List your daycare on FirstNest — and stop drowning in waitlist admin.
A modern, honest directory and waitlist platform built specifically for licensed centres in Canada. Free directory listing, no lead-selling, no algorithmic ranking games. The first 90 days on the full platform are free.
No credit card required. 90-day free trial, then $49/mo for centres up to 60 spots.
What you actually get
A directory listing that ranks in Google
FirstNest pages are server-rendered, fully SEO-indexed, and structured for parent-search intent in your city. Most centres see their FirstNest profile in the top 3-5 results for "[centre name] daycare" within 2-3 weeks.
Parents apply in 3 minutes — to multiple daycares
One parent profile, one application, sent to as many daycares as the parent chooses. You get a clean, structured application with the data you actually need, not a forwarded email thread or a half-filled paper form.
Waitlist tools that respect your time
Manage your list with sibling priority, age-group rooms, start-date matching, and one-click offer/decline. Full CSV export anytime. No "AI matching" gimmicks — just the boring, reliable workflows you actually use.
How it works
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1
Claim your listing
Sign up with your daycare's official email. We auto-match against existing public registries (e.g. NB EECD's licensed-facility list) so you don't end up with a duplicate profile.
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2
Verify ownership
We verify your licence number with the provincial regulator. Usually under 24 hours. Until verified, your listing shows a "claim pending" badge instead of going public.
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3
Fill out your profile
Age groups served, hours, programs, photos, fees if you want to share them. Plain-language fields, no marketing-survey nonsense. Takes about 20 minutes.
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4
Start receiving applications
Parents in your area find you in search and apply directly. You manage the waitlist, send offers, and respond to inquiries from one screen. We never charge per lead.
Pricing — clearly
- Public listing on FirstNest
- SEO-indexed profile page
- Parents can find & contact you
- Unlimited inbound inquiries
- Everything in Directory
- Online application intake
- Waitlist management
- Offer / accept / decline workflow
- Parent messaging
- Up to 60 spots
- Everything in Standard
- Unlimited spots
- Multi-location centres
- Sibling-priority automation
- Visit scheduling
- Priority support
No per-application fees. No per-parent fees. No setup fees. Cancel any time and export everything as CSV.
Honest questions, honest answers
Is FirstNest really free for daycares?
Your directory listing is permanently free — your daycare appears in our parent-facing search results at no cost, with the same SEO treatment as paid listings. Once you start using the full platform (waitlist management, online applications, parent communications, offer/decline workflow), the first 90 days are free. After that, our paid plans start at $49/month for centres up to 60 spots.
Who actually qualifies to list?
Any provincially-licensed Canadian daycare. We verify the licence on file with the relevant provincial regulator (Ontario Child Care Quality and Compliance, Quebec MFA, BC CCFL, etc.) before your listing goes public. Unlicensed home child-care is not eligible.
What about my existing scraped listing in New Brunswick?
Your daycare may already appear on FirstNest if it's listed in a public provincial registry like NB EECD's licensed-facility list. Sign in with your daycare email and we'll match it to your existing listing automatically — no duplicate profile, no lost SEO equity. If we can't auto-match, claim it from the Directory page and we'll verify within 24 hours.
What data is shown publicly on my listing?
Only what you choose: your daycare name, address, contact info, age groups served, and a brief description. Your waitlist depth, individual parent emails, internal notes, and operational data are never shown publicly. Parents see an honest wait-time estimate based on aggregate movement, but never a specific position or another family's details.
How is this different from Brightwheel or Lillio?
Brightwheel and Lillio are excellent operations platforms once a child is enrolled — daily reports, billing, attendance. FirstNest does the part that comes before enrollment: getting you discovered by parents in your area, managing your waitlist, and routing online applications. We don't compete with your operations software; we feed parents into it.
Do you sell parent leads or share data with other providers?
No. Ever. We don't sell leads, we don't share parent contact info with other daycares, and we don't run third-party advertising on the parent surface. Every parent application goes only to the daycare(s) the parent specifically applied to. This is a hard line — it's why we built the company.
What happens to applications and waitlist data if I leave?
It's yours. We provide one-click CSV export of your full waitlist and application history at any time, free of charge, including after you've cancelled. Your data is your data; you should never feel locked in by what we hold.
Ready to claim your listing?
Sign up with your daycare email — verification is usually under 24 hours, and the directory listing is permanently free.