11+ tutoring costs vary a lot, but here are the usual ranges. One-to-one tutoring in the UK typically runs from about £30 to £80 or more per hour, depending on where you live and how experienced the tutor is. Group tuition costs less per child, and online platforms or apps cost far less again, sometimes nothing. The headline rate matters less than the total, because weekly sessions over a year or two add up quickly.
- One-to-one 11+ tutoring is typically about £30 to £80+ an hour in the UK.
- Group tuition costs less per child; online platforms and apps cost far less again.
- Price depends on location, the tutor's experience and board expertise.
- Think in totals, not per-hour: weekly sessions over a year or two add up.
What 11+ tutoring costs
For one-to-one tutoring, expect somewhere around £30 to £80 or more per hour. The lower end tends to be newer tutors or lower-cost areas; the higher end is experienced specialists, often in and around London.
Group tuition is cheaper per child because the cost is shared, and online platforms or practice apps sit lower still. Each option buys something different, so the right one depends on what your child actually needs, which is really the question of whether your child needs a tutor at all.
What drives the price
Three things move the number most. Location is the biggest, with rates highest in expensive areas. Experience is next, as established tutors with a track record charge more.
The third is format expertise. A tutor who knows your target school's exam board well can be more efficient, which is part of why it pays to understand the difference between GL and CEM before you book anyone.
An hour at £45 sounds manageable, but a weekly session for a school year is roughly £1,800, and many families tutor for longer. Multiply the rate by the number of sessions you actually plan before you commit.
The cost over time
The per-hour figure hides the real spend. Tutoring usually runs weekly across many months, sometimes more than a year, so the totals climb into four figures.
That is not always wrong, especially where a tutor is solving a real problem. But it is worth being clear-eyed about the commitment, and about how much of the work is practice your child could do between sessions rather than during them.
The cost of premium 11+ tutoring in London
London is where 11+ tutoring gets most expensive, and the top of the market works differently from the rest of it. Premium London agencies rarely publish a price list at all: you enquire, have a consultation, and get a quote. That alone makes budgeting hard, so here is the honest picture of what the premium end actually charges.
| Tier | Typical London rate | What you are paying for |
|---|---|---|
| Online marketplace | £25 to £48 an hour | University-student and early-career tutors, booked directly. Qualifications and DBS are often self-certified. |
| Established London tutor | £50 to £80 an hour | An experienced independent tutor or a mid-market agency, usually with a track record at named schools. |
| Premium agency | Roughly £85 to £125+ an hour | Vetted, often full-time professional tutors, target-school expertise, progress reports and a managed relationship. |
| Elite and residential | Quote only | The very top of the market: intensive courses, live-in tutors and international placements. No published rates at all. |
For context, the agencies most often described as premium in London include Keystone Tutors, Simply Learning Tuition and Bonas MacFarlane. None of the three publishes 11+ pricing on its own site, so the figures above come from third-party comparison sources and should be treated as indicative rather than quoted rates. We compare all of them, honestly, in our guide to the best 11+ tutoring agencies in the UK.
At £100 an hour, one session a week across a school year is roughly £3,800. Two sessions a week is around £7,600. Families who start in Year 4 and run through to the test can comfortably pass £10,000. The hourly rate is never the number that matters: the total is.
Is the premium tier worth it? Sometimes, and specifically when you are buying something a cheaper option genuinely cannot give you: deep familiarity with a particular super-selective school's second-stage paper, marked creative writing, or a tutor who can unpick why a bright child keeps stalling. What it does not buy is more practice volume. Volume is the cheapest part of 11+ preparation, and paying London premium rates for it is the most common way families overspend.
Pip gives your child unlimited adaptive 11+ practice across maths, English, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, marked instantly with explanations. Free forever, no ads, no sign-up. Use it for the daily reps and save the tutor for what actually needs a human.
Lower-cost alternatives
Plenty of effective preparation costs little or nothing. Free familiarisation materials, practice books and group sessions all reduce the bill, and adaptive apps deliver daily practice for a fraction of tutoring fees.
An app like Pip covers everyday practice across maths, English and reasoning for free, which can replace a chunk of what families pay for, or simply make each tutor hour go further. Many parents also handle the teaching themselves, which our guide to tutoring your child yourself walks through.
Getting value for money
If you do hire a tutor, make every session count. Use the tutor for diagnosis and tricky concepts, and keep the routine practice for the days in between.
Pair sessions with a steady home habit, sized sensibly to how much your child should study, and consider whether group or one-to-one gives you the better return for your situation.
Arielle handles SEO and AEO growth at Pip, with over 10 years in the digital marketing space working with brands and founding her own projects.