Babysits is the biggest international babysitting platform operating in Australia: a Dutch company founded in 2008, running one site in 121 or more countries, with a Sydney directory that goes suburb by suburb and quotes 1,740 active babysitters in the city. It is a booking platform. Every member verifies their ID before they can message, families subscribe to start conversations, and bookings run through the site with a fee on top. We are an introduction service, run by two parents in Sydney, free for both sides, and we check a babysitter's Working With Children Check with the register rather than by looking at the card.
What a year costs
A babysitter pays nothing on Babysits, and keeps what they earn. That is the same here, and it is worth saying first because it is where the two sites agree.
A family is different. Free to reply, but starting a conversation needs Premium: $39.99 a month, $79.98 a quarter or $159.96 a year. Each booking made through the site then carries a fee on top. A "member protection" fee of 15% for free members, or 3% on Premium, on every booking made through the site. A family on the yearly rate booking one babysitter a fortnight at $140 a night pays about $160 in subscription and, at the 3% Premium members pay, around $110 in booking fees over the year, on top of the babysitting. On the monthly rate it is closer to $590.
Here the same family pays the babysitter and nothing else. There is no subscription, no fee on a booking, and no "Book now" button to add one to, because we never see the money. Our pricing page says so in full, and it says babysitters and nannies stay free permanently.
What each one checks
Babysits verifies identity, and does it properly: nobody on the site can send or reply to a message until their ID has been checked, families included, with a government photo ID and a selfie. Everyone you talk to there has passed that. We check a government ID with a matching selfie too, but ours is opt-in for babysitters and nannies and optional for families, so a profile here says whether it has happened.
The Working With Children Check is where the two sites part ways. On Babysits a babysitter can upload their WWCC, and the site checks that the document looks authentic and that the name and date of birth on it match the ID. That is a check of the card. It is not, as far as their help pages say, a check with the register, and a card can have expired or been cancelled since it was printed.
Here a babysitter who opts in has their WWCC looked up by a person with the NSW Office of the Children's Guardian, which returns the Check's current status. Only a Cleared result passes, the name and date of birth have to match the ID, and the badge shows the month we did it. What the badge means has the whole procedure, and the short version is: the badge means ID and WWCC checked by us, and nothing less gets one.
Neither site checks first aid. Both record it as the babysitter's own claim; we label it as one wherever it appears.
Where Babysits is better
The ID gate, first. Because every member there has verified their identity before they can send a message, a family knows the person writing to them is who the profile says, and so does a babysitter. Ours is shown rather than required, and a family here can choose to message an unchecked profile. We think the choice should be theirs, but it is a choice Babysits does not make you make.
Size, second. 1,740 active babysitters in Sydney by their count, suburb pages across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and a search that works in 121 or more countries if you move. Our count is in the table above and it is a Sydney number.
The booking machinery, third. Book in the site, pay in the site, a refund if the babysitter cancels or does not turn up, and a hint of what other babysitters nearby are charging when someone sets a rate. If you want a booking system, they have built one and we have not.
Where we are better
The WWCC. Theirs checks that the card is genuine and belongs to the person. Ours asks the register whether the Check is current, which is the question that matters, and it is done by a person rather than a model. A family here can filter to verified profiles and see the month the Check was confirmed. How to check a babysitter's WWCC is our guide to doing it by hand, and it is worth reading whichever site you use, because a check you run yourself is the one you can be sure of.
Money for families, second. Nothing here sits behind a subscription. You can read every profile, message anyone, and post a job ad that emails the babysitters and nannies who travel to your suburb, with no card entered anywhere.
The rate, third. Both sites let the babysitter set it. Babysits shows a single flat rate. Here a babysitter sets a range, and a family's ad can suggest a figure but never sets one.
Who answers, last. Babysits is one site in 121 or more countries, run by a company in the Netherlands. We are two parents in the Inner West. The support email comes to us, and the WWCC checks are done by one of us.
If you are a family in Sydney
If you want a booking system with a payment flow and a refund policy, Babysits has one, and it costs a subscription plus a cut to use it. If you want to read profiles, message a few babysitters, meet one, and pay them directly, that is what this site is for, and it is free. Start here because it costs nothing to look, and if your suburb is still thin the page will say so rather than pad the list.
Whichever you use, ask about the WWCC. On Babysits a "checked" WWCC means the card looked genuine. Here, look for the badge and the month.
If you are a babysitter or nanny
Babysits costs you nothing and neither do we, so this one is about reach and about what a family sees. Their reach is bigger. What a family sees here that they cannot see there is a WWCC that somebody looked up, a rate range rather than one number, and two-way reviews. Listing takes about three minutes, verification costs you nothing, and a profile here does not compete with a profile there. Keep both.
One thing in their favour to weigh: every family who messages you on Babysits has verified their ID. Here that is optional for families, though a verified babysitter can ask a family to do it from the conversation.
Pick Babysits if
You want bookings handled
- You want to book and pay inside the site, with a refund if a babysitter cancels
- You want every person you talk to, family or babysitter, to have passed an ID check
- You are outside Sydney, or you move between countries
Pick AusBabysitters if
You want the WWCC looked up and nobody paid
- You want the Working With Children Check confirmed with the register, not just the card
- You would rather message babysitters free than pay a subscription to open a conversation
- You want the people running the site to be in the same city as you
