A carer app for your family costs anything from nothing to roughly the price of a takeaway a month, but only if you pick the right kind of app. Search for "caregiver app cost" and you will also find hiring marketplaces, US-style visit-verification tools and software priced for care businesses, and those cost very differently. This guide sorts them out so you can see what you would actually pay to coordinate care for your mum, dad or another elderly relative.
We make KinCarer, so we have a view, and we say where it fits. We have kept to prices we can point to and have not guessed at anyone else's.
TL;DR
- There are three kinds of app people lump together: family coordination apps, marketplaces for hiring a carer, and software sold to care businesses. Only the first is built for a family sharing care.
- KinCarer's Family+ plan is £9.99 per month per family or £69.99 per year per family, bought through the App Store or Google Play. There is also a free plan and a free trial.
- Care.com has a free membership and a paid Premium tier, but it is for finding and hiring a carer, not for running a care plan day to day.
- Care provider software is priced per user per month, for example from £10 per user per month for Care App, so it is not a sensible fit for a family.
- Judge any app on who pays, who can join for free, and whether paid carers and siblings can be added without extra charges.
Table of Contents
- Three kinds of "carer app" with three kinds of price
- What you would pay: the options side by side
- What KinCarer costs
- What a family actually needs from an app
- A worked example: what a year might cost
- Why the hiring and provider tools are not the same thing
- Perspective: why we price per family
- Try KinCarer for your family
- How to choose without overspending
- FAQ
- Sources
Three kinds of "carer app" with three kinds of price
The first thing that confuses families is that the same search brings up products built for completely different buyers. The price only makes sense once you know which kind you are looking at.
Family coordination apps. These are for relatives who share the load: tasks, appointments, medication reminders, check-ins, notes and handovers in one place. You usually pay a flat subscription for the family, not per person. KinCarer sits here.
Hiring marketplaces. These help you find and employ a carer or other help. Care.com UK lets you create an account, post a job, review profiles, message candidates, interview, check references and hire. That is a different job from organising care once someone is in place.
Software for care businesses. Home care agencies and care homes buy rota, visit-recording and compliance tools, and the pricing reflects that. Care App's comparison page says its pricing for care providers starts from £10 per user per month, with care setting editions starting at £12 per user per month. It also notes that Log my Care offers a free plan for up to 10 service users, with other pricing varying by provider. Those are costs for a business with staff, which is not your situation as a family.
Remember: if a price is quoted "per user" or "per service user", the product is almost certainly aimed at an agency. A family should look for one price that covers the whole circle.
What you would pay: the options side by side
Here is how the main routes compare for a family in the UK. We only list figures we can attribute, and we say plainly where a price is something you need to check in the store.
| Option | Built for | Cost model | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| KinCarer | Families sharing care of an elderly relative | Free plan and free trial, then Family+ at £9.99 per month per family or £69.99 per year per family | Shared care circle, tasks, appointments, check-ins, medication reminders, notes, handovers, documents, emergency contacts, optional AI assistant |
| Care.com UK | Finding and hiring a carer | Free Basic Membership; paid Premium tier | Basic: post jobs, browse active carers, Safety Center. Premium: full profiles and reviews, contacting carers, background checks to buy |
| Care App | Care providers | From £10 per user per month; care setting editions from £12 per user per month | Provider-side care management |
| Log my Care | Care providers | Free plan for up to 10 service users; other pricing varies by provider | Provider-side care records |
The Care.com description of its memberships confirms the free Basic Membership covers posting jobs, browsing active caregivers, the Safety Center, newsletters and community content, and that Premium adds full profiles and reviews, contacting caregivers and buying background checks. Care.com sets its prices by market, so check the current UK amount on its own page before you commit.
What KinCarer costs
KinCarer offers free and paid plans, bought through the App Store and Google Play. The paid plan is Family+:
- £9.99 per month per family
- £69.99 per year per family
The annual price works out at less than the cost of seven months on the monthly plan, so if you know care will go on for the foreseeable future, paying yearly is the cheaper way to do it. Details of the plan are on the Family+ page.
The important phrase is "per family". As we design it, one subscription covers everyone you invite into the care circle, so you are not working out a bill for each sibling, aunt or paid carer. Check the plan page and the store listing for the exact limits and what the free plan includes before you start.
What a family actually needs from an app
Price matters, but a cheap app that nobody uses costs more than a modest one that does. Think about how care really runs in a family. One person ends up the organiser, updates are buried in a WhatsApp thread, and a sibling who lives two hours away has no idea whether the appointment happened. The app has to fix that, not add another place to look.
Before comparing prices, ask these questions.
Who has to pay for it to work?
If every relative needs their own subscription, the cost multiplies and someone will inevitably drop out. A family-level price is simpler. Ask whether invited people, including a paid carer from a home care agency or a neighbour who pops in, can join without paying.
What can you do for free?
A free plan or trial lets you test it with real life: add mum's appointments, invite one sibling, set a medication reminder. If it does not feel easier within a week or two, you have lost nothing. Our guide to free carer apps for UK families walks through setting one up quickly.
Does it cover the daily detail?
Look for tasks that can be assigned, appointments, check-ins, notes and a handover update so that whoever is on duty knows what has happened. If you also manage tablets, a medication reminder app comparison is worth reading alongside this one.
Can you control who sees what?
A parent's information is personal. Good apps let you decide permissions, so a cousin can see the calendar without seeing everything in the notes. For more on this, see our piece on shared notes, permissions and handovers.
Does it make life easier for the person doing most of it?
The aim is to share the load, not to give the main carer another admin job. Siblings who each own a few tasks tend to argue less about who did what. We lay out a trial for that in our five-step care plan app trial.
A worked example: what a year might cost
Say you and your two siblings share care of your mum, who lives alone, and a home care agency visits some mornings. You want one place for appointments, medication reminders and handover notes.
- On the monthly plan: £9.99 a month for the family. Twelve months would come to £119.88.
- On the annual plan: £69.99 for the year for the family.
- Split three ways: that is £23.33 each across the year on the annual plan, with no separate charge for the agency's staff being invited.
These are simple sums from the published KinCarer prices. We have not made any claims about what you might save elsewhere, because the real saving is harder to count: fewer phone calls asking "did anyone take her to the clinic?", and fewer missed updates.
Why the hiring and provider tools are not the same thing
It is easy to assume that a marketplace subscription helps you manage care. It helps you find someone. If you are looking for a paid carer, a platform like Care.com can be a useful step, and once the person is in place, a family app keeps the arrangement organised for everyone.
Provider software is the other trap. Per-user pricing looks small at £10 or £12, but the product assumes a rota, staff accounts and records for a care business. KinCarer is deliberately not for care homes, paid staff rota management or clinical care providers. It is for the family around one person.
Perspective: why we price per family
We built KinCarer because we kept hearing the same story from families. One person, usually a daughter, becomes the keeper of every detail, while everyone else asks for updates by text.
That is why we charge per family rather than per person. Care is a shared effort, and we do not want cost to be the reason a brother or a paid carer is left out of the circle. Our aim is for one subscription to cover everyone you invite.
We also think an app should be quick to start. Our design goal is rapid setup, controlled permissions and one clear record of what has happened and what is still to do. Clara, our optional AI assistant, helps you search and summarise what is in your care circle. Clara does not give medical, legal or clinical advice, and we would never want it to stand in for your GP or pharmacist.
If you are carrying the organising on your own, the best thing you can do for yourself is share it.
KinCarer
Try KinCarer for your family
KinCarer gives your family a shared care circle: tasks, appointments, check-ins, medication reminders, notes and handover updates in one place, with relatives and paid carers invited into the same view. You can start on the free plan and trial, then move to Family+ at £9.99 per month or £69.99 per year per family if it suits you.
See KinCarer's care app for families, or go straight to the Family+ plan to see what is included.
How to choose without overspending
- Decide what you need first. If you need to find a carer, start with a hiring service. If you already have care in place and need to coordinate it, choose a family app.
- Start free. Use a free plan or trial with real tasks for two weeks.
- Invite the people who matter. The app only works if siblings and paid carers actually use it.
- Pick the billing period last. Monthly gives flexibility while you test. Annual costs less over a year if you are staying.
- Check the store listing. Prices are set in the App Store and Google Play, so confirm the current amount and any in-app terms before you subscribe.
If you are comparing alternatives to a single-purpose reminder app, our comparison of Medisafe alternatives for families and our list of care team app features can help. For those arranging visits and records with the NHS, see what UK carers need from a caregiving app. You can also browse the wider caring for an elderly parent guides.
FAQ
Is there a free app for family carers to share tasks and appointments?
Yes. KinCarer has a free plan, and you can try it before moving to a paid plan. Check the store listing for what the free plan includes. Our guide to free carer apps shows how to set one up quickly.
Do I need to pay for each family member?
Not with KinCarer. Family+ is priced per family at £9.99 per month or £69.99 per year, and one subscription is designed to cover everyone you invite, including relatives and paid carers. Some tools charge per user, so always check how a price is counted.
Is Care.com the same as a carer coordination app?
No. Care.com UK is built for finding and hiring help: posting a job, reviewing profiles, messaging and checking references. A coordination app like KinCarer is for organising care among the family and carers once help is in place.
Why do some care apps cost much more?
Usually because they are sold to care businesses, which pay per user for rotas, records and compliance features. Care App lists provider pricing from £10 per user per month, for example. A family does not need that kind of tool.