How much do tutors make a month?
What a private tutor makes a month is their lessons a week, times their teaching weeks, divided by 12, times their price. What they take home is that minus fees, fixed costs, the cuota de autónomos (Spain's self-employed contribution) and tax. Do the math with your own numbers.
- Take-home a month
- €1,158
- Real hourly rate
- €10.07
- Lessons a month
- 76.7
- Students to cover your costs
- 5
An estimate with Stripe's standard card fee, the 2026 cuota de autónomos by income band and 20% of profit set aside for tax. "Students to cover your costs" assumes one lesson a week per student. Confirm your taxes with an accountant.
Worked example: 20 one-hour lessons a week at €25, 46 teaching weeks and 30 minutes of prep and admin per lesson make 76.7 lessons and €1,917 a month. Take off €48 in card fees (Stripe's standard rate), €60 of fixed costs (accountant and insurance), €360 of cuota de autónomos by income band and €290 set aside for tax (20% of profit): you take home €1,158 a month. That's €10.07 for every hour you actually work, prep and admin included, not the €25 you charge.
How many students do I need to cover my costs?
Divide your fixed costs a month by what each lesson leaves you after fees: that tells you how many lessons you need a month. Divide those by the lessons each student takes a month and you have your number of students.
In the example above: €420 of fixed costs ÷ (€25 - €0.63 in fees per lesson) = 18 lessons a month, so you cover your costs with 5 students taking one lesson a week. Every lesson after that is profit, before tax.
The 6 parts of a tutoring business plan
A one-page business plan for language tutors has six parts: offer, ideal student, price, channels, costs and monthly goal.
Just like a shopping list, having a plan matters: if you go to the supermarket without knowing what you're cooking, you come home with three bags of chips and nothing for dinner. First who and what; then the price and the numbers.
- 1
Your offer
Which language you teach, what for (conversation, an official exam, work) and in what format: online or in person, one-to-one or group. One specific sentence beats three paragraphs.
- 2
Your ideal student
Who you're aiming at: age, level, goal and why they'd pick you. For example, "Healthcare professionals who need B2 for their job". The more specific the definition, the better.
- 3
Your price
What you charge per lesson and whether you sell packs. If in doubt, look at what other language teachers charge before you decide. And never apologize for your price. Remember: your service, like any other (the hairdresser, the car mechanic...), has a price.
- 4
Where your students will come from
Referrals, ads, social media, marketplaces... Pick two or three channels and write down what you'll do in each one this month.
- 5
Your costs
What you pay each month to be able to teach: tools, payment fees, materials, internet, travel.
- 6
Your monthly goal
How many lessons a week you want to teach and what that adds up to each month. It's the number you'll check every month: if you're below your goals, you'll need to keep looking for the channels that work best for you.
One-page tutoring business plan template
This tutoring business plan template fits on one page: fill in the [brackets] with your details, save it and review it every few months.
Download it as .docx or PDF. It doesn't need to look pretty: it needs to be useful, that is, it should help you grow your business and keep it under control. If you can't fill in a line yet, leave it blank and come back to it in a month.
One-page business plan template
A designed version to edit in Canva, or a plain Word or PDF file to fill in.
Tutoring business plan template
Business plan for your language lessons Teacher: [your name] Date: [date]. Next review: [date] 1. Offer and student [what you offer]. Ideal student: [age, level and goal]. Why me: [your strength]. 2. What I need Personal minimum a month: [amount] | Take-home goal: [amount] 3. Capacity - Teaching weeks a year: [46] - Paid lessons a week: [N] of [60] minutes - Prep + admin per lesson: [N] + [N] min - Hours worked a week: [N] 4. Price - [amount] per lesson - Pack of [N]: [amount] ([N]% off, [amount] a lesson) - Group price per student: [amount]. With [N] students that's [amount], [N] times your one-to-one price (aim for at least 1.5). 5. Monthly money - Lessons a month: [N] ([N] a week x [46] weeks ÷ 12, minus [N]% cancellations) - Income: [amount] - Fees: [amount] (card [amount] a lesson, platform [N]%) - Fixed costs: [amount] - Gestoría (accountant): [amount] - Insurance: [amount] - Software: [amount] - Other: [amount] - Cuota de autónomos (social security): [amount] - Set aside for tax: [amount] ([N]% of profit) - Take-home: [amount] 6. Real hourly rate [amount] ÷ [N] hours worked a month = [amount] an hour 7. Breakeven [amount] ÷ ([amount] - [amount]) = [N] lessons a month = [N] students with [N] lessons a week 8. Where students will come from - [channel]: [what I'll do this month] (new students expected: [N]) - [channel]: [what I'll do this month] (new students expected: [N]) - [channel]: [what I'll do this month] (new students expected: [N]) 9. Goal, risk and review - My number for [date]: [your number] - Biggest risk: [biggest risk]. Plan B: [plan B] - Next price review: [date]. How I'll tell my students: [how I'll tell my students] 10. Notes - The cuota is an estimate from the 2026 bands on your net income; confirm it with your gestoría. - Language lessons you give yourself, on your own account, are usually exempt from IVA, the Spanish VAT (art. 20.One.10 of the IVA law). - Quarterly modelo 130: about 20% of your profit when your clients are families (no withholding).
Example month: lessons, income and costs
At SmartCookie teachers' typical hourly price (€30), 10, 15 or 20 one-hour lessons a week add up to €1,140, €1,740 or €2,310 a month, before taxes and fees.
Let's do the math: lessons a week, times 46 teaching weeks, divided by 12 months, times your price. Why 46 and not 52? Holidays, public holidays and the odd week when you might not be able to teach. This table does it with the typical price of €30 an hour and subtracts SmartCookie's monthly fee (€19), so you get an idea. Swap in your own price and repeat. Do the numbers add up?
| Lessons a week | Lessons a month (46 weeks ÷ 12) | Income at €30 | Minus SmartCookie (€19) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 lessons | 38 | €1,140 | €1,121 |
| 15 lessons | 58 | €1,740 | €1,721 |
| 20 lessons | 77 | €2,310 | €2,291 |
Before taxes and payment fees, with SmartCookie's price excluding VAT. This isn't what "the average tutor" earns: it's an example so you can do your own math. To set your price, see how much to charge for private lessons.
Where students come from: your channels
The usual channels for a language tutor working alone are referrals, ads (online and on paper) and marketplaces, although marketplaces keep a commission on every lesson, and the ideal is to become 100% independent as soon as you can.
At first, nearly everything comes from people who already know you (and not just at first: word of mouth brought me students throughout my nine years of teaching), so tell everyone. Seriously, everyone. To reach beyond your circle, here's how to advertise your private lessons, with templates.
Marketplaces bring students who are looking for a teacher right now, but they keep part of every lesson. Before you write one into your plan as your main channel, check how much each platform keeps and run the numbers with your price.
Do I need to register as self-employed to tutor?
Usually yes, once you teach regularly and get paid for it, but the law doesn't say from what amount, and it's a contested point. Check with your gestor.
In Spain, the law asks anyone who works for themselves habitually, personally and directly to register as autónomo with the Seguridad Social (Ley 20/2007, article 1), and it sets no minimum income. Some court rulings have used the minimum wage as a yardstick for "habitual", which is where the forum advice "below the SMI you don't need to" comes from. But that's case law, not a rule, and the Seguridad Social may see your case differently. What is clear: you declare what you earn to Hacienda, which expects the census registration (modelo 036 or 037) before you start. Read the official pages in the sources below and confirm it with a gestor.
Put your plan to work from your first student
Set your price, packs and booking link in SmartCookie and spend your energy on teaching. Try it free for 14 days, no card needed.