Private tutoring prices in 2026: rates, gaps and the real budget

We need to be precise about the word “average”. To my knowledge, there is no official average rate published by the State for private tutoring as a whole in France. The available figures come mainly from the platforms and organisations themselves. They therefore describe their own offers or their own listings, not the entire market.

As a private tutor in maths and accounting, I find it more useful to reason in three steps: how much does a session really cost, how much will the intended pace cost over a month, and what does the student get for that budget? That is the method we will use here.

1. How much does private tutoring cost in 2026?

The data published in 2026 gives a fairly broad order of magnitude. Cours Legendre, for example, estimates rates at between €15 and €25 an hour at primary level, €18 to €30 at collège (lower secondary school) and €25 to €45 at lycée (upper secondary school). In higher education, the organisation says some specialised subjects can reach €60 an hour.

On Superprof, the data published for March 2026 arrives at comparable but not identical levels: homework help is listed at around €20 an hour and academic support at around €21. The platform also gives a range of €22 to €45 for various secondary-school subjects.

These values should not be artificially merged to create a “national average”. The calculation methods, the tutors counted and the business models are not the same. They do, however, make it possible to build market benchmarks.

Level	Price benchmarks published in 2026	What can push the rate up
Primary	About €15 to €25/h	Teaching experience, specialised support, travel
Collège	About €18 to €30/h	Specific subject, tutor’s experience, location
Lycée	About €22 to €45/h	Specialisation subject, baccalauréat (the French school-leaving exam) preparation, subject expertise
Higher education / prépa	Often €25 to €60/h or more depending on expertise	Technical level, rarity of the profile, competitive exam preparation

Differences between subjects are less simple than you might think

You sometimes hear that a maths session must cost a lot more than a French or English one. The available data does not support such a simple rule.

In its March 2026 survey, Superprof gave, for example, an average of €24 an hour for French, €22 for English and €21 for academic support. The pages currently shown by the platform give around €22 for Maths and for Physics and Chemistry.

The subject does play a role, particularly when it calls for rare expertise, but the student’s level and the tutor’s profile often explain more of the gap. A Sixième (first year of collège) maths session with a university student and a maths session for classes préparatoires (CPGE, the preparatory classes for the grandes écoles) with a professeur agrégé (a holder of the agrégation, France’s highest teaching qualification) do not really belong to the same market, even if the subject has the same name.

2. Why do rates vary so much from one tutor to another?

Two tutors can teach the same subject at the same level and charge €20 and €45 an hour. That does not mean the first is half as competent, nor that the second is automatically better.

Several factors combine.

The level required

The higher the level, the more specialised the necessary knowledge can be. At collège, many university students who are strong in their subject can offer relevant support. In prépa or in some higher-education programmes, the number of tutors able to follow the curriculum closely becomes more limited.

The tutor’s background

A university student, a teacher from l’Éducation nationale (the French state education system), a professeur agrégé, a doctoral student or someone who has been giving private tutoring for many years do not usually set their rates in the same way.

A degree alone, however, does not measure teaching quality. A family should also look at the tutor’s ability to diagnose a difficulty, explain in several ways and genuinely get the student working. We go into these criteria in our guide to choosing a private tutor.

The preparation required

One hour of tutoring can mean more than one hour of work for the tutor. Preparing a session, analysing a test paper, selecting suitable exercises or building specific work for the next deadline all take time.

This is particularly visible in competitive exam preparation, higher education or situations where the student brings specific documents to work on.

Location

For at-home tutoring, travel is part of the economic equation. In 2026 Superprof recorded higher average rates in Paris than in several other large French cities. In rural areas, the price can also be influenced by the distance to travel, and you also have to factor in the tax credit for services à la personne (home-based personal services), which applies to at-home tutoring under certain conditions.

This factor largely disappears online: a tutor based in Bordeaux can support a student in Lille without adding an hour of travel to their schedule.

3. Is online private tutoring cheaper than at-home tutoring?

Not automatically. Online tutoring removes travel and widens the number of tutors available, two factors that can favour lower rates. But nothing obliges an excellent tutor to lower their price simply because the session takes place by video call.

The rates published by market players illustrate this diversity. Superprof currently shows around €22 an hour for its online maths sessions, but also around €22 for maths across its whole France page. On this platform, the format does not necessarily create a visible gap in the average rate displayed.

Acadomia relies on a different model. For its 2026-2027 rates, the organisation lists at-home private tutoring at €45.40 to €74.80 an hour before tax benefit, which corresponds to the 50% tax credit for services à la personne. Its online private tutoring starts at €20.50 per half hour, or €41 for an hour at the same unit rate.

These figures do not allow us to conclude that “online tutoring costs X% less” across the whole market. Above all, they show that you need to compare offers that are genuinely equivalent.

Format	Possible effect on price	Point to check
Online	No travel and a wider geographical choice	Tutor’s rate + any subscription or platform fees
At home	Travel potentially built into the price	Price before tax benefit and eligibility conditions
Structured organisation	Rate that may include selection, follow-up and administration	Membership fee, package, commitment and services included
Direct matching	Tutor’s rate sometimes easier to read	Matching fees and level of follow-up after the session

To understand what remote tutoring really changes beyond price, our guide to online private tutoring explains how sessions run, the tools involved and the conditions needed for remote support to be genuinely useful.

4. Platform fees, commission and final price: what to compare

The hourly rate shown on a tutor’s profile is not always the amount the family actually spends.

Depending on the service, the business model can take several forms:

• a monthly subscription;
• matching fees;
• a commission added to the price of the session;
• a commission taken from the tutor;
• a package or block of hours;
• a membership fee giving access to additional services.

That is why two listings at €30 an hour can lead to different monthly budgets.

The NOEO model as an example

On NOEO, each tutor sets their own pay and a 15% commission is built into the final price of the session (10% if the match is brought by the family or the tutor, with a floor of €2 per session). The family sees this final price before confirming the session.

In practice, a tutor rate shown as €35 net leads to a session price of €40 or €41, with the tutor choosing which of the two figures the family sees. The term “net” here refers to the amount presented as going to the tutor within the platform’s system; it should not be confused with net income after any social contributions or tax obligations specific to the tutor’s situation.

Nothing is added to this per-session price. NOEO is free for families: no subscription, no registration fee. You only pay for sessions.

The student and parent spaces, session follow-up, session reports, work to prepare and the content linked to follow-up are covered by the commission already included in the session price.

Let us simply take the example of a session priced at €40. For a student taking four one-hour sessions in the month:

• 4 × €40 = €160 of sessions;
• no fixed fees to add, so €160 for that month.

This calculation is not an “average NOEO price”: the tutor sets their own rate. It simply shows why you should compare the full cost rather than the figure shown next to the profile.

5. What monthly budget should you plan for private tutoring?

The formula is simple:

Monthly budget = final price of one session × number of sessions + any fixed fees.

To compare several options quickly, you can start from four weeks per month. This is a deliberately simple approximation. One session actually taken every week over a full year represents on average about 4.33 sessions per month, since the year has 52 weeks.

Price of a 1-hour session	2 sessions/month	4 sessions/month	8 sessions/month
€20	€40	€80	€160
€30	€60	€120	€240
€40	€80	€160	€320
€50	€100	€200	€400

These amounts cover the sessions only. You then need to add any subscriptions, platform fees or other mandatory costs.

Scenario 1: a one-off need

A student is stuck on a maths chapter and takes two sessions at €30: the budget is €60, excluding any fees.

In this case, comparing a sizeable monthly subscription with a platform that has no fixed fees can change the real cost considerably. Conversely, paying fixed fees can make more sense when they give access to follow-up the family actually uses.

Scenario 2: one session a week

Over a school year, it is better to calculate from the number of sessions actually planned rather than mechanically multiplying one month by ten: holidays, exams and interruptions usually change the pace.

Scenario 3: two sessions a week

At this frequency, a difference of just €5 an hour already represents €40 a month on the basis of eight sessions. Platforms’ fixed fees also become easier to spread over a large number of sessions.

6. How do you compare two offers without looking only at the rate?

The cheapest session is not necessarily the most economical, but that sentence should not be used to justify any high price either.

To compare two tutors, I would look at six things at the very least.

1. The total price actually paid

Add up the session rate and all mandatory fees. A tutor at €28 with €30 of monthly fees can cost more than a tutor at €32 with no subscription, depending on how often sessions take place.

2. The fit with the level

Paying for a highly specialised tutor is pointless if that specialisation is not useful for the child’s needs. To go back over Cinquième (second year of collège) basics, the most expensive profile or the highest degree is not automatically the best choice.

3. What actually happens during the session

The student has to search, explain, solve and correct. An hour in which the tutor does the exercises for them is still expensive, even if the nominal rate is low.

4. The tutor’s preparation

A tutor who knows the chapter, looks at a test paper or picks up the difficulties from the previous session can make more effective use of the hour paid for.

5. What remains after the session

Support can include work to prepare, a record of difficulties or follow-up that makes it possible to pick up the same point at the next session. These elements do not automatically justify a higher price, but they are part of what the family can compare.

6. The number of sessions actually needed

A low hourly rate becomes costly if the support goes round in circles. Conversely, a more expensive tutor is only worthwhile if they genuinely bring additional quality or expertise.

7. Tax credit: why you must distinguish at-home and online tutoring

This is probably the most important distinction when comparing the price of in-person and remote tutoring in France.

Tutoring and academic support delivered at home can, under the conditions set for services à la personne, give entitlement to a tax credit equal to 50% of eligible expenses, within the ceilings applicable to the household’s situation.

Service-Public confirms in 2026 that academic support or at-home tutoring is among the activities concerned and that the tax credit corresponds to 50% of the expenses incurred, under certain conditions.

But the words “at home” are essential. The official services à la personne portal states that academic support must be provided in the individual’s home with a provider who is physically present. Remote tutoring, in particular via the internet, is excluded from this services à la personne activity.

A video-call session is therefore not turned into “at-home tutoring” simply because the student follows it from their bedroom.

Example calculation

Imagine an at-home session billed at €50 that genuinely meets the conditions of the scheme. A 50% tax credit theoretically corresponds to €25 on this eligible expense.

Over four sessions:

• price billed: 4 × €50 = €200;
• corresponding tax credit, if all conditions are met: €100;
• cost after tax benefit: €100.

The payment timing then depends on the family’s situation. For some at-home services, an immediate advance scheme can mean paying directly only the share left to the household.

You do, however, need to check the provider’s status, its eligibility for the scheme, the supporting documents provided and the household’s tax situation. The official services à la personne portal notes in particular that, when a family uses an organisation or a micro-entrepreneur to benefit from the SAP tax advantages, that provider must hold the corresponding declaration.

As NOEO currently offers only online private tutoring, its sessions must not be presented as giving entitlement to this tax credit, which is reserved for at-home academic support under the conditions set by the regulations.

The calculation to do before booking

To compare the price of two private tutoring options properly in 2026, take a sheet of paper and fill in just these five lines:

1. Final price of one session: how much will actually be charged?
2. Fixed fees: subscription, matching or membership fee.
3. Number of sessions planned: two, four or eight a month, for example.
4. Any tax benefit: only if the offer genuinely meets the conditions.
5. Services included: preparation, follow-up, work between sessions, tools or support for the family.

You then have a comparable cost. Only after that is it worth asking whether the price difference between two tutors corresponds to a difference that is useful for the child.

On NOEO, families can browse the available tutors and see the final session price before confirming it. The tutor sets their pay; the price paid by the family includes the NOEO commission, which separates the amount intended for the tutor from the final price.