Contractors are not allowed to post information about themselves directly, but little prevents them from buying memberships and submitting positive reviews about themselves. Members have unlimited access to the list via Internet or phone; receive the Angie's List magazine, which includes articles on home improvement and maintenance, consumer trends and scam alerts; and they can utilize the Angie's List complaint resolution service.

Angies List is a database containing names and reviews of service-oriented businesses by area consumers.

Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, the company was founded by Angie Hicks in 1995, who modeled the service on Indianapolis's Unified Neighbors, which had been founded in 1974. Initially off-line, Angie Hicks went door-to-door in Columbus, Ohio signing up members and collecting ratings on local contractors. In 1996, Angie's List purchased Unified Neighbors and relocated the company from Columbus to Indianapolis.

Competitors
Angie's List faces competition from online companies that aggregate reviews on local merchants, including, Yelp, Insider Pages (which has over 600,000 reviews of local businesses) and Judy's Book.