Solar leads: where to buy them, and how to need fewer

Here is each common source for solar installers, whether you own it or rent it, how you pay and how well it fits solar.

For every platform's published prices side by side, including Koira's, see all lead sources compared.

Solar installers can buy Local Services Ads: "Solar energy contractor" is one of Google's eligible categories, open after screening. Local Services Ads charge for leads that relate to your business and services, never for clicks. There is no public price list. Google's help page says what a lead costs depends on location, job type, lead type and how you bid.

Google counts a missed call during your business hours as a charged lead if the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds. Google reviews leads for 30 days and credits the ones it finds to be poor quality, duplicate or invalid.

Google orders Local Services ads by bid and by profile quality, which covers your rating, review count, response time, photos and completed verification checks. Some categories need 5 reviews to show at all, and Google recommends 5 or more for everyone. The full rules are on Local Services Ads for contractors; the setup guide walks through signing up.

Paid leads cost the most when everyone wants them. For solar that is spring and summer; in winter the same budget buys more, and owned channels matter more.

Most of those customers are homeowners who research for months, compare quotes and worry about pushy sales. The rest are small business owners, farms and property managers, plus people sent by roofers, electricians and realtors.

Angi's 2025 annual report describes its lead revenue as fees paid by pros for consumer matches, regardless of whether the pro ultimately provides the requested service. HomeAdvisor tells homeowners they will receive information for up to four pros, and that their details go to the matched pros as soon as the request is processed.

Thumbtack says joining is free, with no annual or membership fees.

What decides shared solar leads is speed. Your customers are homeowners who research for months, compare quotes and worry about pushy sales. If you reply hours later, you paid for an introduction to a customer who already booked someone else. Compare the two biggest in Thumbtack vs Angi.

Ignore the price per lead for a moment and look at the price per booked job: a month's spend divided by the jobs that source actually produced. Then compare it with what you keep on a panel cleaning and system check or a rooftop solar system with a battery. If the booked job costs more than it leaves you, the source is losing money however busy it feels.

The free cost per lead vs cost per job calculator does this with your numbers and shows what a better close rate is worth. The marketing budget planner works backward from the jobs you want.

• Reviews. Ask every customer an hour after the invoice is paid. Google strictly prohibits offering incentives such as free or discounted goods or services for reviews. Koira sends the ask and drafts the reply (reviews).
• A price on your site. A panel cleaning and system check priced from your own list, day or night, with booking on the same page (instant quotes).
• The street around each job. Panels on a neighbor's roof that start every conversation on the street. Koira mails cards to the homes nearby most likely to hire you (neighbor postcards).
• Referrals. From happy customers and from roofers, electricians and realtors (referrals).
• Repeat work. A yearly system check and panel cleaning, reminded before the season and sold on the first visit (campaigns, maintenance plans).
• Commercial buyers. A short, plain introduction to small business owners, farms and property managers, then a stop if they do not reply (commercial outreach).

A customer comparing solar installers usually books the first one who replies clearly. That is true whether the lead was free or cost money. When you cannot pick up, Koira's receptionist texts back within about a minute and offers three times from your day, so a request for battery storage does not drift to the next solar installer. Koira Grow is $249 a month plus usage at cost: texts, call minutes and emails with nothing added. See the solar answering service guide for live and AI options and their published prices.