Care.com

There was a time when finding a babysitter or homecare provider consisted of connecting with a family friend or trusted teenager from the neighborhood to care for your family or home.

Likewise, in order for those caregivers to find employment, they would historically rely on word of mouth referrals or posting flyers all around town.

Luckily, Care.com burst onto the scene and provided families and caregivers with a means to connect with each other to fill open homecare positions.

We’re here to explain what Care.com is, how much it costs, and how you can reach out for help if you have any questions.

Jump To:

What Is Care.com?
Types of Jobs on Care.com
How to Use Care.com
How Much Does it Cost?
- Care Seeker Costs
- Caregiver Costs
Care.com Promo Codes
Care.com Customer Service

What Is Care.com?

Care.com is an online platform where families can be connected with caregivers for their home or loved ones.

Letting someone into your home is very personal and giving them the responsibility of caring for your family can be a scary thought.

Care.com strives to make this process as safe and as comforting as possible.

By using Care.com, families can find babysitters, pet sitters, senior care, or any other type of homecare you can think of.

Not only can families find help around the home, but caregivers are also given a marketplace to find employment, whether it be part-time work or a full-time job.

Since finding homecare is quite a personal decision, the Care.com platform enables a secure and safe transaction between all parties.

With access to user reviews, background checks, and references, users can comfortably find homecare help and employment online.

Types of Jobs on Care.com

Care.com is predominantly a childcare service, however, there are also a few other popular care services that people use it for.

When you begin your search for a care provider or you start looking for employment, you’ll need to decide which one of the following categories you fall into:

Childcare: This is by far the most popular option on Care.com, however, there’s also availability for educational assistance, full-time nanny jobs, daycare, special needs assistance, and even someone to cover for date nights.
Senior Care: Elderly in-home care, companion care, meal preparation, and transportation to and from doctor’s appointments are also available to family members and caregivers.
Pet Care: Experienced pet sitters are available to watch your pet while you are away, dog walkers to take it for a stroll, groomers to groom it, or even trainers to teach it a few tricks.
Home Care: Other help options include light housekeeping, doing odd jobs around the house, running errands, or even being a personal assistant.
Tutoring: Another unique option on Care.com is tutoring. Care.com tutors allow for your child to get help in school, personalized one-on-one. This is one of the platform’s most popular services.

Whichever job title you’re pursuing or what your care needs may be, there’s surely some way Care.com can help.

How to Use Care.com

Care.com is one of the most popular sites among people who are looking for help with childcare services, a petsitter, home care, and the people who are looking to provide that help.

Care.com service providers also offer housekeeping services should you prefer to look after your children, pets, or relatives on your own and prefer someone else to handle the housekeeping.

To use Care.com, you’ll need an account. From the home page, click on the red “Join Now” button at the top right of the screen to join Care.com.

You’ll be taken to a form that will ask you to enter your first name, last name, zip code, email, password, and how you found Care.com.

Once you’ve signed up, you can choose the type of care you need at the top of the page.

Some of the most popular options are child care, pet care, senior care, and housekeeping.

Next, you will need to select the time when you’ll need the help.

It’s a good idea to plan ahead and find a service provider who can help well in advance of when you need the help.

Care.com will provide you with a list of caregivers who can help you with your loved ones when you need it.

Browse their profiles to learn more about each one and find the perfect caregiver for your needs.

If you’d like more information, you can upgrade your membership to Premium by clicking “Upgrade Now” at the bottom of the page.

Care.com offers service providers assistance with building their profiles, job hunting, and filing their taxes.

Families are provided access to a convenient payment option called Homepay, which ensures that all payments are protected, easy, and deposited directly into the service providers account. Homepay also provides tax preparation help.

Care Seekers: What You Need to Know

A lot of the time third party helpers, like babysitters, caregivers, or dog walkers, are discovered via word of mouth.

Perhaps it’s a friend or family member who will take on your offer.

You might also get a referral from someone in your trusted circle.

But what happens if you are having difficulty and keep reaching dead ends in your hunt for a caregiver.

If you are having trouble finding the perfect fit, Care.com might be a great option for you and worth signing up for.

Getting Started

The nice part about Care.com is that you can sign up for free and see what the service is all about.

Signing up for your Care.com account is extremely easy and requires you to only provide your name, zip code, and email.

Once you are logged in you are free to browse around caregiver’s profiles and see if you can find a nice fit for the care you are looking for.

To help you search for the perfect candidate, you are able to filter by many different criteria.

For instance, if you want your caregiver to be a non-smoker, you can filter those results.

If you want your caregiver to be CPR certified, you can hone in on those candidates as well.

Other options include hourly rate, hours available, vehicle ownership, and many more.

After poking around for candidates, you might want to create your own job listing and start receiving applications.

Creating your job listing is also pretty straightforward.

By taking a questionnaire, you auto populate your job listing.

Care.com asks you questions related specifically to your listing, like when is your children’s bedtime, when do you get home from work, and how many hours do you need filled.

After you post your listing, eventually you will start receiving inquiries.

This is where the level of your membership may come into play and you may start thinking about upgrading your service.

Care.com Membership Tiers

While signing up and creating your job listing is free, you will quickly realize your limitations.

Let’s look at the differences between the membership tiers and why you may want to upgrade your membership.

Care.com is broken down into two tiers; Basic and Premium Membership.

The initial sign up stage that we just talked about is the Basic Membership.

This is what Care.com uses to lure you in and entice you to upgrade your membership.

It allows you to perform many of the basic functionalities of the service, yet purposefully limits some capabilities.

You may be hard-pressed to hire a worker to take care of your family or home just by using the Basic Membership and for good reason.

Here is a breakdown of the membership tiers:

Basic Membership

With the Basic Membership you are able post your job listing, search for caregivers in your area, view basic profile information, and get access to reviews.

It also allows you to “preview” responses from potential applicants.

This means that you will only be able to see part of the message and will not be able access contact information of your prospective caregiver.

You are also not able to access more in depth information, like professional references, that may help you decide if this caregiver is the right one for you.

While this tier is free, with only a limited amount of information it would be difficult for someone to make a decision that requires a great deal of trust.

Having someone take care of your family or home is a very big deal, so it comes as no surprise that people upgrade to Premium.

Premium Membership

If you are seriously thinking about using Care.com to find your next helper, you will likely take the plunge and pay for the Premium Membership.

Care.com Costs: What Caregivers Really Pay

By paying for the Premium subscription, you unlock all of the features and capabilities of Care.com.

This includes the ability to see full profiles, view all of the reviews and professional references, and get access to caregivers’ contact information.

So what is the Care.com cost? There are a few different monthly subscription payment plans, so we’ll let you be the judge and decide which option works for you.

12-months: $13 per month
3-months: $26 per month
1-month: $39 per month

If you just need to quickly find a worker for a manageable job, for example finding a babysitter for Tuesday and Thursday nights, then maybe the 1-month option works for you.

However, if you have a listing that is slightly more complicated requiring more hours, frequency of shifts, and variability, then maybe the 3-month or 12-month option is a better fit.

For example, if you need 24/7 care for a senior and also require transportation to doctor’s appointments, you will likely need to find more than one caregiver.

Which means you will need to be hiring throughout the year to be able to cover all shifts throughout the week.

Also, before making your final decision consider that all subscriptions have an auto renewal.

If you have found your caregiver make sure you take the appropriate steps to avoid getting charged unnecessary payments.

Background Checks

A main selling point for Care.com are the strict requirements and safety measures taken to ensure that you can be completely comfortable with your choice of caregiver.

Care.com helps facilitate comprehensive background checks of potential employees. In many cases caregivers will have already ran the most basic background check, and sometimes may have even gone the extra mile and paid for the full in depth check.

If you want to have peace of mind that your family and home will be safe, you can run one of these three background checks.

Criminal Records Check
- Cost: $59
- Covers: This checks against five criminal databases.
Criminal Records Check + Motor Vehicle Record
- Cost: $79
- Covers: This is the same check as above, plus license status, driving records, and traffic violations.
Investigative Criminal Plus Check
- Cost: $300
- Covers: The ideal option for those who do not want to take any chances whatsoever. This looks at 11 different criminal databases.

Additionally, if you are planning on interviewing and hiring multiple caregivers throughout the year, you may want to consider the unlimited background check option.

For an additional fee of $20 per month you can run as many background checks as you would like.

Paying Your Caregiver

Aside from the cost of subscription fees and background check charges, when you finally find your caregiver you will need to pay their hourly wage.

To give you an idea of what you can expect to pay your caregiver, Care.com detailed the average hourly rate for some of its most popular job listings:

Childcare: $11.75/hour
Nanny: $12.75/hour
Housekeeping: $13.00/hour
Tutoring: $14.25/hour

While every caregiver has set their preferred hourly wage in their profile on the website, the final wage may also depend on the nature of the job.

Some factors that could impact pay rates include the following:

Amount of Care: Is this a full-time, part-time, or just a once in a while job? Days of the week can also skew rates.
Location: Major metropolitan and suburban areas tend to have higher rates than rural areas.
Number of Children/Pets: Sure, one kid is no problem, but what about two, three, or four? The more children or pets you have the higher the rate will be.
Additional Responsibilities: What does your job consist of? If you expect your children to be cared for, plus laundry, housekeeping, and other chores, rates will surely be higher.
Transportation: If your caregiver needs to drive around town, expect a higher rate, especially if they are driving their own vehicle. Don’t forget about factoring in gas money as well!
Years of Experience: This one comes with the territory. Experienced caregivers demand higher rates than inexperienced workers, and rightfully so.
Special Qualifications: Along with experience, those with qualifications that enhance their ability to fulfill their duties expect a higher wage.

While looking at all of these potential “wage increases” may be daunting, remember that you have the final say on who will be watching over your family or home.

If it seems too expensive then by no means do you have to go through with it.

But just remember, those candidates who have years of experience with special qualifications may be worth the few extra dollars their experience commands.

Knowing that your home and family will be taken care of is priceless!

If you’re going to sign up for Care.com, there’s no point doing it without using a promotional code.

There are plenty of Care.com coupon codes and promo codes out there that you can use to get a cheaper deal.

Care.com promo codes and coupons can be redeemed when checking out after you decided which premium option you decide on.

Depending on your promo code, you can receive a certain percentage off membership or a flat dollar amount deducted.

We can’t promise that all of these discount codes will work as some of them are only valid for a limited time, but it’s worth a shot plugging them in when checking out at the end of your purchase.

Here are some of the best special offers and Care coupons we’ve collected:

PROWINNER15 — 15 percent off childcare services
MOMSS2021 — 25 percent off Care.com premium membership
RP86XG — $40 off any service
EM8Y8Q — $40 off first order on Care.com
QUICK10 — 10 percent off Care.com premium membership
KPGBQV — $40 off services on Care.com
25SPARKLER — 25 percent off your order
HOLIDAZE30 — 30 percent off your order
JOYFUL20 — 20 percent off your order
ALLYEAR20 — 20 percent off Care.com premium membership
FALLGIFT20 — 20 percent off your order
NEXTJUMP1 — 35 percent off your membership

Start by entering the best discount codes first, then work your way down until you find on that you’re satisfied with.

Care.com Customer Service

Once you’re set up with Care.com, you’re bound to have some questions along the way.

Luckily, Care.com makes itself readily available to address any questions or concerns you may have.

The first step to solving any issue is to head to the user FAQ pages for any common problem you might have.

If you’re a family seeking assistance regarding the website, job posting, account access, canceling service, or billing issues, then you can head to the Care Seeker FAQ page.

If you’re a caregiver and need similar questions answered, like fixing email subscription settings or learning how to use Care.com free tools, then heading to the Carer FAQ page is a great place to start.

Both are excellent free resources that you should use to your advantage.

If for any reason you’re unable to find what you’re looking for, there are a few different ways you can reach out to the Care.com customer support team.

Here are the best ways to get in touch with a Care.com representative:

Care.com Phone Number: 1-877-227-3115
- Open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m EST
- Press 3 to skip the messy phone menus and hold times to get in touch with a Care.com agent
Online Contact Form
Email: [email protected]
Facebook Page
Twitter Page

It’s important to note that if you pursue either Facebook or Twitter, you’ll be connected with Care.com live chat support if you use the messaging features of these social channels.

However, if you’re looking for the quickest service with the customer care unit, we recommend going through the Care.com call center.

For a more thorough walkthrough of the Care.com customer support options, read our guide.