Which one does your family actually need?
It depends on the job. To keep a wide circle informed, CaringBridge is the standard. To organize meals, rides, and visits, Lotsa Helping Hands does that one thing well. To keep a shared, permissioned care record that family and professionals both work from, that's Mallowa. Plenty of families use two of the three.
Telling the circle how things are going
A free, donor-supported 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating since 1997, built around private health-update journal pages for friends and family. Privacy is set for the whole page — Public, Semi-Private, or Private with an approved-visitor list — and co-authors can help write updates with the same access as the primary author. It also carries help-request posts. Its group-calendar Planner was retired in December 2023, and it isn't built to hold medications, care notes, or structured care data.
Turning "let me know how I can help" into a schedule
Free since 2004 and built around a Care Calendar where helpers sign up for meals, rides, and visits, with announcements, well wishes, and coordinator and site-admin roles. Posts and tasks can be scoped to specific member groups, and groups can be private. Like CaringBridge, it's built for a different job than a care record — there's no medication list, care notes, or goals data.
The shared record the whole team works from
One HIPAA-compliant place for care notes, goals, medications, appointments, crisis plans, and files on a single timeline — with visibility set per note (team, clinical-only, family-only, or private) and permissions per team member. Professionals work in the same record as the family, and the record belongs to the family: it stays with them when providers change. Roots is $4.99/month for one individual and up to ten team members.
Choosing between them
- Can we use CaringBridge and Mallowa at the same time?
- Yes, and many families should. CaringBridge is where you tell the wider circle how things are going; Mallowa is where the working care team keeps the shared record — medications, notes, appointments, plans. They don't overlap much, which is exactly why they pair well.
- How is privacy different between them?
- CaringBridge privacy is set at the page level — Public, Semi-Private, or Private with an approved-visitor list — and co-authors have the same access as the primary author. Lotsa scopes posts and tasks to member groups. Mallowa controls visibility per note (team, clinical-only, family-only, or private) and per team member, on HIPAA-compliant infrastructure.
- Are CaringBridge and Lotsa Helping Hands free?
- Yes. CaringBridge is a donor-supported 501(c)(3) nonprofit with no paid tiers, and Lotsa Helping Hands is free with no paid tier. Mallowa's Roots plan is $4.99 a month for one individual with up to ten team members.
- Which one should we start with?
- Start with the job you have. Broadcasting updates to a wide circle: CaringBridge. Organizing meals, rides, and visits: Lotsa Helping Hands. Keeping one shared, permissioned care record that professionals and family both work from: Mallowa.
Last reviewed July 17, 2026. CaringBridge and Lotsa Helping Hands details are drawn from their own published sites, policies, and help documentation as of that date.