Technology acceleration has made the process of tutoring more streamlined. It has increased the convenience for students and enhanced student engagement, all from the comfort of their homes. Several online tutoring platforms like Skooli, Preply, Lessonface, Tutorful, First Tutors, GoStudent, and Varsity Tutors efficiently connect learners with tutors via 1-on-1 tutoring and group tutoring so that the former can enhance their skills.
Additionally, the global online tutoring market is expected to reach USD 23.73 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 14.5% in the forecast period of 2025-2030. Currently, the demand for online tutoring platforms is on the rise, and launching an online tutoring platform is a lucrative business opportunity.
However, to begin the process of building an online tutoring platform requires careful planning and implementation. Therefore, in this blog, we share a comprehensive guide explaining how to build an online tutoring platform. But first, let us have a look at the online tutoring market worldwide.
Online tutoring platforms are gaining popularity at the global level. With a rapid surge in the adoption of online learning, the market is demonstrating considerable growth. Owing to the benefits such as convenience, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, both tutors and learners are shifting towards online learning. Here are the global statistics showcasing positive growth of the online tutoring industry.
USA: The USA online tutoring industry is expected to grow by USD 49.77 billion at a CAGR of 21.48% between 2023 and 2028.
Australia: The Australian online tutoring market is expected to grow at an annual rate (CAGR 2024-29) of 11.83%, reaching a market value of US$491.80 million by 2029.
UK: The revenue is expected to grow at a CAGR (2024-29) of 4.92%, resulting in a market size of US$ 0.75 billion by 2029.
Canada: The Canada online tutoring market size is expected to reach US $556 million by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 6.10% in the forecast period (2024-2029).
European Countries: Revenue in the online education market in European countries is expected to reach US $27.66 billion by 2029, growing at an annual growth rate (CAGR 2024-2029) of 7.39%.
Popular Online Tutoring Platforms
After gaining an overview of the industry statistics and growth, next, let’s acquire insights about the popular online tutoring platforms in the industry.
Tutor.com
Tutor.com is a popular online tutoring platform that connects students seeking tutoring services in higher studies, K-12 subjects, and more.
Chegg Tutors is another famous online tutoring platform that offers tutoring services, primarily subscription-based tutoring. Chegg study, Chegg Skills, and Chegg writing are some of the tutoring services provided by Chegg.
Founded in: 2011
Headquarters: USA
Founder: Nathan Schultz
Annual Revenue: $114 million
Total Subscribers: 6.6 million
Key Features
Flashcards
Doubt resolution, homework assistance, and online tutoring
A popular online tutoring platform that connects students with tutors. However, instead of directly pairing tutors with students, Wyzant enables students to search and book tutors based on their specific preferences.
Varsity Tutors offers one-on-one and group tutoring sessions in 3000+ subjects. This online tutoring platform has catered to 10 million+ students since its launch.
Founded in: 2017
Headquarters: USA
Founder: Chuck Cohn
Annual Revenue: $1.1B per year
Total Funding: $107M
Key Features
Interactive tools
Collaborative workspace
Ratings and reviews
Mobile apps
Want to Build a Successful Online Tutoring Platform
How To Build An Online Tutoring Platform– A Comprehensive Guide
As discussed above, online tutoring is on the rise, so as an entrepreneur if you are looking to start an online tutoring platform, this is the right time. In this section, we discuss the steps to build an online tutoring platform.
1. Conduct Market Research
Conducting in-depth research can help you determine what your potential users want and how their needs can be met. It can also help you identify the market gaps and what the competitors are offering. Further, to build a successful online tutoring platform, you must incorporate the latest features that counter the shortcomings of other market players.
2. Finalize the Business Model
After conducting thorough market research, now is the time to finalize the business model. It will decide how you will run your online tutoring business. You can choose a business model that aligns with your requirements, business goals, and expertise. Following are the popular business models in the online tutoring industry:
One-on-one tutoring: This business model includes a private tutor that teaches learners in a personalized learning environment. After the successful completion of the one-on-one session, the admin cuts commission from the tutor’s fee and releases their share.
Group Tutoring: In this business model, the tutor teaches multiple students in a group at the same time. Learners enroll themselves in the group and after the completion of the group session, the admin releases the tutor’s payment.
Online Courses: The instructor creates, records, and uploads the video lectures in the form of courses on the platform. Learners seeking self-paced learning purchase these courses from the platform. The admin earns revenue by charging commissions from course instructors.
Live Courses: A platform based on this business model enables learners to enroll themselves in a bundle of classes. Live sessions are conducted and the tutors get their share of revenue after completion of the sessions.
Online booking with offline classes: This unique business model caters to learners seeking the flexibility of online booking of sessions that they would attend in person. After completion of the offline session, the admin cuts the commission fee from the tutors.
These are some of the popular business models prevalent in the online tutoring industry. You can choose any business model depending on your business goals and interests. However, you can also incorporate one or more business models into a single platform.
Next, let’s understand the workflow of an online tutoring platform. It mainly has three main entities – students, teachers, and admin. Let’s know about their workflow in detail.
The workflow of students:
Initially, students need to create an account on the portal.
Search teachers as per requirements on the portal; book a session with them as per their availability.
Make the payment as set by the teacher.
Attend the session by the teacher.
The workflow of teachers:
Teachers create an account on the portal and request the admin to list their profiles.
Post-listing, teachers set their availability calendar and receive session booking requests.
Then they confirm the bookings and deliver the sessions. Teachers can also choose to deliver one-to-one or group sessions.
Lastly, receive payment for the delivered sessions from the admin.
Role of admin:
Approves the listing request of tutors.
Charges commission and transfers payment to the tutors.
3. Choose The Right Features For Your Online Tutoring Platform
As there is a steady growth in the number of online tutoring platforms offering diverse online tutoring options, building a platform with the right set of features is a must. Here, we have highlighted some features that need to be present in an online tutoring platform to help entrepreneurs make the right choice for their business.
Key Features for Learners:
Advanced filter & search: A good search & filtering system is a must in an online tutoring platform. It allows students to find tutors as per their requirements.
Video Conferencing: Video conferencing tools are necessary to provide a collaborative and interactive learning experience. Moreover, features like virtual whiteboard, workspace, TestPad, file sharing, and auto-translation are also essential.
Reviews/Ratings: This feature allows students to share their feedback about a course or a tutor after the session. The feedback of the students is reflected in the profiles of the teachers, which also helps other students to choose their teachers accurately.
Multiple Payment Methods: Offer multiple payment methods, such as credit card, debit card, net banking, eWallet, and more for a convenient and flexible payment processing. Moreover, integrate multiple payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.net, and more.
Authentication: Allow users to conveniently sign in via phone number, email address, social media, and so on.
Multi-Currency Functionality: This feature enables learners to pay the session charges in the currency of their own choice.
Mobile App: A mobile application helps learners in accessing the online tutoring platform anytime and anywhere.
Key Features For Tutors:
Calendar Availability: This feature allows tutors to specify their availability by mentioning the available time slots. Students can also view and check the availability of tutors before booking a session.
Profile Management: Enable tutors to efficiently manage their profiles, add detailed information, qualification, expertise, and more to attract students.
Time-Zone Friendly: Online tutoring platforms have users from all around the world. Having a time-zone-friendly platform makes it smooth for teachers to connect with students while being in another time zone.
Easy Scheduling and Booking System: It streamlines the scheduling and booking process, hence enhancing the user experience and conversion rates.
Price Management: With this feature, tutors can determine the price of the sessions, courses, and more that they are offering on the platform.
Key Features For Admin:
Powerful Dashboard: A robust admin dashboard enables admins to view business statistics, data, and other important information at a glance, along with handling all the business operations effectively.
Commission Management: The admin can use this feature to set the commission rate for one-on-one, group classes, or pre-recorded courses offered by the tutors.
Order Management: Using this feature, the admin can access the upcoming and canceled lessons.
User Management: Admin is responsible for managing all the users on the platform. With efficient user management features and capabilities, admin can seamlessly manage all the users including tutors, learners, and more.
Gift Cards/Coupon Management: This feature allows the admin to reward the users and acts as an additional source of revenue.
CMS: This feature allows the admin to create, manage, and modify the content of the entire platform.
SEO: Search engine optimization helps websites rank better on Google. Hence, having a dedicated SEO module with platform settings to customize meta descriptions, URLs, header tags, title tags, and so on, improves visibility.
Reports and Analytics: Analytics allow the admin to monitor the progress of the online tutoring platform against multiple metrics and analyze performance indicators, sales reports, top-performing subjects, tutors, and more.
Want to Launch a Feature-Packed Online Tutoring Platform?
4. Select the Approach to Create Your Online Tutoring Platform
Having an online presence has become imperative for tutoring businesses. Selecting the right development approach is an extremely crucial decision while building your online tutoring platform. Therefore, we discuss different approaches to creating an online tutoring platform. These are:
Custom Development
Choose a Readymade Solution
Custom Development
This approach is followed to create an online tutoring platform from scratch, i.e. development is done to meet the tailored requirements of the business. You need to hire a team of web developers and designers who will implement your business idea and build your online tutoring platform from the ground up.
Pros:
Scalability and flexibility
Security
Industry-specific features
Make customizations as per your business needs
Cons:
High upfront cost
Time-consuming
Tendency of errors and bugs
Longer time-to-market
Maintenance is expensive
Risk of choosing the wrong development company
Choose a Readymade Solution
Readymade solutions are ubiquitous and come with features and functionality for widespread commercial use. These software solutions have been tested by multiple users so the technology is proven and reliable.
Pros:
No coding and designing skills required
Shorter time-to-market
Cost-Effective
Easy to use
Quick to implement and secure
Proven technology
Flexible and Scalable
Customizable
Industry-specific features
Customer support
Cons:
Feature-rich but may have unused or unnecessary functionalities
May take time to fully understand the features and capabilities of the software
The documentation may seem complex in the beginning
Yo!Coach is one such popular readymade online tutoring solution that comes with a myriad of features, is fully customizable, and supports ample scalability. It comes at a one-time cost with a lifetime license. Further, Yo!Coach has served a global clientele consisting of WTutors, Read With Us, WeYakYak, Hello Music World, among others, enabling them to do more.
Explore the portfolio to gain insights into Yo!Coach’s diverse global clientele.
How Much Does it Cost to Build an Online Tutoring Platform
Although the cost to develop an online tutoring platform depends on several factors such as feature requirements, customization needs, and more, the majority of the investment depends on the development approach. if you choose to build an online tutoring platform with custom development, then the financial investment required is significantly higher than opting for a ready-made software.
The approximate cost to develop an online tutoring website for custom development is $10,000 to $50,000 depending on your business requirement, whereas, if you opt for ready-made software then the cost may range between $2,000 to $20,000.
Want To Know The Exact Cost Of Building An Online Tutoring Platform?
5. Launch And Market Your Online Tutoring Platform
Now the final step is to launch your online tutoring platform in the market and make your target audience aware of your tutoring platform by promoting it efficiently. Utilize diverse marketing channels to promote your online tutoring platform. Implement the following marketing strategies:
Identify the target market for your tutoring services
The most effective way to market your online tutoring platform is to define your target market. Once your audience is defined you can offer services aligning with their needs and requirements. By catering to a specific segment of learners you can specifically tailor the sessions, and courses offered on your platform as per their needs, providing you the opportunity that your competitors may overlook.
Craft a Unique Value Proposition
Your unique value proposition conveys why a prospective user should prefer your online tutoring platform over your competitors in the industry. This is the primary reason a learner or tutor would choose your platform. Additional benefits such as live sessions, in-person sessions, pre-recorded courses, and more can help you stand out your online tutoring platform in the industry.
Network with Schools, Community Centers, and Educational Organizations
Establish connections with local schools, community centers, and educational organizations. Make the administrators, and teachers the advocates of your tutoring platform.
Onboard The Best Talent
Onboarding the right tutors is the key to the success of any online tutoring platform. Therefore, attract the best talent, and onboard experienced and highly qualified tutors to provide tutoring services on your platform. The quality of tutors on your platform will directly influence the reputation and the growth of your online tutoring business.
Make Your Pricing Strategy a Distinguished Factor
An efficient session pricing strategy is an effective business differentiator. However, to distinguish your business from others doesn’t mean you have to offer tutoring services at the lowest price. You should offer sessions, courses, and group sessions at competitive prices.
Other Strategies to Stand Out Your Platform Among Competitors
Follow the below-mentioned marketing channels to promote your online tutoring platform effectively:
Content Marketing
Social Media Marketing
Paid Advertisement
Email Marketing
Word-of-mouth Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Launch an Interactive Online Tutoring Platform with Yo!Coach
How to Make Money with an Online Tutoring Platform
As an entrepreneur, it is very important to know how to make money from an online tutoring platform. In this section, we share the possible revenue generation methods.
Commission – The admin can charge a nominal commission when the students make payment for lesson booking with a teacher. The teacher and admin mutually decide the commission fee beforehand which is a direct revenue source for the marketplace.
Subscriptions – The admin can offer monthly/yearly subscriptions to the students that include complete access to the lessons on the marketplace. The admin will decide the price of the packages and the distribution of the earned money among the tutors.
Premium Listings – The admin can offer teachers to list them in the featured section of the platform for a nominal fee. Listing in the featured section will give them better visibility to get more lesson bookings.
Advertisements – Advertisements are the most common methods of revenue generation. The admin can charge money for displaying ads on the online tutoring platform.
Online tutoring is the future of education. The demand for online tutoring platforms is growing tremendously globally. However, with the increasing competition, it is essential to launch an online tutoring platform quickly. As mentioned above, readymade or off-the-shelf solutions are easily accessible to satisfy the pressing needs of a business quickly. So, if you are looking to start an online tutoring platform, get in touch with us.
FAQs
Q 1. What is the cost of building an online tutoring platform?
Ans: The cost of building an online tutoring platform depends on many factors such as the development approach, customization requirements, feature integrations, and more. However, ready-made software solutions are proven to be more cost-effective than custom development.
Q 2. What is the best method to create an online tutoring platform?
Ans: Although the best method to create an online tutoring platform may vary depending on your business idea and goals, however, as per the experts, the best and most cost-effective method to create an online tutoring platform is to opt for the ready-made software. Ready-made software solutions provide all essential functionalities to successfully launch and run an online tutoring platform.
Q 3. How long does it take to build an online tutoring platform?
Ans: The time to build an online tutoring platform depends on many factors but majorly the development approach impacts the time of development. Hence, if you opt for a ready-made software solution it may take a few days to weeks and if you consider custom development it may take a few months to years.
Q 4. Why should we consider Yo!Coach to build our online tutoring platform?
Ans: Yo!Coach is a versatile online tutoring software. It offers industry-specific features and provides essential functionalities to seamlessly run an online tutoring platform. It comes pre-integrated with popular APIs for video conferencing, payments, reports, and more. Moreover, Yo!Coach is a GDPR-compliant, scalable, and customizable software solution.
Its global clientele includes popular platforms like Wtutors, IntellaTutor, iTutorStore, and many more. These platforms are achieving sustainable growth in the market and are successfully running their online tutoring platform in the industry.
Q 5. How can I incorporate multiple payment methods in my online tutoring platform?
Ans: You can simply consider software offering multiple payment methods capability. As with Yo!Coach, we offer multiple payment methods such as credit/debit cards, eWallet, net banking, and more. Moreover, the integration of multiple payment gateways such as Stripe, PayPal, and others makes it convenient and flexible for users to make payments on the platform.
Q 6. Can I create an online tutoring platform like Preply, Cambly, Skooli, and more?
Ans: Indeed, in fact, Yo!Coach is a capable and cutting-edge software that can help you easily launch an online tutoring platform like Preply, Cambly, Skooli, and more. This software comes pre-built with similar or even more advanced technology to make it easy for entrepreneurs to launch their tutoring websites similar to Preply, Cambly, Skooli, and more.
Q 7. Can I build an online tutoring platform without any knowledge of coding?
Ans: Yes, by opting for ready-made software like Yo!Coach you can easily build an online tutoring platform without any technical or coding knowledge. The Yo!Coach team assists business owners in launching their websites. They also offer 1 year of free technical support resolving all queries at the earliest.
All innovation starts with an idea to solve real-world problems. At FATbit Technologies we are passionate about driving digital transformation to prepare businesses for a digital-first tomorrow. Let’s discuss your BIG idea NOW.
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Sapna Sharma is a Senior Content Writer at FATbit Technologies. Through her blogs, she brings insightful information to help entrepreneurs and startup owners know about recent market trends and developments in the eCommerce industry. In her spare time, she likes to paint and read books.
