The Number That Sends Tutors Looking for a TeacherOn Alternative

Most tutors do not leave a lead marketplace because of one bad experience. They leave after doing a piece of arithmetic they had been avoiding.

If you are searching for a TeacherOn alternative, you have probably done it. Here it is written down.

This is written by Tutopiya. We are one of the alternatives, and the mechanics below are checkable on TeacherOn’s own pages.

What a student actually costs you

On TeacherOn you spend coins to contact a student who has posted a requirement. Coins cost roughly 50 per US$1. The price of reaching a lead is not fixed — it rises with competition. Posts nobody wants are cheap or free; a post becomes free if fewer than three tutors apply within 36 hours. The posts everyone wants cost the most.

That structure has an uncomfortable logic. The leads most worth having are the most expensive to reach, and those are exactly the ones you are least likely to win, because everyone else is applying too. You are buying a lottery ticket priced by how many other people are buying it.

Now follow one lead through:

1. You pay coins to contact it.
2. You negotiate on rate, usually downward, against tutors quoting less.
3. You give a free trial lesson.
4. The student does not continue.

You have spent money and an unpaid hour, and earned nothing. Do that nine times and win on the tenth, and your real acquisition cost is ten contacts and nine unpaid hours for one student — not one contact.

Then there is premium membership, which buys you early access to new posts — up to a two-hour head start, scaling with spend. Worth noting what that means: the platform is selling a queue position. If you do not buy it, you are behind the tutors who did.

And on payments processed through the platform, there is a fee of around 10% in coins or 15% to a bank account.

None of this is hidden. It is TeacherOn’s published business model, and it is coherent — tutors are the paying customer, so the product is built to sell you access. The question is only whether you want to be the customer.

The alternative: not being the customer

Tutopiya’s paying customers are families. Tutors are the people we need to keep, because if tutors stop teaching we have nothing to sell. That inverts most of the list above.

	Tutopiya	TeacherOn
Who pays the platform	Families	Primarily tutors
Cost to reach a student	Nothing	Coins, priced by competition
Cost if a lead does not convert	Nothing	Coins already spent
Who finds the students	We do	You do
Sales, pitching, follow-up	Handled for you	Your job
Bidding against other tutors	No	Yes, per post
Your rate	You set it, published, locked once a student enrols	You set it, renegotiated per student
Payment for delivered lessons	Guaranteed, paid monthly	Between you and the student
Visibility / ranking	Based on delivered teaching	Influenced by premium spend
Platform fee	Flat SGD 10–20/month or SGD 90/year	Pay-as-you-go per lead + payment fees

The subscription is the part tutors usually double-check: SGD 10 or SGD 20 a month, or SGD 90 a year — about SGD 7.50 monthly. It covers the online classroom licence and access to the resources platform. It is flat. Whether we match you with one student or ten, it does not change, and nothing is charged per introduction. Your costs stop scaling with your ambition.

Being straight about the trade

Two things are not better here, and you should know them before switching.

We are selective. Tutors are interviewed and matched to specific curricula and levels before being assigned students. You cannot register this afternoon and start applying tonight, the way you can on an open marketplace. Not everyone is accepted.

You still teach one free trial. Families get a free trial lesson and you teach it, so the first hour with a new student is unpaid. We are not going to claim otherwise. The difference is what that hour costs to reach: nothing, against a bought lead you may also lose. One unpaid hour with a matched, pre-qualified student is a different proposition from one unpaid hour with a lead you paid to reach and then had to underbid for.

You also teach within our platform at your published rate, rather than taking students off it. If total independence is what you want, an open marketplace gives you more of it.

What you stop doing

For most tutors who switch, this is the real change — not the fees, the unpaid hours:

• Scanning new posts and racing to apply before the premium members.
• Writing pitches to students who never reply.
• Negotiating your own rate downward against someone newly qualified.
• Chasing payment and sending reminders.
• Building every worksheet from scratch — our resources platform covers Cambridge, Edexcel and IB.

None of that was ever billable. Tutors who move usually say the same thing: they had not realised how much of the job was sales.

Should you switch?

Stay on a marketplace if: you want to start immediately with no recruitment process; you teach a niche subject, instrument or language a curriculum platform will not staff; you want to own the student relationship directly; or you are deliberately building a private client base and treat lead costs as marketing spend.

Switch if: you are qualified in an international curriculum — Cambridge, Edexcel, IB; you want teaching hours without a sales process; you are tired of unpaid trials for students you paid to reach; or you want your income to depend on lessons delivered rather than on how hard you are willing to negotiate.

Do your own arithmetic first

Before you decide, spend ten minutes on this. It is more convincing than anything we can write:

1. Add up the coins you spent last month, converted to your currency.
2. Count the students that actually produced — still teaching after four weeks.
3. Divide. That is your true cost per student.
4. Add the unpaid trial hours at your own hourly rate.
5. Compare against a flat SGD 10–20 a month with no per-lead cost.

If the numbers favour staying, stay. Most tutors who run them are surprised, which is why they were avoiding the calculation.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost a tutor to contact a student on TeacherOn?

Coins, at roughly 50 per US$1, with the price rising according to competition for that post. Low-competition posts can be free, and a post becomes free if fewer than three tutors apply within 36 hours. Popular posts cost considerably more. Optional premium membership buys earlier access. Check their current pricing, as it changes.

Does Tutopiya charge tutors for leads?

No. There is no charge for being matched with a student and no bidding. There is a flat subscription — SGD 10 or SGD 20 a month, or SGD 90 a year — covering the online classroom licence and the resources platform. It does not change with how many students you are matched with.

Is payment guaranteed?

For delivered lessons, yes. Families pay into the platform before lessons are taught, so the money exists before you teach, and we release payment against delivered lessons and pay monthly. Collection, disputes and chargebacks are our responsibility. On a marketplace, payment is a private arrangement with the student.

Can I set my own rate?

Yes. You set your rate and it is published on your profile so families can compare. What you avoid is private haggling — there is no negotiation over your published rate, and once a student enrols after the trial, that rate is locked for them.

Do I still have to give free trial lessons?

Yes, one per new student, and it is unpaid. The difference is that you paid nothing to reach that student and are not competing on price against other tutors for them.

How do I join, and how long does it take?

Tutors are interviewed and matched to specific curricula and levels before being assigned students, so it is a recruitment process rather than instant registration. Apply through the become-a-tutor page with the curricula and levels you teach.

Can I use both platforms?

Yes, and many tutors do while building up hours. Just track your real cost per converted student on the marketplace side, including unpaid trial hours. That figure is the one that decides it.

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