The two competitors and the staff-only board, side by side
| Attribute | Care.com | Indeed | ChildcareHires |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A care marketplace whose early-learning product bundles a family-facing center profile with staff job posts | A general job site covering every industry | A job board built only for early-education jobs at childcare centers, preschools, Head Start programs and other early education programs |
| Who the product serves | One product pitched to "connect with parents, fill spots, and recruit your staff" — family enrollment and hiring together | Employers hiring for any role in any industry, childcare included | Early educators looking for work and the centers hiring them; not families looking for care |
| Pricing model | Sign-up product (List your center); the price is not published | Free job posts within terms, quality standards and usage limits; Sponsored Jobs charged per click or started application against a budget you set | Flat price per post, or monthly slot plans for centers that hire constantly |
| Published price | Not published | Not published — the Standard price is generated by Indeed's recommendation system, and a per-job minimum appears on the sponsorship page | $199 Standard or $399 Featured per post at launch pricing (regular $299 and $499); slot plans $899 or $1,749 a month |
| Free option | Not published | Many jobs can be posted for free, subject to Indeed's terms, conditions, quality standards and usage limits | None for employers; searching and applying are free for job seekers |
| Contract and cancellation | Not published | No long-term contracts, you set the ad duration, and a Sponsored Job plan can be cancelled at any time | None — a single post is a one-time payment; slot plans bill monthly and cancel anytime |
| Offer for a first posting | None published | $75 credit to sponsor your first job (new US accounts; expires one year after account creation) | Launch pricing: $199 Standard, $399 Featured (regular $299 and $499) |
| How candidates apply | Not published on the early-learning page | On Indeed — a started application is one of the billable interactions | On the center's own application page or inbox; no candidate profiles or résumé database |
As of October 2026, checked on each company's own website.
What does Care.com offer a childcare center that is hiring staff?
Care.com pitches early learning centers one product.
Its List Your Business page pitches it in a single line: "Connect with parents, fill spots, and recruit your staff — all with the support of our team behind you."
The hiring half is a job post: "Publish a job in minutes and you could start seeing applications within hours," the page says.
The enrollment half is a center profile that families can find, with tour booking, so the same listing works on both sides of a center's week.
There are two doors in — a "Get started" / "List your center" sign-up, with separate paths "For small businesses" and "For national partners." What is not on the page is a price.
Two notes in Care.com's own words.
The page says "Over 10k+ care related businesses have listed with us" and pitches listings "where 29 million families have turned to find care" — both self-reported counts.
And the site footer states that Care.com "does not employ any caregiver," and that information in member profiles, job posts, applications and messages "is created by users of our site" and "not generated or verified by Care.com."
For a director, that framing is the decision: Care.com's center product is enrollment-first with recruiting built in.
It fits when family enrollment and staff hiring are both on your list — and when only the hiring half is, the job posts come inside that enrollment bundle.
What does Indeed offer a childcare center that is hiring staff?
Indeed is a general job site, and its pitch to a childcare center is volume.
Many jobs can be posted for free, "subject to Indeed's terms, conditions, quality standards, and usage limits" — though Indeed also "reserves the right to require that a job must be sponsored for any reason," and jobs aggregated from a company website or published from an applicant tracking system are sponsored-only.
When you sponsor, you pick a tier.
The pricing page lists Free, Standard ("3X more applications than free"), Premium ("2X as often in top search results," appearing more often in the top 3 search results) and Premium Plus in Beta (an "AI-powered Recruiting Assistant").
Standard comes with "No long-term contracts" and "You set the ad duration," and a Sponsored Job plan is one you "can cancel at any time."
There is no published price for the sponsored tiers. "The Standard price is generated based on Indeed's recommendation system," the minimum price for a job appears on its sponsorship page, you can set a different amount as long as it meets that minimum, and the Premium price is set above Standard.
Billing follows spend: invoices reflect "the amount spent on job seeker interactions like clicks or started applications," and Indeed bills on the first day of the month or when account spending reaches $500, whichever comes first.
New US accounts get a nudge to try sponsoring — Indeed's preschool-teacher hiring page offers "a $75 credit to sponsor your first job," which expires one year after account creation, after which charges follow the Sponsored Job budget.
What does each cost a center that only needs staff?
Care.com's early-learning page does not say.
The page we read carries no price, no credit and no self-serve checkout — a center signs up through List your center and pricing follows from there.
Whatever the quote is, it covers the family-enrollment product with job posts attached.
Indeed's floor is free — postings within the usage limits — and its ceiling is the budget you set per sponsored job above that job's minimum, so the same posting can cost nothing or a running bill of per-click and per-application charges.
The $75 credit covers a new US account's first sponsored job.
ChildcareHires publishes its prices: $199 for a Standard post or $399 for Featured at introductory launch pricing (regular prices $299 and $499), each a one-time payment for a 30-day post, or a slot plan at $899 a month for up to 10 posts live at once or $1,749 a month for up to 25.
Slot plans bill monthly and cancel anytime.
When is Care.com the better fit, and when is Indeed?
Care.com is the better fit when hiring is only half the job.
A center that also wants families to find its program, book tours and enroll gets both sides from one sign-up, with separate tracks for small businesses and national partners.
A center that only needs staff is buying an enrollment product to get a job board.
Indeed is the better fit when the need is purely postings.
It starts free within usage limits, scales to a sponsored budget you control per job, carries no long-term contract, and lets you set the ad duration and cancel at any time.
The trade is screening: Indeed is a general site covering every industry, so your team reads applications from outside early education too.
The $75 credit for new US accounts goes toward a first sponsored job.
Both are general-purpose in different ways — Care.com is a family-care marketplace, and Indeed covers every industry — and neither publishes a fixed price: Care.com's early-learning page carries no price, and Indeed's Sponsored Jobs price is generated per job.
Where does ChildcareHires fit?
ChildcareHires is the staff-only option between the two: a job board built only for early-education jobs, from infant, toddler, preschool and pre-K teachers to floaters, cooks, drivers and directors, across 31 role pages.
A Standard post is $199 and a Featured post $399 at launch pricing, each a one-time payment for a 30-day post with no contract; centers that hire constantly can take a slot plan at $899 or $1,749 a month.
Candidates who click Apply go to the center's own application page or inbox — there are no candidate profiles or résumé database — and ChildcareHires does not screen candidates or guarantee that a listing results in a hire.
It also does not help families find, arrange or compare childcare: the board is for early educators looking for work and the centers hiring them, not for parents.
The plain company facts are on the fact sheet, and current prices are on the pricing page.
Which one should you choose?
Choose Care.com if…
- You want families to find your program, book tours and enroll from the same product that carries your job posts.
- You would rather run enrollment marketing and staff recruiting through one vendor than two.
- You operate several sites and want the national-partners track.
- You are comfortable getting pricing through a sign-up flow instead of a published rate card.
Choose Indeed if…
- You want to start with free postings and see whether they fill the role before spending anything.
- You want control over spend: set each job's budget above its minimum, set the ad duration, cancel at any time.
- You are hiring several different roles at once — teachers, a cook, a driver — and want them on one general site.
- Your team can screen a high volume of applications itself.
Choose ChildcareHires if…
- You only need staff — you are not shopping for family-enrollment features.
- You want a published flat price, $199 or $399 a post at launch pricing, instead of a quote or a per-click bill.
- You want applications to arrive at your own page or inbox, with no candidate database to manage.
- You want no contract, and a single post that never renews.
Frequently asked questions
Is Care.com or Indeed better for hiring preschool teachers?
It depends on what else you are buying.
Care.com's early-learning product bundles a family-facing center profile with job posts, which suits a center that also wants enrollment — and it publishes no price.
Indeed posts jobs free within usage limits and charges per click or started application when you sponsor, with a $75 credit for new US accounts, which suits a center that only needs postings and can screen volume.
A staff-only board, ChildcareHires, is the third option at a flat $199 launch price per post.
How much does Care.com cost a childcare center?
The early-learning List Your Business page publishes no price.
Sign-up runs through a Get started / List your center flow, with separate tracks for small businesses and national partners, so pricing arrives after that step, not on the page.
Whatever the quote is, it covers the combined product: a family-facing profile plus staff job posts.
How much does a Sponsored Job on Indeed cost?
Indeed publishes no fixed price.
The Standard price is generated by its recommendation system, the minimum for a job appears on its sponsorship page, and you can set a different amount as long as it meets that minimum; Premium is set above Standard.
Invoices reflect job seeker interactions like clicks or started applications, billed on the first day of the month or when account spending reaches $500.
Can I post a childcare job on Indeed for free?
Often, yes.
Many jobs can be posted free, subject to Indeed's terms, conditions, quality standards and usage limits — though Indeed can require sponsorship for any reason, and jobs aggregated from a company website or published from an ATS are sponsored-only.
Sponsored placement is what buys reach: Standard advertises 3X more applications than free.
Does Care.com verify what's in job posts and applications?
Not according to its footer.
Care.com's footer states that it does not employ any caregiver and that information in member profiles, job posts, applications and messages is created by users of its site and not generated or verified by Care.com.
ChildcareHires does not screen candidates — applicants go to the center's own application page or inbox.
Does ChildcareHires help families find childcare?
No. ChildcareHires is a job board for early-education staff and the centers hiring them; it does not help families find, arrange or compare childcare.
Employers pay $199 for a Standard 30-day post or $399 for Featured at launch pricing, and searching and applying are free for job seekers.
Do I need both Care.com and Indeed to staff a center?
Not necessarily.
If staff are all you need, Indeed's free and sponsored postings cover it, and a Care.com sign-up means taking on family-enrollment features you may not use.
Care.com makes sense when tours and enrollment are the goal and the job posts come along with them.
Where these facts come from
- Care.com: care.com/app/pn-business/early-learning-centers (checked October 8, 2026)
- Indeed: indeed.com/hire/pricing (checked October 8, 2026)
- Indeed: indeed.com/hire/how-to-hire/preschool-teacher (checked October 8, 2026)