What are the Best Online Tutoring Websites?

Sherpa 

Sherpa is a new player in the game. Having only launched in early 2020, Sherpa is well on its way to becoming a big name in the tutoring service industry. They are entirely online and it shows because the site is extremely user-friendly and easy to navigate.

They aim to use technology to make online tuition even more effective and affordable than in-person, focusing on quality over quantity. Furthermore, they have recently released a report to review their impact on students through their online tutors and classrooms. As it turns out, Sherpa students improve on average 2 grades!

With a helpful online support chatbox and pages such as ‘Find a Tutor’, ‘Help Centre’, 'Lesson resources', 'Group Classes' and ‘login/signup’, it is very self-explanatory and all the information you need is where it should be.

Being created much later than MyTutor and Tutorful, Sherpa has differentiated itself by offering private lessons from mainly qualified teachers. There is the odd exception of an undergraduate, however, this is calculated as often pupils prefer being taught by a similar age group and can't afford the most qualified tutors.

All tutors have been interviewed and have at least 2+ years of professional tuition experience. Recent school leavers and pupils have similar learning styles and have been through the exams themselves, so they are still very familiar with the topics and exam-style and content.

The tutoring experience from Sherpa is as good if not better than its larger rivals. With over 200 qualified vetted tutors on the platform, each one personally interviewed and background checked, offering their services from Primary School and Key Stage 1 to GCSE and A-level.

They operate on an industry-leading interactive whiteboard that is highly recommended by ex-students which you can demo by yourself or in a free-20 minute introduction with your prospective tutor.

Tutors cost £20-50 an hour with very few beyond that bracket except for some 'Super Tutors'. Qualified teachers start at around £25-30 per hour and Examiners usually charge £35 per hour and up. They are one of the most affordable online tutoring platforms around due to the low platform fee charged to tutors.

MyTutor

When talking about online tuition it is impossible not to mention MyTutor. MyTutor is by far the largest company in the UK offering 1-1 private lessons. MyTutor was early onto the market and quickly became a household name for anybody looking to boost their grades online. 

Starting in 2013 MyTutor began hiring only student undergraduates to help other students and pupils achieve their target results. Pupils have their online lessons with a video chat-enabled whiteboard and prices range from £20-50 per hour. Starting at £20 for the tutors with the least number of lessons completed and £50 for tutors who have taught the most lessons. 

They do not offer qualified teachers or industry professionals and tend to charge less experienced tutors a high platform fee to incentivise loyalty.

If you are looking for friendly tutors who are knowledgeable in their subject areas then MyTutor has got what you need. Their undergraduates have recently passed their A-levels and so are familiar with topics and more importantly exam techniques and styles to use in your answers.

However, there is a very studenty feel to the website with every profile listing what and where they are studying. There is an argument that being taught by students is not as beneficial as being taught by qualified teachers, who really know how to get information across and can help pupils with a deep understanding of a topic. 

Tutorful

Tutorful is MyTutor’s main rival in terms of size and market share. What is immediately noticeable is that Tutorful is much more of a mix between undergraduate students and qualified teachers or experienced tutors, although most teachers come at a premium due to a middle-of-the-road platform fee to tutors.

What is different about Tutorful is its option for lessons to take place face-to-face in your local area. Tutors can be selected by area and distance. This makes it very easy to find local tutors and gives you that extra piece of mind that your child is in safe hands with a tutor. 

*89% of mums who tested Tutorful said they would use it again or recommend it to family and friends. Mumsnet asked 44 mums to book a private tutoring lesson This was as much a test of the service – using the site to find a tutor, messaging, and arranging lessons – as it was of the lesson itself.

Tutorful will only take payment after your lesson is complete and, if you're not completely satisfied, they will give you a free session with another tutor – no questions asked.

Maths Made Easy (MME)

Online Maths tuition is by far the most sought-after form of online tutoring, followed closely by joint Maths and Physics tutoring. Maths Made Easy is a one stop shop for the most popular kind of online lessons. Specialising in Maths all the way through and Sciences for GCSEs and A-level.  

The best part about MME is the abundance of online learning resources and useful revision tools. The revision tools come in all shapes and sizes, there are worksheets, revision notes, and easy-to-understand explanations, not to mention Maths past papers for GCSE and A-level. The site is definitely worth inspecting before a big class test or exam. 

Let's not forget that it is a tutoring company too. MME, unlike other tutoring websites, does not let you scroll through and choose a Maths tutor for yourself. It has an automated option where you just fill in your details and someone from the MME team will pair you up with a Maths teacher all by themselves.

This is very easy and takes away all of the hassle and time of searching for the best online maths tutors yourself. There is no need to worry as all tutors are qualified and experienced, there are even some key examiners at all the major exam boards including AQA, Edexcel and OCR!

Physics & Maths Tutor (PMT)

Physics and maths tutor has come a long way from their humble beginnings of a resource-only website. PMT Education is a non-profit education platform for students and teachers. They create free tools and resources to help GCSE and A Level students pass their exams and navigate their path through education.

They now offer an online-only tuition service where they have a search engine to help you find and book lessons for tuition in their own online classroom. They also run pre-exam preparation group classes where you spend several sessions in a day covering content and exam technique. Only Maths, English, Sciences, Geography and Economics are offered as subjects.

Sticking to their roots, they also have free resources readily available like worksheets and lesson plans for students and teachers alike. PMT is a very well-respected platform with a new venture into the online tuition space.

They offer prices slightly higher than some platforms with £20-30 per hour budgets struggling to provide any experienced teachers or tutors and mainly £60/hr plus options for experienced qualified teachers. As a non-profit, they charge their tutors around 18% per lesson to cover costs and this is why they are more reasonable than a lot of other platforms.

Gumtree

It is very easy to forget or overlook Gumtree whilst looking for online lessons. As Gumtree isn’t a specific tutoring site, rather a site for classified ads of all kinds. That being said, many tutors and tutoring agencies offer and list their services on Gumtree. Therefore it is a great way to see multiple options in one go, many people say it is just as easy to find a tutor on Gumtree as it is on a specific tutoring service.

A quick search on Gumtree for a ‘French tutor’ took me to hundreds of results of native French speakers and friendly tutors. Many of them were DELF-verified and offered lessons privately using video-conferencing platforms like Zoom and Google Meet with screen-sharing capabilities and their own useful online resources. 

I hope this has helped in your search for the best online tutors. Keep checking our blog for more useful tips on how to make the most of online learning and interesting educational updates.