Next Loop Co.For home care agency owners
What should a small private-pay agency look for in home care scheduling software?
The three jobs it has to do, what vendors actually publish about price, whether you need EVV, and the questions to ask in every demo.
The short version
Look for three things before price: how it fills an open shift (who gets asked, in what order, and whether it checks hours first), whether payroll and billing match the visits that really happened, and how families hear about a change. Most vendors don't publish prices, so get every fee and the contract length in writing.
Start with who pays you
This one question sorts the whole market. If any of your clients are Medi-Cal funded, California's electronic visit verification (EVV) can apply to those visits. The state has its own EVV system, and you can use a vendor's instead, so ask every vendor how they handle it and what it costs.
If every client pays you directly, the state's EVV FAQ covers Medi-Cal visits in the home and doesn't say anything about private pay. So if a vendor wants to charge you for EVV, ask DHCS first at [email protected]. Day to day, what you need from non medical home care scheduling software is plain: a schedule your caregivers can see on their phones, a way to fill a shift when someone calls off, payroll that matches the hours worked, and invoices families understand.
A lot of the “best software” lists you'll find are written by a software vendor. This page is written for the owner-run, private-pay agency with somewhere between ten and forty caregivers.
The three jobs it has to do
1. Fill an open shift without you calling round all night
This is where a small agency feels it. A caregiver calls off at 10pm for a morning shift, and someone has to work down a list. Good software asks the right people in the right order: the caregivers who already know the client, then those who want more hours, and nobody who'd go into overtime. It tells the others when the shift is filled. In the demo, ask to see that happen, start to finish.
You're not the only one who feels this. In a 2025 survey sponsored by AxisCare, a scheduling software company, 51% of more than 250 home care leaders put client and caregiver scheduling in their top three of 12 systems to develop. That's a national, all-payer survey, not a California one.
If you want the order written out before you shop, it's on the page about covering a caregiver call-off.
2. Keep payroll and billing matched to the visits that really happened
A visit runs 20 minutes long. A caregiver forgets to clock out. A family cancels when the caregiver is already at the door. Each of those has to show up the same way in payroll and on the family's invoice, without you typing it twice. Ask what happens when you edit one visit: does the change reach both?
3. Tell the family about a change
When the regular caregiver is out, the family wants to know who's coming, before they open the door. Ask how the system tells them, and whether two adult children in different cities can both get the update. If the answer is “you call them,” that's fine, as long as you know it going in.
When a spreadsheet and a backup list are enough
Some agencies don't need scheduling software for home care yet. If you have a handful of caregivers, one person does all the scheduling, and you can hold the week in your head, a shared spreadsheet and a written backup list will do. Software starts paying for itself when there are too many caregivers to remember, when the person on call changes every night, or when payroll keeps not matching the schedule.
Either way, write your call-off rules down first. Software only follows the order you give it. There's a free caregiver call-off policy template you can copy.
Questions to ask in every demo
Take this into every home care agency scheduling software demo and ask the same questions in the same order, so you can compare the answers. Where it says “show me,” ask them to do it live, on screen.
Home care scheduling software: demo checklist
Open shifts and call-offs
- A caregiver calls off at 10pm for an 8am shift. Who gets asked first?Show me, from the call-off to a confirmed yes.
- Does it check weekly hours and overtime before it offers the shift?Show me a caregiver close to 40 hours being skipped.
- Can it put caregivers who know the client ahead of those who only want hours?
- What does the person on call see while the replies come in?
- When someone says yes, how do the others find out it's filled?
Payroll and billing match the real visits
- How does a caregiver clock in and out at the client's home?
- What happens when a caregiver forgets to clock out?Show me the flag and the fix.
- If I edit one visit's hours, does the change reach payroll and the family's invoice?Show me.
- How do approved hours get to our payroll service?Show me the export file.
- How do you invoice a private-pay family for weekend rates or a split shift?
Families
- How does a family hear that a different caregiver is coming?Show me the message they get.
- Can more than one family member get updates?
- What happens if a caregiver hasn't clocked in 15 minutes after the start time?
The caregiver side
- How does a caregiver see their schedule on their phone?Show me the caregiver's screen.
- Can caregivers accept an open shift by text, without the app?
- How do you record a caregiver's OK to receive texts, and is your texting number registered with the phone carriers?
- Which languages does the caregiver app come in?
Every fee, in writing
- What's the setup fee, and what work does it cover?
- Is the monthly price counted per caregiver, per office user, per client, or per hour billed?
- Do fill-in caregivers who rarely work still count toward the price?
- What do texts and phone calls cost on top?
- Which features you showed me today cost extra?
- How long is the contract, and what happens if we cancel early?
Your data
- Can we export clients, caregivers and every past visit to a spreadsheet, any time?Show me an export.
- If we leave, is there a fee to get our records, and how long do you keep them?
- Who at your company can see our records?
Setup and support
- Who enters our clients, caregivers and schedule during setup, and how long until we're live?
- A scheduler has a problem at 10pm on a Saturday. Who answers?
EVV
- If any client is Medi-Cal funded: how does the system handle California EVV, and what does it cost?
- If we're private pay only: what visit verification do we get, and do we need to pay for it?
From nextloopco.com/home-care-scheduling-software. Free to print, copy and change.
What it costs: what vendors actually publish
Most home care scheduling companies don't put a price on their website. They ask for a demo and quote you after. Here's what each one's own site said when I checked on October 20, 2026. Directory sites list figures too, but I've left those out, because the vendors don't stand behind them.
| Vendor | Published price | What the price is counted on | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| ShiftCare | $8, $13 or $20 per user a month billed yearly; $9, $15 or $25 billed monthly. Minimum 5 staff. | Users. Ask whether every caregiver counts as a user. | 7 days, no card |
| AxisCare | Not published. Quote only. | Agency size and number of clients. Its small-agency plan starts at 25 clients. | Not listed |
| CareSmartz360 | Not published. Quote only. | Active clients, in tiers (0 to 100, 101 to 249, 250 and up) | Not listed |
| WellSky Personal Care | Not published. Demo first. | Not stated | Not listed |
| AlayaCare | Not published. Custom quote. | Size, care models, regions and modules | Says no general free trial |
| Alora (CareTime's site now sends buyers here) | Not published | Number of users or clients served | Not listed |
Two newer companies, Zingage and Vali, sell AI help with call-offs and filling shifts. Neither publishes a dollar price. Zingage says it prices on call minutes, tasks completed and shifts filled. Vali says its price scales with your weekly billable hours.
If you searched for free software: Everhour Shifts has a free plan for up to 5 users. It's a general team scheduler, not built for home care, and the free plan leaves out open shifts, shift swapping, and web and mobile access, which are the parts a home care agency needs most.
Prices change. Check each vendor's own page before you budget, and treat any quote as the real number.
Do you need EVV for private pay?
California's Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) runs EVV. Its FAQ says EVV applies to Medicaid personal care services and home health care services that need an in-home visit, and that it applies only to services in the recipient's home. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid. Live-in caregivers, who stay more than 24 hours at a time, aren't subject to it.
The FAQ doesn't say anything about private-pay visits. So the honest answer is: EVV is required for Medi-Cal funded visits, and DHCS doesn't address private pay. If even one client is Medi-Cal funded, plan for EVV. If you're private pay only and a vendor wants to charge you for EVV, ask DHCS first at [email protected].
Visit verification can still be worth having for private pay. When an adult child asks how long a visit really ran, a clock-in and clock-out at the house answers it.
What I'm building, and what it isn't
I'm building a scheduling assistant for the call-off moment: who to ask, in what order, and who needs rest afterward. It's built to work beside the scheduling system you already use, not replace it. It's in development, and no agency is using it yet. You can try the demo on a made-up agency on the homepage.
If your real gap is families who reach out and don't hear back fast enough, that's a different problem. The page on home care leads covers it.
Questions owners ask
What's the best scheduling software for a small private-pay home care agency?
When owners search for the best private duty home care scheduling software, many of the lists they find are written by a software vendor. There isn't one winner. Start with who pays you, then run the same demo questions on two or three systems and compare the written quotes. Pick the one that fills a 10pm open shift cleanly and keeps payroll matched to the visits.
How much does home care scheduling software cost?
Most home care vendors don't publish prices. Of the ones I checked on October 20, 2026, only ShiftCare did: $8 to $20 per user a month billed yearly, with a 5-staff minimum. The rest want you to book a demo or ask for a quote first, and they don't count the same thing. Some go by clients, some by users, some by agency size and the modules you pick, and one doesn't say. So get every fee in writing.
Is there free home care scheduling software?
Not from the home care vendors I checked. Everhour Shifts has a free plan for up to 5 users, but it leaves out open shifts, shift swapping and web and mobile access, and it isn't built for home care. Some vendors offer a free trial instead. ShiftCare's is 7 days.
Do I need EVV if all my clients are private pay?
California's EVV rules, as DHCS describes them, cover Medi-Cal personal care and home health visits in the home. The DHCS FAQ doesn't address private-pay visits. If even one client is Medi-Cal funded, plan for EVV. If you're private pay only, ask DHCS at [email protected] before paying extra for it.
Can scheduling software handle call-offs by itself?
Only if the order is set up first. The software has to know who's trained for which client, who wants more hours and who's close to overtime. If your backup list and ask order aren't written down, software sends the open shift to the wrong people faster.
Will I have to switch systems to use Next Loop's scheduling assistant?
No. I'm building it to work beside the scheduling system you already use. It's in development, and no agency is using it yet, so there's nothing to switch to today.
What should I get in writing before I sign?
The setup fee and what it covers, the monthly price and what it's counted on (caregivers, clients or hours), texting and phone fees, which features cost extra, the contract length and how to cancel, and how you get your data out if you leave.
Sources
Checked October 20, 2026.
- Vendor pricing pages: ShiftCare (US), AxisCare, CareSmartz360, WellSky Personal Care, AlayaCare, Alora, Zingage, Vali, Everhour Shifts.
- California Department of Health Care Services, CalEVV FAQ (last updated May 2026): EVV scope, the in-home rule and live-in caregivers.
- AxisCare, 2025 Future of Home Care survey, conducted by Leading Home Care: press release, January 28, 2025. Sponsored by a software vendor.
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