"How much does a tutor cost per hour" is typed with a subject in mind and a country in the address bar, so this article answers it four times: the US, Canada, the UK and Australia, by subject and by who is teaching, using the ranges the platforms and agencies published in September 2026. Then what actually moves the price, what the hour should include, and where we sit, because we publish our price and most providers do not.
The short table, per hour
| Marketplace tutor (often a student) | Certified teacher or experienced independent | Specialist (exam courses, big city) | Science with Shobha, online 1-on-1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $25 – $60 | $40 – $100 | $75 – $200 | US$10 – $13 |
| Canada | C$25 – C$50 | C$40 – C$80 | C$60 – C$120 | about C$14 – C$18 |
| United Kingdom | £15 – £30 | £25 – £50 | £40 – £80 | about £8 – £10 |
| Australia | A$30 – A$60 | A$50 – A$90 | A$90 – A$150 | about A$14 – A$19 |
Marketplace platforms (Wyzant, Preply, Superprof, Tutorful, Learnmate) publish their own averages, which sit near the middle of the first column; the platform keeps 15 to 35 per cent, so the same tutor is cheaper on their own website. Agencies (Tutor Doctor, Cluey, Explore Learning, Tutorax) price by package and the per-hour figure is the package divided by the hours.
By subject
Subjects differ less than parents expect; the level and the exam matter more than the subject name.
| Subject | US | UK | Australia | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elementary reading and maths (ages 5 – 10) | $25 – $50 | £15 – £35 | A$30 – A$60 | C$25 – C$50 |
| Middle-school maths and science | $30 – $60 | £20 – £40 | A$40 – A$70 | C$30 – C$60 |
| High-school maths (Algebra 2, Pre-Calc; GCSE, A-Level; Years 11 – 12; Grade 11 – 12) | $40 – $100 | £25 – £60 | A$50 – A$100 | C$40 – C$80 |
| Chemistry, physics, biology at exam level | $40 – $100 | £25 – £60 | A$50 – A$100 | C$40 – C$80 |
| Languages (Spanish, French, Hindi) | $20 – $60 | £15 – £45 | A$30 – A$70 | C$25 – C$60 |
| Test prep (SAT, ACT; 11-plus; selective; SSAT) | $50 – $200 | £30 – £80 | A$60 – A$150 | C$50 – C$120 |
| Learning differences (ADHD, dyslexia specialists) | $60 – $150 | £35 – £80 | A$70 – A$150 | C$60 – C$120 |
Languages are the cheapest because native speakers abroad price them online; test prep is the most expensive because it is priced against the outcome, not the hour.
What actually moves the price
- Who the tutor is. A student, a certified teacher, a subject specialist: the three columns above. This is 60 per cent of the price.
- Where you live. New York, London, Sydney and Toronto add $20 to $60 an hour to an in-person rate. Online removes this entirely.
- The level. Exam courses cost more because fewer tutors teach them well and the stakes rise.
- The format. Small groups (3 to 6) at a center cost half the 1-on-1 rate per child and deliver less than half the attention. Online 1-on-1 is 20 to 40 per cent cheaper than in-person 1-on-1 for the same tutor.
- The package. A 10-hour or semester package lowers the hourly figure and raises the risk: the tutor changes in week three and the refund is store credit.
What the hour should include
An hour is not an hour. The tutors at the top of every range above deliver the same thing we do, and the ones at the bottom often deliver a conversation.
- A live 1-on-1 class on a shared whiteboard, camera on.
- A five-minute recap, the new topic with diagrams, guided practice where the tutor watches every step.
- Notes and an assignment after the class; the homework marked before the next one.
- The same tutor every week for the year.
- Online: the recording of every class, yours to keep.
- Monthly payment, stop when you want.
Ask for these six by name. A provider that will not promise the recording or the same tutor is selling the cheaper hour.
Why an India-based tutor is US$10 to $13
Because the tutor lives in India, where a master's-qualified teacher's hour costs a fraction of a US, UK, Australian or Canadian agency's hour, and because there is no agency in between. The class is the same: one tutor, one child, a whiteboard, the recording, the notes, the same tutor all year. What changes is the time zone (easy for Australia and the UAE, before-school or weekends for North America) and the vocabulary, which is why our tutors teach each country's curriculum in its own order: Common Core and AP, the National Curriculum and GCSE, the Australian Curriculum and NAPLAN, the Ontario and Alberta courses. The country pages say how: USA, UK, Australia, Canada.
How to decide in a week
Take two trial classes, one local and one online, same child, same topic, and watch both. Ask each tutor the six questions above and to name the next three topics in the course. Pay for one month with the tutor the child worked hardest for. The hourly rate is the least important number on this page; the cost of the outcome, a grade or a year of progress, is the one to compare, and at two classes a week for a school year it is roughly $3,000 to $6,000 with a local tutor and about $1,000 with us.
Questions parents ask
1How much does a tutor cost per hour?
2How much should a tutor cost per hour for a high school student?
3How much does a tutor cost per hour in Canada?
4What should an hour of tutoring include?
See how we teach this, 1-on-1 online →
Shobha
Founder and lead tutor, Science with Shobha
Teaching maths, science and English to children online since 2018. 500+ students, 20+ tutors, families in nine countries.