Long gone are the days of home tutoring. Students growing up in this era are lucky enough to have the option of taking classes online, providing them with access to an enormous pool of tutors while reducing all the prior inconveniences of home tutoring, such as restricted hours and commute time.
If you’ve ever conducted a search for online tutoring services, you would have probably noticed an overwhelming amount of options available to you, ranging from all sorts of subjects like math, languages, science and much more. This article has done the heavy lifting for you by narrowing the services down to the current leaders of the online tutoring industry, thereby saving you time and helping you choose the option best suited to your situation!
Online tutoring: a brief history
The birth of online tutoring dates back to the time when the widespread use of the Internet hit the world; around the late 90s - early 2000s. The first to enter the online tutoring market (industry pioneers) were established educational groups such as The Princeton Review’s Tutor.com (2010), and Chegg.com (2011). The growing number of subjects and options that these websites provided have catapulted the rise in niche tutoring services, tailored to every individual’s needs. Currently, there are a number of notable and well-received online tutoring services that you should probably know about.
Top 5 Online Tutoring Services in 2019
1. Skooli | $49/hour; $0.82/min.
Skooli provides online tutoring services for a wide range of subjects: Humanities, Math, Business, Language, Science, and Grade Level subjects. Becoming a Skooli tutor is as easy as applying on their website, getting approved and verified, then building your profile and setting your own schedule. Tutors are paid $25 USD per hour by Skooli, and they offer payouts via PayPal to your bank account provided you have at least a $100 balance. In addition, Skooli has a 15-minute minimum payment system, meaning that tutors will always be paid for at least 15 minutes of tutoring even if the actual session lasted less than that.
2. Knack
Tutors on Knack get to keep 100% of their earnings from sessions with their existing clients; while Knack only takes 20% of earnings made from clients introduced by Knack. Based on these numbers alone, Knack might offer one of the more attractive compensation plans for Tutors. However, it's important to keep in mind that buyers may be weary of the quality of tutors on Knack, as their on-boarding requirements for Tutors are rather lax in comparison to other online tutoring sites.
3. Wyzant (U.S. only)
Co-founded in 2005 by Princeton graduates Andrew Geant and Mike Wishuhn, Wyzant has now grown to a company with over 80 full time employees. Beginning on January 15, 2019, Wyzant will charge a flat 25% platform fee to tutors using their platform, meaning that tutors get to keep 75% of their earnings made through Wyzant. According to Wikipedia, Wyzant had about 2 million registered users in their last report from 2014.
4. Varsity Tutors
According to a question posted on Quora in regards to Varsity Tutor fees, Tutors get paid anywhere from $15+, depending on their experience, qualifications and hours taught. Buyers have to buy multiple hours at one time, and the more hours they purchase, the lower they pay relative to price per hour.
5. Revolution Prep
Online tutoring costs and fees vary depending on the type of tutoring (group or 1-on-1 tutoring) on Revolution Prep. For example, their basic options (Revolution Prime and A+ Habits) cost $99 per month, whereas their private tutoring services can be upwards of $1,199. We know what you’re thinking: $1,199 is expensive, right? However, in comparison to other plans offered by well-established educational institutes such as The Princeton Review ($3,006) and Kaplan ($2,299), Revolution Prep is the cheaper option.
Paid vs. Free Online Tutoring services
Before dwelling into this topic, it’s important to clarify what we mean by “free” online tutoring services - services where no platform fee is charged, or otherwise options where a tutor provides services to a student without the aid of a third party (i.e. an online tutoring site or app). Free online tutoring services can be found through using popular online boards such as Craigslist, and while it may be a less taxing option for your wallet, the disadvantage is the decline (or lack thereof) of quality due to no prior verification checks required on behalf of the tutor for their services to be listed on such websites.
On the other hand, just because a tutoring service is paid, it doesn’t necessarily equate to the service being more “premium”. Always make sure to do a price comparison (or look at the recommendations we gave above) before making a final decision on which online tutoring service would be best for you. If you’re a tutor, don’t just think in terms of how much money you can make from tutoring online - instead, take all other important factors into account such as payment options, convenience, user numbers and website / app ratings.
Recommendations
Based on the options that we presented above, we recommend taking the “free online tutoring service” option only if you’re looking for a one-time solution to a very specific problem (e.g. math problem, homework, etc.). This would allow you to not commit fully to a certain tutoring program, and also may be more convenient for you. However, extra attention and due diligence will be required on your part in order to find genuine services on websites like Craigslist.
If video is not required, Callmart can be the perfect solution, as all that will be required is a phone call - all payment procedures are taken care of by the app. Callmart only charges a 3% fee each for both buyer and seller, and therefore much less than what some of the services above charge for their platform fees.
As a tutor, you have the freedom of deciding which platform best suits your needs - if it’s money you prioritize, look at the options that charge a minimal platform fee, such as Knack and Callmart. On the other hand, well-established services such as Skooli and Tutor.com will provide your services with more visibility and brand recognition for interested buyers. Do note that however, the barrier to entry for these “premium” online tutoring services are often lengthy and may not be optimal in terms of convenience.
To sum up…
Online tutoring services are wide and abundant, but careful consideration is required on both the buyer (student) and seller (tutor) side to see which service is the best. Good online tutoring sites are hard to come by, however we hope that our suggestions have helped you have a clearer understanding of the top online tutoring services that are currently available. Exercise common sense when looking at reviews - for example, an app that you’ve never heard of with 5 stars and 5,000+ reviews is most likely fake - if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.
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