Nope! Sitter is free for babysitters but we wanted to make Sitter as useful as possible for parents – that means being able to use Sitter with all of your babysitters, not just the ones who use Sitter. As long as your babysitter is able to receive text messages, you can book that sitter through the app.

When you submit a booking request, a text message is sent to your babysitters. Here’s an example text message:

“Time to babysit! Jane Doe needs a babysitter for 2 children on Saturday, June 10 from 6:00 PM-10:00 PM at 123 Main St, Anytown. Would you like this job? Reply Y or N.”

Your babysitter will reply to the text message. If they accept, you will get a message that looks like this:

“Yay! Sally has agreed to babysit on Saturday, June 10 from 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM.”

While you can book a babysitter without them being on the app, they must be on Sitter in order to be able to pay them through the app. We highly encourage babysitters to join the app so they can easily manage their bookings, set their rates, get reminders, view family profiles, see shared connections, and get paid through the app.