8 Minute Read
Contents:
Whether you’re just starting out as a tutor or you’re an experienced tutor considering joining an online tuition platform, understanding platform fees is essential. These fees can directly affect your take-home pay and influence how competitively you’re able to price your lessons.
Platform fees are the costs a tutoring platform charges in return for helping you find students and manage your tutoring. This can include marketing your profile, processing payments, providing scheduling tools, or hosting online lessons. Platforms structure these fees in different ways, such as taking a percentage commission from each lesson or charging a fixed subscription fee.
So how can you tell whether a tutoring platform’s fees are reasonable? In this guide, we’ll break down the most common fee models, outline typical commission rates, and explain what to check before signing up – so you can make informed decisions about where and how you tutor.
Why do tuition platforms charge a fee?
All tuition platforms and agencies have running costs, and platform fees are how they cover them. However, what you get in return can vary widely depending on the type of platform you’re using.
Some platforms operate more like simple directories: they list your profile, connect you with students, and then leave you to manage lessons, payments, and admin independently. Others are full-service tutoring platforms, offering technology, administrative support, safeguarding, and more.
Platform fees are typically used to fund a combination of the following:
- Access to students, marketing and exposure
Platforms invest in marketing, search visibility, and brand awareness to attract students, giving tutors access to a ready-made pool of potential clients. - Booking and scheduling infrastructure
This can include searchable tutor profiles, automated matching, calendars, and booking systems that reduce the time you spend organising lessons. - Payment processing and guarantees
Platform fees often cover payment collection, protection against late or missed payments, and, in some cases, guaranteed payment even if a student fails to attend. - Tutoring technology
Some platforms provide an online classroom with video calling, interactive whiteboards and lesson recordings, removing the need for separate tools. - Trust and quality assurance
Background checks, tutor reviews, and platform moderation help build trust with students and parents. - Customer support and dispute resolution
Tuition platforms may step in to resolve issues, handle complaints, or mediate disputes between tutors and families. - Safety and safeguarding measures
Reputable platforms have safeguarding frameworks in place to protect both tutors and students. This can include clear safeguarding policies, monitored communication, and recorded sessions. - Terms and policy enforcement
Centralised terms and conditions – such as cancellation or notice policies – can be enforced by the platform, offering clarity and consistency for both tutors and students.
Understanding what a platform fee covers is just as important as knowing how much it is. A higher fee may be justified if it meaningfully reduces your admin workload or helps you secure regular students – but only if the services offered align with how you want to tutor.
Different types of tutoring platform fees
Not all tutoring platforms structure their fees in the same way. Here are the main models you’ll come across:
Commission-based tuition platforms
Commission-based platforms take a percentage of each lesson you teach. Depending on the platform, this may be deducted directly from your lesson fee or built into the price parents see.
Examples:
- PMT Education: One of the lowest platform fees, taking 18% per lesson.
- MyTutor: Commission rates can vary, but tutors report paying around 40% commission (plus VAT), which means you take home roughly 52% of the lesson cost.
- Sherpa: 28% platform fee plus a payment processing fee of 2.7% + £0.20 per transaction.
- Tutor Hunt: Commission rates can vary but tutors report paying around 32% commission.
As commission rates differ significantly between platforms, it’s important to check exactly what’s deducted and whether additional charges, such as VAT or transaction fees, apply.
Service fees added to the parent’s bill
Some platforms don’t deduct from your pay at all. Instead, they charge the parent/billpayer an additional service fee on top of your hourly rate. You receive the full amount you set, but your advertised rate may look higher once the fee is added.
Example:
- Tutorful: This platform is commission-free for tutors, but students pay a 35% service fee on top of your hourly rate, e.g., if you set a rate of £30.00/hr, the student pays £40.50/hr. This model keeps your earnings intact, but you’ll need to price competitively so your lessons remain appealing to parents.
Finder’s fee or matchmaking/referral fee (less common)
These platforms act more like directories or matchmaking services, charging a one-off fee to connect students and tutors. Once contact is made, lessons and payments are handled independently, off-platform.
Example:
- First Tutors: This platform charges parents a finder’s fee (£9.99–£34.99) to access a tutor’s contact information. After that, lessons and payments are handled off-platform.
Subscription model
Some platforms operate on a subscription basis, either for students or tutors.
Example:
- SuperProf: Students pay £39.00/month for a “Student Pass” to contact tutors. Tutors keep 100% of lesson fees, but everything from scheduling to payments is managed off-platform. This also means there’s no payment security provided by the platform if a student doesn’t turn up or refuses to pay.
Platform fees comparison table
How to calculate your actual earnings after platform fees
When comparing tutoring platforms, it’s important to work out what you’ll actually take home after fees. Different fee models can make the same advertised rate result in very different earnings:
- Tutor Hunt
If you charge £30.00 per hour and the platform takes a 32% commission, you’ll receive around £20.40 per hour after fees. - Tutorful
If you set your rate at £30.00 per hour and the platform adds a 35% service fee on top for the student, the student pays £40.50 per hour, but you still receive the full £30. - PMT Education
On the same £30.00 per hour lesson, an 18% platform fee would leave you with £24.60 per hour.
Doing the maths before joining a platform gives you a much clearer picture of what’s competitive in the market – and, crucially, what’s sustainable for you in the long term. A higher advertised rate doesn’t always mean higher take-home pay, especially once commission and additional fees are factored in.
For more guidance, you can also read our article on how to set your tutoring rate, which explores pricing strategies in more detail.
Can I avoid platform fees by going independent?
Yes – tutoring independently can allow you to avoid platform fees entirely. Without commission or service charges, you keep 100% of what you earn. However, this approach comes with important trade-offs that are worth considering.
If you tutor independently, you’ll need to take full responsibility for:
- Finding students yourself (through ads, word-of-mouth, social media, or your own website)
- Managing bookings and timetables
- Paying subscriptions for tutoring software, e.g. online whiteboards
- Chasing late or missed payments
- Setting and enforcing your own cancellation policy
- Absorbing the risk of non-payment, including last-minute cancellations or no-shows
For some tutors, especially those with an established client base, this level of control is appealing. For others, the time spent on admin, marketing, and payment management can outweigh the savings from avoiding platform fees.
Ultimately, the right choice depends on how you value your time, how much risk you’re comfortable taking on, and whether you prefer the independence of managing everything yourself or the structure and support provided by a platform.
Platform fees are an unavoidable part of tutoring on most online platforms, but they can be worth it if the services provided save you time, reduce admin, and help you secure reliable students. From access to student leads and payment protection to lesson technology and safeguarding support, these features can make a significant difference to your tutoring experience.
The key is to understand how each platform charges, calculate your actual take-home earnings, and weigh the benefits against the costs. By doing the maths and considering your own goals, you can choose the option that best suits your needs and ensures your work is both rewarding and sustainable.
FAQS
Do all tutoring platforms charge commission?
No. Some platforms charge commissions, others add service fees to students, and some operate on subscription or finder-fee models.
How much commission does MyTutor take?
Commission can vary, but tutor reports indicate that MyTutor takes a 40% commission (plus VAT) on each lesson, leaving tutors with roughly 52% of the lesson fee.
How much does Tutorful charge in platform fees?
Tutorful doesn’t take a commission from tutors. Instead, it adds a 35% service fee on top of your rate, which is paid by the student. You receive the full amount you set.
Are tutoring platform fees worth it?
They can be. Platform fees cover services such as finding students, scheduling lessons, payment protection, safeguarding, and lesson technology – all of which save time and reduce administrative work. Whether the fees are worth it depends on both the level of support provided and the size of the fee: higher fees may be justified if the platform significantly reduces your workload or helps you secure regular students, while lower fees may be more suitable if you prefer managing more aspects yourself.
Which tuition platform charges the lowest platform fee/commission?
Among UK platforms, PMT Education currently offers one of the lowest commissions at 18%.
Copy URL
Comments