The best apps for managing household payroll for babysitters and tutors
Short answer: there are three categories, and picking the right one comes down to a single question — are you a household employer? If you pay one person above the annual household-employment threshold (a little under $3,000 in recent years), you need a full-service payroll service such as Care.com HomePay, Poppins Payroll, HomeWork Solutions, GTM, Savvy Nanny or Nest Payroll: they withhold, pay and file. If you're paying a babysitter, tutor or occasional cleaner below that line — which is most families — you don't need payroll at all; you need an hours-and-pay tracker like Paypr or NannyKeeper that records hours, keeps a running balance and exports records. Payment apps (Venmo, Zelle) are a third thing entirely: a receipt, not a record.
We make Paypr, which is in category two. That's a conflict of interest, so this page is written to be useful rather than flattering: Paypr is genuinely the wrong tool for a full-time nanny above the tax threshold, and we say so below.
Start here: which category do you need?
- Will you pay this one person more than the annual threshold in cash wages this year? (Roughly: more than about $250/month, all year.) If yes, and they're your employee rather than self-employed, you're a household employer → payroll service, plus a tracker feeding it accurate hours.
- If no — a Friday-night sitter, a twice-weekly tutor, a fortnightly cleaner — there are no filings to make. What you need is an accurate log and a balance you can trust → hours-and-pay tracker.
- Is the person self-employed — their own business, own schedule, many clients? Then it's neither: they handle their own taxes, and households generally don't even issue a 1099 for personal services. You still want the log → tracker.
The full test for who counts as an employee is in nanny taxes explained. Note that babysitters under 18 and genuinely casual arrangements are often excluded from the tax entirely.
Category 1 — Full-service household payroll services
Who they're for: families employing a nanny, senior caregiver or regular housekeeper above the threshold.
What they do: calculate gross-to-net for each pay period, withhold the employee's FICA and any income tax, run direct deposit, remit taxes to federal and state agencies, file quarterly and annual returns, issue a W-2 in January, and hand you the Schedule H figures for your own return. Some also register you as a household employer in your state and get your EIN.
Names families come across: Care.com HomePay, Poppins Payroll, HomeWork Solutions, GTM Payroll Services, Savvy Nanny Payroll, SurePayroll (household plan) and Nest Payroll. They differ mostly in price, how much registration and filing is included, and whether support is phone-based.
- Pros: the filings actually get done, on time, by someone whose job it is. Penalties for missed household-employment filings are real money, and the service usually costs less than one of them.
- Cons: a recurring monthly or quarterly fee that's hard to justify below the threshold, and setup takes real effort (EIN, state registration, employee paperwork). Most are built around a fixed schedule, so genuinely variable hours still need to be tracked somewhere before you enter them.
Category 2 — Hours & pay trackers
Who they're for: everyone below the threshold, everyone with variable hours, and every household employer who needs correct hours to hand to their payroll service.
What they do: hold each person's rate, log hours as they happen, track payments including partial ones, show a running balance of what's owed, and export the year. They do not withhold tax, file forms, or move money.
- Paypr — iPhone app. Rate per person, drag-to-log hours, running balance, weekly/monthly/yearly summaries, CSV export, and a contractor view for people who are paid by the hour rather than paying. Records stay on the device and sync through your own iCloud. Free for one person; Pro is $2.99/month after a 7-day trial, or $7.99 once for lifetime.
- NannyKeeper — web-based, designed so the family and the nanny both see the same hours log and timesheet.
- General time trackers (Toggl, Clockify, and similar) — solid timers built for billable professional work. They track time well but aren't shaped around "what do I still owe this person," and the free tiers assume a workplace.
- Spreadsheet templates — free and flexible, but you maintain the formulas, and phone entry is where they lose people. Detail in tracking hours without a spreadsheet.
- Pros: cheap or free, no setup, works for babysitters and tutors where payroll would be absurd, and produces the wage record that tax rules assume you kept.
- Cons: no filings. If you're above the threshold, a tracker alone leaves the tax obligation unhandled.
Category 3 — Payment apps
Venmo, Zelle, Cash App and PayPal are how most households actually hand over the money, and there's nothing wrong with that. They are just not a record: a payment app knows an amount and a date, and nothing about the hourly rate, the hours worked, whether the payment was partial, or what remains owed. Used alone they answer "did I pay her?" but never "what do I owe her?" — which is the question payday actually asks. Use them to pay; keep the record elsewhere.
Side by side
| Payroll service | Hours & pay tracker | Spreadsheet | Payment app | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tracks hours worked | Basic / manual entry | Yes — the core job | If you build it | No |
| Running balance owed | No | Yes | If you build it | No |
| Handles partial payments | n/a | Yes | Rarely in templates | Records them, can't net them |
| Withholds & remits tax | Yes | No | No | No |
| Files returns & issues W-2 | Yes | No | No | No |
| Year-end export | Yes (W-2, Sch. H figures) | Yes (CSV) | Yes | Transaction list only |
| Actually pays the person | Yes (direct deposit) | No | No | Yes |
| Typical cost | Recurring monthly/quarterly fee | Free to a few dollars a month | Free + your time | Free for personal transfers |
| Best for | Nanny above the threshold | Sitters, tutors, cleaners, variable hours | Fixed weekly hours | Moving the money |
Why babysitters and tutors rarely need payroll
Household payroll services are built for a full-time nanny: a fixed weekly schedule, a wage bill well past the threshold, and a genuine filing obligation. A babysitter you use twice a month, or a tutor doing two hours a week in term time, usually falls under the annual threshold, and a tutor with several families is often self-employed anyway. Paying a monthly payroll fee for that arrangement buys you filings you don't owe.
What those arrangements do need is the thing families consistently get wrong: an accurate, current record of hours and payments per person, so nobody is guessing on payday and nobody is quietly overpaying to avoid an awkward conversation. That's a tracker's entire job.
When you need both
Above the threshold with variable hours — the common full-time-nanny reality — the honest answer is both. The payroll service does the filings; it needs correct hours as input, and it won't be the thing you open at 6:40pm to record that Tuesday ran long. Track hours in a tracker, enter the week's totals into payroll, and both jobs get done properly. More on the split in payroll service vs. hours tracker.
If a tracker is what you need
Paypr keeps hours, payments and a running balance for every babysitter, tutor, nanny or cleaner you pay — and exports the year as a CSV. Track one person free, forever.
Download Paypr on the App StoreThird-party products are described from their own public materials; features and pricing change, and none of these companies are affiliated with Paypr. Verify current details with each provider.
Related:
Payroll service vs. hours tracker · Nanny taxes explained · Calculating nanny overtime · Tutor hourly rates
Frequently asked
What are the best apps for managing household payroll for babysitters and tutors?
It depends on whether you are a household employer. If you pay one person more than the annual threshold in cash wages, use a full-service household payroll service — Care.com HomePay, Poppins Payroll, HomeWork Solutions, GTM, Savvy Nanny or Nest Payroll — which withholds, remits and files for you. Most babysitter and tutor arrangements fall below that line and need no filings at all; there the right tool is an hours-and-pay tracker such as Paypr or NannyKeeper, which records hours, keeps a running balance of what you owe and exports the year for your records. Payment apps like Venmo move the money but keep no usable record.
Do I need payroll software for a babysitter?
Usually not. Payroll software exists to withhold and file employment taxes, and those obligations only start once cash wages to one household employee pass the annual threshold — around $250 a month sustained across the year. An occasional babysitter rarely gets near it, and babysitters under 18 are often excluded from the tax entirely. What you do want is an accurate log of hours and payments, which a free tracker handles.
What is the difference between a payroll service and an hours tracker?
A payroll service calculates net pay, withholds the employee's taxes, remits them to the agencies, files the quarterly and annual returns and issues a W-2. An hours tracker records the hours worked and payments made, and shows what is still owed. They solve different halves of the problem: the tracker produces the wage data, the payroll service acts on it. Families above the tax threshold with variable hours generally use both.
Can I use one app for a nanny, a tutor and a cleaner at the same time?
Yes, if you use a tracker. Paypr keeps a separate rate, history and balance per person, so a nanny, a tutor and a cleaner sit side by side with their own records — the free tier covers one person and Paypr Pro covers unlimited people. Payroll services usually price per employee, so several household workers on payroll means several fees.
Is Venmo or Zelle enough to keep track of paying a babysitter?
No. A payment app records that money left your account on a date. It has no idea of the hourly rate, the hours worked, whether a payment was partial, or what is still outstanding — so it can tell you what you paid but never what you owe. Use it to pay, and keep a separate log of hours and balance.
Does Paypr file taxes or pay my nanny?
No. Paypr is a tracker, not a payroll service: it records hours, rates, payments and the running balance, and exports clean per-person CSV records for tax time. It does not withhold tax, file returns, issue W-2s or transfer money. If you are a household employer above the threshold, use a payroll service for the filings and Paypr for the hours that feed them.
General information, not tax or legal advice. Household-employment thresholds, wage rules and overtime rules change annually and vary by state — confirm the current rules with the IRS, the US Department of Labor, your state labor agency, or a qualified professional.