Online vs In-Home Tutoring Rates

Online private tutoring rates usually sit a little below in-home rates, for one concrete reason: there is no travel, but there is also no tax credit for the family. Before you quote a price, it helps to see what really separates the two formats.

Two formats, two cost structures

An in-home lesson costs more than the hour spent with the student. There is the round trip, the fuel or the transit fare, and the dead time between appointments. Over one evening, a tutor running three lessons at different families' homes often spends an hour getting around.

An online lesson removes those costs and adds quieter ones:

• a solid connection, a decent microphone, sometimes a second screen or a drawing tablet;
• longer prep, since you build digital worksheets to share on screen;
• eye strain that caps how many hours you can teach back to back.

In-home teaching costs you time and mileage. Online teaching costs you equipment and attention. Day to day, they are not the same job. A last-minute cancellation also stings less online, where you have not already crossed town to reach the student.

The tax credit is the real gap

This is the first thing many French families check, and it tilts firmly toward in-home lessons. Tutoring given at the student's home qualifies for the personal-services tax credit. According to service-public.gouv.fr, it equals 50% of what the family pays, up to 12,000 € of spending per year, so a maximum benefit of 6,000 €. That ceiling rises by 1,500 € per dependent child, capped at 15,000 €.

For a lesson billed at 30 € an hour at home, the family really pays 15 € once the credit is deducted. Online lessons have no equivalent.

Lessons by video call do not meet the legal conditions for the tax credit: the service has to be delivered at the student's residence. A government reply to the French National Assembly confirmed it, and the exception allowed during lockdowns was not kept.

For the family to claim the credit, you give them a yearly tax certificate. Kadrella does not produce it, but a free tax certificate generator is available on this site.

Setting a rate that holds up

There is no official scale: prices depend on the subject, the level and the region. A few careful markers, to adjust to your own market:

• online, many tutors sit slightly below their in-home rate, because they save the travel and reach a wider audience;
• in-home, the rate absorbs the travel and benefits from the tax-credit effect, so you can post a higher price without scaring the family off;
• the same tutor can keep two price lists, one online and one in-home, as long as the gap is explained.

The common mistake is to slash the online price, as if the lesson "were worth less". The value is your teaching, not the location. Drop the online rate by 10% to 20% at most, not by half.

Quote the price without confusion

Always give the in-home price before the tax credit, then show the "real cost after tax credit" separately. Blending the two creates misunderstandings at payment time. It is also worth reviewing your rates once a year, at the start of term, rather than freezing them for three years. A management tool like Kadrella lets you invoice both formats from one schedule.

Online or in-home: shaping your offer

The two formats do not reach the same audience. In-home reassures the parents of primary and middle-school students, and the tax break weighs heavily in their decision. Online opens up high school, exam-prep students and families who live far from a specialist.

Many tutors keep both: in-home near where they live, online for everyone else. To organise that mix, read our article on running tutoring lessons online.

Set a price you stand behind, explain the gap between the two formats, and let the family choose what suits them.

Sources

• Service-Public.gouv.fr : Tax credit for employing someone at home
• National Assembly : Written question no. 41948 (video lessons and the tax credit)
• Impots.gouv.fr : Home employment and the tax credit