Websites, search and Google Ads for NDIS providers

Three provider counts, three meanings

There is no single number of NDIS providers, and agencies that quote one are usually mixing definitions. The register figure of 27,363 counts approved registered providers. It is the right number for how many a participant can choose from. The NDIA's 280,258 counts every ABN paid in the June 2026 quarter, including sole traders, retailers and tradies, and 267,396 of those were unregistered. It says how many businesses were paid. It does not say how many disability providers you compete with.

The practical reading: the registered pool is large but the work is concentrated. Of the 27,363, 23,246 have a single outlet on the register and 367 have ten or more. About 19,600 of them (72%) hold a registration that runs out in 2027 or 2028, so a renewal audit wave is coming.

What changes, and when

Dates below come from the Department of Health page "About the changes to the NDIS", updated 2 October 2026, and from NDIA and Commission notices, all read on 3 November 2026. Anything not yet in force is marked planned.

• 1 July 2026, in force. Registration is mandatory for supported independent living and NDIS digital platform providers. Unregistered SIL providers had to apply by 1 October 2026 to keep delivering while the Commission assessed them. Mandatory registration for support coordination is paused.
• 1 October 2026, in force. Budgets for social, economic and community participation are cut by 50% on new plans and reassessments, and improved daily living skills budgets by 10%.
• 1 December 2026, planned. The claim window falls from two years to 90 days from service delivery.
• 1 February 2027, planned. The funding reset reaches all other participants at plan renewal.
• 1 July 2027, planned. Registration expands to providers of higher-risk supports, including personal care, to be finished by December 2030.
• 1 October 2027, planned. Plan management only from an NDIA panel, with a six month transition.
• 1 January 2028, planned. New eligibility rules start, and children aged 8 and under with developmental delay or autism and lower support needs move to Thriving Kids.
• 1 July 2028, planned. Support coordination stops being funded individually in plans, and the NDIA appoints providers to a new service.

Pricing is also moving. The first statutory price limits were set on 24 September 2026, and different prices for registered and unregistered providers are under consultation. Nothing is decided on that.

Registered or unregistered

Of 782,013 participants, 69% are plan-managed, 21% fully self-managed, 4% partly self-managed and 6% NDIA-managed at 30 June 2026. By plan budget the split is plan-managed 57%, NDIA-managed 31% and self-managed 11%. So most participants, and 68% of the money, can legally go to unregistered providers. Registration is required only for the NDIA-managed slice and for the supports listed above.

That is why the site cannot treat registration as a badge. A registered provider shows its registration groups, the audit status and a link to its register entry. An unregistered one says so plainly: it works with self-managed and plan-managed participants. Neither uses wording that implies the other.

Pages for each kind of provider

Seven segments buy and sell differently, so each has its own page.

• Support worker agencies: in-home and community support, and the workers to deliver it.
• SIL providers: supported independent living, now under mandatory registration.
• NDIS allied health: therapy practices and the AHPRA rules on top of the NDIA's.
• SDA providers: specialist disability accommodation, with participants and investors as two audiences.
• Behaviour support providers: a referral-only service.
• Plan managers: a market heading for an NDIA panel.
• Support coordinators: a service the NDIA will commission from 1 July 2028.