Care.com Review, Our In-Depth Analysis
Finding reliable home care can be difficult. Most communities have access to home care agencies. However, these services often require you to book a minimum number of hours per week just to receive care at all. Care.com, though, offers greater flexibility that can potentially be useful for those with fluctuating care needs.
Structured like a local directory, Care.com allows you to find home caregivers in your area. The service conducts background checks on all its caregivers, and it facilitates the booking process. For those unafraid of doing a little extra legwork, Care.com might be an ideal way to find home care for your loved one.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- In-home care: Care.com is ideal if you want your loved one to age in place instead of living in an assisted living facility.
- Affordable prices: With hourly rates varying by location and caregiver experience, finding an in-home caregiver on Care.com can be more affordable than popular home care agencies.
- Verified caregivers: All Care.com caregivers are background-checked, giving you peace of mind when trusting them to care for your loved ones.
- Various skill levels: Some caregivers have certifications like RNs and CNAs, meaning that Care.com caregivers can provide care beyond companionship and household tasks.
Cons
- Limited options for senior communities: Care.com focuses mainly on in-home senior care, so you won’t be able to find many independent, assisted living or memory care communities on their website.
- Contacting a caregiver requires a paid membership: To contact and hire a caregiver, you'll need to pay for a premium membership, which starts at $10.99 per month.
How Care.com Works
Care.com begins with a brief screening quiz to determine your loved one's care needs. Once you provide basic information like their age, the activities they need assistance with, and payment method, the platform prompts you to create an account to view your matches.
Your results display local caregivers in your area, complete with their experience, ratings, and hourly rates. Think of it like a dating app but for caregivers. However, contacting caregivers requires a paid subscription, which differs from most referral services that offer free communication. But once you subscribe, you can easily connect with a caregiver and book services directly through the Care.com platform or by phone.
Types of care
Unlike care referral services such as A Place for Mom and the similarly named Caring.com, Care.com offers different types of care, including in-home senior care. Their senior care ranges from simple companionship to more hands-on assistance with daily activities like showering, dressing, and eating — or even specialized support for individuals with memory issues. If you're searching for a nursing home, independent living community, memory care facility, or adult daycare, Care.com won't be the right platform for your needs.
Our Experience With Care.com
I began my search on Care.com by doing an online quiz, which was very quick and easy to use. This quiz asked me:
- When I need the care
- What type I’m looking for (i.e., in-home care, a senior living community, or “not sure”)
- Who needs care
- Their age
- How I would describe them in terms of their independence or need for supervision
- What sort of help they need (i.e., with everyday tasks like laundry; personal care like bathing, companionship, and mobility assistance; or memory care)
- How they’ll pay for the services
I did multiple searches on Care.com for both senior living communities and in-home care. However, every time I searched for senior living communities using multiple ZIP codes, I got the same message: “Unfortunately, no communities on Care.com match your needs.”
This was the case no matter how much supervision they needed, what they needed help with, nor the ZIP code. Sure, it’s only a sample size of three, but connecting people with facilities is never what Care.com did. It doesn’t list nursing homes on its services, so I’m unclear as to why it’s an option on the quiz in the first place.
Rather, it connects people with individual caregivers in their area — be it for seniors, children, pets, or students. When I tried to find in-home care, I had much more success and could easily see a list of people in my area, along with their daily rates and experiences.
I was excited that I got these results so quickly, but there was a catch: To be able to actually reach out to anyone, I had to pay for a premium account. I’ve detailed the pricing below.
But despite the annoying paid membership, I think that Care.com is a great way to find in-home caregivers. It’s certainly not a search you would start on Google, as that would lack background checks or any form of verification. But, at the same time, be sure to thoroughly interview your applicants and check references.
Care.com Costs
Care.com has a two-part cost structure: a premium membership that lets you contact background-checked caregivers, and the fees you pay to the caregivers themselves. The premium membership costs between $12.99 and $38.99 per month, depending on the length of your subscription (one month, three months, or 12 months). Most people won't need more than a month to choose a caregiver, so you'll likely pay around $12.99 to access the platform.
From there, caregivers set their own rates. In my research, rates ranged from about $17 to $50 an hour, with many experienced caregivers charging $20 to $35 per hour. To compare, the 2026 national median hourly cost for home health aides is $36, while homemaker services average $35 per hour.1
What Others Are Saying
Care.com's customer reviews are mixed. The company has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), but only 1.74 out of 5 stars from its customers as of January 2026.2 It also holds 2.9 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot.3
Bottom Line
Care.com makes it easy to find caregivers in your area at relatively affordable rates. While I wish Care.com didn't come with a subscription, it still will probably be much cheaper than placing your loved one in a nursing home — not to mention a better experience to get to age in place.
