8 Best Maid / Domestic Helper Agencies in Singapore 2026: MOM EA Licence Numbers, MOM's Own Agency Ratings and Retention Rates, and the Real Cost of Hiring a Maid (Levy $300 / $450 / $60, EOP, SIP and the Grants)

Nation Employment is one of Singapore's larger, long-established maid agencies, a full-service option covering recruitment from the main source countries (Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines), in-house training, work-permit paperwork, and after-placement support. MOM EA LICENCE: the agency publishes licence numbers 12C5507 and 09C5332 on its own site. Look both up on MOM's EA Directory yourself rather than taking the website's word for it. WHAT IT'S KNOWN FOR: scale + a wide pool of biodata, structured processes, training facilities, and replacement guarantees if a placement doesn't work out within a set period; it states it has operated since 1993 and offers transfer, elderly-care and infant-care streams. WHO IT SUITS: first-time employers who want a big agency to handle the whole process end-to-end and value a large selection + structured support. WHAT TO CHECK (for this and EVERY agency): verify its current MOM Employment Agency licence + demerit points on MOM's online EA Directory before engaging, get the full fee breakdown in writing, confirm the replacement policy + conditions, and read recent reviews. Confirm current placement fees + terms directly, as these vary by source country, worker experience, and package. MOM'S OWN NUMBERS (EA Directory, 12 months to 6 Sep 2026): licence 12C5507 is registered as NATION HUMAN RESOURCES PTE. LTD.: rated 4.0 from 1,018 reviews, 71.21% retention (industry average 63.17%), a 1.92% transfer rate (worse than the 1.03% average), 2,556 placements, 14 years licensed. Licence 09C5332 is NATION EMPLOYMENT PTE LTD, and it is now the highest-rated licence on this whole page at 4.1 from 111 reviews, with 65.55% retention, 0.31% transfer, 333 placements and 17 years licensed. The bigger licence is registered under a name you would not guess from the shopfront, so search the NUMBER.

Best Home Employment Agency is another large, established Singapore agency offering end-to-end MDW recruitment + placement across the main source countries, with training and full handling of the work-permit + insurance + medical paperwork. MOM EA LICENCE: 96C5039, shown for both its branches: Bukit Timah Shopping Centre (170 Upper Bukit Timah Road #04-33/47, tel 6462 7055) and Thomson Plaza (301 Upper Thomson Road #03-08, tel 6554 2822), both open Mon to Fri 10am to 7pm and Sat 10am to 6pm, closed Sundays. NEW SINCE OUR LAST CHECK: it now lists Mizoram helpers alongside Myanmar, Filipino and Indonesian, and sells several things a maid agency usually does not, including part-time cleaners, maid lodging, a transport service and an accelerated placement route it calls APS. It advertises "absolutely no hidden fees". Treat that as a claim to test, not a guarantee: ask for the written line-by-line breakdown and check it against the all-in figure. WHAT IT'S KNOWN FOR: a sizeable biodata pool, a structured recruitment-to-deployment process, and the back-office handling (levy setup, security bond, insurance, 6-monthly medical scheduling) that first-time employers find daunting to do alone. WHO IT SUITS: employers who want a well-resourced agency to manage everything and a broad selection of candidates. WHAT TO CHECK: as always, verify the MOM EA licence + demerit record on MOM's EA Directory first; then compare the written fee breakdown, the replacement guarantee terms, and the quality of candidate biodata + references against 2-3 other agencies. Confirm current pricing directly; it depends on the worker's profile + your package. MOM'S OWN NUMBERS (EA Directory, 12 months to 6 Sep 2026): 3.8 from 657 reviews and 1,616 placements over 30 years licensed, but retention is 61.29%, BELOW the 63.17% industry average, and the transfer rate is 3.47%, more than three times the 1.03% average and the worst of the eight. Both numbers were re-checked on 9 September 2026 and the gap has not closed. Read that against the volume: it places a lot of helpers, but a smaller share of them stay put. Ask specifically what its replacement guarantee covers.

Universal Employment Agency is an established full-service Singapore agency known for a broad reach across MDW source countries and end-to-end handling of the hiring process. MOM EA LICENCE: 87C4847 (Universal Employment Agency Pte Ltd, UEN 201023870N), established 1986. WHICH SITE TO USE, because this changed: universal.sg is now Universal's HELPER-facing site (its menu reads For Helpers, Apply With Us, Transfer Application) and it tells employers in its own footer to "visit our main website" at universalmaidagency.com. If you land on universal.sg looking to hire, you are on the wrong half of the business; the employer site is the one that carries the service pages (newborn, infant, child, elderly, disabled and pet care, housework and cooking, plus confinement nannies and transfer maids). Both carry the same licence line and the same office. WHERE: 304 Orchard Road #01-97/#04-56, Lucky Plaza, Singapore 238863, tel 6735 3456, open Mon–Fri 10am–7pm and Sat–Sun 10am–5pm, closed Tuesdays and public holidays, which is an unusual mid-week closure worth noting before you turn up. WHAT IT'S KNOWN FOR: a wide selection of candidates from multiple source countries, training, and full administrative handling (work permit, levy, bond, insurance, medical): the standard full-service package that takes the paperwork burden off employers. WHO IT SUITS: employers who want options across nationalities (helpful if you have specific language, cooking, childcare, or eldercare needs) and prefer a one-stop agency. WHAT TO CHECK: verify the MOM EA licence + demerit points on MOM's EA Directory; ask specifically about candidate-matching for your needs (e.g. infant care, elderly care, cooking), the replacement policy, and the full fee breakdown. Read recent reviews for service consistency, and confirm current fees directly as they vary by candidate + package. MOM'S OWN NUMBERS (EA Directory, 12 months to 6 Sep 2026): 3.6 from 310 reviews, the lowest rating of the eight though still inside MOM's "Good" band, with 68.8% retention and a 0.65% transfer rate, BOTH better than the industry averages (63.17% / 1.03%) and both improved since our August check, on 832 placements and 39 years licensed, the longest track record here. A middling rating on strong retention numbers is worth more than the reverse.

HomeKeeper is an established Singapore agency that pairs full-service MDW recruitment + placement with a more personal, hands-on service style than the largest chains. MOM EA LICENCES: it publishes three: 09C5350, 09C5352 and 22C0891. So when you look it up on the EA Directory, check the licence that matches the branch you are actually dealing with, as demerit records sit against a specific licence. BRANCHES: six, at Bukit Timah, Potong Pasir, Pasir Ris, Ang Mo Kio, Yishun and Bedok. It states it has operated since 1998, served over 80,000 families, and averages 4.8 on Google, and it has added Mizoram to its source list alongside Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar. WHAT IT'S KNOWN FOR: end-to-end handling (recruitment, training, work-permit + levy + insurance + medical paperwork, after-sales support) with closer attention to matching candidates to a family's specific needs. WHO IT SUITS: employers who want full-service convenience but prefer a more attentive, consultative experience over a high-volume operation, useful if you have particular requirements (infant care, eldercare, dietary/cooking, dialect). WHAT TO CHECK: verify the MOM EA licence + demerit record on MOM's EA Directory first; then assess how well they understand your specific needs, the candidate biodata quality, the replacement policy, and the written fee breakdown. Confirm current pricing directly; fees vary by source country, worker profile, and package. MOM'S OWN NUMBERS (EA Directory, 12 months to 6 Sep 2026): the two working licences both beat the industry averages, but one of them has slipped since August. 09C5350 (HOMEKEEPER INTERNATIONAL) has fallen from 4.0 to 3.8, on 544 reviews, 63.27% retention, 0.76% transfer and 1,331 placements; 09C5352 (HOMEKEEPER JOBSPLACEMENT) holds 4.0 from 532 reviews, with 63.83% retention, 0.47% transfer and 1,406 placements; both 17 years licensed. A rating that moves a fifth of a point in three weeks is a reminder to look the number up on the day you engage, not to trust a figure printed in any roundup. The THIRD licence, 22C0891 (HOMEKEEPER SOLUTIONS), shows ZERO placements in that year, no retention or transfer figures, and no rating at all, so if that is the number you are handed, it tells you nothing about the operation you are actually dealing with. Ask which licence your branch trades under.

Comfort Employment is an established full-service Singapore agency handling MDW recruitment + placement, often used by families with eldercare or caregiving needs. WHAT IT'S KNOWN FOR: the standard full-service package (recruitment from source countries, training, full work-permit + levy + bond + insurance + medical handling) with attention to matching helpers to households that need caregiving for elderly or less-mobile family members. WHO IT SUITS: families whose priority is a helper experienced or trained in eldercare / caregiving, alongside general household duties, and who want the agency to manage the full administrative process. WHAT TO CHECK: verify the MOM EA licence + demerit points on MOM's EA Directory; if caregiving is the priority, ask specifically about the candidate's relevant experience + training and whether the household qualifies for the concessionary levy (e.g. an elderly family member). Get the written fee breakdown + replacement terms, and confirm current pricing directly. MOM EA LICENCE: NOW CONFIRMED: 02C3307 (COMFORT EMPLOYMENT PTE. LTD., UEN 200204710E), at 22 Sin Ming Lane #06-76, Midview City, Singapore 573969. THE FINDING THAT MATTERS: the licence is live, 24 years old, and does not appear on MOM's revocation / suspension / surveillance list, but MOM's directory shows ZERO MDW placements in the 12 months to 6 September 2026, no retention or transfer rate (both "N.A."), and no customer rating at all, because there are no reviews to rate. WE CHECKED AGAIN THREE WEEKS LATER, on 9 September 2026, and the reading is identical: still zero placements, still no rating, still no demerit action. That is not evidence it has closed, and a long-licensed agency can simply have gone quiet, but two independent readings three weeks apart do mean it is not currently placing helpers at any measurable rate. It also runs no website of its own, so there is nothing to check besides the directory and the phone. Phone before you make the trip to Sin Ming Lane and ask directly whether it is taking new employers; it publishes no website we could verify, so the phone call is the only way to find out.

Budget Maid is a value-positioned Singapore agency aimed at employers who want a more cost-conscious hiring route, while still handling the essential paperwork. READ THE POSITIONING HONESTLY: the name and the category are the promise, but Budget Maid publishes NO placement fee anywhere on its site. Its own cost section is a list of components (agency service fee, monthly levy, mandatory insurance, Settling-in Programme) under the heading "Transparent Costs, No Hidden Charges", with no figure attached to any of them, so "cheaper" here is a claim you have to test with a written quote against two or three rivals, not something we or anyone else can verify from the outside. What IS verifiable is the process: it runs a fully digital hire, with the interview by live video call to the helper's home country, documents e-signed and payment made online, which is a genuine saving in time if not necessarily in money. Six branches, at Thomson, Bukit Timah, Jurong, Woodlands, Katong and Hougang, and helpers from Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines. MOM EA LICENCES: it lists five: 17C8574, 14C7260, 13C6756, 05C3492 and 02C3210, across six branches, and says it has served over 50,000 families since 2001. Multiple licences are normal for a multi-branch operator, but it does mean one clean licence tells you nothing about the others: look up the one for your branch. Its site sets out the cost components (agency service fee, monthly levy, mandatory insurance, Settling-in Programme) and says it gives a written breakdown before confirmation, but publishes no actual figures, so get that breakdown in writing. WHAT IT'S KNOWN FOR: keeping the agency placement fee lower than premium full-service agencies, often by streamlining the package, which appeals to budget-conscious households. WHO IT SUITS: employers comfortable with a more no-frills, cost-focused process who still want a licensed agency to handle the core work-permit + administrative steps. WHAT TO CHECK (extra important at the value end): verify the MOM EA licence + demerit points on MOM's EA Directory; clarify EXACTLY what the lower fee includes vs what's charged extra (insurance, medical, training, replacement), and confirm the agency follows ethical recruitment, a very low employer fee should never come at the cost of an excessive debt loaded onto the worker. Compare the all-in cost (not just the headline fee) against full-service agencies, and confirm current pricing + inclusions directly. MOM'S OWN NUMBERS (EA Directory, 12 months to 6 Sep 2026), AND WHICH OF THE FIVE ACTUALLY OPERATES: four are active, and all four beat the 63.17% industry retention average. 14C7260 (BUDGET EMPLOYMENT) 4.0 from 150 reviews, 69.09% retention, 0.93% transfer, 350 placements. 13C6756 (BUDGET EMPLOYMENT SERVICE CENTRE) 3.9 from 186 reviews, 66.11% retention, 0.73% transfer, 455 placements. 05C3492 (HOME EMPLOYMENT SERVICE CENTRE) 4.0 from 37 reviews, 70.45% retention, 0% transfer, 73 placements. 02C3210 (HOME EMPLOYMENT AGENCY) 4.0 from 70 reviews, 67.74% retention, a 2.16% transfer rate (worse than the 1.03% average), 162 placements. THE FIFTH: 17C8574 (BUDGET EMPLOYMENT AGENCY): shows ZERO placements in that year and no rating at all, so a clean look-up on that number tells you nothing about the branch serving you. Note too that two of the five are registered as "Home Employment", not "Budget": search by licence number, not by the name over the door.

IMPORTANT DISTINCTION: eMaid is not itself the agency that will place your helper; it is an aggregator portal that carries free biodata listings from many different Singapore agencies, and describes itself that way. Browse it and you are looking at candidates posted by separate businesses: Easy Hire, RT Connection, May Manpower, First Select Employment, U Maid, ZE International and Angel Employment are among the agencies whose listings appear there. WHAT IT'S GOOD FOR: comparing a very large pool of biodata in one place, on your own time, before you commit to walking into any shopfront, plus a mobile app. WHAT THIS CHANGES ABOUT YOUR LICENCE CHECK: this is the part people get wrong. Checking "eMaid" on the EA Directory does not tell you whether the agency behind a particular listing is licensed or how many demerit points it carries. You must identify the AGENCY NAME attached to the specific helper you are interested in, and look up THAT agency. WATCH THE LISTING TERMS TOO: individual listings quote their own figures in shorthand such as loan amounts, monthly salary and off-days (e.g. "$3900 LOAN + $614 + 1 OFF"), a large loan figure is money being recovered from the helper's salary, so read it as a signal about how that particular agency recruits, and ask about it directly. PROOF, not assertion: eMaid publishes no EA licence number anywhere on its site, and searching "eMaid" on MOM's FDW directory returns no eMaid at all, only an unrelated agency called Homemaid Service (19C9774) that matches on the letters. The portal is operated by Asia TopGun (Company Reg No 53387103D), which also runs sgcarlist.com and sgbikelist.com, from 12 Eu Tong Sen Street #05-172, The Central (SOHO 2), and its own footer states that it "serves as an intermediary for communications sales and is not directly involved in the sales process" and "bears no responsibility for the products, transaction information, or any transactions that occur". Its agency sign-up page adds the other half of the picture: only MOM-approved MDW agencies are allowed to register, so the listings do come from licensed businesses, you simply have to find out which one. WHO IT SUITS: employers who want to survey the market before narrowing down, as a research tool first, and a booking route only after you have vetted the agency behind the listing.

Sunrise Link (Sunrise Link Pte. Ltd., MOM EA Licence 25C3065) handles TRANSFER maids, meaning MDWs already working in Singapore who are looking to switch employers. WHAT WE GOT WRONG, corrected off its own site: we billed it as transfer-only, and it is not. It does fresh placements too, it now states that it specialises in helpers from Indonesia, Myanmar and India (the Mizo community) rather than the Philippines, and its real differentiator is language: it advertises full end-to-end service in Mandarin, from the first consultation through interviews and contract terms until the helper starts work. If Chinese-language handling is what you need, that is a harder thing to find than a transfer specialist. It also publishes a 4 to 8 week timeline from consultation to placement, 24/7 after-placement support with mediation or a replacement inside the warranty period at no extra cost, and takes enquiries on WhatsApp at +65 8293 5678. WHAT IT'S KNOWN FOR: facilitating transfer placements that let you interview the helper IN PERSON (not just via biodata), see references from her current SG employer, and typically start within days, faster + with lower upfront cost than recruiting a brand-new worker from a source country. WHO IT SUITS: employers who want to meet + assess a helper face-to-face before committing, need someone to start quickly, or prefer a worker already familiar with Singapore households. WHAT TO CHECK: still verify the MOM EA licence + demerit points on MOM's EA Directory (its number is 25C3065); for transfers specifically, ask why the helper is transferring, request references from the current employer, clarify the transfer process + costs (transfer fee, remaining bond/insurance, levy continuity), and confirm the replacement policy. Confirm current pricing directly; transfer costs differ from new-worker placements. MOM'S OWN NUMBERS (EA Directory, 12 months to 6 Sep 2026), READ THESE BEFORE YOU COMMIT: 25C3065 is a genuinely NEW licence, now showing 1 year of licensed experience, just 13 placements in the year, a 0% transfer rate, and NO customer rating at all because it has no reviews yet. Its retention rate has climbed from 50% in August to 66.67%, now ABOVE the 63.17% industry average, though on 13 placements that is a handful of households rather than a track record. None of that is disqualifying for a small transfer specialist: the licence is valid and it is not on MOM's revocation / suspension / surveillance list, but you are dealing with a young agency on a thin track record, so lean on the helper's own references from her current Singapore employer rather than on the agency's reputation, and get every term of the transfer in writing.