The register, at the door
One tap checks a child in, one checks them out. Hours totted up for you, with a ratio guard watching so you're never accidentally over.
The exact attendance record inspectors ask to see.
For childminders across the whole UK — England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Home time should mean home time
You've had other people's children since half seven — the paperwork shouldn't keep you at the kitchen table till nine. MinderHQ logs the diary, register, accidents and invoices in taps as the day happens, so when the last child is collected, you're done too.
MinderHQ is the all-in-one childminder app — diary, register, invoices, learning journal and parent messages in one place, plus a proper website, built for you. One flat price.
Start my free month
No card needed to start · then £19.99/month, cancel anytime · or £199.90/year (2 months free)
- First month free — no card needed
- £19.99/month, no per-child fees
- Cancel anytime — take everything with you
The app
Two taps now, not twenty minutes tonight
Paperwork is the number-one reason childminders quit. Everything below is logged in seconds, during the day, on the phone already in your pocket — so by the last pickup there's nothing left to write up.
Android today · iPhone coming soon · works in any browser right now
The diary, at snack time
Meals, sleeps, nappies, a photo from the garden — logged in a couple of taps while the kettle boils, straight to each family's private feed.
Photos shared only with consent — checked every time.
The accident form, while the plaster's fresh
Body map, first aid given, parents notified the same day — automatically. Medicine consents per medicine, every dose logged.
The records with the highest stakes, handled most carefully.
Inspection day, already packed
Your compliance wallet tracks DBS, first-aid and insurance renewals, and the Ofsted pack pulls registers, accidents, medicines and consents into one printable pack.
Evidence in seconds, not a weekend of hunting.
The website
A proper website, built for you
Most childminders rely on a directory profile and a Facebook page. A parent Googling at 9pm lands on yours and thinks: here's the one who's got it together — because you have.
- A live vacancy badge — parents see the spaces you actually have, updated from your phone
- Your fees and funded hours spelled out — the first thing parents ask
- Your Ofsted, Care Inspectorate or CIW rating — or your Trust registration — front and centre
- Your policies published properly — no more emailing PDFs
- An enquiry form that asks the right questions, straight to your phone — and one tap turns an enquiry into the child's record
- Your own address — yourname.minderhq.co.uk free, or bring your own domain
- Written to be found on Google — search title, description and share image, set for you
One filled place is worth £500+ a month. Your website only has to work once a year to pay for itself many times over.
The money
Invoicing night, cancelled
Invoices that do their own maths.
Set the schedule once
Each child's days, hours and rate live in one place — then the month's invoices write themselves, funded hours itemised the way the 2026 rules ask.
Extras added in taps
A zoo trip, a late pickup, an unplanned lunch — logged on the day and swept onto the right invoice, not forgotten by month-end.
Chasing, done gently
Overdue invoices get polite reminders on a schedule you set, and Tax-Free Childcare payments reconcile against the right child — not a mystery lump in your bank.
For parents
Parents get an app — you get your phone back
Photos from the park while they're stuck at their desk, in their own app — or through a simple link for the parent who won't install another thing. Diary, messages, accident forms and invoices in one place, with every photo behind the consents you set.
No more one chaotic group chat for updates, another for money, and a folder for the forms. It's the sort of thing that gets mentioned at the school gate.
The ❤️ at nap time
Parents react to a moment and you can see what's been seen — everyone breathes, nobody has to type a reply.
Moments from home
Families share a photo or a little video from the weekend, so Monday picks up where Sunday left off.
The memory book
Star a moment to keep it in the child's memory book — and every Friday, parents get the week in pictures.
Grandparents welcome
Each family can have more than one private link — so Grandma sees the paddling-pool photo too.
Parents on iPhone use their private link for now — the iPhone app is coming.
Side by side
Go on, compare us — we'll wait
The nursery apps are built for a setting with an office and a manager. You're running the whole show from home. The figures below come from each company's own published price list — so you're not taking our word for it.
| MinderHQThat's us | Famly | Tapestry | Baby's Days | Kinderly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price (what you actually pay) | £19.99/mo | £34.80/mo | from ~£6.80/mo | £18/mo | £15/mo |
| How it's advertised | £19.99 — the price you pay | £29 + VAT | £68 + VAT / year | £15 + VAT | £12.50 + VAT |
| Done-for-you public website (vacancies, fees, enquiries) | YesBuilt and hosted for you | No | No | No | No |
| Child limit | None | 10, then nursery price (£79+VAT) | Tiered by child count | 50 | 20 |
| Funded-hours invoicing in the 2026 format | Yes | Yes | Yes | PartlyBasic invoicing | PartlyFunded hours not built into invoices |
| Daily diary, photos & EYFS learning journal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Register, ratios & accident forms | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | PartlyRecords-focused |
| Parent app AND a no-install link | YesApp or a simple link | PartlyApp only | PartlyApp only | PartlyShared login | PartlyApp only |
| Try it free | First month free, no card needed | 14-day trial | Free trial | 14-day demo | 30-day trial |
| Lock-in | None — cancel any month, export everything | One month's notice | Cancel any time | Six-month minimum term | One month's notice |
| Built for childminders | YesOnly childminders | PartlyNursery app, scaled down | PartlyWhole-education platform | PartlyMulti-setting software | YesChildminder-first |
Rival prices are shown with the VAT they add on top (childminders can't reclaim it); the MinderHQ figure is simply the price you pay. Taken from each company's own published pricing pages and checked July 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll correct it — we'd rather be right than flattering.
The serious bit
Kept safe, kept in the UK, kept yours
Kept in the UK, kept careful
Children's records deserve grown-up care: UK hosting, encryption, and photo consents you control — enforced every time, not just promised.
Kept yours
Leave whenever you like and everything comes out in one download — diaries, registers, forms, photos. Your records were never ours to keep.
One honest price
£19.99 a month covers the lot. No setup fee, no per-child fees, no child cap, no long contract. A data-processing agreement if you want one.
The deal
One flat price. Or save with annual.
Every childminder starts with a free first month, then it's just £19.99/month — cancel anytime. Prefer to pay yearly? £199.90 a year gets you two months free.
First month free
Monthly · £19.99/month
Everything included: the app, the parent app, your website built and hosted, diary, register, accident forms, invoicing, messaging and the Ofsted pack. Your first month's free with no card needed, then £19.99/month — cancel anytime, no per-child fees, no child cap.
Annual · £199.90/year
2 months freeThe same everything, paid yearly — £199.90 instead of £239.88, so two months are on us. That's just £16.66 a month.
- First month free, then £19.99/month — cancel anytime
- £19.99 a month — no per-child fees, no child cap
- A done-for-you website included, live vacancy badge and all
- Built for all four UK nations — Ofsted, Care Inspectorate, CIW and HSC Trust rules, with each framework and funding model built in
- Invoices already in the 2026 DfE funded-hours format
- Accident & medication records kept to age 25 — automatically
- Leave anytime and take everything — full export, photos included
Already on another app?
Switching? Bring your children across in minutes.
Export your children from Tapestry, Kinderly or any spreadsheet and MinderHQ imports everyone in one go — children, parents, allergies, GP details. No retyping. Stuck with a PDF-only export? Email it to us and we'll move you in for free, usually the same day.
- Children + parents imported together
- Your old records stay safe in your old app
- Run both side by side on your free month
Fair questions
Will it honestly give me my evenings back?
It's built so nothing needs doing at 9pm: the register is one tap at the door, diary entries take a couple more during the day, accident forms are done while you're still holding the cold compress, and invoices build themselves from each child's schedule. We won't promise you'll never open a laptop after tea — but nothing in MinderHQ is designed to wait until the children have gone home.
I'm on Tapestry, Famly or Baby's Days — is switching a faff?
No — bringing your children across is built in. Export your children as a CSV from your old app (or any spreadsheet) and MinderHQ imports everyone in minutes: children, parents, allergies, GP details — no retyping. Stuck with a PDF-only export? Email it to us and we'll move you in for free, usually the same day. And because your first month is free, you can run both side by side until you're sure; your old records stay safely in your old app's export.
How does the free month work?
No card needed to start — you sign up and the whole app is yours free for a month, with no payment details asked for. When you're ready to keep going you add a card, and the £19.99 only begins from month two. Changed your mind? There's nothing to cancel and nothing charged — just don't subscribe, and you can still export everything you've added. If you stay, it's £19.99 a month, cancel any month you like. We'd rather earn the £19.99 than trap it.
Will my parents actually use it?
They don't need to be techy. There's a proper parent app if they want one, but every parent also gets a simple private link that opens their child's diary, photos and invoices in any browser — nothing to install. New updates give them a gentle nudge by text or email, so they don't miss the good bits.
I'm not techy. Is this for me?
Yes — that's the point. We set the website up for you, and the app is built around two-tap logging while you're actually doing the job. Your onboarding is a phone call with a human, not a manual.
Is it approved by Ofsted or the Care Inspectorate?
No — and be wary of anyone who says their app is. No UK regulator approves software: not Ofsted, not the Care Inspectorate, not CIW, not the HSC Trusts. What MinderHQ does is keep the records your nation's rules actually require (attendance with hours, accidents, medicines, complaints, consents) so you can show them at inspection in seconds.
I'm in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland — can I use MinderHQ?
Yes — MinderHQ is live in all four UK nations, and each gets the real thing, not an England app with the labels swapped. Scotland runs the Care Inspectorate's world: personal plans, SHANARRI observations and 1,140 funded hours claimed from your council. Wales runs CIW's: the five developmental pathways, SASS and Quality of Care reminders, your Statement of Purpose and the Childcare Offer. Northern Ireland runs your HSC Trust's: NICSS invoicing, NI ratio rules and the Trust inspection pack. Pick your nation when you sign up and everything arrives already set up for it.
What happens to my data if I leave?
You press export and everything comes out — PDFs and spreadsheets of every record, plus your photos. We delete on request. No six-month notice periods, no held-hostage records.
Can I start today?
It's live now — you can start your free month whenever suits you. We onboard new childminders in small batches so everyone gets a proper setup call, so tell us you're interested and we'll get you going.
Give your evenings back a go — on us
A free first month, then £19.99/month, and a real person to set you up. Not for you? Cancel before your first bill and take your records with you — no hard feelings.