Can You Tutor Online With Wyzant? Rates, Fees and Setup

Bottom line

Yes: once Wyzant approves you as a tutor and you pass a separate online check, you can teach one-on-one lessons in the Wyzant Learning Studio, its browser-based classroom. You keep 75% of the hourly rate you set, so a $60 posted rate pays you $45 per lesson hour before tax.

Who can tutor on Wyzant, and who can’t

Wyzant Wyzant is a US marketplace. Its tutor page lists these requirements:

• You must be 18 or older.
• You must live in the US.
• You need a valid Social Security Number.
• You don’t need a teaching certification.

Creating a profile is free. Wyzant also says it “does not accept payment for premium listings or top placement,” so you can’t pay to rank higher. Your profile, your reviews and the quality of your lessons are what win students.

If you live outside the US, Wyzant isn’t an option. Preply accepts tutors from outside the US, with some country restrictions. We compare fees across platforms in our guide to the best online tutoring platforms to work for.

Getting approved: the application first, then the online check

There are two separate approvals. The first makes you a Wyzant tutor. The second lets you teach in the online classroom.

Step 1: The tutor application

You have to apply on a laptop or desktop, because the mobile app can’t be used for the first application. The steps are:

1. Choose your subjects. Depending on the subject, you either take a proficiency quiz (8 to 20 questions, usually under 30 minutes) or submit written qualifications.
2. Write your free response. It has to be in full sentences and paragraph form. Cover your degrees, certifications, test scores, experience, the ages you teach, your specialties and what sets you apart.
3. Add a profile photo.
4. Agree to the Independent Tutor Agreement.
5. Verify your email.

Wyzant’s Content Review Team reviews applications in the order they arrive, and you should hear back within 3 to 10 business days.

Treat the free response as a sales page. It’s the main text parents read before they decide whether to message you.

Step 2: Online approval for the Learning Studio

Wyzant’s Learning Studio certification page sets out the online approval process:

1. Go to the Online Tutoring page and click Get Certified.
2. Run the systems check. You need Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox (Wyzant says Chrome works best) and a device with a working camera and microphone. On an iPad, use Safari.
3. Once you’re approved, start lessons from the Join Online Lesson page under My Business. Approval also lets you apply to online jobs.
4. Practice in the demo room before your first paid session.

If approval fails on a laptop or desktop: the likely cause is a touchscreen. The error message reads “We can’t approve you from this device.” Wyzant’s fix is to turn off the touchscreen or try Firefox, then run the check again.

What the Learning Studio can and can’t do

Students need a payment method on file before they can schedule a lesson. That helps you get paid (more on this below).

What Wyzant charges, and what the student pays

Wyzant has two fees, and different people pay them:

• Platform fee (paid by you): Wyzant’s fee structure page says tutors keep 75% of their posted hourly rate and Wyzant keeps a 25% platform fee.
• Service fee (paid by the student): students pay a separate 9% service fee on the total lesson cost. It applies to cancellations too.

The exception that matters: if you refer a new student who then creates a Wyzant account, you keep 100% of your rate for lessons with that student. The student’s 9% service fee and any taxes still apply.

Watch out for old information. Some comparison articles still say Wyzant uses a sliding commission. That ended on January 15, 2019, when Wyzant replaced its 40% to 20% sliding scale with the flat 25% fee.

The numbers

Your effective hourly rate is what you earn for every hour you actually work, paid or unpaid. It’s the right number to use when you compare options.

Formula: Effective hourly rate = (posted rate × 0.75) ÷ (lesson hours + unpaid hours)

Worked example. These are our assumptions, not Wyzant figures:

• Posted rate: $60 per hour
• Each 1-hour lesson needs 15 minutes of unpaid prep, messaging and lesson logging

The student sees $65.40, not $60. Keep that in mind when you compare your rate with tutors who work off-platform.

The referral difference. Say you teach 20 lesson hours a month at $60:

• All students found through Wyzant: 20 × $45 = $900
• All students you referred yourself: 20 × $60 = $1,200

That’s $300 a month for the same workload. In our view, referring your existing contacts is the biggest margin improvement available on the platform.

Money you actually keep

Wyzant pays you gross. Nothing is withheld for tax, so you have to set your own money aside.

The table uses the example above with an assumed combined set-aside of 25% for self-employment tax and income tax. This is a planning assumption. Your real rate depends on your total income, deductions and state.

We haven’t included equipment or software costs. If you have them, subtract them too.

For context, the Bureau of Labor Statistics put the median hourly wage for tutors at $19.03 in May 2023. That’s an employee wage, so it doesn’t compare directly with self-employed income after tax. It is still a useful floor when you sanity-check your pricing.

Setting your rate on Wyzant

You set your own rate and can change it at any time. A few rules affect your strategy:

• Rates lock at first contact. A student keeps the rate that applied when they first contacted you. Set your rate before you start marketing, not after.
• Cutting your rate is instant. Raising it isn’t. A lower rate applies automatically. A higher rate needs the student to accept a Rate Change Request email first.
• You can price by lesson type. You can set different rates for online lessons, group lessons and travel, and you can offer discounts. Online lessons save you travel time, but don’t discount them automatically. Your prep time and expertise are the same either way.

Don’t compete on being the cheapest tutor. A low rate locks in low-paying students and turns every raise into a negotiation. Pick a rate that covers the 25% fee and your tax set-aside and still leaves an effective hourly rate you’re happy with. Then compete on your subject focus, reviews and fast replies.

Finding students: the jobs board and your own referrals

You get students in two ways. Either they contact you through your profile, or you apply to job posts.

When Wyzant described its tutoring jobs board in 2020, it worked like this:

• Online jobs were shown by default, along with each student’s location or time zone.
• Each job showed a “recommended rate,” meaning the student had contacted tutors at or below that rate. Wyzant said tutors were more likely to hear back if their rate was at or within $10 of it.
• Applications needed a personal message of at least 150 characters.
• “Partnership” jobs, which an institution pays for, came with a required rate.

Check the current board before you build a plan around those details. As a pricing rule, skip any job whose recommended rate is well below your floor.

Referrals are the other channel. At 100% of your rate, they’re the most profitable one. Send your past students, parents and local contacts to your Wyzant profile.

Contract and payment protection

Set a cancellation policy

A cancellation policy is optional, but without one, last-minute cancellations come straight out of your income. Wyzant’s cancellation policy rules say:

• Your notice period can be no longer than 36 hours.
• Your fee can be no more than the cost of the scheduled session.
• You have to state the policy in the Rate Details section of your profile and in Wyzant Messages before lessons start.
• You can charge the fee no earlier than 30 minutes before the lesson was due to end, and no later than 14 days after the lesson date.

The student’s 9% service fee also applies to cancellation fees.

Get paid on schedule

Since July 1, 2025, Wyzant has paid all tutors twice a month by direct deposit, on the 1st and the 15th, according to its payment schedule update. The Express Direct Deposit option has ended. These rules affect your cash flow:

• A lesson must be submitted 5 days before a payment date to be included. If you log it later, it rolls to the next payday.
• Lessons must be entered within 14 days.
• You must provide a valid SSN before your cumulative payments go over $50.
• A returned deposit is reissued on the 10th or the 25th.

Log every lesson the same day. It costs nothing, and it keeps your money from slipping into the next pay cycle.

Never take payment off-platform

Wyzant guarantees payment only if you don’t collect or request payment directly from the student, by cash, check or any other method. Its fee page warns that taking direct payment exposes you to fraud and could get your account closed. If a parent offers to pay you directly to avoid fees, say no.

First lessons and the Good Fit Guarantee

Wyzant’s Good Fit Guarantee covers a student’s first hour with a new tutor. If the student is unhappy and tells Wyzant within 30 days, Wyzant refunds that hour. Check Wyzant’s current tutor terms to see how a refunded first lesson affects your pay. Either way, put real effort into first sessions, because that’s when a new student decides whether to keep booking you.

Copy-and-paste template

Use this in your Rate Details section and in your first message to a new student. The 24-hour notice period is within Wyzant’s 36-hour limit.

Cancellation policy: Please give at least 24 hours’ notice to cancel or reschedule. Lessons cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice, or missed without notice, are charged at the full scheduled session rate. All lessons are booked and paid through Wyzant.

For a rate increase with an existing student:

Hi [Name], starting [date], the rate for new sessions will be $[X] per hour. A Rate Change Request will arrive from Wyzant for you to approve. Thank you for continuing your lessons, and please reply with any questions.

How Wyzant’s fees compare

These figures show what you keep per hour on a $40 rate or class-hour price. They leave out each platform’s payout costs. For the full breakdown, see our guide to the best online tutoring platforms to work for.

Wyzant’s flat fee is simple to plan around, and there’s no tier to climb. Preply keeps your trial lessons in full, and its commission only drops below 25% after 200 hours taught. Cambly also says it is temporarily limiting the number of new tutors.

Taxes on Wyzant income

This is general information, not tax advice. Confirm your own situation with an accountant or the IRS.

• Registration includes the Independent Tutor Agreement. Plan to handle your taxes the way a self-employed person would.
• Self-employment tax is 15.3% (12.4% Social Security plus 2.9% Medicare), according to the IRS. You file Schedule SE if your net self-employment earnings are $400 or more, and half of the SE tax is deductible.
• Estimated taxes are payments you make during the year because no tax is withheld from your pay. They’re generally required if you expect to owe at least $1,000. The IRS due dates are April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15 of the following year.
• 1099 forms: platforms only have to file a 1099-K when your payments go over $20,000 and number more than 200 transactions. For tax years beginning after 2025, the 1099-NEC/MISC reporting threshold rose to $2,000. Whether or not you receive a form, all self-employment income is taxable.

On each payday (the 1st and the 15th), move your set-aside into a separate savings account. Then each quarterly estimate is just a transfer from money you’ve already put aside.

Scams aimed at tutors

• Pay-to-apply offers. Wyzant profiles are free, and Wyzant doesn’t sell placement. Legitimate work never requires you to pay to get the job.
• Fake checks. A “parent” sends you a check, asks you to deposit it and send money back. The check bounces and you owe your bank. This also breaks Wyzant’s no-direct-payment rule, which is one more reason to keep every payment on the platform.

Report scams at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Who Wyzant is not for

• Anyone living outside the US, or without an SSN.
• Tutors who want to teach group classes online. The Learning Studio is one-on-one only.
• Tutors who need lesson recordings. You can export whiteboard work, but you can’t record.
• People who want guaranteed hours. You have to win your own students, and that takes marketing time before the income is steady.

Wyzant’s own marketing says top tutors have earned $50,000+ a year. Treat that as the company’s claim about its best performers, not a typical result.

Checklist

• Apply on a laptop or desktop with a full, paragraph-style free response.
• Pass the Learning Studio check in Chrome, with the touchscreen turned off if needed.
• Set a rate that covers the 25% fee and your tax set-aside and still meets your target effective hourly rate.
• Publish a cancellation policy (36 hours’ notice maximum) in Rate Details and Messages.
• Log every lesson the same day so it makes the next 1st or 15th payday.
• Refer your existing contacts to keep 100% of your rate, and ask an accountant about quarterly estimated taxes.