Most tutors who compare a prepaid package against pay-per-session pricing do it with one spreadsheet line: package price against sessions times single-session price. That line answers a revenue question. It does not answer whether the package pays better per hour actually worked — and when a package promises a makeup for a missed session, those two questions can point in opposite directions.
A spreadsheet is fine for the revenue comparison, and most tutors already have one: package price in one cell, sessions times single price in another. What it leaves out, unless someone builds it in on purpose, is hours — specifically, that a package with a makeup guarantee still owes every session eventually, so a no-show does not shrink the hours worked the way it does under pay-per-session.
This calculator takes your single-session price, package size and price, no-show rate, and whether a miss earns a makeup, and reports revenue and effective hourly pay for both models side by side, plus the package price that would clear a target hourly rate.
| Question | Where to answer it |
|---|---|
| Which pricing model brings in more revenue? | A spreadsheet answers this fine — it's one subtraction. |
| Which pricing model pays more per hour actually worked? | Only if the sheet also converts a makeup policy into hours, which most don't. This calculator does it directly. |
| Can a deep package discount plus a makeup guarantee pay worse than full price? | Yes — this page's worked example below shows exactly that case. |
| Does either one tell me what to charge? | Neither. Both apply only the numbers you enter. |
| Is anything I enter uploaded anywhere? | No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser; nothing is sent to a server. |
A tutor charges $60 per single session, and sells a package of 10 sessions for $450 — a 25% per-session discount. From recent memory, about 10% of booked sessions are no-shows, and the tutor's package policy is to reschedule (not forfeit) a missed session. Each session runs 60 minutes with 15 minutes of prep, so 75 minutes of work per session delivered.
| Pay-per-session | Package | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue for this block | $540.00 | $450.00 |
| Hours actually worked | 11.25 | 12.50 |
| Effective hourly pay | $48.00/hr | $36.00/hr |
A revenue-only spreadsheet line sees $450 versus $540 and stops at "the package brings in less, but it's guaranteed up front." It never surfaces the second, sharper fact: because the missed session is made up rather than forfeited, the tutor ends up working more hours for less money — $36.00 an hour against $48.00 an hour charging full price per session and letting a no-show simply free that slot. The 25% discount is deeper than the 10% no-show rate it was meant to cover, and a makeup guarantee turns that gap into an hourly-pay loss rather than a wash.
It can compare revenue in one line: package price against sessions times single-session price. What it usually does not do on its own is account for the hours a makeup guarantee still owes on a missed session, which is the part that decides whether the package actually pays better per hour worked.
Because a package guarantees revenue but, with a makeup owed, does not reduce hours the way a pay-per-session no-show does. A no-show under pay-per-session simply frees that slot, unpaid and unworked. A no-show under a package with makeup owed is rescheduled, not forfeited, so every hour is eventually worked at the discounted rate. A spreadsheet cell comparing two revenue totals never sees that difference.
A row for whether a missed session is made up or forfeited, a formula that converts that choice into hours actually worked (not just sessions attended), and effective hourly pay for both pricing models from those hours — then keep that formula correct every time the no-show rate, discount, or makeup policy changes. This calculator runs that model directly and shows revenue and effective hourly pay side by side.
No. Both a spreadsheet and this calculator only compute the consequence of numbers you supply — your single-session price, package size and price, no-show rate, and makeup policy. Neither one knows your market or your students; you decide what to charge.
No. The calculator this page links to runs entirely in your browser; nothing you enter is uploaded.