How Much Are US Tutoring Platforms Really Charging You?

If you tutor through Wyzant, Varsity Tutors, or a similar platform, there is a number you probably half-know but rarely sit down and work out: the exact amount you hand over every month just to use it.

This post does that calculation. The numbers are worth knowing — not to make you angry, but so you can decide with the figures in front of you whether your current arrangement still makes sense.

What US tutoring platforms actually charge

Most US tutoring platforms take either a percentage of every session you complete, set the rate themselves and pay you a fraction of it, or charge an additional fee on top of your rate that the student pays. Here is what the major platforms look like in practice (verified against current official help pages, 2026):

• Wyzant — a flat 25% platform fee is deducted from the tutor's posted rate on most lessons, plus a separate 9% service fee charged to the student on top. New students that a tutor refers themselves are exempt from the platform fee, but for the standard case the tutor receives 75% of their posted rate.
• Varsity Tutors — the platform sets the rate paid to tutors, then charges students a different rate. Tutors start at a base rate and earn small per-session increments, with current published incentives capped at $40/hour. The student-facing rate is meaningfully higher, with the platform retaining the spread.
• Tutor.com — platform-set hourly rates that vary by role and subject; tutor-reported pay is roughly $15–22/hour depending on the subject, and tutors do not set their own rate.
• Superprof — 10% commission on paid bookings for tutors on the free tier, or an annual Premium subscription (~$99/year) that drops the commission to 0%. Students pay a separate monthly "Student Pass" (around $49/month) to message tutors, which the tutor never sees.

The headline number you should look at depends on the platform. On Wyzant, it is the 25% deducted from your rate (the 9% on top is paid by the student, but raises the effective price they see). On Varsity Tutors, it is the gap between your hourly rate and what students are charged. On Superprof, it is either the 10% per booking or the $99/year, depending on which you pay. In each case, the more you earn, the more the platform takes.

The maths, worked out plainly

Take a typical caseload for an established independent tutor: 15 sessions per month at $65 per hour. That generates $975 in monthly gross revenue. On Wyzant at 25%, you keep $731 and the platform retains $244 per month — $2,925 a year.

At $100 per hour on 20 sessions per month — not unusual for experienced tutors in competitive subjects or major metro areas — a 25% commission costs $500 every single month. That is $6,000 a year.

Most tutors are aware of the percentage in the abstract. Fewer have looked at what it actually adds up to over twelve months.

The cost compounds with your success

The frustrating part is not just the total. It is that the cost scales directly with how well you are doing. There is no ceiling and no discount for loyalty. A tutor doing twice the sessions pays twice the commission.

Compare that to a flat monthly fee. Tools like Syllavo cost $9/month on the Plus plan — the option most independent tutors use. Over a year that is $108. Set against $2,925 in commission at the modest figures above, the potential saving is $2,817 per year. At higher volumes, considerably more.

Why tutors stay on platforms — and when that is the right call

The honest answer is that platforms do something genuinely useful: they find you students. When you are starting out, building in a new subject area, or relocating to a different city, a platform is a real shortcut to a client base. The commission is, in effect, a marketing spend — and in the early stages, it can be a reasonable one.

That trade-off makes sense early. It stops making sense once the clients are yours.

The defining moment is when a student books through a platform, has a good experience, and then keeps booking with you week after week. By then you have built the relationship. The platform made one introduction. But you keep paying for that introduction every session, indefinitely.

That is not a marketing cost any more. It is a recurring tax on a relationship you earned.

Can you build your own visibility?

The main objection to going independent is discovery: platforms surface you to students who would never otherwise find you. That advantage is real, and it does not disappear overnight.

That said, independent tutors are not invisible. A professional booking page with your name, subjects, and location can appear in Google search results for local queries — it just takes longer to build than a platform profile, and requires more deliberate effort up front. Word of mouth and referrals, for tutors who have been working for a few years, often outpace platform discovery anyway.

Put plainly: platforms win on immediate visibility, and going independent wins on the long-run economics. Where the line falls is a judgment call, not a formula.

Signals that the switch point has arrived

There is no universal rule, but a few things tend to cluster together:

• You have a stable base of regular students who rebook with you directly.
• You are getting referrals — parents recommending you to other parents outside the platform.
• You have some professional presence: a reputation in a school, a subject niche, or a local area.
• The commission figure, when you calculate it properly, is one you would notice and resent as a line item on your bank statement.

Most tutors who reach this point already sense something is off. The commission was easier to accept when the platform was bringing in the students. It grates more once you know they would rebook you regardless.

What going independent actually involves

The practical concern most tutors raise is not the cost — it is the admin. Platforms handle booking, reminders, and sometimes invoicing. Going independent means handling those yourself.

That used to be a fair objection. It mostly is not any more. Independent tutoring software gives you a public booking page parents can use directly, automated lesson reminders, lesson notes, invoicing with payment links, and one place to manage all your students. Setup takes about five minutes, and it costs $9 a month rather than the thousands a percentage-based platform pulls over a year.

A practical transition approach

Going independent does not mean leaving a platform overnight. Many tutors run both in parallel: keeping existing platform students where they are while routing new enquiries direct. Over time the independent side grows and the commission cost shrinks.

Set up your independent booking page first. Share the link with new enquiries and with any existing students who contact you outside the platform. Let the transition happen at whatever pace feels right.

One number to sit with

Before closing this page, take sixty seconds to calculate your own commission. Multiply your average session rate by your monthly sessions, then by your platform's percentage.

That is what you are paying. Every month. Every year. For as long as you stay.

Whether that is worth it depends on what you are getting in return. For many tutors, at a certain point in their career, the answer is: not much.

Syllavo is free to try with up to 3 students — no card required. If you want to see what independent booking looks like in practice, your page is five minutes away.

Verified June 2026. Wyzant's tutor/student fee split, Varsity Tutors' incentive cap, and Superprof's commission/Premium tiers are taken from each platform's own current published documentation. The Tutor.com pay figures are tutor-reported and drawn from publicly advertised role listings — Tutor.com does not publish a uniform fee schedule. Platform fees and structures change — if you are relying on these numbers for a decision, take sixty seconds to check the current page yourself.