The honest comparison
Babysitter vs nanny. Which one fits?
The two words get used interchangeably and they shouldn't. They're different products at different prices for different families. Here's the actual breakdown — and the third option most Brooklyn parents don't know exists.
Babysitter
One-off, hourly, evening-shaped.
- Commitment: Per session
- Hours: Usually 3–6
- Pay: Hourly, end-of-night cash/Venmo
- Taxes: None on your end (independent contractor)
- Same person every time? Usually no
- Cost in Brooklyn: $20–$32/hr
Nanny (full-time)
Household-embedded, salaried, daily.
- Commitment: Long-term contract
- Hours: 30–50/week
- Pay: Salary or hourly + benefits
- Taxes: You're the employer — payroll, W-2, withholdings
- Same person every time? Yes — that's the whole point
- Cost in Brooklyn: $25–$45/hr + agency fee + benefits
Which one do you actually need?
Three honest scenarios.
Both parents work full-time, kids under 5
This is the textbook nanny case. 40+ hours of weekly coverage, consistency matters more than flexibility. Pay the agency fee, set up payroll, do it right.
Two date nights a month + one Saturday afternoon
This is a babysitter. ~10 hours/month, doesn't justify a nanny's overhead. Book individually, hourly.
10–25 hours a week, but you don't want the payroll
This is the gap nobody's talking about — too much for one-off sitters, too little for a nanny. The third option.
The third option
Recurring babysitter. The same face, every week, no payroll.
Same sitter every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. Or every Saturday night. Or every weekday from 3 to 6. Hourly rate, paid per session, no payroll because she's an independent contractor — not a household employee.
You get the consistency the kids need (and the bedtime routine they don't have to renegotiate every week) without the full-time commitment, the contract, or the W-2 paperwork. It's the shape most Brooklyn families actually need but rarely find packaged.
That's what we do. Read more on recurring slots or the nanny-comparison version.
When we'll tell you to hire a real nanny
If you need 30+ hours of guaranteed weekly coverage, every week, with sick-day backfill — we're not your right answer and we'll tell you so on the phone. The right move is a full-time nanny placed by an agency: Adventure Nannies, NY Nanny Center, Town & Country are the names you'll see.
For the 4–25 hour-a-week range with a real human you trust: that's us.