neighbors vouching | ✓ Neighbors can vouch for a local | ✗ No |
| Messaging | ✓ In the app, with a record | Off the site, by email or phone |
| Job posts checked for scams | ✓ Posts are screened for known scam patterns, and can be reported | None |
| Background checks | ✗ No. We verify a phone number, nothing more | ✗ None |
Your request isn't sold
When you post a job on GigNGo, your phone number and email don't go out to a list of companies. GigNGo doesn't sell leads. Locals nearby see the job and offer to do it, you choose who to talk to, and your phone number and email are shared only with the local you hire or book.
The job itself is visible to locals nearby, so keep your phone number out of the description and sort the details out in messages.
Knowing who is coming to your door
GigNGo does not run background checks. We verify a phone number, and that is the whole of it. We don't confirm licenses or insurance, and a profile on GigNGo is not us vouching for anyone.
What you get instead is more to look at before you decide. Locals post short videos of work they have actually done, under their own name and town, and neighbors can vouch for a local they know. That takes real, repeated effort, which someone with something to hide is less willing to put in. It is not a background check and we won't call it one: a determined person can film a driveway too. Ask for a license and proof of insurance wherever the work calls for it.
Neither GigNGo nor Craigslist runs background checks on the person you hire. The difference is what you get to look at first.
GigNGo Advantages
- Free for homeowners to post and hire
- Video of the local's own work, under their name
- A permanent profile with reviews that follows the local
- Neighbors can vouch for a local they know
- Messaging stays in the app
- Job posts screened for known scam patterns
- Post once and compare offers
GigNGo Considerations
- Coverage is strongest in and around larger metros
- No background checks: we verify a phone number, nothing more
Craigslist Advantages
- Simple and familiar
- Covers far more than services, from furniture to housing
- Low posting fees
Craigslist Disadvantages
- No profiles, reviews or work history
- No way to see someone's work before they come over
- Anyone can answer an ad anonymously
- Each reply has to be vetted by you alone
- Posting fees in services and, in many cities, gigs
What Changes When You Hire on GigNGo Instead
You can see the work first
On Craigslist you learn what someone's work looks like after they have done it on your house. On GigNGo locals post short videos of work they have done, so you can judge their finish before they set foot on your property.
A reputation that stays put
A Craigslist ad can be deleted and posted again under a new name. A GigNGo local has one profile at their own address, gigngo.org/@theirhandle, carrying their reviews and their work.
Post once
Instead of answering one ad after another, post the job once. Locals nearby offer, and you choose who to talk to.
The Verdict
For knowing who is coming to your door: GigNGo gives you far more to look at: their own work on video, their reviews, and neighbors who vouch for them.
What neither does: run a background check. Ask for a license and proof of insurance wherever the work calls for it.
Post a Task Free →Frequently Asked Questions
Is GigNGo safer than Craigslist?
GigNGo gives you much more to judge someone by: a permanent profile, reviews, video of their own work, and neighbors who vouch for them. Job posts are screened for known scam patterns and messages stay in the app. GigNGo does not run background checks; we verify a phone number, and that is the whole of it.
Why would someone use Craigslist over GigNGo?
Habit and breadth. Craigslist covers far more than services, and some people have used it for years. For work inside your home, that breadth comes without profiles, reviews or a way to see someone's work.
Is GigNGo free?
For homeowners, yes: posting and hiring are free. For locals, making a profile is free, and applying to jobs takes a flat monthly membership, with $0 per lead and 0% commission. Craigslist charges $5 to post in services (Craigslist).
How does GigNGo deal with scams?
New and edited job posts are screened automatically against known scam patterns, any conversation can be reported from inside the app, and accounts that draw repeat reports are pulled. The patterns are published at gigngo.org/anatomy-of-a-fake-job-post so anyone can spot them on any platform. No platform removes all risk.
Related Resources
- Hiring from Craigslist anyway? Read this first — the checks to run before you hire anyone from it
- Looking for work, not help? — the Craigslist gigs alternative for finding paid local jobs
- All the platforms compared side by side — GigNGo, Thumbtack, TaskRabbit, Angi, Handy and Airtasker
- GigNGo alternatives — when another platform is the better pick
- Anatomy of a fake job post — the scam patterns to watch for on any platform
- GigNGo vs Nextdoor — neighbor recommendations and where they fit
- The small-job hiring rulebook — deposits, payment, contracts, and insurance for small jobs
- Real cost guides — median prices from real posted jobs
See the Work Before They Come Over
Post a job free, watch the local's own work, and choose the person yourself. Locals pay no lead fees and no commission and keep 100% of the price.