The honest answer is that most vendors will not tell you until you have sat through a demo, and the figure on the quote is rarely the figure you pay. This guide sets out the four ways care software is priced, the charges that appear after the headline, what a typical domiciliary agency actually ends up paying, and how to put two quotes side by side. Our own prices are on the page because we think they should be.
For a UK domiciliary care agency, care management software runs from roughly £50 to £100 a month at the small end for an all-in subscription, to £250 a month and upwards for the established platforms once per-client charges are added, and into four figures a month for larger agencies on per-carer or per-client pricing. Setup fees, where charged, range from a few hundred pounds to several thousand. Almost none of this is on the vendors' websites, which is why the question gets searched so often.
Per client. A monthly charge for each service user on the system. Simple to understand and the most expensive way to grow: every new client raises the bill, and agencies end up archiving records to save money, which is the opposite of what a care record is for.
Per carer. A monthly charge per active care worker, sometimes per login. Fairer for growth in clients, but watch the definition of active, and whether office staff, managers and bank carers count.
Per module. A base price plus add-ons: eMAR, call monitoring, family app, timesheets, reports. The headline looks low and the real system costs two or three times more once the modules an agency actually needs are switched on.
Flat tier. A band by size, everything included, no per-client or per-module charges. The simplest to budget and the rarest, because it means publishing the price.
Take an agency with 20 carers and 60 service users. On a per-client model at £4 to £5 per client per month, the care record alone is £240 to £300 a month before anything else. On a platform-plus-modules model, a £150 base with eMAR, monitoring and a family app added commonly lands between £250 and £400 a month, plus a setup fee in the hundreds or low thousands and a twelve-month term. On a flat tier that includes everything, the same agency pays one figure a month and can grow its client list without raising it. Over a year the difference between the models for an agency this size is typically £1,500 to £3,000, and more as the client list grows.
Put both on a twelve-month basis, for your real numbers: carers, clients, office logins. Add the setup fee. Add every module you would actually switch on. Add the apps if they are separate. Note the minimum term and the notice period. Then divide by twelve for a true monthly figure. Finally, ask what it will be in a year when you have ten more clients, because that is where per-client pricing bites. Our guide to choosing home care software has the twelve questions to ask on the demo.
Carelo is a flat tier by size, everything included: £59 a month for up to 15 active carers, £89 for up to 30, £119 for up to 50, £169 for up to 100 and £249 for unlimited carers, excluding VAT. Unlimited service users and office logins on every tier. The carer app and the family app are included. No setup fee, no per-client charge, no minimum term, and migration from your current system is free and verified before you switch. The full table is on the pricing page, and it is the same price for everyone.
For families who employ their own carers rather than agencies, the Personal plan is £30 a month per household.
Because the price depends on how the sales conversation goes, and because per-client and per-module models are hard to explain on a web page. Published prices are a sign the model is simple.
Not necessarily. Much of the cost in established platforms is sales, onboarding teams and legacy. Judge on the demo: can the office see a late call now, can a carer record medication at the door, do timesheets come from real check-ins.
Spreadsheets, and our free rota template is a good one. Free software for care records with GPS monitoring and eMAR does not really exist, because the hosting, security and support have to be paid for.
With Carelo, yes, free and verified. With others, ask explicitly; it is the item most often left out of the quote.
Care home software is priced differently, usually per bed, and is outside this guide. Carelo is built for domiciliary care only.
From £59 a month. No setup fee. No minimum term. Free migration.
See the full pricing table