Like Family Alternatives: Compare Home Care in Melbourne

Like Family connects members with independent Social Carers for companionship, community access and, more recently, personal care. If that is what you need, it may still be the right fit.

People usually start looking elsewhere for one of a handful of specific reasons, and which reason applies to you determines which alternative makes sense.

This guide compares the six main home care options in Melbourne, so that you can evaluate which provider works best for you.

What is Like Family?

Like Family is a registered NDIS disability and aged care provider that operates as a platform. You browse profiles of independent Social Carers, choose who you want, and build an ongoing relationship with them rather than being assigned whoever is available.

Meet and greet sessions let you test the fit before committing.

Its network covers several states, workers are screened and bookings are insured through the platform, and it offers social support, community access, transport, overnight support, group bookings and video sessions.

It also now offers personal care, including showering, dressing and mobility assistance, which is a change from how the service was positioned in earlier years.

Where it stops is clinical care. Like Family’s model is built around social and personal support delivered by Social Carers, not around nursing.

If the person you support needs wound care, medication administration, catheter or stoma care, PEG feeding or other clinical procedures, that sits outside what a social care platform delivers.

Why people look for an alternative

• Clinical needs have developed and a support worker alone is no longer enough.
• They live outside the platform’s coverage area.
• Their plan is NDIA-managed and the platform cannot accept that funding type.
• They want directly employed workers rather than independent contractors, usually for consistency or accountability reasons.
• Worker turnover, matching or reliability has not worked out.
• They are moving from NDIS to aged care funding, or the reverse.

The five things that actually differentiate these services

1. Employment model

Some services directly employ their workers. Others are marketplaces connecting you with independent contractors who run their own small businesses.

It matters because it determines who carries the employment obligations, who is accountable for training and supervision, and, critically, what happens when your regular worker is sick.

With an employer model there is an organisation responsible for sending a replacement. With a marketplace, filling that gap is largely your job.

Marketplaces generally offer more choice and often lower rates. Employer models generally offer more consistency and more accountability.

What matters is knowing which one you are signing up to.

2. Whether clinical care is available

Support worker platforms deliver social and personal support. If you also need nursing, you are either adding a second provider or choosing one that does both.

For anyone managing a progressive condition, this is worth thinking about before you commit rather than after.

3. Which funding types are accepted

This one rules options in and out immediately. If your NDIS plan is NDIA-managed, you can only use registered providers, which excludes most contractor marketplaces.

Plan-managed and self-managed participants have far more choice. On the aged care side, check whether the service works with Support at Home and how.

4. Coverage

Some services are national. Others are concentrated in particular states or metro areas.

A service with thousands of workers nationally may still have very few in your suburb, so check availability where you actually live rather than relying on headline numbers.

5. Registration status, which is changing right now

Mandatory registration for online platform providers began on 1 July 2026.

Platforms that previously operated unregistered must apply to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission by 1 October 2026 to keep operating while their application is assessed.

If you are choosing a platform right now, ask directly where they sit in that process. It affects which funding types they can accept and what oversight applies to your supports.

The six options compared

Mable

The largest marketplace. You search profiles, negotiate rates directly with independent workers, and book through the platform, which arranges insurance for services invoiced through it.

Best suited to self-managed participants who are comfortable doing their own searching and want the widest choice and the most control over price. Not available to NDIA-managed participants.

Hireup

The main directly-employed alternative, and the clearest contrast to the marketplace model. Hireup employs its support workers rather than engaging contractors, which means it handles tax, superannuation, insurance and supervision.

Rates are set against the NDIS price guide rather than negotiated. Suits people who want employment-model accountability and consistency, and who are less focused on negotiating a lower hourly rate.

Kynd

Most useful if you already know who you want to work with. If a neighbour, friend or former worker is willing to support you, Kynd handles the insurance, billing and compliance so the arrangement is legitimate.

Less useful if you are starting from scratch and need to find someone.

Careseekers

A registered NDIS provider operating a platform, which is a useful middle position. Because it is registered, it can support agency-managed participants that pure marketplaces cannot.

Workers hold police checks, NDIS worker screening and working with children checks where required, with public liability and accident insurance arranged. Works with Support at Home as well as NDIS.

Five Good Friends

More aged care oriented than the others, with a curated network of care and health professionals and an app-based experience.

Offers both a full service membership, where they handle matching and coordination, and a self managed membership for people who want to run things themselves.

Has experience with dementia and complex health needs. Worth a look if your situation is primarily aged care rather than disability.

Homage

The relevant difference here is clinical capability.

Alongside screened support workers, Homage has AHPRA-registered nurses on staff delivering simple and complex nursing including wound care, stoma and catheter care, PEG feeding and injections, alongside personal care, aged care and respite.

As a registered NDIS provider, Homage works with NDIA-managed, plan-managed and self-managed participants, which many platforms cannot. Bookings run from one hour to 24 hours with no lock-in contract.

You can read more about using NDIS funding with Homage.

How to choose between home care providers in Melbourne

Here are some criterias how you can evaluate which home care provider to choose from:

1. Type of care. Do you require regular support work, or do you require specialised care (autism support, dementia care etc) and nursing care as well? Choosing a home care provider that supports the type of care you need should be your primary consideration.
2. Funding type. NDIA-managed plans need a registered provider. Check Support at Home arrangements if you are in aged care.
3. Coverage. Check worker availability in your suburb, not nationally.
4. Worker model. Decide whether you want employment-model accountability or marketplace choice and price flexibility.
5. Backup cover. Ask what happens when your regular worker is unavailable. Get a specific answer, not a reassuring one.
6. Price. Compare last, and compare the total cost of the same service rather than headline hourly rates.

Want to switch providers? Here’s how to switch without a gap in support

If you have a support worker you like and trust, ask whether they work through more than one platform. Sometimes you can keep the person and change the arrangement around them.

Frequently asked questions

References