Most parents start their child care search assuming there’s basically one kind of daycare, then discover halfway through Googling that there are actually several — and two of the biggest are centre-based care and family day care, sometimes called home daycare. Both are legitimate, regulated options in Australia. Neither is automatically better. But they run very differently day to day, and the right one depends on what your family actually needs, not on which option sounds cosier.

According to the Australian Government Department of Education, Centre Based Day Care is provided in centres approved by regulators, while Family Day Care is usually provided in the home of an approved educator. That single sentence hides a lot of practical differences — in ratios, routine, cost, and what a typical day actually looks like for your child. Here’s the breakdown.

The Short Version

A daycare centre (also called long day care or an early learning centre) is a purpose-built facility with multiple qualified educators, several rooms split by age group, and a structured curriculum. A home daycare — properly called Family Day Care in Australia — is run by a single approved educator caring for a small group of children inside their own home, usually coordinated through a Family Day Care service or scheme.

Ratios and Group Size

This is usually the first thing parents notice once they start comparing.

• Family Day Care: one educator to a maximum of seven children, with no more than four under school age — all in a single home environment.
• Daycare centres: ratios are set per age group under the National Quality Framework, typically around one educator to four infants, moving to higher ratios as children get older, spread across multiple staff and rooms.

In practice, this means your child sees fewer new faces in a home daycare setting, but a centre has more staff overall, so there’s backup when someone’s on leave or a room needs an extra pair of hands during a big group activity.

Qualifications and Regulation

A common myth is that home daycare is less regulated than a centre. It isn’t. Family Day Care educators in Australia must hold at least a Certificate III in Children’s Services — the same minimum qualification required of centre-based educators — and are monitored through a coordinating Family Day Care service. Centres additionally require a degree-qualified Early Childhood Teacher in the room under the National Quality Framework, which is one layer FDC doesn’t have in the same way.

Both settings are assessed and rated under the National Quality Framework, and both appear on Starting Blocks, the government’s service-comparison site, so you can check quality ratings before you ever book a tour.

What a Typical Day Actually Looks Like

In a Daycare Centre

• Children are grouped by age into dedicated rooms (nursery, toddler, kinder room)
• A set daily program with structured learning blocks, group activities and rest times
• Purpose-built indoor and outdoor spaces, often including a dedicated kinder room
• Multiple educators, so ratios hold even during breaks, illness or leave

In a Home Daycare (Family Day Care)

• Mixed-age group, usually siblings-of-different-ages friendly
• More flexible, less rigidly scheduled routine that mirrors home life
• A domestic setting — lounge room, backyard — rather than a classroom
• One consistent educator all day, every day, unless they’re unwell or on leave, in which case backup care can be harder to arrange

Families who want their child to experience a more school-like structure ahead of starting kinder often lean toward a centre. Families who want something closer to a home environment, especially for a baby or a child who finds group settings overwhelming, often lean toward family day care. Neither instinct is wrong — it depends on the child.

Cost and the Child Care Subsidy

Both options are eligible for the Child Care Subsidy if you use an approved service, so the subsidy itself isn’t usually the deciding factor. What differs is the fee structure: centres tend to have a fixed daily rate regardless of hours attended, while family day care educators can sometimes offer more flexible hourly arrangements built around a smaller number of families. Neither is universally cheaper — it comes down to the individual service, the suburb, and how many days a week you actually need.

Worth asking either way: does the quoted rate include meals, or is that extra? Are there additional charges for excursions, incursions or program materials? What happens to your fees during public holidays or when the service is closed over Christmas and New Year? These add-ons are where budgets quietly blow out, regardless of which type of care you choose. If cost comparison is where you’re stuck, our daycare cost guide for Doncaster East breaks down real local fee ranges, and our explainer on the 3 Day CCS Guarantee covers how the subsidy actually reduces your out-of-pocket cost.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Questions Worth Asking Either Way

Regardless of which type you’re leaning toward, the same core questions apply once you’re actually comparing specific services: what’s the real ratio in practice, how experienced is the educator or teaching team, what’s the sick-day and backup plan, and how is my child’s day communicated to me? We’ve put together a full list in our guide on what questions to ask when touring a daycare, which applies whether you’re walking into a centre or sitting in someone’s lounge room for a home daycare visit.

How This Plays Out If You’re Also Weighing Up Preschool

Some families aren’t choosing between a centre and a home daycare at all — they’re choosing between daycare in general and preschool, which is a slightly different question again. If that’s where you’re at, our article on Daycare vs. Preschool: Key Differences, Benefits & Best Age to Start covers that comparison specifically, including how a centre-based kinder program fits into the picture.

Common Questions Parents Ask

Is family day care cheaper than a daycare centre?

Not always. Headline rates can look lower for family day care, but centres often bundle in meals, nappies and structured programs that you’d otherwise pay for separately. The only reliable way to compare is to ask both options for an all-in weekly figure after the Child Care Subsidy is applied, rather than comparing raw hourly rates.

Can I switch between a home daycare and a centre later on?

Yes, and plenty of families do — often starting a baby in family day care for the smaller, quieter setting, then moving to a centre once their child is closer to kinder age and would benefit from a bigger social group and a structured pre-kinder curriculum. There’s no penalty for changing your mind as your child’s needs change.

Which one is better for a child starting kinder soon?

Centres generally have the edge here simply because most run an integrated 3- and 4-year-old kindergarten program on-site, with a qualified Early Childhood Teacher and a curriculum built specifically around school readiness. Family day care can still support this transition well, but it depends heavily on the individual educator’s experience with that age group.