Dog Boarding vs Pet Sitter: What Each Costs
When you’re planning a trip, care for the dog is the line item that sneaks up on you. The price swings a lot depending on whether your dog goes to a kennel, stays at someone’s house, or stays home with a sitter. Here’s what each costs, and how to compare them for your own trip.
Updated October 2026. Prices come from Rover’s published cost guides and city pages, with Care.com as a second view. Local rates can differ a lot, so get quotes before you book.
What each option costs per night
| Option | Typical price per night (Rover) |
|---|---|
| Boarding at a sitter’s home | $25 to $45 |
| Kennel | $25 to $55 |
| Vet clinic boarding | $30 to $60 |
| Sitter stays at your home | $45 to $75 |
| Overnight daycare | $55 to $80 |
Rover puts the overall average for dog boarding at about $40 to $50 a night. Its May 2026 city pages show how much geography matters: roughly $40 a night in Rochester, Minnesota and $44 in Riverside, California. Rover’s house-sitting page puts the priciest city it found, Oakland, at $87 a night. Care.com, which is looking at facilities, reports $40 to $60 a night on average, and breaks pricing down by size: about $60 for dogs up to 49 pounds, $70 to $75 for large breeds over 50 pounds, and $80 to $100 for giant breeds.
What drives the price up
- Puppies: expect $5 to $10 more per night.
- Vet-clinic boarding: $5 to $15 extra a night for medical supervision.
- Rides: $10 to $20 per drop-off if your dog needs transport.
- Holidays: Rover says rates can rise $10 to $25 a night.
- Extra care: medication, a reactive or high-energy dog, or 24-hour supervision can add $30 to $100 a night.
- More than one dog: most places charge extra for each additional pet, so ask upfront.
What about drop-in visits?
If your dog stays home and someone visits, the cost depends on how many visits you need. Rover data reported by ThePricer puts the average drop-in at about $21.80 per visit and a 30-minute walk at $21.45, based on rates Rover pulled in September 2025. Two visits a day come to about $43.60, which is cheaper than a night of boarding but leaves your dog alone for long stretches.
A seven-night comparison
For one medium dog, using the Rover ranges above:
| Option | Seven nights |
|---|---|
| Boarding at a sitter’s home | $175 to $315 |
| Kennel | $175 to $385 |
| Sitter stays at your home | $315 to $525 |
| Two drop-in visits a day | About $305 |
The totals are my arithmetic from Rover’s per-night and per-visit prices. Add holiday rates, a puppy surcharge or rides, and the totals move up quickly. A trip over a holiday weekend could add $70 to $175 on seven nights from the holiday rate alone.
How to choose
Social, easygoing dogs usually do fine in a kennel or at a sitter’s house, and it’s often the cheapest route. Anxious, elderly or medically needy dogs often do better staying home. Care.com’s experts suggest a sitter rather than boarding for a dog that wasn’t socialized as a puppy or is very old. Whatever you pick, meet the sitter or visit the facility first, and book early for holidays.
Cats are usually simpler. Rover’s earlier cat cost report put cat sitting at about $20 a night, and most cats are happiest at home with a visiting sitter.
Plan it into your budget
Rover’s 2026 dog report puts boarding, walking and daycare at $210 to $375 a year for an average owner, and over $900 in some higher-cost cities. Run your own trip through the boarding and sitting cost calculator, then add the result to your monthly pet budget. The dog cost guide shows where travel care fits.
Sources
- Rover: How much does dog boarding cost?
- Rover: House sitting rates
- Rover: Rochester, MN dog boarding price and Riverside, CA dog boarding price
- Care.com: How much does dog boarding cost?
- ThePricer: Dog walking and pet sitting costs (Rover data)
- Rover: The Cost of Dog Parenthood in 2026