Canadian dollars, no paid plan
Free daycare software in Canada
NestliCare is free daycare management software for Canadian daycares and home daycares: attendance, daily reports, parent messaging, invoicing in Canadian dollars with pre-authorized debit and auto-pay, Interac e-Transfer recording, year-end childcare receipts for the T778 claim, a French parent app, and a monthly subsidy attendance export. There is no paid plan at all. The only cost anywhere is the standard processing fee when a parent pays online, 2.9% plus C$0.50 on cards or 1.5% capped at C$6.50 on pre-authorized debit, and by default the parent covers it.
Built for how Canadian daycares actually get paid
Most Canadian home daycares are paid by e-Transfer, most centres by pre-authorized debit, and every family wants a receipt in February. NestliCare handles all three without a workaround.
- Invoices and payments in Canadian dollars
- Pre-authorized debit and cards, settled to your Canadian bank
- Interac e-Transfer recorded as a payment method
- Year-end childcare receipts for the T778 claim, with BN or encrypted SIN
- French parent app, staff app, and receipts
- Monthly subsidy attendance and enrolment export (CSV and PDF)
What free means here, in numbers
The software is free. When a parent pays an invoice online, the payment carries the standard processing fee, in Canadian dollars.
- Cards
- 2.9% + C$0.50
- Pre-authorized debit
- 1.5%, capped at C$6.50
- e-Transfer, cash, cheque
- C$0
By default the parent covers the fee at checkout; you can switch that to the daycare in Settings. The full schedule is on the pricing page, and the business model on how we make money.
Every feature, for every daycare
- Attendance & check-in
- Daily reports & activities
- Room management
- Parent messaging
- Parent mobile app
- Meal logging
- Billing & invoicing
- Online payments & auto-pay
- Enrolment & waitlists
- Staff scheduling
- Timesheets & payroll export
- Documents & forms
Free daycare software in Canada, answered plainly
- Is NestliCare free for daycares in Canada?
- Yes. There is no paid plan at all, in Canada or anywhere else. Unlimited children, staff, rooms, and locations, for home daycares and licensed centres alike. Nothing is held back for a paid tier because there is no paid tier.
- What does it cost when parents pay online?
- The standard processing fee on the payment, in Canadian dollars: 2.9% plus C$0.50 on cards, or 1.5% capped at C$6.50 on pre-authorized debit from the parent's bank account. By default the parent covers it at checkout, and you can choose to absorb it instead. Cash, cheques, and Interac e-Transfers carry no fee at all.
- Can parents pay by pre-authorized debit?
- Yes. Parents authorize a pre-authorized debit (PAD) agreement once, then pay each invoice from their bank account or turn on auto-pay. Cards work too. Payments settle in Canadian dollars to your Canadian bank account.
- Most of my families pay by Interac e-Transfer. Does that work?
- Yes. You add your e-Transfer email or mobile number once, and it appears next to every unpaid invoice in the parent app and on the web. When the transfer lands, you mark the invoice paid with "Interac e-Transfer" as the method, and it flows into the family's year-end receipt.
- Does it produce the receipt parents need for the child care expense deduction?
- Yes. Every family can download an annual childcare receipt for the T778 claim, in English or French, showing your legal name, address, the amounts paid, and your Business Number, or your SIN if you are an individual provider. A SIN is stored encrypted and appears only on the receipt.
- Is the app available in French?
- Yes. Parents and staff can use NestliCare in French or English, and each family's year-end receipt renders in the language of the parent who downloads it.
- Does it help with CWELCC or fee subsidy reporting?
- It gives you the monthly per-child sheet those portals ask for: days attended, days absent, hours, enrolment status, age group, and the subsidy award and case number, as a CSV for the portal and a printable PDF. There is no direct portal integration; you paste or upload the file.
- Where is my data stored, and is it sold?
- Data is hosted with Amazon Web Services in the United States, isolated per organization, and never sold or used for advertising. Our privacy practices are written for the GDPR and applied to every customer, in line with PIPEDA.