You can teach a full timetable all day and still tutor a few evenings a week for extra income. The harder question is not whether you have the time, it is which platform you list yourself on, and whether that platform treats your provincial teaching certification as worth more than a marketplace listing fee.
Connect Education is one of the five platforms below, so this comparison stays direct about where we fit and where a different option might suit you better. The average tutor in Canada earns about $20 an hour, a rate calculated across marketplaces that do not require any teaching credential at all (PayScale, updated May 2026). Certified teachers who compare platforms carefully can do considerably better than that average, but only on the right platform. If you are still deciding whether tutoring is worth your evenings at all, our guide on tutoring as side income for OCT teachers walks through realistic hours and income before you pick a platform.
What Matters Most When Choosing a Platform as a Certified Teacher
Before comparing five specific platforms, it helps to know which questions actually separate a good fit from a bad one once you already hold a teaching certificate. These six show up again and again.
- Pay that reflects your credential. Does the platform let you charge a rate that reflects a provincial teaching certification, or does open marketplace pricing push you toward the same range as an uncertified tutor?
- Vetting standards. Is certification and a criminal record check required of every tutor, or optional and self-reported?
- Student matching and lead quality. Are you matched with families who are specifically looking for a certified teacher, or are you competing with an open pool of profiles for attention?
- Schedule control. Do you set your own hours and format, or are shifts assigned by the platform?
- Payment terms. Can you see your take-home rate and payout schedule up front, or does the real cut only appear after you commit?
- Canadian focus. Is the platform built around Canadian families and Canadian certification, or is Canada an afterthought on a global or US-first marketplace?
Connect Education
Connect Education is a Canada-wide tutoring marketplace that matches families with certified teachers and registered ECEs for one-on-one support, online, in person, or at a public library.
Every tutor must be a certified teacher or ECE in good standing with their provincial college, and every applicant submits a Canadian-issued criminal record check as part of profile verification. You set your own subjects, availability, and format, and families come to the platform specifically because they want a certified teacher rather than an open marketplace listing. Read more on how to become a tutor or start a profile at start tutoring.
Connect Education works exclusively with certified teachers in good standing with their provincial college of teachers, which is the clearest point of difference from the four marketplaces below.
Preply
Preply is a global online tutoring marketplace where students browse and book independent tutors directly, covering languages, academic subjects, and test preparation (Preply, 2026).
Sign-up asks for a profile, a headshot, a short intro video, and your availability, and Preply states a tutor's profile is reviewed "within 5 business days," with some tutors "approved and start teaching in as little as three days" (Preply, 2026). No teaching certification or experience is required to apply. The commission is steep for anyone starting out: the first trial lesson with a new student pays the tutor nothing, and paid lessons carry a tiered commission that "starts at 33% and decreases to 18%" the more hours you teach (Preply, 2026).
The standout strength is scale, a very large global pool of students browsing at any given time. The thing to watch is the commission curve: a new tutor gives up roughly a third of early paid lessons before the rate improves.
Superprof
Superprof is a Canadian-facing tutor marketplace where anyone can create a free profile, list subjects, and set their own hourly rate with no certification required (Superprof, 2023).
Sign-up is free and near-instant, and the platform takes no cut at all if you collect payment from a student directly. If you route payment through Superprof's own system instead, it charges a flat 10% processing fee, and a $99-a-year Premium membership removes that fee and adds better placement in search (Superprof, 2023).
The standout strength is a low barrier to entry and transparent, low-cost payment terms if you handle collection yourself. The thing to watch is that certification carries no special weight in the marketplace, so a certified teacher's profile competes on the same page as uncertified tutors.
Tutor.com
Tutor.com is a US-based online tutoring service that runs a structured, vetted application: candidates take a timed subject-competency exam, complete an online interview, and go through educational-history verification before being approved (Tutor.com, 2026).
That vetting is the most rigorous of the five platforms here, but it comes with a hard limit for Canadian applicants: the application requires that you "currently reside in the U.S." and hold "a valid Social Security Number," the company asks for a minimum of five hours a week, and it states it cannot sponsor employment visas (Tutor.com, 2026). A certified teacher living and working in Canada is not eligible to apply as a tutor, even though Canadian students sometimes reach Tutor.com through a library or school licence.
The standout strength is a genuinely structured vetting process with a subject exam and background verification. The thing to watch is that the platform is not actually open to Canadian-resident applicants, which rules it out for most Canadian teachers despite showing up in general tutoring-platform searches.
Tutor Doctor
Tutor Doctor is a tutoring franchise with local offices across Canada, including Calgary, Oakville, Sarnia, Toronto, and Vancouver, that matches tutors with families in their area (Tutor Doctor, 2026).
You apply through your local office rather than a national platform, and Tutor Doctor's own site does not require a teaching certificate, asking instead for subject expertise, strong communication skills, and a "mentor mentality" (Tutor Doctor, 2026). The franchise handles matching, scheduling, and marketing on your behalf and describes paying tutors "a regular paycheck," though the exact hourly split is set locally rather than published nationally. Reported pay for Tutor Doctor tutors in Canada averages $21.12 an hour across 173 salaries on Indeed Canada, with the local office, not the tutor, setting the family's price (Indeed Canada, accessed 2026).
The standout strength is that a local office does the marketing and scheduling for you, which suits a teacher who wants tutoring hours without running a small business on the side. The thing to watch is that the franchise, not the tutor, sets and keeps a share of what the family pays.
| Dimension | Connect Education | Preply | Superprof | Tutor.com | Tutor Doctor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair rate for your credential | ✓You set your rate; certification is the reason families choose you | ~Open-market rate, no certification premium | ~You set your rate, but compete with uncertified tutors | ✗Pay set by the platform, not disclosed upfront | ~Local office sets your split (avg $21/hr, Indeed) |
| Vetting standards | ✓Certification + criminal record check required | ✗No certification or experience required | ✗No certification required | ✓Subject exam, interview, background verification | ~Screens for expertise and soft skills, not certification |
| Matched, warm leads | ✓Matched with families specifically seeking certified teachers | ~Students browse an open pool of profiles | ~Students browse an open pool of profiles | ~Sessions assigned via institutional contracts | ✓Local office markets and matches for you |
| Schedule control | ✓Set your own availability and format | ✓Set your own availability | ✓Fully independent | ~Minimum five hours a week required to apply | ~Set locally through the franchise office |
| Transparent payment terms | ✓Published rate on the platform, no bidding war | ~Tiered commission, 33% down to 18% | ✓No fee on direct payment, 10% if platform-processed | ✗Rate structure disclosed only after applying | ~Franchise sets and keeps a share of the family's price |
| Canadian focus | ✓Built for Canadian families and provincial certification | ✗Global marketplace | ~Canadian site, part of a global platform | ✗US residency and SSN required to apply | ✓Local franchise offices across Canada |
How to Choose if You're a Certified Teacher
Choose Connect Education if you want families who specifically seek out a certified teacher, full control over your own schedule and format, and a Canadian-focused platform built around provincial certification standards.
Choose a large global marketplace like Preply if you want the widest possible pool of students and are comfortable giving up a larger commission on your early paid lessons in exchange for volume.
Choose Superprof if you want the lowest-cost way to list yourself and are comfortable competing in an open marketplace where certification is not a filter.
Skip Tutor.com unless you hold US residency and a Social Security Number, since the vetting is strong but the application is not open to Canadian-resident teachers.
Choose a local franchise like Tutor Doctor if you would rather have an office handle marketing and scheduling for you and are comfortable with the office keeping a share of the family's payment.
Whichever you choose, keeping your certification in good standing and being clear about your take-home rate before you commit protects you more than any single platform's marketing. Check the FAQ page for common questions about how matching and payment work.
Questions Educators Ask
Which tutoring platform pays certified teachers the most?
There is no single platform that pays the most for every certified teacher, since pay depends on subject, format, and how much of a cut the platform takes. Connect Education and Superprof let you set your own rate and keep most of it, while marketplaces like Preply apply significant tiered commissions on early paid lessons.
Do I need to be a certified teacher to sign up for these platforms?
No. Preply, Superprof, and Tutor Doctor accept tutors without a teaching certificate, and Tutor.com screens for subject expertise rather than certification. Connect Education is the exception among the five, requiring every tutor to be a certified teacher or registered ECE in good standing with their provincial college.
Can I tutor on more than one platform at the same time?
Yes. Most platforms, including Connect Education, do not require exclusivity, so many certified teachers list themselves on more than one platform to compare which one sends the most matched students. Juggling several platforms does mean tracking separate schedules, rates, and payout timelines.
How much commission do tutoring platforms take from what I earn?
It varies widely. Preply's commission starts at 33% on paid lessons and phases down to 18% as you teach more hours, and the first trial lesson with a new student pays the tutor nothing. Superprof charges no commission at all if you collect payment from the student directly.
Is private tutoring allowed for Ontario Certified Teachers?
Yes, with conditions. OCTs may tutor privately outside school hours, but conflict-of-interest rules and union guidance both prohibit tutoring your own current students for pay or recruiting clients through school connections, and require staying in good standing throughout.
Sources
- Preply, Teach on Preply (2026), https://preply.com/en/teach
- Superprof, How Charges and Payments Work on Superprof (2023), https://www.superprof.ca/blog/charges-payments-superprof/
- Tutor.com, Online Tutor Applicant FAQs (2026), https://www.tutor.com/apply/tutoring-faq
- Tutor Doctor, Become a Tutor (2026), https://www.tutordoctor.com/become-a-tutor/
- Indeed Canada, Tutor Doctor Salaries (accessed 2026), https://ca.indeed.com/cmp/Tutor-Doctor/salaries
- PayScale, Tutor Hourly Pay in Canada (updated May 2026), https://www.payscale.com/research/CA/Job=Tutor/Hourly_Rate
- Ontario College of Teachers, Glossary: Good Standing (2025), https://www.oct.ca/en-ca/news-and-resources/resources/glossary
- Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, Tutoring and Conflict of Interest Guidelines for Members (2023), https://www.etfo.ca/about-us/member-advice/prs-matters-bulletins/tutoring-and-conflict-of-interest-guidelines-for-members
