TaskRabbit made it normal to hand off the chores you don't have time for. The catch is that it never really landed in most of Europe, the fees pile up faster than you'd expect, and getting matched with a stranger from the other side of the city doesn't feel very personal. If you're in Romania, or anywhere the app just doesn't cover, or you simply want something closer to home, here are the alternatives worth a look.
Why people look past TaskRabbit
A few things keep coming up:
- Coverage. TaskRabbit sticks to a handful of big cities. Live in a smaller town or a suburb and there's often nobody nearby.
- Cost. Between the platform's cut and the tasker's rate, a quick job can end up costing a lot more than the number you first saw.
- It feels transactional. You get matched with whoever's free, the job gets done, and you never cross paths again. No neighbors, no repeat helpers.
- Too much machinery for small stuff. Need someone to carry the shopping up three flights or water your plants for a week? The whole setup feels built for bigger jobs.
1. HandIt
HandIt is a neighborhood marketplace built for Romania first, and rolling out across the EU. Instead of booking a contractor from across town, you post what you need, set your budget in lei or euro, and helpers who live a few minutes' walk away apply. You pick one, and the money for the task is charged to your card through Stripe and held until the job is actually confirmed done, either by scanning the helper's QR code or confirming it in the app. After that, the payout lands in the helper's bank account automatically.
- Genuinely local. The people applying are neighbors, not contractors driving in from the far side of the county.
- Fees you can see up front. A flat 10% comes out of the helper's side, plus a 5% service fee on the buyer's side, and it's the same on the free plan and on Plus. No surge pricing, no surprise cuts.
- Free to start. You can post a task and get it done without paying for any plan.
- Both sides get reviewed. Every finished task leaves a review for the poster and for the helper, and profiles are ID-verified.
- One honest boost. If a post is boosted for extra visibility, it's clearly labeled as a boost. There's no hidden algorithm quietly reshuffling the feed.
Best for: everyday local help, like moving a couch, a cleaning session, a grocery run, or a small repair, from someone who actually lives nearby.
Try HandIt free and see who's around your area.
Sign Up Free2. Nextdoor
Nextdoor isn't really a task marketplace. It's a social network for your street, but plenty of people use it to ask for a recommendation or a quick favor, so it's worth knowing about. You post to your neighborhood feed and hope the right person sees it. It's free, and where it's active the user base is big. The downsides: there are no payments, no task structure, and no accountability if someone flakes. Your request also tends to sink down the feed within a day. And it's fairly thin on the ground across much of Romania and Eastern Europe.
Best for: casual asks where you just want a name or a small favor, not a paid job.
3. Thumbtack
Thumbtack points you at professional service providers: plumbers, electricians, cleaners, personal trainers. It's more formal than TaskRabbit and built for proper jobs rather than quick errands. Providers quote you and set their own prices, which is great for a real project and overkill for carrying a wardrobe upstairs. It's also a US-focused platform, so it's not much use if you're in Romania or most of the EU.
Best for: hiring a licensed or experienced pro for a home project, in the markets where it operates.
4. Handy
Handy is narrower still: home cleaning and handyman work, booked into a fixed time slot with a vetted pro who turns up. Pricing is set and booking is simple, but that's roughly the whole scope. There's no neighborhood filtering, no flat transparent fee, and only a limited list of cities. Like Thumbtack, it's mainly a US and UK story.
Best for: recurring cleaning or standard repairs, if you happen to be in a city it covers.
5. Airtasker
Airtasker started in Australia and works a lot like TaskRabbit: post a task, get offers, pick one. The category list is wide and the bidding keeps prices competitive. The catch for European readers is location. It's strongest in Australia and the UK, and barely present anywhere else.
Best for: people in Australia or the UK who want a flexible, open task board.
How to pick the right one
It comes down to what you're actually trying to do and where you live. For a quick, affordable job done by someone from your own area, especially in Romania or the wider EU, a neighborhood-first option like HandIt is the natural fit. For a licensed pro on a bigger home project, Thumbtack or Handy make sense in the places they operate. Nextdoor is fine when you just want to ask around. And if you're in Australia or the UK, Airtasker is there too.
- Everyday neighborhood tasks in Romania and the EU: HandIt
- Licensed professional home services: Thumbtack or Handy
- Asking around casually: Nextdoor
- Australia or the UK: Airtasker
If you're in Romania and want to try the neighborhood approach, posting your first task on HandIt takes a couple of minutes and costs nothing to start.