A paid caregiver marketplace, not an independent reviewer: profiles carry family ratings but caregivers can pay to boost visibility, and the FTC took action in 2024 over its deceptive job and background-check claims.
What it's really for A caregiver hiring marketplace; both sides pay subscriptions, and caregivers can pay to boost visibility.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its caregiver profiles, ratings, and reviews, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
Both families and caregivers pay subscription fees (roughly $13-$39/month for families), and caregivers can buy premium memberships explicitly to "increase their visibility," so paying can improve placement on the platform.
Source →- Operating since
- 2006 (20 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- Care.com makes money from membership subscriptions paid by both families and caregivers, plus background-check fees, placement fees, advertising, and corporate benefit contracts.
- What they do
- Care.com is an online marketplace that connects families with babysitters, nannies, senior caregivers, pet sitters and housekeepers, showing caregiver profiles with family ratings, reviews and screening badges.
- What to watch for
- It is a hiring marketplace rather than a vetted ranking authority: caregivers can pay for premium subscriptions to raise their visibility, the company discloses background checks "may not reveal a person's complete criminal history," and the FTC alleged in 2024 that Care.com approved caregivers with criminal records and inflated job listings.
- Composite score
- 1.30 / 5.00 → grade D
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- The FTC took action against Care.com in August 2024, alleging it deceived caregivers about wages and job availability, charged families for inadequate background checks, approved caregivers with criminal records, and used dark patterns to impede cancellation; Care.com agreed to pay $8.5 million. Source: Federal Trade Commission →
- Caregivers can purchase a premium membership, which the platform offers to increase their visibility and enhance their profiles, meaning paid status can affect how prominently a caregiver appears. Source: Care.com Help Center →
- IAC announced its agreement to acquire Care.com (founded 2006) for about $500 million in December 2019, completing the deal in February 2020, after which Care.com ceased trading on the NYSE. Source: IAC press release →