Sittercity
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you need a large sitter pool fast and accept paywalled messaging and shallow screening.
Comparison
Sittercity vs UrbanSitter
Sittercity and UrbanSitter both land on Depends.
UrbanSitter
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you're a family in a covered metro booking child care regularly . vetting, community recommendations, and employer benefits are real.
| Compare | Sittercity | UrbanSitter |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Parents seeking occasional babysitters | Metro parents needing vetted sitters fast |
| Who it's not for | Anyone wanting guaranteed-vetted caregivers . screening here is shallow | Guess: small towns and rural areas . supply skews toward urban metros |
| Privacy | Offers background checks and safety centers, but a 2012 NBC investigation found approved caregivers with arrest records.² | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed. |
| Support quality | PissedConsumer page catalogs service complaints | Trustpilot and BBB complaints exist; some praise too. |
| 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 | Sentiment is mixed: G2 shows around 4.4/5 and app-store users praise the concept, while Trustpilot, BBB, and Reddit threads carry complaints about fees, support, and unpaid bookings.13 |
| Biggest gotcha | Background check badges are not guarantees; screening gaps are documented² | Caregivers pay roughly $34 in fees per SideHustles (Jan 2026); confirm current terms before signing up. |
Pick Sittercity when
- Parents seeking occasional babysitters
- Families wanting caregiver background-check options
- Households also needing pet or senior care
- Sitters building a side-gig client base
When Sittercity is not a fit
- Anyone wanting guaranteed-vetted caregivers . screening here is shallow
- People unwilling to pay just to message candidates
- Nannies who want agency-grade placement without recruiter spam
- Guess: rural users with thin local sitter pools
Pick UrbanSitter when
- Metro parents needing vetted sitters fast
- Families wanting community-recommended care
- Employers offering child care benefits
- Sitters seeking local bookings
When UrbanSitter is not a fit
- Guess: small towns and rural areas . supply skews toward urban metros
- Families unwilling to pay membership before booking anyone
- Anyone who needs Care.com's larger national provider pool
- Households that book care rarely enough that fees never pay off
Sources
- Sittercity homepagesittercity.comofficial
news
- Care.com vs Sittercity (Reddit r/Nanny)reddit.comreview
review
review
- Sittercity Trustpilot reviewstrustpilot.comreview
- Sittercity Raises $22.6 Million (TechCrunch)techcrunch.comnews
- Sittercity on LinkedIn (Bright Horizons company)linkedin.comofficial
- Sittercity premium membership options (support)support.sittercity.comofficial
- Sittercity Recurly case studyrecurly.comofficial
- Sittercity customer service complaints (PissedConsumer)sittercity.pissedconsumer.comreview
review
- UrbanSitter Reviews - Trustpilottrustpilot.comreview
review
- Is UrbanSitter Legit? 2024 Reviewis-urbansitter-legit.pages.devreview