Private or group lessons? What is better and how to price each

The short answer: a private lesson suits a big gap, a personal difficulty or a very focused goal. A group lesson suits students at a similar level, practice and exam prep, and it is cheaper for each student. A tutor should offer both, with two separate rates: a private rate, and a group rate per student.

When private and when a group

The simple rule: the more personal the student's need, the better private is. The more the material is shared by several students, the more efficient a group is.

Advantages and disadvantages

For the student

Private: a personal pace, all the questions are theirs, zero embarrassment. The downside: a higher price, and sometimes less motivation without friends.

Group: a lower price, you also learn from other people's questions, and there is a feeling of "we are in this together". The downside: less personal time, and the pace is set by the group.

For the tutor

Private: easy to plan, easy to schedule, and one student cancelling affects only themselves.

Group: more income per hour, but more coordination. When one student cancels, you need to know what happens with the others. And it is harder to keep everyone at the same level over time.

How to set a group rate relative to the private one

The group rate is a price per student, lower than the private one, but such that in an hour with two or more it brings you more than a private lesson.

An example (the numbers are for illustration only):

In the example, each parent saves a third of the price, and the tutor earns more per hour already from the second student. If the group rate is below half the private rate, check: a lesson for a pair will give you less than a private lesson, and then there is no reason to open a group.

Some tutors scale the price by group size (one price for a pair, lower for three). That is fair, but it complicates collection. If you are just starting out, a single group rate is simpler. We wrote about working out the private rate itself in the guide how much does a private lesson cost.

How to build a group that lasts

A group that opened "because two parents asked" sometimes falls apart after a month. A few things that help it last:

• A similar level. A strong student and a student with gaps in the same group - one gets bored and the other is left behind. It is better to check in the first lesson and not to promise in advance.
• A shared goal. "Preparing for the test on the next chapter" or "solving past matriculation papers" work better than "general help".
• A fixed hour. A group that reschedules every week falls apart quickly. A fixed hour in the diary is half the success.
• A small number. Two to four students in a help lesson. Beyond that it is already a class lesson, with different pricing and planning.
• Written rules for everyone. The same price, the same cancellation policy, the same payment date. Parents in a group talk to each other, and a gap between what each one received creates tension.

And siblings? Two siblings in the same lesson are a group for all purposes, even if they are in different grades. If the gap between them is large, sometimes it is better to have two private lessons back to back.

When a group is not worth it

If every week someone different is missing, if one of the parents does not pay on time and holds everyone up, or if you find yourself teaching two private lessons at once in the same room - the group is probably not working. It is fine to split it into two private lessons, with a proper notice given in advance.

What happens when one student cancels in a group lesson

This is the question that creates the most awkwardness. There are three common approaches, and each one is legitimate:

1. The student who came keeps paying the group rate. Fair to the parent who came, but you lose out.
2. The lesson becomes private, and the student who came pays the private rate. Fair to you, but the parent is surprised if they did not know in advance.
3. Whoever cancelled late pays anyway. As in a private lesson - according to your cancellation policy.

What really matters: choose one and write it down before the group starts. A parent who read the rule in advance does not argue about it.

If the students pay in advance, for example with a lesson package, the rule should also say what happens to a lesson that was cancelled. Details in the guide to lesson packages.

How Teaching decides private or group

In Teaching you do not choose "private" or "group" by hand, and you do not type a price at every lesson:

• At sign-up you set two rates - for a private lesson and for a group lesson.
• When you record a lesson you mark who took part. One student - a private lesson at the private rate. Two or more - a group lesson, and each of them is charged the group rate.
• Each student's debt is the sum of their unpaid lessons, each lesson at the rate that applies to it.
• One group rate. There are no steps by group size: a pair and a trio are charged the same group rate per student. Anyone who wants a different price for a particular group uses "edit price" on the lesson.

And a student who did not come?

In the history screen you can remove a student from a lesson. If the lesson had two and one is left, the lesson becomes a private lesson, and the system shows in advance how the remaining student's price will change, before you confirm. If you decided (approach 1 above) that the student who came keeps paying the group rate, use "edit price" on that lesson. A price edited by hand overrides the regular rate.

If the whole lesson was cancelled, there is "cancel lesson": it stays in the history as "cancelled" and no debt is charged for it. If it was already paid, the amount is kept as credit.

In the Studio: groups that form by themselves

For anyone using the Studio module (an optional module for students to book themselves): when you open a free time with room for more than one student, students who book the same hour join one lesson, and the price is set by the number of participants, as always. Only the tutor can cancel a lesson like that, with more than one student in it. A student cannot cancel it from their personal link, and contacts you instead.

Managing all this in a spreadsheet today? It is worth reading when Excel is enough and when to move to an app.

In summary

Offer both types, set two rates, and write down in advance what happens when someone in the group does not come. That way parents know what to expect, and you do not reprice every week.

Written by the Teaching team. Updated on 14.10.2026. The numerical examples are for illustration only.