Care.com Review (2021): Pros, Cons, and Alternatives

If you are looking for an in-depth review of Care.com, then you’re in the right place.

It’s likely that if you’re here, you’re having trouble juggling a career, family life, pet life, keeping your home clean, or taking care of loved ones.

You may be considering whether to hire a caregiver from Care.com; and want to learn more about their pros, cons, and services before deciding.

We understand!

Keep reading for our honest Care.com review and decide if you want to continue with their services.

What is Care.com?

Care.com is a marketplace connecting families with caregivers. Founded in 2006, Care.com started with a vision of providing quality support to families in taking care of their children, their pets, their homes, and elderly loved ones.

What are the services offered by Care.com?

Care.com provides a variety of services for families, caregivers, and corporates including:

• A job board where you can post your job description for potential hirees to see
• Background checks
• Detailed driving history checks
• And, Payroll services

For families

Their digital platform provides comprehensive and hassle-free solutions to families looking for childcare, senior care, special needs care, pet care, housekeeping services, and tutors. Care.com’s home pay service also helps families in managing their household payroll and taxes for employing caregivers.

For caregivers

They help caregivers in finding high-quality jobs by guiding and mentoring them towards sustainable earning and meaningful careers.

For corporations

Care@work helps businesses in providing care benefits to their employees. These benefits allow companies to retain talent, increase employee productivity, and have better job satisfaction.

Who is Care.com for?

Care.com is for anyone who wants a caregiver to look after their children, seniors, patients at home, or work. If you are a working parent, you can hire a caregiver to look after your family when you are in the office.

Even if you are working from home, the caregiver can take care of your kids, parents, or any other family member, while you are busy working.

Care.com is also for caregivers looking for jobs and career opportunities. As a caregiver, you can register yourself with Care.com and start selling your services.

How does Care.com work?

Whether you are a caregiver or a care seeker, you can easily start with Care.com. Let us explain how?

As a Caregiver

Go to their website https://www.care.com/. There, you will find the “apply to jobs” button on the top right of the homepage. Give the details of the services you would like to provide, and register with your name, address, phone number, and email address.

You don’t need any specific educational qualification or degree to join Care.com as a caregiver. However, you should be qualified for the job you are advertising for.

To ensure that you are a professional and trustworthy caregiver, Care.com asks for your experiences and references, background checks, proof of certification for the job that you are applying and other related documents.

You can set your rates, work hours and start browsing jobs in your area.

Care.com allows you to create a free account as well as a paid one with extra features. We would recommend starting with a free account, and once you get comfortable using it and start earning a few dollars, pay for the premium account with that money.

As a Care seeker

On the Care.com home page, you will find menu buttons for child care, senior care, pet care, and more.

Once you click on any of them, you will have to input your area zip code. Based on your selection and input, they provide a list of service providers matching your criteria.

For example, if you select kids, you can specify whether you want a nanny, a tutor, or an after-school sitter.

You can also specify if you want a certain year of experience or a caregiver for special needs.

They ask you a couple of questions related to the caregiver you are looking for. After you make the selection, you can create an account with your name, phone number, and email ID, and start browsing the list of caregivers in your area.

What are Care.com membership charges?

Care.com offers their free membership where you can post your job posting, but it comes with limited ability to communicate with potential hires. Their premium membership allows you to coordinate with potential hires and they often run promotions to help those who are looking to hire.

In addition to the premium membership, care.com also sells background checks, driving record checks, and payroll services as upgrades to the premium membership. The pricing can vary with promotional offers that are run, so it’s best to take a look at the pricing here.

How do you pay caregivers from Care.com?

Payment of caregivers is usually arranged when you decide to hire. You may have a preference and your caregiver may have a preference, so it’s important to discuss what payment arrangements work best for the both of you, so you agree.

Care.com offers payroll solutions, but it’s common for families to use options like cash, Cashapp, or a payroll service they use for their business.

Is Care.com safe?

You would likely worry about hiring a caregiver for the first time. We understand it can be overwhelming for you to leave your children or other family members with someone you hired through the internet.

However, Care.com has guides and clear instructions to help you select the ideal caregiver for your family. They have a safety resource page that educates both parties on how and what to expect during an interview.

They have FAQs for both the caregiver and care seeker. You can also contact their customer care team with your queries.

As a care seeker, you want to make sure to do thorough interviews, and you can always demand a background check for a potential caregiver.

Care.com pros and cons

Like any other business, Care.com has its share of problems. It may or may not be an ideal service provider for some caregivers and care seekers. Here we are going to share the pros and cons of Care.com one by one.

Pros

• Care.com is one of the largest caregiver service providers operating in more than 20 countries.
• It is an old establishment in the caregiving business and has a big network of professional caregivers.
• It provides multiple care services.
• Its website is user-friendly and the registration process is smooth
• It has a fast and easy background check process

 Cons

• The prices vary quite a bit because each caregiver sets their own pay rates
• It’s not very easy to understand their pricing structure
• Both caregivers and seekers can’t interact with each other with a basic membership. You need to pay for the premium account to do so
• Some care seekers may have bad experiences with the caregivers they hired
• Some caretakers may have a bad experience with the families that were hired to
• As it is a digital marketplace, you cannot be very sure about who you are hiring (without thorough interviewing and background checks)

What other members of Care.com are saying?

By now, you know what Care.com is, how it works, and the pros and cons of using its services. Let’s see what other Care.com members are saying about it:

Positive reviews (As given on the care.com website)

“Care.com has given me the flexibility to find care providers to meet the unique needs of my family”

-Julie from Orlando, FL

“Care.com is a great company. I have got my many good jobs by using your company. You have an outstanding reputation. I am proud to be a member of Care.com. Thank you-Aloha.”

Nancy from Kihei, HI

“Great website with user-friendly interface. Good options of caregivers and ability to research. Great customer service.”

Michelle from Norwich, VT

Negative reviews (As on Google)

“Extremely deceitful company. Huge lack of transparency for the usable features of their website without a premium subscription and also enormous hidden fees if you do explore upgrading your subscription.“

Rachel L on Better Business Bureau

“I opted for the one-month subscription plan to find some different help. Everyone, I felt comfortable contacting said they didn’t have availability. So, I basically paid for nothing. Would not recommend their service at all.“

Kathleen R on Better Business Bureau

“I have emailed three times in the customer service template asking and finally Begging for someone to help me get back into my account. I get emails telling me that I have messages, but I can’t read them. The app won’t open. It has been over two weeks with no response. I wanted to respond to jobs and start working right away. They have no phone number to call and terrible customer service.”

Dominique B on sitejabber.com

What are the alternatives?

There are quite a few alternatives to Care.com, depending on your location and the service requirement.

Caregiver USA

Like Care.com, Caregiver USA also provides a comprehensive caregiving service. However, they specialize in after-hospital, home healthcare. You can contact Caregiver USA if you need a caregiver to look after a patient and their family at home.

Caregiving For You

If you are looking for a caregiver for seniors, Caregiving for you provides at-home and in-care facility services in L.A.

SitterCity

Sitter city provides babysitters after a four-step screening process. As they specialize in childcare services, you can find some professional and trustworthy babysitters here.

UrbanSitter

How about hiring a babysitter recommended by people around you? Isn’t that what all parents want? UrbanSitter does that for you. It uses your social circle to connect you with a nanny recommended by people you know.

Our verdict: Recommended

People may have varied experiences with Care.com. Well, in the digital era, you can’t completely rely on AI tools.

However, we recommend this site to caregivers and seekers because of its large database of professional and experienced caregivers and families seeking care services.

It’s also one of the largest caregiving marketplaces, operating in more than 20 countries

Care.com’s website is easy to navigate. The registration processes are simple and quick.

If you are looking for a regular sitter without special needs, we recommend starting with the basic membership.

For caregivers, the background check process is quick and hassle-free. However, we recommend you take all precautions to ensure you’re inviting the right person to help you.

If you’d like to take a look at care.com for yourself, get started by creating a free account here.