Sittercity
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you need a large sitter pool fast and accept paywalled messaging and shallow screening.
Comparison
Sittercity and Care.com both land on Depends.
Buy if you need a large sitter pool fast and accept paywalled messaging and shallow screening.
Buy if you need a large caregiver pool fast and will run your own reference and background checks.
| Compare | Sittercity | Care.com |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Parents seeking occasional babysitters | Families hiring babysitters and nannies |
| Who it's not for | Anyone wanting guaranteed-vetted caregivers . screening here is shallow | Caregivers counting on steady, fairly-represented job flow |
| Privacy | Offers background checks and safety centers, but a 2012 NBC investigation found approved caregivers with arrest records.² | 2024 FTC enforcement for deceptive practices and a 2017 employee W-2 breach; no public CVEs found.16 |
| Support quality | PissedConsumer page catalogs service complaints | Reddit users struggle to reach support |
| Public sentiment | Reddit parents and nannies find Sittercity usable but often rank it equal to or below and UrbanSitter, with recurring complaints about fees, scam listings, and agency spam.³ | Families often find good caregivers, but caregivers report weak protections and Trustpilot feedback is mixed. |
| Biggest gotcha | Background check badges are not guarantees; screening gaps are documented² | Background checks are extra and limited . verify references yourself before hiring |