shouldiuse.io

Report

Should I Use Care.com?

care.com·Analyzed 1 week ago··Based on 12 sources

Get the help you need for your children, pets, elderly parents, home and lifestyle.

Verdict

Depends

Buy if you need a large caregiver pool fast and will run your own reference and background checks.

Confidence: Medium

Skip if you want pre-vetted caregivers, a full-service agency, or you're a caregiver counting on reliable job flow.

Biggest caregiver marketplace, but FTC fined it for inflated job listings — great pool, vet carefully.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 2/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 2/5. FTC found inflated job listings; $30/mo debated
  • Ease of use. Not directly assessed in sources
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Huge marketplace, background checks, employer backup care
  • Support quality: 2/5. Reddit users struggle to reach support
  • Security posture: 2/5. 2024 FTC action; 2017 employee W-2 breach
  • 6,295 Trustpilot reviews mixed feedback
  • 45M+ Members families and caregivers since 2007
  • ~$30/mo Premium price free basic tier available
  • $111M Funding venture capital raised

Pricing

Basic (Guest)

Free

  • Free to join
  • Browse caregiver profiles

Premium

~$30/month

  • Contact caregivers directly
  • Background checks cost extra (two-part pricing)
Best for and not for

Best for

  • Families hiring babysitters and nannies
  • In-home senior care searches
  • Pet and errand care
  • Employers adding backup care benefits

Not for

  • Caregivers counting on steady, fairly-represented job flow
  • Anyone expecting fully pre-vetted caregivers
  • Families wanting a full-service agency to handle vetting
  • Users allergic to auto-renew and cancellation friction

Biggest gotcha

  • highBackground checks are extra and limited — verify references yourself before hiring10
  • highFTC found inflated job listings — posted earnings may not materialize⁴
  • mediumPremium auto-renews around $30/month; users report cancellation friction⁶
  • mediumCustomer service is hard to reach; users resorted to hunting for a phone number

Pros

  • Largest caregiver marketplace: 45M+ members since 2007
  • Background checks and CareProtect safety features available
  • Employers can offer subsidized backup care to staff
  • Free basic membership to join and browse³
  • Some families find it worth the cost for nanny searches

Cons

  • FTC took action over inflated job numbers and caregiver earnings claims⁴
  • Nannies report no recourse in family disputes⁷
  • Documented screening gaps mean you must vet candidates yourself10
  • Caregivers must submit Social Security numbers for W-2 processing

Security

2024 FTC enforcement for deceptive practices and a 2017 employee W-2 breach; no CVEs found.

  • FTC enforcement action (2024)FTC took action against for using inflated job numbers and baseless claims, deceiving caregivers about wages and job availability.⁴
  • Employee W-2 data breachA hack exposed thirty-nine employees' W-2 information.⁵

What users say

Families often find good caregivers, but caregivers report weak protections and Trustpilot feedback is mixed.

“Care.com offers no recourse for nanny in case of”
Reddit, r/Nanny
“Care.com is a great place to find help”
G2
“Care.com can be worth the cost for finding a baby”
Facebook group post

Companies that use it

  • Cornell University11

Methodology

Based on 12+ public sources including FTC enforcement, Trustpilot, G2, Reddit, and company pages.

Sources

  1. official
  2. official
  3. official
  4. news
  5. security
  6. review
  7. review
  8. review
  9. review
  10. review
  11. official
  12. review

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