Is A Place for Mom free?

It's free to you, the family, because the facilities pay. A Place for Mom and similar senior-living referral services are lead-generation businesses: when you're matched with a community and move in, the facility pays the referral site a fee tied to your first month's rent. You don't pay directly, but the cost is built into the industry, and the service only shows you facilities that have a paid contract.

How do senior-living referral sites make money?

Through referral or lead-generation fees paid by the facilities. When a family they refer moves in, the facility pays the site a commission based on the first month's rent. Because facilities are the paying customers, referral sites list only communities that pay them and have little incentive to surface inspection violations, complaints, or citations.

What is a good alternative to A Place for Mom?

For unbiased research, use government records rather than a lead-generation listing. CMS Care Compare publishes nursing-home ratings and deficiencies, and state licensing agencies publish assisted-living records. Senior Care Record Map aggregates more than 42,000 facilities from those sources, takes zero referral fees, and never sells your contact information.

Do referral sites sell my contact information?

When you submit your details to a senior-living referral service, your contact information typically becomes a sales lead shared with multiple facilities and their advisors, which is why many families report a wave of calls and emails afterward. Reading public records directly — as on Senior Care Record Map — lets you research facilities without handing over your information.

How senior-living referral sites really work

"Free" senior-living referral services like A Place for Mom and Caring.com are paid by the facilities — not by you. Here's exactly how that business model works, what it quietly costs you, and how to research care using the government's own safety records instead.

The short version: if a service is free to you and it's helping you spend tens of thousands of dollars a year, someone else is paying it — and that someone is the facility. That's not a scandal; it's lead generation. But it does mean the "advisor" has a financial interest in a move-in, and the site has little reason to show you a facility's violation and complaint history.

1. The lead-gen business model, in plain terms

Most large senior-living search sites don't charge families. Instead, they sign contracts with assisted-living and memory-care communities and get paid a referral fee when a family they send moves in — a commission tied to the first month's rent. That's the entire business: match families to paying communities, collect a commission on the move-in.

None of that is illegal or hidden in the fine print. But it shapes everything you see:

You'll only be shown facilities that have a paid referral contract with the site.
The friendly "advisor" or "senior living advisor" is a commissioned salesperson whose paycheck depends on you moving into one of those facilities.
Facilities that don't pay — including some excellent, in-demand ones with no need to buy leads — simply don't appear.

2. What the model hides from you

A business paid to place your parent has no reason to warn you off a facility. So the single most important information is exactly what's missing:

Inspection violations & citations. State licensing agencies document deficiencies in detail. Referral listings rarely mention them.
Complaint & enforcement history. Substantiated complaints, abuse findings, and enforcement actions are public — and conspicuously absent from a sales page.
CMS star ratings & staffing data. For Medicare-certified nursing homes, the government publishes health-inspection, staffing, and quality ratings. A lead-gen listing has no incentive to lead with a one-star rating.
The full field. Because non-paying facilities are invisible, you never see the real set of options in your area — just the paying subset.

3. "Free" means you're the product

When you fill in a referral site's "get pricing" or "find care" form, your name, phone number, and situation typically become a sales lead shared with multiple facilities and advisors. That's why so many families describe a flood of calls and emails within hours of submitting a form. The service was free because your contact information — and your parent's move-in — is what's being sold.

You can research without becoming a lead. Government records are public. You can read a facility's inspection and complaint history, and its CMS rating, without giving anyone your phone number. That's the whole idea behind reading the records directly.

4. Referral site vs. public-records research

Question	Lead-gen referral site	Public-records research (Senior Care Record Map)
Who pays?	The facilities, per move-in	You do — a one-time $19.99, or free to browse
Which facilities you see	Only paying contracts	Every licensed facility on record
Shows violations & complaints	Rarely	Yes — with the source records
Shows CMS ratings & staffing	No	Yes, for nursing homes
Sells your contact info	Typically yes	Never — no form to browse
Whose side it's on	The facility's (the paying customer)	Yours (you're the customer)

Referral-site practices are described generally and vary by company; check any specific service's own terms. Senior Care Record Map is not affiliated with A Place for Mom, any referral service, facility, or government agency.

5. How to research care without a referral site

Start with the safety record, not the sales page. For nursing homes, read the facility's CMS Care Compare rating and deficiencies on Medicare.gov. For assisted living, check your state licensing agency's inspection and complaint history. Our watchlist collects every officially flagged home in one place, and if you're weighing care levels, assisted living vs. nursing home lays out the difference.
See the whole field. Use a source that lists licensed facilities, not just paying ones — Senior Care Record Map's map covers 42,000+ records across all 50 states, DC & territories.
Get real pricing yourself. Ask each facility for an itemized quote at your parent's actual care level. Our cost guide explains what drives the number, and our free tour checklist gets it in writing.
Compare finalists on total cost and safety together — not on a base-rate teaser or a single advisor's recommendation.

See every facility — with the record referral sites hide

Senior Care Record Map maps 42,000+ U.S. assisted-living & nursing-home facilities with government-source records. We take zero referral fees — you're our customer, not the facilities. Free to browse; $19.99 one-time unlocks the full history, tagging, and comparison.

Explore the map — free → Unlock Senior Care Record Map Pro →

This page describes senior-living referral and lead-generation practices in general terms for educational purposes; specific companies' practices, fees, and disclosures vary — consult each service's own terms. Senior Care Record Map is not affiliated with or endorsed by any referral service, facility, or government agency, and this is not legal, medical, or financial advice. Always verify a facility's current status directly with the facility and the relevant licensing agency.