Pricing Guide · Updated 18 May 2026
Hourly rates by city, subject, and level for Australian tutors and music teachers. Group vs 1:1 structures, term packages, travel surcharges, and how to position your rates honestly.
Hourly Rates 2026
All figures in AUD per hour. Senior-secondary and specialist tutors should price at the upper end of each range; primary and experience-light tutors at the lower end.
| Segment | Sydney | Melbourne | Brisbane | Perth | Adelaide | Regional |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary maths & English (K–6) | $45–$70 | $45–$70 | $35–$60 | $35–$60 | $35–$55 | $30–$50 |
| Lower secondary (Years 7–10) | $55–$85 | $55–$85 | $45–$75 | $45–$75 | $45–$70 | $40–$65 |
| Senior secondary HSC / VCE / QCE | $80–$130 | $80–$130 | $70–$120 | $70–$110 | $70–$110 | $60–$95 |
| Tertiary / uni tutoring | $90–$150 | $90–$150 | $80–$140 | $80–$140 | $80–$130 | $70–$120 |
| Music lessons (piano / guitar / violin) | $60–$90 | $60–$90 | $55–$80 | $50–$80 | $50–$75 | $40–$65 |
| AMEB exam prep & advanced grades | $75–$120 | $75–$120 | $65–$100 | $65–$100 | $65–$95 | $55–$85 |
| Adult ESL / IELTS / PTE | $60–$110 | $60–$110 | $55–$95 | $55–$95 | $55–$90 | $50–$80 |
Primary maths & English (K–6)
High parent volume, lower price ceiling. Volume play — recurring weekly lessons throughout the school term. NAPLAN prep and OC/selective-school prep push the upper end.
Lower secondary (Years 7–10)
Subject support and study-skill coaching. Demand picks up sharply Term 3/4 ahead of year-end exams. Bilingual maths tutors command premium in metro areas.
Senior secondary HSC / VCE / QCE
Premium subject tutors (ex-markers, ATAR 99+, current teachers) at the top of the range. Maths Extension 2, Chemistry, Physics, English Advanced command the highest fees.
Tertiary / uni tutoring
Statistics, economics, finance, accounting, computer science especially in demand. Often booked in 4–6 week intensive blocks around mid-semester and final exams.
Music lessons (piano / guitar / violin)
30 or 45-minute lessons standard, priced per-lesson. AMEB / ANZCA exam preparation adds 15–25% premium in the term leading up to the exam.
AMEB exam prep & advanced grades
AMEB grade 6+ lessons typically run 60 minutes. Grade 8 and Certificate of Performance lessons are specialist work and priced as such.
Adult ESL / IELTS / PTE
IELTS / PTE / OET test prep with deadline-driven students. Premium for tutors with target band scores and AITSL or NAATI credentials.
Pricing Structures
The structure you charge in (single, package, group, subscription) determines your retention, your cash-flow predictability, and your effective per-hour earnings.
Base hourly rate. Highest per-hour earnings but most volatile — cancellations and no-shows directly cut revenue.
5–10% discount on per-lesson rate. Paid in advance. Locks in commitment, smooths cash flow, reduces no-show losses by ~40%.
Monthly fee covers 4 lessons. Discount 5–10%. Highest retention; mimics gym-style billing. Auto-pause for school holidays.
Per-student 65–80% of 1:1 rate. Nets 1.3–1.6× per hour. Cap at 2 students unless you're running a structured group class.
Per-student 40–60% of 1:1 rate. Nets 2–3× per hour. Best for HSC/VCE syllabus revision and exam-prep workshops.
Flat fee per student for 2–5 day intensives. Premium pricing — parents pay for the structure and outcomes. Cap at 8–12 students per workshop.
10–20% premium over recurring rate. Charges for the schedule disruption and uncertainty. Common for trial lessons and one-offs.
Add-ons & Surcharges
Most tutors leave money on the table by treating long travel and odd-hour bookings as standard. Build clear, written surcharges into your terms and apply them consistently.
$0.85–$1.20 per km · or flat $15–$25 add-on for outer-suburb visits. Most tutors absorb travel within their suburb.
10–20% premium. Most tutors keep weeknight evenings standard rate and apply the premium only to genuinely late slots.
Saturday morning is standard rate in most cities. Sunday lessons often command a 10–25% premium — especially in religious-school communities.
10–25% premium. Optional. Reflects the disruption to your prep cycle and the schedule shuffle.
Standard rate for routine lessons. Premium block-rate for school-holiday intensives (multi-day workshops).
Some senior-secondary tutors charge $20–$50 per term for a curated resource pack. Optional add-on, not built into hourly rate.
The first rate you quote becomes the parent's mental anchor for your value. Quote near the top of your range and let term-package discounts do the discounting — not your headline rate.
Tutoring agencies charge $80–$120/hr and pay the tutor $35–$50. As a sole trader you keep all of the headline rate — don't price against agency rates as if you were one of them.
5–10% per year, indexed to the start of the school year. Existing students get one grandfather term, new enquiries pay the new rate. Tutors who never raise rates earn the same in year 5 as year 1 — adjusting for inflation, that's a pay cut.
A 10-lesson term package paid in advance dramatically reduces no-show losses, cuts admin chasing, and improves cash flow. Build a small (5–8%) discount in, but never more — the package value is the structure, not the saving.
Three drivers: cost of living (Sydney and Melbourne tutors face higher overheads), parent willingness to pay (metro families spend more on tutoring as a percentage of disposable income), and competition for specialist subjects (HSC English Extension 2 specialists are concentrated in 3–4 Sydney suburbs and price accordingly). Regional tutors compensate with longer-term recurring students and group classes.
Per lesson is cleaner. Parents understand 'one piano lesson = $80' more easily than 'piano @ $90/hr for 45 minutes = $67.50'. Per-lesson pricing also captures the prep, marking, and parent updates that surround a 60-minute session. Reserve hourly pricing for tertiary or adult students who book variable-length blocks.
Most tutors should raise rates annually, by 5–10%, indexed to the start of the school year. Existing students keep the prior rate for one more term (grandfather period); new enquiries pay the new rate immediately. Communicate the change 8–12 weeks before it takes effect. The right metric for a rate rise: if you're consistently booked solid and turning away enquiries, raise rates.
Per-student around 50–65% of your 1:1 hourly rate, with a minimum number of students to run (typically 3). A 4-student HSC English workshop at $50/head per session nets $200/hr — significantly more than 1:1 work. Cap class size at 6 to maintain quality. Group classes also reduce no-show risk: one student missing doesn't kill the lesson.
Only if your turnover hits $75,000 annually. Most sole-trader tutors stay below this threshold and don't register for GST — invoices then show no GST line and the price you advertise is the price the parent pays. Once you register, you must add 10% GST to invoices and lodge quarterly BAS. Some tutors deliberately stay under the threshold to keep invoices simple and to avoid the BAS workload.
Offer structural discounts (term packages, sibling rates, group classes) rather than ad-hoc reductions. Never undercut your own posted rate for one-off requests — it tells the parent the rate isn't real. If a family genuinely can't afford your standard rate, refer them to a community-funded tutoring program (e.g., Smith Family's Learning for Life, Australian Children's Education Trust) rather than discounting yourself.
OneBookPlus lets you set per-lesson, per-term, and subscription pricing for each student — recurring lessons auto-invoice and auto-collect. Built for Australian tutors and music teachers.
Last reviewed and updated: by Bishal Shrestha