What To Expect
What to Expect is a digital media brand providing medically reviewed pregnancy, parenting, and family lifecycle content, tracking tools, and community forums to expectant mothers, new parents, and parents of toddlers across web and mobile platforms, monetized through advertising and affiliate commerce.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2005
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What What To Expect does
What to Expect is a digital media brand providing medically reviewed pregnancy, parenting, and family lifecycle content to expectant mothers, new parents, and parents of toddlers. Founded in 2005 by Heidi Murkoff as an extension of the "What to Expect When You're Expecting" book franchise, the platform operates a responsive website (whattoexpect.com) and native iOS and Android applications, organized around week-by-week pregnancy tracking, baby development guides, postpartum and toddler content, and specialized calculators (due date, ovulation, IVF, weight gain, birth chart, Chinese gender predictor). A companion baby tracking tool logs feedings, diaper changes, sleep, and milestones, while community forums segmented by birth month, location, health conditions, and parenting styles provide peer support. Content is reviewed by the What to Expect Medical Review Board with alignment to ACOG, AAP, and CDC guidelines.
The underlying technology stack is a content management system with community forum infrastructure feeding a mobile application platform (iOS and Android) and responsive website, supplemented by personalized tracking tools. An AI-powered search assistant called "Ask What to Expect" is currently in Beta, performing text-based knowledge retrieval and generative responses over the platform's expert-reviewed content library. Distribution spans app store listings, SEO-optimized editorial content, email newsletters, and active social channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest, with commerce content leveraging Amazon affiliate links during shopping events.
What to Expect operates as a freemium ad-supported business model. All content, tracking tools, calculators, and community features are free to end users; revenue is generated through display advertising, sponsored content, and affiliate commissions from product links to retailers such as Amazon. The company was acquired by Everyday Health, Inc. in 2016 and became part of Ziff Davis following its 2021 acquisition of Everyday Health. The brand is headquartered in New York and operates with 51-100 employees. Customer segments span people trying to conceive, expectant mothers (primary), new parents (primary), and parents of toddlers, with no enterprise customers and a horizontal consumer segmentation approach.
What To Expect firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- What To Expect
- Legal name
- Everyday Health, Inc.
- Website
- https://whattoexpect.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2005
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- What to Expect is a digital media brand providing medically reviewed pregnancy, parenting, and family lifecycle content, tracking tools, and community forums to expectant mothers, new parents, and parents of toddlers across web and mobile platforms, monetized through advertising and affiliate commerce.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
What To Expect industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Pregnancy and Parenting Digital Media
- NAICS
- Broadcasting and Content Providers (516)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Pregnancy & Prenatal Care Telehealth (OB tele-visits, prenatal monitoring) (HLALAHAC)
Keywords
Where What To Expect is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
What To Expect business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Advertising and Affiliate Revenue: The platform generates revenue through display advertising, sponsored content, and affiliate commissions from product links. Affiliate links to Amazon and other retailers earn commissions on qualifying purchases. The footer notes the site may earn commissions from shopping links included on pages.
- Digital Advertising: Display advertising and sponsored content partnerships with brands in the pregnancy, baby, and parenting space. The site uses cookies and data analytics to personalize content, analytics, and ads.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Free access to all core content and community features |
Go-to-market motion4 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels9 records
What To Expect product offering
Product offeringCore offering
What to Expect is a free digital media platform that provides medically reviewed pregnancy and parenting content, week-by-week pregnancy tracking, baby care logging tools, and peer community forums through a responsive website and native iOS/Android mobile applications. It also offers fertility and pregnancy calculators, a baby registry builder, and an AI-powered search assistant (Ask What to Expect, in Beta). Revenue is generated through display advertising, sponsored content, and affiliate commissions on baby product purchases.
Product overview
What to Expect is a comprehensive pregnancy and parenting digital media brand offering a platform architecture centered on its main website (whattoexpect.com) and a companion mobile app (iOS and Android). The core product portfolio includes the What to Expect Pregnancy & Baby Tracker App, which serves as the primary mobile experience, and the What to Expect Website, which provides web-based content and tools. Key functional modules include a suite of specialized calculators (Due Date Calculator, Ovulation Calculator, Chinese Gender Predictor, Pregnancy Weight Gain Calculator, IVF Due Date Calculator, Birth Chart Calculator), the Baby Feeding Tracker for logging infant care activities, and the Baby Registry builder tool. The platform also features Community Groups for peer support and the Ask What to Expect AI search assistant (Beta). The ecosystem covers the entire parenting journey from conception through toddler years.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- What to Expect Pregnancy & Baby Tracker App: Mobile application providing week-by-week pregnancy tracking, baby feeding and sleep tracking, community groups, and parenting tools.
Products and services
- What to Expect Pregnancy & Baby Tracker App A comprehensive mobile application (iOS and Android) that guides users through pregnancy and parenthood day-by-day and week-by-week, offering pregnancy tracking, baby feeding and diaper tracking, community groups, and personalized content. Targeted at expectant mothers and new parents.
- What to Expect Website The main digital platform (whattoexpect.com) providing comprehensive pregnancy and parenting editorial content, calculators, product reviews, and community forums for expectant mothers and new parents.
- Ask What to Expect An AI-powered generative search tool (currently in Beta) that retrieves and synthesizes information from What to Expect's expert-backed content database to answer user questions about pregnancy and parenting. Targeted at users of the website and app.
- Baby Registry A personalized registry builder and checklist tool that helps expecting and new parents create and share baby registries with friends and family. Targeted at expectant and new parents.
- Community Groups Online forums and community groups organized by birth month, location, interests, and health conditions where users can connect with other parents and parents-to-be. Targeted at all expecting and new parent user segments.
- What to Expect Podcast An audio and video content series featuring videos about pregnancy week-by-week and each month of baby's first year, hosted by founder Heidi Murkoff. Targeted at expecting and new parents.
- Pregnancy Due Date Calculator A web-based calculator tool that helps users calculate their pregnancy due date based on conception date or last menstrual period. Targeted at expectant mothers and people trying to conceive.
- Ovulation Calculator A fertility tool that helps users identify their most fertile days and predict ovulation based on cycle information. Targeted at people trying to conceive.
- Pregnancy Weight Gain Calculator A calculator tool that helps expectant mothers determine healthy pregnancy weight gain ranges based on their pre-pregnancy BMI.
- IVF Due Date Calculator A specialized calculator for users who conceived through IVF to determine their pregnancy due date based on transfer date. Targeted at IVF-conceived pregnancies.
- Baby Feeding Tracker An in-app and web-based tool that allows new parents to time and track baby feedings, diaper changes, sleep routines, tummy time, and the introduction of solid foods.
Companies that use What To Expect
Customer profileSegments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
What To Expect technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability3 records
Feature7 records
What To Expect partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Preeclampsia FoundationcoreWhat to Expect served as the digital media partner for the Preeclampsia Foundation's 2026 Preeclampsia Awareness Report. The partnership involved conducting a survey of nearly 3,000 participants to assess awareness of preeclampsia among expectant and new mothers. This positions What to Expect as a trusted health awareness platform for maternal health issues.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
What To Expect competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- The Bump: The Bump is a pregnancy and parenting content platform with week-by-week guides, registry tools, and vendor marketplace. It overlaps directly with What to Expect on pregnancy tracking, content, and registry commerce, though with a stronger wedding-planning lineage.
- BabyCenter: BabyCenter is a leading global pregnancy and parenting digital platform offering week-by-week tracking, expert-reviewed content, and birth-month communities. It is the most direct competitor to What to Expect in the same category, and notably is owned by Everyday Health Group alongside What to Expect under Ziff Davis.
- Pregnancy+ (Philips): Pregnancy+ is a widely downloaded pregnancy tracking app offering daily updates, fetal development visuals, and kick counters. It directly overlaps with What to Expect's app on pregnancy tracking functionality with similar free-to-user monetization.
- Parents.com: Parents.com is a long-established parenting media brand providing expert-reviewed articles, milestone guides, and product reviews. It competes with What to Expect on content authority, particularly through the toddler and older-child segments.
Emerging players
- Maven Clinic: Maven Clinic is a virtual care platform for women's and family health covering fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and pediatrics. It represents the clinical/paid-virtual-care peer model and could compete for sponsored content and partnership dollars that currently flow to content platforms like What to Expect.
- Glow: Glow is a fertility and women's health app suite including ovulation tracking and conception support. It overlaps with What to Expect's pre-pregnancy/fertility tools and community, particularly for users trying to conceive.
- Flo Health: Flo Health is a leading women's health app combining period/ovulation tracking, pregnancy mode, and personalized health insights. It overlaps with What to Expect's ovulation calculator and pregnancy tracker on the mobile side, with a stronger emphasis on AI-driven cycle prediction.
- Ovia Health: Ovia Health provides employer- and payer-sponsored fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum apps with personalized health tracking. It competes with What to Expect in pregnancy tracking while monetizing through health plan sponsorships rather than advertising.
Broad incumbents
- The Knot: The Knot is a leading wedding and registry platform with significant overlap into baby registry and registry-builder functionality. It competes with What to Expect's Baby Registry tool through vendor partnerships and a broader life-stage commerce funnel.
- Everyday Health Group: Everyday Health Group is the parent entity that owns What to Expect and a portfolio of health-focused media properties. It is relevant both as the operating parent and as a competitor in adjacent health content verticals where cross-promotion and shared ad inventory create strategic overlap.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
What To Expect social profiles
Digital presenceWhat To Expect financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
What To Expect leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
What To Expect funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
What To Expect M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about What To Expect
What does What To Expect do?
What to Expect is a free digital media platform that provides medically reviewed pregnancy and parenting content, week-by-week pregnancy tracking, baby care logging tools, and peer community forums through a responsive website and native iOS/Android mobile applications. It also offers fertility and pregnancy calculators, a baby registry builder, and an AI-powered search assistant (Ask What to Expect, in Beta). Revenue is generated through display advertising, sponsored content, and affiliate commissions on baby product purchases.
Is What To Expect a public or private company?
What To Expect is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was What To Expect founded?
What To Expect was founded in 2005. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is What To Expect based?
What To Expect is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does What To Expect make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Advertising and Affiliate Revenue is the primary driver. The others are digital Advertising.
Who are What To Expect's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are The Bump, BabyCenter, Pregnancy+ (Philips) and Parents.com. Emerging players are Maven Clinic, Glow, Flo Health and Ovia Health. Broad incumbents are The Knot and Everyday Health Group.
Does What To Expect have an API?
No public API is recorded for What To Expect.
What industry is What To Expect in?
What To Expect's product category is Pregnancy and Parenting Digital Media. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLALAHAC, Pregnancy & Prenatal Care Telehealth (OB tele-visits, prenatal monitoring). Its NAICS code is 516 and its SIC code is 7372.