How much to charge for a private lesson: setting your prices

Not so cheap you give your time away, not so high you scare people off. A practical guide to pricing your lessons with method — and raising prices without losing students.

“What do I charge?” is the question that stalls almost everyone starting out on their own. You pick a number out of thin air, you’re left wondering if it’s too much or too little, and you almost always undersell yourself. Let’s give it a method.

Drop “the market rate” as an excuse

Yes, it helps to know what others charge in your area and discipline. But “the market rate” is a huge range, not a figure. Within that range, what decides where you sit is you: your experience, your results and who you’re aimed at.

Looking at what everyone else charges keeps you from going off the map. It doesn’t set your price.

Start from what you need to earn

Flip the calculation. Instead of “what do I charge per class?”, ask “how much do I need to earn a month, and how many hours do I want to (and can) teach?”.

A simple example:

You want to earn €2,000 a month.
You can teach 25 classes a week, about 100 a month.
But not all of it is teaching: prep, travel, admin and unfilled slots. Assume you’ll actually get paid for 70% of those hours.

100 × 0.7 = 70 paid classes. 2,000 / 70 ≈ €29 per class. That’s your floor, not your ceiling.

This calculation protects you from the most common trap: setting a low price “to attract students” and discovering that, even with a full schedule, you don’t make ends meet.

Three factors to adjust upward

On top of that floor, raise it based on:

Specialization. Prepping for an official exam or an advanced level is worth more than general review.
Demonstrable results. If you have concrete cases — students who passed, who levelled up — you have arguments to charge more.
Format. A one-to-one class isn’t priced like a group one (where you lower the per-person price but raise your hourly income).

How to raise prices without losing students

Raising prices is scary, but necessary: your costs go up and so does your experience. Some rules that work:

Give notice. A clear message a month ahead avoids surprises.
Raise new students first. Apply the new rate to newcomers and give long-standing students a grace period. Less friction.
Raise a little, often. An annual 5–10% adjustment is accepted easily; a 40% jump all at once is not.
Lean on data. If you can show the student’s progress, the increase justifies itself.

Price is also defended with order

Something few people see: the sense of professionalism affects what a student will pay. If you book, charge and follow up in a messy way, you signal “hobby”. If the student books through a link, gets a confirmation and sees you track their history, you signal “professional” — and a professional charges more.

Keeping your admin tidy in one place, like with Auteno, isn’t just convenience: it’s part of what holds up your price. When you’ve got it clear, save your spot.

And before raising prices, make sure you’re not losing money on the other side: check how to keep control of your payments and how to get more students.