Porchlight vs Scout
Scout charges for every staff member you add. Porchlight stays flat.
Pick Scout if you want a branded app in the app stores and you have three or fewer people. Pick Porchlight if you have four or more people, work in places with weak signal, or want the bill to stay put as you hire.
We make Porchlight, so read this with that in mind. Scout prices below come from Scout’s own pricing page, checked October 2026. We say “not listed” when we could not confirm something on that page.
No card. Free switch from Time To Pet, Precise Petcare, Pet Sitter Plus or LeashTime.
Your bill, side by side
Scout’s team plan is a base price plus a charge for each active staff member. We counted the owner as the base and every other person as staff. “People” means everyone with a login, owner included. Scout has a monthly rate and a lower rate when billed annually. Porchlight has the same split ($79 a month, or $790 a year).
Prices checked October 2026 from each vendor’s public pricing page. Porchlight competes with Scout. Check their page yourself.
Sources: Scout pricing page.
| People | Scout, month to month | Porchlight, month to month | Scout, billed annually (per month) | Porchlight, billed annually (per month) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (owner only) | $39 | $35 (Solo) | $33 | $29.17 (Solo, $350 a year) |
| 3 | $75 | $79 (Team) | $63 | $65.83 (Team, $790 a year) |
| 6 | $129 | $79 | $108 | $65.83 |
| 10 | $201 | $79 | $168 | $65.83 |
| 20 | $381 | $79 | $318 | $65.83 |
- Scout month to month: $39 base + $18 per staff member. At 6 people: $39 + (5 x $18) = $129. At 20: $39 + (19 x $18) = $381.
- Scout billed annually: $33 base + $15 per staff member. At 6 people: $33 + (5 x $15) = $108. At 20: $33 + (19 x $15) = $318.
- Porchlight Solo is $35 a month or $350 a year (owner only, no staff accounts). Team is $79 a month or $790 a year, unlimited staff. Annual per-month figures are the yearly price divided by 12.
- Scout is cheaper at three people. Around four people the lines cross, and after that Porchlight stays at $79 while Scout keeps climbing.
- Scout also lists add-ons: a fully branded app (+$300 a month), an SEO website (+$42 a month) and a paid ads service (+$1,000 a month). Porchlight has no add-ons and no branded app.
Where Porchlight differs from Scout
Every row below comes from Scout’s own pricing page. “Not listed” means we did not find it there. It may exist, so ask them.
The bill grows with every hire
Scout’s pricing page lists a base price plus $18 per active staff member month to month, or $15 on annual billing. At 10 people that is $201 a month, and at 20 it is $381.
In Porchlight
Team is $79 a month for unlimited staff. Every feature is on both plans. Your tenth hire costs the same as your second.
Add-ons cost extra
Scout lists a fully branded app at +$300 a month, an SEO website at +$42 a month and a paid ads service at +$1,000 a month.
In Porchlight
Porchlight has no add-ons to price. It also has no branded app: it installs to the home screen from the browser.
Working with no signal
We did not find an offline sitter app described on Scout’s pricing page.
In Porchlight
Check in and out, run the checklist, take photos, write notes and open access codes with zero bars. It all syncs when the phone finds a connection.
A record of every notification
A notification delivery record is not listed on Scout’s pricing page.
In Porchlight
Each notification is logged with a delivery record, and failures are retried. We will not tell you they never fail. We will tell you that you can look up what happened.
Feature by feature
Same questions. Side by side. Judge for yourself.
| Feature | Porchlight | Scout |
|---|---|---|
| Price for a 10-person team | $79 a month on Team | $201 a month month to month, $168 billed annually |
| Scheduling and recurring visits | Yes, with pause and resume | Scheduling listed |
| Report cards with photos | Yes | Yes |
| GPS check-in and out | Yes, with the walk route on report cards | GPS tracking listed |
| Offline sitter app | Check in and out, checklist, photos, notes and access codes, synced later | Not listed on their pricing page. |
| Client card payments | Yes, through your own Stripe account. Stripe’s standard fee plus a Porchlight platform fee | Card billing listed |
| Invoicing | Yes, on the cadence you set per client | Automated invoicing listed |
| Payroll | Calculates pay, CSV export for QuickBooks or Gusto. Does not run payroll | Payroll listed |
| QuickBooks | CSV export only. Sync coming soon | Not listed on their pricing page. |
| Client portal | Yes | Client app and portal listed |
| Native app store apps | No. Installable web app | Mobile apps listed, plus a branded app add-on |
| Boarding and daycare | Included in every plan | A boarding software page is listed |
| Happiness surveys and review requests | Yes | Not listed on their pricing page. |
| Free trial | 30 days, no card | Free trial, no card |
Questions we get
What is a good Scout alternative for a growing team?
If your bill is rising with every hire, Porchlight is worth a look. Team is a flat $79 a month for unlimited staff. If you want a branded app in the app stores, Scout sells that as an add-on and Porchlight does not.
How much does Scout cost?
As of Oct 2026, Scout’s pricing page lists Solo at $39 a month ($33 billed annually) and Team at the same base plus $18 per active staff member ($15 billed annually). Add-ons cost extra. See the table above and Scout’s pricing page.
Is Porchlight cheaper than Scout?
At one person, a little. At three people Scout is cheaper. From about four people up, Porchlight is cheaper, and the gap grows with every hire.
Does Porchlight take card payments like Scout?
Yes. Clients can pay invoices by card or bank account through your own Stripe account. Stripe’s standard processing fees apply, plus a Porchlight platform fee that is listed on the pricing page.
Can I move my Scout data to Porchlight?
Scout is not one of the four built-in Switch Kit sources. You can map the columns of a Scout export by hand in the Switch Kit and check the dry run before anything is saved.
Switch in a weekend. We do the move.
The Switch Kit has built-in import for Time To Pet, Precise Petcare, Pet Sitter Plus and LeashTime. Scout is not one of those four, but the Switch Kit lets you map the columns of any CSV by hand, with a dry run, duplicate checks and rollback. Run the dry run and compare the preview to your old account before you cancel Scout.
No card. Free switch from Time To Pet, Precise Petcare, Pet Sitter Plus or LeashTime.