No membership. No surprises at 3 a.m.
You pay for the booking you make. Your sitter sets the rate and keeps all of it. Our service fee is added on top and shown before you pay. Every rule is on this page.
Estimate your night
Move the sliders to match your plans and a typical sitter rate. This is an estimate: the quote shown when you book a particular sitter is the price.
Your estimate
- 6 hours × $25.00
- $150.00
- After-midnight premium, 1 hour × $5
- $5.00
- Ride-home stipend
- $25.00
- Service fee (15%)
- $23.25
- Estimated total
- $203.25
Your sitter receives $180.00 of this, before any tip.
This is an estimate. The quote you see before you pay is the price; tips and any late-return overtime are separate.
What goes into a quote
| Item | Amount | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Membership | $0 | There is none. No sign-up fee, no subscription, no charge until you confirm a booking. |
| Hourly rate | $18 to $60 | Set by each sitter and shown on their profile. Minimum billable awake time is 3 hours. |
| Extra children | +$3/hr each | For each child beyond two. Up to four children per booking, or two if any child is under 12 months. |
| After-midnight premium | +$5/hr | For awake hours between midnight and 6 a.m. It does not apply to the sleeping part of an overnight. |
| Overnight flat fee | $150 to $400 | Set by each sitter. Awake hours before bedtime are billed hourly; from bedtime to morning is the flat fee. |
| Ride-home stipend | $25 | Added when a booking that is not an overnight ends between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Paid to the sitter in full. |
| Service fee | 15% | Of the sitter's subtotal (hourly, premium and overnight fee; not the ride stipend). Added on top and paid by the parent. |
| Shared-sit service fee | 10% | When two or three families share one sitter at a host home. The total is split evenly per family. |
| Partner codes | Varies | A code from an event organiser or club takes a percentage off the service fee, never off the sitter's pay. |
| Tips | Optional | A separate charge after the sit. All of it goes to the sitter, and we take no fee on it. |
Where the money goes
Your sitter receives their full hourly rate, the extra-child add-on, the after-midnight premium, the overnight fee, the ride-home stipend, any overtime and every tip. The service fee is the only part SwingSitters keeps. It pays for vetting, payments, support and running the service.
When you are charged
You pay by card when a sitter has accepted your request; that payment confirms the booking. Your card is saved so that late-return overtime and any tip you choose to add can be charged afterwards. Sitters are paid out 24 hours after checkout unless an incident is open.
Running late happens. Here is the arithmetic.
We would rather you were honest about a late night than optimistic about an early one.
- 15 minutes of graceTraffic, a slow goodbye. No charge.
- Then overtime in 15-minute blocksAt 1.5× the booking's hourly rate, including any extra-child add-on.
- Charged after checkoutTo your saved card, once the sitter has checked out.
- All of it goes to the sitterWe take no fee on overtime.
Back at 1:40 a.m. instead of 1:00
$25 an hour, two children.
- Minutes late
- 40
- Less grace period
- −15
- Billable: 25 minutes, in 15-minute blocks
- 2 blocks
- Overtime rate, 1.5 × $25.00
- $37.50/hr
- Overtime, 0.5 hour
- $18.75
The easy answer is the overnight. If the evening has no natural end, book a sitter who stays until morning. The price is fixed before the night begins, and nobody is clock-watching.
Plans change. Sitters still need to eat.
A sitter who holds a Saturday night for you has turned down other work. The policy is simple and the same for everyone.
| When you cancel | What you are refunded | What the sitter is paid |
|---|---|---|
| More than 24 hours before the start | Everything | Nothing |
| Between 24 hours and 2 hours before | Everything except the sitter's payment | 50% of the sitter subtotal |
| Less than 2 hours before, or a no-show | Everything except the sitter's payment | 3 hours at the booking's hourly rate |
| The sitter cancels | Everything | Nothing |
The "sitter subtotal" is the hourly charges, after-midnight premium and overnight fee, before the ride stipend and service fee. The full text is in the Cancellation Policy.
Two things worth knowing
Tips
Tipping is optional and always appreciated at 3 a.m. You can add a tip from the booking after the sit. It is charged separately, and the sitter receives all of it.
If you book the same sitter often: household-employer taxes
SwingSitters is a marketplace. Sitters are independent and are not our employees, and we do not withhold taxes for anyone. Under federal rules, a family that pays a household worker a yearly threshold amount or more may be that worker's employer for tax purposes. For 2026 the threshold is $3,000 or more in cash wages paid to any one sitter in the calendar year.
Your account shows a yearly total paid to each sitter so that you can see where you stand. We are not tax advisers, and state rules differ. If you are near the threshold, talk to a tax adviser.
See real rates from sitters near you.
Creating an account is free, and you are not charged until you confirm a booking.