Compare your options, plainly.
Aged care is full of choices that sound similar and cost very differently. These are honest, side-by-side comparisons to help you work out what actually fits your family, with the official data never far away.
Home care vs residential aged care
Staying at home with support, or moving into a home. How the two differ on cost, funding and daily life.
Respite vs permanent aged care
Short stays to recover or give a carer a break, versus moving in for good, and how one can lead to the other.
Alternatives to Aged Care Decisions
How the main aged care referral services work, what they cost providers, and how CareShortlist is different.
My Aged Care alternatives
The honest answer: nothing replaces the official portal for assessment and funding, but you do not have to navigate it alone.
Prefer to skip the reading? Request personalised options and we will lay the real options side by side for your area, free.
Comparing two specific aged care homes
Beyond the choices above, you can put any two government-rated homes side by side on their official Star Ratings, staffing and compliance scores. Every home’s page links to a head-to-head with the closest comparable home near it, or you can browse by state and suburb to pick your own pair.
It is also worth looking at who runs a home. Many belong to a larger group, and pricing structures and standards often travel across a group, so our provider group pages show every home an operator runs along with their average rating.
Common questions about comparing aged care
Is home care or residential aged care cheaper?
Home care is usually cheaper for the person receiving care, because you are not paying for accommodation or 24-hour staffing. But it only works while someone can be kept safe at home. As care needs rise, the paid hours required can approach the cost of a residential place, and that crossover is when most families move.
What is the difference between respite and permanent aged care?
Respite is a short stay, up to 63 subsidised days a year, used for recovery, to give a carer a break, or to trial a home. Permanent care is ongoing. They are assessed and funded separately, and using respite does not count against you later. Many families use a respite stay as a low-pressure way to test a home before committing.
Are aged care comparison services really free?
Most are free to families, including CareShortlist, because providers pay them. The question worth asking is not whether a service is free, but which providers it shows you. A service that only presents providers from its own paid network is showing you a filtered picture. We list every government-funded provider whether they work with us or not.
How do I compare aged care homes fairly?
Start with the official Star Ratings, but read beneath the headline number: compliance is near universal so it rarely separates homes, while staffing and residents' experience vary a lot. Then visit. A rating cannot tell you whether the staff know residents by name, and that is usually what families end up deciding on.