Tuition rates in Singapore are confusing on purpose. Every agency quotes a different range, the numbers shift by level and subject, and nobody shows you what a month actually costs.
This is the reference page. Every level, every tutor type, what drives the price, and how to work out your real monthly spend. Updated for 2026.
Quick answer
One-to-one home tuition in Singapore typically costs $25 to $130 an hour in 2026. Where you land depends on three things: your child's level, the subject, and the tutor's experience.
- Primary: roughly $25 to $80 an hour
- Secondary: roughly $35 to $95 an hour
- JC and IB: roughly $50 to $130 an hour
Group and centre classes run lower, generally $15 to $60 an hour depending on level and class size.
Rates by level and tutor type
All figures are per hour, for one-to-one home tuition, in Singapore dollars. These are typical market ranges rather than fixed prices.
Lower primary (P1 to P4)
- Part-time or undergraduate tutor: $25 to $40
- Full-time career tutor: $35 to $50
- Ex-MOE or NIE-trained teacher: $50 to $70
Upper primary and PSLE (P5 to P6)
- Part-time or undergraduate tutor: $25 to $40
- Full-time career tutor: $35 to $60
- Ex-MOE or NIE-trained teacher: $50 to $80
PSLE is the level parents ask about most. For a fuller breakdown of exam-year costs, see our full guide to PSLE tuition costs.
Lower secondary (Sec 1 to Sec 2)
- Part-time or undergraduate tutor: $35 to $50
- Full-time career tutor: $50 to $65
- Ex-MOE or NIE-trained teacher: $60 to $80
Upper secondary and O-Level (Sec 3 to Sec 5)
- Part-time or undergraduate tutor: $45 to $60
- Full-time career tutor: $55 to $75
- Ex-MOE or NIE-trained teacher: $70 to $95
JC and A-Level
- Part-time or undergraduate tutor: $50 to $70
- Full-time career tutor: $70 to $100
- Ex-MOE or NIE-trained teacher: $90 to $130
IB
IB tracks closely to JC pricing, generally $50 to $130 an hour. The pool of tutors who genuinely understand IB assessment is smaller than the pool who know the MOE syllabus, so availability tightens at the top end rather than price alone.
Group and centre rates
- Large group or centre class: $15 to $35 an hour, rising to $30 to $50 at JC level
- Small group of three to eight: $25 to $60 an hour depending on level
What families actually spend
Hourly rates are the wrong unit for planning. Here is what tuition looks like as a household expense.
Per month, by stage:
- Primary, one to two subjects: roughly $250 to $800
- Secondary, two to three subjects: roughly $400 to $1,200
- JC, one to two H2 subjects: roughly $400 to $1,000
Across a school career: this is the number almost nobody calculates. A child receiving tuition in two subjects from upper primary through to the end of secondary, at mid-range rates, will cost a household well into five figures over those years. Add JC and it climbs further.
Where the money is best spent
If tuition is going to run for years rather than months, the planning question changes. It stops being whether you can afford this term and becomes which years actually deserve the spend.
A rough hierarchy, from most to least worth paying up for:
- Exam years. P6, Sec 4 and 5, JC2. Stakes are highest and the return on specialist help is clearest.
- Transition years. P1, Sec 1, JC1. Children who fall behind at a transition tend to stay behind, and catching a wobble early is cheaper than fixing it in an exam year.
- A subject that has become a wall. One subject a child has genuinely given up on justifies real spend, because the problem compounds.
- Steady maintenance in a subject that is fine. This is where budgets quietly disappear. Tuition that maintains a B is often money doing very little.
Most households would get more from spending heavily in three well-chosen years than thinly across nine.
What drives the price
- Level. The single biggest factor. Rates roughly double from lower primary to JC, because the content gets harder and the pool of tutors who can teach it shrinks.
- Tutor type. The second biggest. An ex-MOE teacher typically costs double an undergraduate at the same level.
- Subject. Maths and the sciences sit above humanities at every level. A-Maths, H2 Maths, H2 Chemistry and Higher Chinese all carry a premium, because fewer tutors can teach them well.
- Exam year. P6, Sec 4 and 5, and JC2 all price above their neighbouring years. Demand concentrates and good tutors stop discounting.
- Format. Home tuition costs more than a centre. You are paying for travel and convenience as well as teaching.
- Timing. Booking eight weeks before a national exam costs more than booking in January. Availability shrinks and rates firm up.
Reading the three tiers properly
The three tutor tiers are not a quality ladder. They are three different products, and the pricing reflects scarcity as much as skill.
Undergraduates are priced low because supply is high. There are a great many capable students who scored well in a subject recently. That abundance holds the price down. It says nothing about whether any individual one of them can teach.
Full-time tutors are priced on commitment. You are paying for someone whose income depends on this going well, which usually shows up as reliability, preparation and continuity.
Ex-MOE teachers are priced on scarcity of a specific expertise. Classroom training, syllabus fluency, and in many cases national marking experience. That expertise is genuinely rare, and in the right situation it is worth the premium. In the wrong one, you are paying a scarcity premium for something your child does not currently need.
What a rates table cannot do
Every number on this page is a market average. Your decision is not an average, it is one person, in your home, with your child, on a Tuesday evening.
Averages describe a market. They do not describe a match. A tutor at the top of the JC band can be a poor fit for a student who needs patience more than precision, and a mid-range tutor can be transformative for the same child. The table narrows your options. It cannot choose for you.
Which leaves the question every parent is actually stuck on: how do you know, before you commit, whether this particular person is the real thing?
Traditionally you could not. You went on an agency's word, a stranger's recommendation, or a profile the tutor wrote about themselves. That is what we are building TutorMeet to change. Verified identity through SingPass, with the cost carried by us. Profiles built from a track record rather than self-written copy. Progress a parent can see rather than hope for. Word of mouth, upgraded.
Use the table to set your budget. Use something better to choose the person.
We are in closed beta now, with a waitlist open to parents and tutors. Join the waitlist at tutormeet.app
Rates reflect typical Singapore market ranges as of 2026 and are intended as a budgeting guide rather than fixed prices.
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