Is Airtasker legit or a scam?

It is legitimate. Airtasker is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, has operated since 2011-12 and in the UK since October 2023, holds customer money in escrow with Stripe, and runs a third-party liability policy underwritten by Chubb. The recurring complaints are about fees, disclosure and support rather than about legitimacy. Taskerama, which competes with it, shows every fee on the offer before you accept and refunds to your card.

What percentage does Airtasker take in the UK?

As published September 2026, the tasker pays 12.5% to 20% excluding VAT depending on their earnings over the previous 30 days, and the poster pays a fixed connection fee of £4.95 to £39.95 banded by task price. On a £120 job with an entry-tier tasker that is about 37% of the job price in total. Airtasker reports a blended UK monetisation rate of 20.4%. On Taskerama, customers a tasker brings themselves cost 0% commission, with a 2.9% plus 20p processing charge.

Why is my Airtasker bill higher than the price I agreed?

A connection fee is added when you assign a tasker, banded by the task price and including VAT, £4.95 under £30, rising to £39.95 at £180 and above. It is not shown when you post the task, which is the most common complaint in the poster reviews we sampled. A £49.90 yearly membership waives it. On Taskerama the booking fee is shown on every offer before you accept, so the total you see is the total you pay.

Do Airtasker refunds go back to my card?

Not by default. For tasks below a threshold, a refund is issued as Airtasker credits, which expire after twelve months. A refund to your card can be requested and takes several business days. The connection fee is forfeited if you are held responsible for the cancellation. On Taskerama refunds always go back to the original card, and cancelling before the task starts costs neither side anything.

Is Airtasker worth it? A 2026 review of its fees and complaints, for both sides

Taskerama competes with Airtasker. Every Airtasker figure on this page comes from its own published pages and its ASX filings, plus a September 2026 read of roughly 700 public reviews across Trustpilot, the App Store and ProductReview, so you can check them.

The short answers

Is it legit? Yes. Airtasker is a publicly listed company on the ASX, founded in Australia in 2011-12 and operating in the UK since October 2023. It holds customer money in escrow with Stripe, runs a third-party liability policy underwritten by Chubb, and did £11.0m of UK GMV across 81,000 booked tasks in the year to June 2026. It is a real business, not a scam.

Is it worth it as a poster? Know that the price you agree is not the price you see when you post. The connection fee is added at assignment. On Taskerama the booking fee uses the same bands, £4.95 to £39.95, and it is on every offer before you accept.

Is it worth it as a tasker? That depends on your volume and on how much of your work comes from customers you already have. On Taskerama those customers cost 0% commission.

What Airtasker does well

These show up repeatedly in positive reviews.

Speed of offers. The most common piece of praise.
Escrow that both sides value. Money is held from assignment and released when the poster confirms.
Comparing and haggling. Ratings, completion rate, prior work and price, side by side.
No subscription. A quiet month costs a tasker nothing.
Breadth. Hundreds of categories.

Taskerama works the same way on the parts that protect you: fixed-price offers, nothing to pay until you hire, money held until the job is done, no subscription for taskers. The differences are in the parts people complain about.

The recurring complaints

Drawn from the review evidence. These are shares of the negative reviews in our sample, not shares of all users.

On the poster side

The fee stack is disclosed late. The biggest 2026 theme by some distance: roughly 44% of the negative poster reviews in our sample mention it, and in the slice of reviews containing the word "hidden", 17 of 18 were about this. The connection fee is charged at assignment, not shown when you post. As published September 2026 it runs £4.95 under £30 up to £39.95 at £180 and over, and a £49.90 yearly membership waives it.

Refunds can come back as credits. For tasks under a threshold, a refund defaults to Airtasker credits with a twelve-month expiry rather than to your card; a card refund can be requested but takes several business days. Complaints on this clustered through 2026, around 16% of negative poster reviews in our sample.

No-shows still cost the connection fee. Roughly 14% of negative poster reviews describe a tasker not turning up. The recurring grievance is not the no-show itself but being charged for the introduction anyway.

Support access. Around a quarter of negative poster reviews mention it: no phone number, chat-first, and complaints about automated loops. Priority phone support exists as a paid perk on the business and professional tiers.

You cannot message before you hire. Private messaging is blocked until assignment and contact details are automatically redacted, so scoping happens in public comments. Reviewers report ordinary questions being blocked by the moderation system.

On the tasker side

The fee, and where it lands. About half the negative tasker reviews in our sample are about fees. The service fee is 12.5% to 20% excluding VAT, which is added on top, so an entry-tier tasker is losing around 24% of the task price, and the poster has separately paid a connection fee on the same job.

Tiers and fee studies. Your rate is set by your earnings over the previous rolling 30 days and your completion rate over your last 20 assigned tasks. Airtasker also discloses that it runs randomised fee studies, so two taskers on the same tier may not pay the same rate. Taskerama's ladder uses the same 30-day basis, but it is published in full, recalculated daily and shown on your dashboard with what you need to reach the next tier.

Account restrictions. Around 22% of negative tasker reviews, and rising through 2025-26, describe restrictions or bans without a clear stated reason, several from people describing multi-year tenures and hundreds of completed jobs.

Payment holds and verification loops. Around 19%. Payout is three to five business days after release, and release depends on the tasker remembering to request payment and the poster acting on it.

Cancellation penalties. Around 12%, concentrated from December 2025 onwards. If a tasker is held responsible for a cancellation they are charged an amount equal to the connection fee, deducted from future payouts.

A cut of tips. The service fee applies to bonuses and tips as well as the job price.

The arithmetic, on a £120 job

	Poster pays	Tasker receives	Platform take
Airtasker, entry-tier tasker	£144.95	£91.20	£53.75 including VAT
Airtasker, top-tier tasker	£144.95	£102.00	£42.95 including VAT
Taskerama, marketplace job	£144.95, shown on the offer before you accept	£91.20 to £102.00 by tier	£42.95 to £53.75 including VAT
Taskerama, tasker's own customer	£120.00	£116.32	£3.68

On a marketplace job the totals are the same, and the difference is that on Taskerama the poster sees the full £144.95 before accepting. Where a tasker brings their own customer, Taskerama takes no commission, only a 2.9% plus 20p processing and protection charge.

Airtasker's own reported blended monetisation rate across all markets was 21.7% in FY26, and 20.4% in the UK. Both figures are lower than the worked example above because large jobs, top-tier taskers, members and repeat bookings dilute the average.

How Taskerama handles the same complaints

Complaint	Airtasker, as published September 2026	Taskerama
Fees disclosed late	Connection fee added at assignment	Booking fee on every offer before you accept
Refunds as credits	Credits by default under a threshold	Refunds always to the original card
Paying after a no-show	Reviews describe being charged the connection fee anyway	Cancel and you are refunded in full
Talking before hiring	Public comments only until assignment	Public questions and private messages with anyone who offers
Cancelling	Penalties when held responsible	No fee to either side before the task starts
Disputes	Three-stage process, decision within 14 business days	Either side can open a dispute; payment stays on hold while it is reviewed
Tips	Service fee applies to tips	100% of tips go to the tasker

Taskers on Taskerama are ID-verified with a live selfie, and DBS, trade licence, waste carrier and insurance badges are checked by a person against the public register.

Five things to check before you post or quote again

When is the poster fee shown? On Taskerama it is on the offer, before you accept.
Where do refunds go? On Taskerama, always back to the card.
What does cancelling cost? On Taskerama, nothing to either side before the task starts.
Is the tasker fee ladder published? On Taskerama it is, in full, on our fees page.
What do your own customers cost you? On Taskerama, 0% commission.

Post your task free and see every fee before you accept an offer. If you do the work, join as a tasker free and pay nothing until you are paid.

Airtasker fee figures, tiers and mechanics verified from its published UK help centre, pricing pages and terms on 5 September 2026, with financial figures from its FY26 results. Airtasker has changed its poster-side fee at least four times since 2019, so check its current fees page before relying on any number here. Review frequencies are shares of the negative reviews in a hand-tallied September 2026 sample of roughly 700 public reviews, not shares of all users, and are estimates rather than a census. Taskerama figures are from our fees page.