Finding a babysitter that you trust, get along with, lives nearby, and is available when you need them can be stressful. Parents have horror stories about bad babysitters who were not adequately vetted that can ruin a night out. At the same time, babysitters have their own horror stories about not getting paid for their time.
Luckily, we live in an age where access to quality child care is right at our fingertips. The internet is chock-full of babysitting websites and apps that connect parents with experienced and trusted caregivers.
The best babysitting apps and websites should assist you with finding trusted and qualified personnel. Many of the top caregiving sites include options for services like housesitting, pet care, senior care, tutoring, and more.
Whether you are looking for a last-minute babysitter, need a caregiver qualified for special needs care, or want to use nannies trusted by people in your circle, there is a babysitting platform perfect for you.
Discover the best babysitting websites and apps that are user-friendly, trustworthy and do their due diligence for each new sign-up.
Our Top 10 Apps and Websites For Babysitters and Nannies
Finding the perfect care provider for your family’s needs takes time and effort. So to save you the ache of weeding out the bad ones, we have compiled the ultimate list of apps and websites for babysitting services, nannies, and Au Pairs.
We have researched various babysitting websites and apps to compare services and choose the ones that are the most trustworthy, have reasonable fees, and have good reviews.
To find the best babysitting websites, we analyzed the number of users, customer reviews and satisfaction rates, and each website and interface. Continue reading to learn more about the 10 best babysitting websites and apps available today.
If you are looking for childcare providers such as a babysitter or nanny, the following apps and websites are a great place to start. Or, if you are a childcare provider looking for a family to work with the same list can be used to get matched with parents looking for help.
Sittercity is the top babysitting website with over two decades of experience helping parents and caregivers unite. Sittercity was founded in 2001 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Genevieve Thiers and quickly began operating America-wide. Now, the website has more than 1-million users.
This babysitting website features in-depth babysitter and nanny profiles. The profiles list skills, past client reviews, location, experience, and more. Care is not limited to children. Sittercity also offers pet sitting services, housekeepers, housesitters, tutoring services, etc.
Sittercity is one of the best babysitting websites that offers free membership and advanced memberships. The basic membership allows you to post sitting jobs, view partial information on profiles, and communicate with sitters who have responded to your job post. Posting jobs is free on Sittercity, and posts are typically replied to within several hours.
The Sittercity advanced membership is $39 per month and includes access to more detailed profile information and the ability to reach out to sitters based on their qualifications, even if they have not yet expressed interest in your job posts.
Sittercity is a participant of Bright Horizons employee benefits, with caregiver discounts available to those who choose to take advantage of this amazing benefit.
For Parents
For parents, Sittercity is a fast and easy way to securely find caregivers in your area. The free basic membership is enough to get you started with building a pool of reputable sitters in your area.
Parents enjoy using Sittercity because:
Posts are usually responded to within a few hours
The platform is easy to use with filters that take the effort out of searching
The free membership has no strings attached and does not require any credit card information to sign-up
For Childcare Providers
Caregivers of all kinds love using Sittercity because the site is free for sitters. Caregivers can upgrade to a Featured Sitter for $9.99 per month to drastically increase their odds of finding a compatible babysitting gig.
Some of the other reasons childcare providers enjoy the Sittercity platform are:
In-depth profiles make it likely caregivers will match with families they are compatible with
Care.com is one of the best babysitting websites that offers a wide menu of services. Care.com offers babysitters, school support, pet sitting services, senior care, housekeeping services, and more. Care.com is one of the premier babysitting sites that hosts over 32-million users in more than 17 countries around the globe.
Care.com was founded in 2006 in Austin, Texas, by co-founders Sheila Lirio Marcelo and Dave Krupinski. Since its inception, the company has expanded to include international offices in Germany.
This babysitting website connects parents with caregivers in their city based on detailed profiles that list experience and references. The user-friendly platform offers a wide variety of services, all related to caring for your home and family.
Parents and caregivers can choose between the free basic membership option or upgrade to the Premium subscription to access more profile details, background check information, discounts, and more.
What sets Care.com apart from other caregiving sites is the number of resources available for parents and caregivers. For example, Care.com offers HomePay, a platform for payroll that offers tax breaks and benefits to caregivers and parents. This platform promotes fair wages and allows caregivers to apply for health insurance and social security benefits.
For Parents
Parents will love hiring a babysitter from Care.com because all caregivers undergo mandatory background checks during the screening process.
Some of the other reasons parents have positive experiences with Care.com include:
Access to different sitter profiles that list references and pertinent information about the caregiver’s experience
A high response rate allows parents to interview various candidates and choose the perfect fit for their family
For Childcare Providers
Childcare providers will enjoy using Care.com because this premium website offers fair hourly rates.
Sometimes it takes a little time to get hired for babysitting jobs on Care.com since there is high competition. Despite this, childcare providers have positive experiences with Care.com because:
Sitters have access to parent profiles that list the number of children, their ages, and what services are required
No transaction fees
Premium subscriptions give access to who has viewed your profile, priority job alerts, and access to discounts
UrbanSitter is one of the best babysitting apps available for iOS and Android. UrbanSitter is ideal for parents looking for last-minute babysitting services.
The UrbanSitter platform connects close-by caregivers with parents by using data from your Facebook circle. UrbanSitter looks at caregivers employed by parents, friends, and co-workers on your social networks to provide you with references and services that you can trust.
UrbanSitter was founded in 2011 in San Francisco, California, by Lynn Perkins. It has grown to operate in more than 60 cities in a little over a decade. The platform has over 170,000 caregivers, and 70,000 parents signed up.
UrbanSitter offers services for childcare like babysitting and nannies as well as homework help, household services, pet sitting, dog walking, and senior care.
An UrbanSitter paid membership for parents is between $20 to 35$ per month, depending on your subscription plan. The fee pays for access to the UrbanSitter platform with detailed sitter profiles and background checks.
Caregivers have a one-time sign-up fee of $35, which includes the cost of a background check.
For Parents
UrbanSitter is user-friendly for parents because there are more caregivers than parents. With more than double the amount of babysitters to parents, finding last-minute care is easier than you think.
Other reasons parents trust UrbanSitter as a reputable option for finding childcare are:
UrbanSitter is quick to remove profiles of caregivers who have been flagged for any reason
The use of social media connects parents with sitters recommended by friends and people you know
All caregivers must be over the age of 18, have pictures on their profiles, and undergo criminal background checks
For Childcare Providers
Childcare providers enjoy using UrbanSitter because the site does not take any profits from the sitter’s income.
Another reason childcare providers prefer to use UrbanSitter is because it offers competitive pay and the ability to set your own schedule.
Au Pair in America is the first and original Au Pair program in America. Au Pair in America was designated by the United States government in 1986. With over three decades of experience, this is one of the best babysitting websites for families that want live-in childcare who can also introduce their children to a new culture.
Au Pair in America matches your family with live-in care for one year. The caregiver arrives from another country and boards with your family while providing full-time care on a fair and predetermined weekly stipend.
The Au Pair in America program enables international caregivers to experience working in America and provides children with valuable insight into other cultures and languages.
Since its inception in 1986, Au Pair in America has connected over 100,000 families with caregivers worldwide.
Host families have three different tier levels for pricing options. The first is the Au Pair rate which includes live-in childcare from an international caregiver. All Au Pairs undergo a screening process that includes:
An in-person interview
A minimum of three references
A criminal background check
A medical report
A psychometric test
The second tier is the Au Pair Extraordinaire. Attributes of an Au Pair Extraordinaire include:
A formal childcare degree
Minimum of two years of full-time experience as a nursery school teacher, nanny, or child care provider
The third is the Au Pair Educare which focuses on caring for school-aged children who need babysitting before and after school.
Choose between searching through the Au Pair in America database or opting for the Expert Match services. Expert Match connects you with Au Pair in America’s professional placement team, which finds the ideal candidates for your requirements.
For Parents
Parents prefer au Pair in America because the profiles are highly detailed with experience, personal biographies, and images. All the Au Pairs on the database must complete a company training program and a Red Cross babysitting course before arrival.
Other reasons parents enjoy using Au Pair in America include:
Flexible payment plans
Access to a global database of qualified caregivers
In-depth Au Pair screening and training process
For Childcare Providers
Childcare providers enjoy using Au Pair in America because it is a registered and legal way to work abroad with families and children.
Other reasons childcare providers positively rate Au Pair in America include:
Resources for visa processing and insurance for a smooth transition
Helpr is another one of the best babysitting websites that assist companies in finding affordable childcare for their employees. True to its name, Helpr is designed for working parents looking for help with the myriad of tasks that go into properly caring for a loved one.
According to Helpr’s CEO, Kasey Edwards, the platform makes hiring childcare as simple as hiring an Uber. Founded in 2016, corporations use Helpr to supply affordable care benefits to their employees.
The Helpr app allows employees to pay in-app and use their Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DCFSA). The mission of Helpr is to provide reliable and affordable care so that working families can pursue their business goals without sacrificing family care.
Helpr also offers remote learning assistance to keep education fun and stimulating. For example, they offer video chat babysitting services to help parents work and get things done while children play, make crafts, and chat with a remote sitter.
The on-demand and fast platform makes hiring caregivers easy when you need a deserved night out or when unexpected work projects demand overtime.
For Parents
Parents will love Helpr because all sitters listed must have a minimum of two years of experience with childcare and CPR training. Another reason parents trust Helpr is because of its in-depth screening process.
Helpr has a 7-point screening process that includes:
Phone interviews
In-person interviews
Criminal background checks
ID verification
Reference verification
Reviews of social media platforms
CPR training certification
For Childcare Providers
Childcare providers enjoy using the Helpr app because it pays fair wages and includes their services to a network of professionals.
The Helpr app is mutually beneficial to parents and childcare providers. Parents upload their regular childcare provider to their Helpr network and pay for services using their company benefits package, which means that childcare providers can be family members who are compensated for their care efforts.
eNannySource is one of the best websites to find a nanny or run background checks on household workers. This website connects parents looking for childcare, whether you need part-time care, a live-in nanny, or a summer nanny.
eNannySource was founded in 1994 in Los Angeles by Steve Lampert. Today, it has connected over 400,000 families with qualified nanny services around the country.
This top babysitting website is adept at conducting background checks and uniting parents with verified and reliable nanny services.
What sets this website apart from other babysitting websites is the option to run a personality assessment. Doing so better ensures the nanny is the right fit for your family values and parenting methods, which also helps the nanny feel like more of an extension of your family for an all-around better experience for each family, caregiver, and child.
The free membership with eNannySource includes basic access to the eNannySource database without the ability to contact caregivers. A paid membership is necessary to communicate with qualified nannies.
By upgrading to a paid membership, you receive:
Full access to the eNannySource database with unlimited searches
New nanny alerts
Email alerts of nannies in your area
One free background check
eNanny messaging features to connect quickly with qualified talent
For Parents
Parents rate eNannySource highly because of the ease of conducting a background check. The easy-to-use platform makes doing due diligence to ensure your family’s safety a breeze.
Other reasons parents love using eNannySource include:
Extensive database of nannies to choose from
Detailed caregiver profiles
Top-notch customer service support
For Childcare Providers
Childcare providers enjoy using eNannySource because it offers a discount on nanny training and certification courses.
Other reasons why childcare providers view eNannySource favorably include:
Free registration
Instant Match emails match you with compatible families
The SeekingSitters and Nannies website has a one-time sign-up fee of $60 that gives parents access to a broad platform of babysitters, nannies, pet sitters, and house sitters for hire by the hour.
Founded in 2004, SeekingSitters and Nannies is an on-demand babysitting referral service where you can find a caregiver you know you can trust with the click of a button. Now, more than a million babysitting jobs have been organized through the SeekingSitters and Nannies platform with zero safety incidents.
What sets SeekingSitters and Nannies apart from some of the other best babysitting websites is that the team takes care of the interviewing and screening processes. The founder of SeekingSitters, Adrienne Kallweit, is a private detective that knows the ins and outs of conducting background checks and doing due diligence before letting a stranger into your home.
Parents feel assured that anyone they hire from SeekingSitters and Nannies has passed all the necessary training and background checks. This easy-to-use platform is ideal for parents that need last-minute babysitting services but do not have the time to do the research and background checks.
For Parents
Busy parents love working with SeekingSitters and Nannies because it takes the work of background checks, researching references, and conducting interviews off of their plate.
All caregivers on SeekingSitters and Nannies undergo background checks and are required to have First-Aid and CPR training. The SeekingSitters screening process includes:
In-person screening
Verification of previous experience with childcare
Work history and education verification
Public records screening
Personal character evaluation
For Childcare Providers
Childcare providers enjoy working with SeekingSitters and Nannies because it saves them time and effort doing various interviews for potential families. SeekingSitters and Nannies pre-screens all candidates making it easy to connect childcare providers with plentiful work opportunities even at the last minute.
Bambino is one of the best babysitting apps for its ease of use. First, parents and sitters sign up by linking their Facebook accounts. Then, the app algorithm looks through locations, verifications, and other information to match parents with the best babysitters near them.
Bambino founder, Sean Greene, had to cancel a flight when a babysitter canceled. He sought another sitter but could not find a replacement in time. The stressful experience led him in 2015 to begin his company aiding parents like himself.
Bambino connects friend-recommended caregivers to parents looking for childcare within their neighborhoods. Caregivers need a minimum of one recommendation to gain access to the app before they can receive invitations to babysit.
The Bambino app is safe to use for both parents and childcare providers. All payment is made through the Bambino app with small booking fees deducted from the sitter’s rate.
The Bambino app has four different tiers of sitters. Junior sitters are caregivers who are aged 13 to 15 with some experience. Standard Sitters are between the ages of 16 to 18 years old. Advanced Sitters are over the age of 18 with a high overall rating, significant hours of experience working with Bambino, and many recommendations and referrals.
The top tier is the Elite Sitters who are over the age of 19, have undergone a background check, completed more than six recent babysitting jobs, have a 4.8+ star rating on the Bambino platform, and have a high response rate to sit requests.
The different tiers enable caregivers of all experience levels to further their pursuit of providing quality care for families. It also keeps childcare prices flexible for families.
For Parents
Parents enjoy using the Bambino app because of the fast response times to last-minute sit requests. Other reasons parents use the Bambino platform include:
Flexible options for qualified sitters of varying skill levels
Friend and community tested and recommended babysitters
For Childcare Providers
The Bambino app is useful for childcare providers because it connects them with local families in need of childcare services without having to post flyers or ads in the paper.
Other reasons childcare providers prefer to work for Bambino include:
Komae is an interesting take on modern childcare back-scratching. The word Komae means village in Greek. Since childcare takes a village, Amy Husted and Audrey Wallace co-founded the childcare cooperative app in 2017.
The service is entirely free to use and is based on a sharing economy for childcare. Download the app and add friends that you trust to a group called your village. Parents within the group post babysitting opportunities for available friends to respond to. The app rewards you for your time spent providing childcare with Komae points.
Komae points do not have a monetary value, but the app has some child-friendly products you can redeem them for. The true benefit of Komae points is that you need to spend points to request babysitting jobs from friends. The only way to earn more points is to offer yourself as a childcare provider for your friends every once in a while.
Komae helps friend communities support each other’s free time. For example, if a parent knows they need childcare but have no more Komae points, the parent can post their availability in the group chat. By messaging their availability to friends, parents inspire others to go on a date night or take a night off to someone who otherwise would not have.
The Komae app connects parents with friends and provides children with a new environment to play in and often other little ones to play with.
Since the company’s inception, nearly 25,000 families have joined, with over 126,000 hours of free childcare provided by friends.
For Parents
Parents love using Komae because it is free to use. This babysitting app helps friend communities to grow and strengthen the bond between families. Other reasons parents enjoy using the Komae app include:
No background checks or verifications are needed since it is your trusted circle of friends
Guilt-free time off from the kids
For Childcare Providers
Childcare providers are not likely to use Komae since it does not offer monetary payment for services rendered. The Komae platform is for parents that know the value of a night off and are willing to return the favor to their friends.
Take the stress out of finding a nanny with Nannylane. The Nannylane platform is one of the best babysitting websites for families searching for a caregiver who will become a part of the family. Nannylane assists parents with hiring qualified care and running background checks.
Services offered through Nannylane’s database of qualified contacts include child care, nannies, and daycares services. This website also provides nanny sharing services so that your children enjoy a monitored playdate with other kids while you go out and conquer the world.
Nannylane conducts background checks that include a search of county criminal databases, sex offender databases, global watchlists, national criminal databases, and statewide criminal databases.
Nannylane has more than 500,000 users and its own payment platform that makes transactions safe and easy for you and your caregiver.
The Nannylane Plus membership is $55 per month and includes hiring assistance, free background checks, and full service on the nanny payroll platform.
For Parents
Parents enjoy using Nannylane because the membership includes help from the professional team to find qualified candidates that are the right fit in your family.
Some of the other reasons this site is ranked highly by parents include:
Easy payroll service
Services for nanny contracts
Membership includes background checks
For Childcare Providers
Nannies enjoy using the services offered by Nannylane because nannies can choose from part-time to full-time nanny positions based on what suits their schedule and lifestyle best.
Some of the other reasons childcare providers positively rate Nannylane include:
Yes, babysitting websites are safe. Reputable babysitting websites conduct verifications like criminal background checks and in-person or phone interviews to ensure no criminal history. Many sites also require proof of CPR and First Aid training to register as a caregiver.
Should I conduct a background search on a babysitter?
Yes, parents should always ensure a childcare provider has the necessary qualifications and no criminal history, which they can do through top babysitting websites or other third-party background check agencies.
Do babysitters need to vet families?
Yes, babysitters should also do their own due diligence before going to a new babysitting job by vetting families that hire them. While a background check is not necessary, a search on Google and social media will help babysitters be prepared before meeting the family.
How old do you have to be to babysit?
A babysitter can be as young as 11 or 12 years old. The Red Cross babysitting course admits children 11 years and older. The training course includes basic first aid, professionalism, and age-appropriate activities.
What babysitting websites are free?
The best babysitting websites with free features include:
Care.com
Sittercity
Bambino
Komae
All babysitting websites require hourly rates for childcare providers to be fairly compensated for their time and hard work.
What is the difference between a babysitter, a nanny, and an Au Pair
A nanny, babysitter, and Au Pair all perform childcare activities to differing degrees.
A babysitter is hired to care for children casually and usually not on a daily basis.
A nanny is more involved with other household tasks and typically performs childcare, housekeeping, and other services for one family as a full-time job.
An Au Pair is a live-in nanny who is from a different country (or a different part of the country) who provides childcare that exposes children to new cultures or languages.
Carly Link, a 33-year old mother of two toddlers. She is a parent and goes through a lot of the usual parenting difficulties herself. Carly shares all her experiences and knowledge about the best baby products through this blog.
