Everything you
want to know
about TinyMatch.

You build a free match profile in about 2 minutes: your child's birthday (or due date), the date you need care by, your home postal code, and the daycares you want, ranked. Twins, or a second child who needs care too? Add their date as well.

When one of your ranked centres (or a centre within a few kilometres of home or of one of your picks) posts a spot that starts when you need care, for a room your child will be old enough for on the start date, we score every eligible family and email the best three per opening. Centres you ranked can reach you as soon as a spot fits your dates, up to a year ahead, so rank early. Other centres near you join in six months before your date, and families who ranked a centre always come before nearby families who didn't. In between, you get a monthly read on what's opening near you.

Read the full rules. No black box.

Yes — TinyMatch is free. You can search all 298 licensed centres and home daycares in Durham Region and nearby, create a match profile, rank up to 3 daycares, and receive spot alerts at no cost.

TinyMatch is live in Durham Region and nearby — Ajax, Pickering, Whitby, Oshawa, Bowmanville, Courtice, Newcastle, Port Perry and Uxbridge, plus Cobourg and Port Hope (Northumberland) and Ennismore (Peterborough County).

We're expanding across Ontario city by city. If you're just outside these areas, you can still sign up and rank any centre listed on TinyMatch.

When you call a daycare, you get added to their list and wait. You have no idea where you stand, whether the spot will ever be available in the right age group, or whether the daycare will even call you when one opens.

TinyMatch flips this: daycares post their actual open spots with the age group and timing. You get alerted specifically because there's a real spot that matches your specific child. No guessing. No being 300th on a list that nobody maintains.

You should still call daycares you're serious about — TinyMatch works alongside that, not instead of it.

When you create a match profile, you search for and rank the daycares you want most. Your #1 ranked daycare gives you the highest priority score when they post a spot — meaning it counts for more than anything else in your score, though date fit, distance and a confirmed sibling also matter.

You can rank up to 3 daycares on the free plan. Think of it as telling TinyMatch your preference order.

You'll receive an email with the daycare name, the spot details (age group, start date), how far it is from home, the centre's phone number with a Call button, and your TinyMatch match code to give the director when you call. From there it's between you and the daycare — TinyMatch introduces you, but the enrolment conversation is yours to have.

Move quickly. Spots don't last long, and other families are being alerted at the same time.

Yes — but it's off by default. When creating your match profile, there's a checkbox to include unlicensed home childcare providers in your alerts. Leave it unchecked and you'll only hear about licensed centres and licensed home care agencies.

Unlicensed home childcare is legal in Ontario for up to 5 children and can be an excellent option — but it's not Ministry inspected. Every unlicensed provider on TinyMatch has self-declared that they meet the child limit, hold first aid and CPR certification, and have completed a vulnerable sector police check. We recommend verifying these directly before enrolling.

Yes. Your name, email and ranked daycares are never shown publicly. A daycare you match with sees only your child's age group, your city and roughly when you need care. Your name and email go to a daycare only when you give the director your match code or accept that daycare's invitation. If you ask a centre to confirm a sibling, it sees your name, your child's age group and your care date.

We don't sell your data. We don't share it with advertisers. See our full Privacy Policy for details. Our privacy practices are designed to follow PIPEDA.

TinyMatch shows licensed daycares across Durham Region and nearby, including those enrolled in the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program. You can filter your search by city and type, then ask each centre about CWELCC fees.

When a daycare posts a spot, they can include notes about subsidy acceptance and CWELCC enrolment. We recommend confirming directly with any centre you're interested in, as enrolment status can change.

It's the idea that filling a spot should take one call, not ten. When you post an opening, TinyMatch sends it to families who are still searching, need your age group, and want to start when you do — ranked by fit, so you know exactly who to call first.

Your waitlist has 400 names. We give you the one that says yes. Families can still change their plans, so we can't promise every first call ends in a yes — but every family on your match list is current, qualified and has told us they want care.

Free to list, free to post spots, free to receive matched families. Listing, claiming your centre, posting and editing openings, tour requests, your public page, confirming siblings and uploading a waitlist of up to 500 families are all free.

Director Premium ($49 CAD/month per location, with a 14-day free trial) is built but not live yet. It adds automated check-ins with families on your uploaded waitlist, invitations in your centre's name, your own list's ready families alerted first, a monthly demand report, Excel export and no list size limit. Any daycare that joins now will receive ample notice before any paid requirement applies.

Listing means registering your daycare on TinyMatch — your name appears in search results, parents can rank you, and you're part of the matching pool. It takes 2 minutes.

Posting a spot is the action that triggers matching. When you have a specific opening — "2 toddler spots available May 1" — you post it. TinyMatch scores every searching family that fits and alerts the best three per opening within minutes. This is what actually fills your spots.

You need to list before you can post. But listing without posting means families know you exist — posting is what connects them to you right now.

No. Keep your existing system. TinyMatch is additive — when you have a spot opening, post it here and we'll surface families who are actively looking right now. You don't need to import your waitlist, change your processes, or abandon anything that's working.

Think of TinyMatch as your top-of-funnel for families who are actively searching today, not a replacement for the relationships you've already built.

Alert emails go out within minutes of you posting. How quickly families respond depends on how urgently they need care — families with an imminent start date tend to respond the same day.

We're still in early days in Durham Region, so the number of matched families will grow as more parents join. Right now we have 600+ families signed up across Durham.

Yes — TinyMatch includes unlicensed home childcare with full transparency. Unlicensed providers are clearly flagged as such, and parents must opt in to receive alerts from unlicensed providers.

To register as an unlicensed provider, you'll complete a self-declaration confirming you care for no more than 5 children, hold valid first aid and CPR certification, and have completed a vulnerable sector police check within 5 years.

A long waitlist isn't the same as a reliable waitlist. Most directors we've spoken to estimate that 30–50% of the families on their list have already found care elsewhere and simply never removed themselves.

When a spot opens, you call down the list and hit voicemails, wrong age groups, families who moved. TinyMatch shows you the families who are actively looking right now, for exactly what you have. That's a different — and much more useful — thing than a list of names.

Matt — a Pickering dad who went through the Durham Region childcare waitlist nightmare firsthand. My wife and I were on 14 lists, put deposits on daycares we didn't even want, and nearly panicked our way into a bad situation.

I have friends who went to medical school and told me about Match Day — where you rank hospitals, hospitals rank you, and an algorithm finds the best fit. I thought: why doesn't childcare work like that? So I built it.

TinyMatch is a sole proprietorship based in Pickering, Ontario. I work a full-time job and build this on evenings and weekends because I think the childcare access problem is solvable and nobody else is solving it this way.

Because it's home, and because matching works on local density — you need enough parents and enough daycares in the same area for the matches to be meaningful. Starting in one region and doing it well is better than spreading thin across the province.

TinyMatch lists 298 licensed centres and home daycares across Durham and nearby. The region has a fast-growing population, and a childcare crunch that's as real as anywhere in Ontario. It's the right place to prove the model before expanding.

We're expanding once we've proven the matching flywheel works in Durham — meaning real families getting real spots through TinyMatch, not just signups.

If you're outside Durham Region, sign up anyway with your email on the home page and you'll hear from us when TinyMatch expands.

No. TinyMatch is an independent private platform. We're not affiliated with the Ontario Ministry of Education, Durham Region, or any government body.

The licensed daycare data we use comes from the Ontario Ministry of Education's public database of licensed childcare providers. We keep it current and add self-registered providers on top.

Email hello@tinymatch.ca — Matt reads every email and replies personally. If your question is one other people will have too, it'll end up in this FAQ.