Guides · 7 min read
What to Charge for Private Lessons
A grounded guide to pricing one to one coaching and private lessons. How to think about your rate, when to raise it, and the quiet mistake that costs solo coaches the most money.
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In this guide
- 01There is no universal number, and that is the point
- 02The three numbers underneath your rate
- 03The quiet mistake that costs the most
- 04What rates look like across disciplines
- 05When to raise your rate
- 06How to tell clients without losing them
- 07Per session, per hour, or a package
- 08A small tool that holds the number for you
- 09Frequently asked questions
01
There is no universal number, and that is the point
Every guide on this topic that starts with a number is lying to you. A tennis coach in central London charges differently to one in a small town in Iowa. A piano teacher with twenty years of conservatoire experience charges differently to a music graduate doing it on the side. The number you charge is the number your local market will pay for the person you actually are.
The job of this guide is not to hand you a rate. It is to help you arrive at the rate that pays for your life, respects your time, and stays steady in your head when a client asks. Work out your own sustainable figure with the free coaching session rate calculator, then use the rest of this guide to shape it.
02
The three numbers underneath your rate
What you need to earn per week
Rent, food, tax, savings, a small buffer. Total it honestly. Divide by the number of teaching hours you can sustainably do without burning out. That is your floor. Below that, you are subsidising your clients.
What the local market actually pays
Ask three peers what they charge. Look at five public rate cards in your area. The middle of that range is your honest market rate today. Not the lowest. The lowest is what people charge before they quit.
What your specific work is worth
Experience, results, reputation, the kind of clients you want. This is the multiplier. Twenty years of experience teaching club level juniors to nationals is not the same as your first season. Charge accordingly, without apologising.
03
The quiet mistake that costs the most
It is not undercharging on day one. It is not raising the rate.
Most solo coaches set a rate when they start. Five years later, after costs have gone up, after they are unmistakably better at the work, after their roster is full and there is a quiet waitlist, they are still charging the same number. They tell themselves it is loyalty. It is not loyalty. It is fear, and it compounds.
A coach who raises their rate by five percent every year, in line with inflation, looks at the same client list ten years in and is earning sixty percent more for the same hours. A coach who never raises it is earning forty percent less in real terms. The clients who stay through the raise are the ones who valued you anyway. The ones who leave were probably going to leave for something else. The piece on how to raise your rate walks through the mechanics if this is the year you finally do it.
04
What rates look like across disciplines
Rates vary more by discipline, location, experience, session length and demand than by anything else. A few honest patterns are worth knowing before you decide where to sit.
Private tutors in the UK tend to sit in a wide band, with primary and early secondary tuition usually lower than GCSE, and GCSE usually lower than A level and university entrance work. Specialist subjects, exam-board familiarity and tutors with a track record of grade improvement command more. In London the band sits higher than in most of the country, and online tutors often price slightly under in-person to reflect the lower friction of booking.
Private music teachers vary by instrument, level and setting. A graduate teaching beginners at home prices differently to a conservatoire-trained teacher preparing students for Grade 8, ABRSM or Trinity diploma work. Singing teachers with performance backgrounds, and instrumental teachers known for getting students into youth orchestras or music schools, sit at the top of the band.
Personal trainers tend to price by session and by package, with central city sessions, in-home sessions and specialist work such as pre and post natal, rehab or strength coaching commanding more. PTs who run blocks of eight or twelve sessions often quote per-session figures that include a small package discount, which makes a clean comparison harder than it looks.
Sport coaching follows similar logic. A tennis, padel, golf or swim coach in a busy private club with high demand will sit above an equally qualified coach working out of a quieter public venue. National-level playing experience, recognised governing-body qualifications, and a results history with juniors all move the rate up honestly.
Wherever you sit, the rule is the same. Look at three or four peers in your discipline and area. Sit in the middle of the honest range, not at the bottom. The bottom is where people charge before they quit.
05
When to raise your rate
When your calendar is full
If you cannot take another client without overworking, the market is telling you the price is too low. A waitlist is not a vanity metric. It is a pricing signal.
When your costs have moved
Court hire, room rental, insurance, fuel, equipment. If your overheads went up and your rate did not, you took a pay cut. Catch up annually, not every five years.
When the work has changed
A new qualification, a new specialism, a clear track record of results. These are real reasons. Tell the client the reason. "I have been working differently this year, and the rate is going up to reflect that" is a fine sentence.
Once a year, on a date you pick
Most solo coaches who raise rates do it in the first week of January or the first week of September. Pick a date and stick with it. It removes the agonising.
06
How to tell clients without losing them
Two months notice. One short message. No apology. Something close to: "Hi Sarah, a quick note that from January the rate for sessions will move from sixty to sixty five. That is the first time it has moved in two years, and it brings it in line with what I charge new clients. Same time on Tuesday." That is it.
You will lose one or two clients. You will keep most. The ones you keep will value you slightly more, because people quietly value the things that cost more. The ones you lose will free up the slot you have been waiting for to take on someone you actually want to coach.
07
Per session, per hour, or a package
Per session
Cleanest, simplest, fastest to explain. Best for new clients and short relationships. Tends to compress your effective hourly rate because shorter sessions earn the same as longer ones.
Per hour
More honest for variable session lengths. Lets you charge fairly for a long technique block and a short tune-up. Best for adults who are comfortable with the maths.
Packages or blocks
Smooth your income, lock in clients, reduce no shows. Trade a small per session discount for upfront commitment. Best for established clients you trust. The piece on <a href="/guides/how-to-design-coaching-packages">how to design coaching packages</a> covers the shapes that hold up in real practice.
Monthly retainer
A flat monthly fee for an agreed number of sessions and a level of access. Quietly the most profitable model for senior coaches with a loyal roster, because cancellations no longer dent the month. If you are worried about pricing yourself out of the local market, the piece on <a href="/guides/pricing-one-to-one-work-without-undercutting">pricing one to one work without undercutting</a> is worth a read.
08
A small tool that holds the number for you
Once your rate is set, the system around it matters more than the number itself. Knowing exactly which clients are on which rate. Catching the one client you forgot to move up last January. Seeing in one place what you actually earned this month, not what you should have earned.
Another Session keeps the rate on each client profile, computes the charge for every session automatically, and shows the monthly total without a spreadsheet. The rate stops being a number you hold in your head. It becomes a number the system holds for you.
Frequently asked questions.
How do I decide what to charge for private lessons?
Start with three numbers. What you need to earn per week, divided by sustainable teaching hours. The middle of your local market range. The multiplier for your specific experience and results. The honest rate sits at the intersection of all three.
How often should I raise my private lesson rate?
Once a year, on a date you pick and stick with. Most coaches raise in January or September. Five percent annually keeps pace with costs. Skipping years compounds into a quiet pay cut.
Should I charge per session, per hour, or by package?
Per session for new clients and short relationships. Per hour for variable lengths. Packages and blocks for committed clients. Monthly retainers for a senior, loyal roster. Most established coaches end up using two of these in parallel.
How do I tell a long-term client I am raising my rate?
Two months notice, one short message, no apology. State the new rate, state when it starts, give the honest reason. Most clients will stay. The ones who leave were probably going anyway.
Is there software for tracking coaching rates and earnings?
Another Session stores the rate on each client profile, computes the charge for every session automatically, and shows monthly totals without a spreadsheet. The number stops living in your head and starts living in the system.
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