First Tutors closure
Published 26 May 2026 · Authored by Robert S., reviewed by Fiona H. (former First Tutors user)
Best alternatives to First Tutors (UK, 2026)
First Tutors closed permanently on 8th May 2026 after more than nineteen years of trading. If you were using First Tutors, or were about to, this is a plain-English guide to the live UK alternatives. Six platforms, side-by-side, with the pricing facts that actually distinguish them.
Overview
At a glance.
Six UK platforms are credible alternatives to First Tutors today. They sit in four distinct pricing categories. The table is the orientation; the sections below are the detail.
| Platform | Pricing model | Headline cost | Refund posture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tutorful | Per-lesson service fee | Service fee added on top of the tutor's rate; percentage not publicly disclosed | Per-lesson cancellation policy |
| MyTutor | Per-lesson commission | Up to 49% of payments (varies by tutor band) | Free first-lesson swap |
| Tutor Hunt | Lead fee or commission (inclusive) | Platform's cut is included in the displayed rate | Not publicly stated |
| Superprof | Monthly subscription unlock | Auto-renewing "Student Pass" unlocks tutor messaging; lessons paid directly to tutor | Subscription terms; lessons not platform-handled |
| TutorDex | Scaled finder's fee | £9.99–£39.99 per introduction, scaled to the tutor's hourly rate | Not publicly stated |
| Tutorperch | Flat finder's fee | £9.99 per tutor unlocked, paid once | Refund if tutor never agrees a lesson within 14 days |
Figures verified on the page-review date stamped in the footer. Check each platform's own pricing page before booking.
Fairness
Ranking: is it for sale?
When you search any of these platforms and get a list of tutors back, what decides the order? Four of the six (Tutorful, MyTutor, Tutor Hunt, Tutorperch) say their ranking is engagement-based and don't sell paid placement. Two (Superprof, TutorDex) offer tutors a Premium subscription that explicitly buys higher search placement. Of the four merit-based platforms, Tutorperch is the only one that publishes the actual ranking formula in full.
| Platform | Paid placement? | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Tutorful | No | Engagement-based ranking documented in their tutor support article (response time, reviews, lesson volume, accurate availability). No paid placement product. |
| MyTutor | No | Engagement-based; internal tiers (Priority 1/2, "Super tutor", "Premium tutor") are earned through performance, not bought. Free weekly "Boost" signal in the tutor dashboard. |
| Tutor Hunt | No | Tutor Hunt's become-a-tutor page says ranking is engagement-based: "we monitor tutor activity across the site and rank them accordingly". |
| Superprof | Yes | Premium Club tutors "feature higher up on search results" per Superprof's help pages |
| TutorDex | Yes | Premium subscriptions list "Enhanced search ranking" as a documented benefit on the tutor-facing subscriptions page. Imports from First Tutors also feed the search algorithm directly. |
| Tutorperch | No | Formula published at /how-we-rank; ranking is not for sale at any tier. Imported FT reviews appear on profiles but do not feed ranking. |
Engagement-based ranking means tutors who answer faster, get more reviews and keep students booking lessons rise. That's not the same as a published formula. Of the four merit-based platforms, Tutorperch is the only one where you can read the actual maths at /how-we-rank rather than infer it from tutor-side support articles.
Tutorful
Tutorful is a lesson-handling platform. You book and pay through the app and lessons happen inside their video classroom. The platform stays involved for the whole relationship. They add a service fee on top of the tutor's listed rate, so the price you actually pay is higher than the rate on the profile. The exact percentage isn't published anywhere, which makes total-cost comparison awkward up front.
One thing to know: Tutorful isn't accepting new tutor applications as of May 2026. Existing tutors still teach, but the pool isn't growing.
Tutorful is the better fit if you want one app to handle the lessons, the payment and any disputes. The service fee is the price of that intermediation.
MyTutor
Best known for GCSE and A-level academic subjects; the tutor body skews towards university students. You pay MyTutor; MyTutor pays the tutor minus their cut. The hourly rates shown on profiles are inclusive of that cut, so the rate you see is roughly the rate you pay. Lessons happen inside their video classroom and are recorded, so you can review what your child was taught.
That's the ceiling, not the rate every tutor pays. The actual deduction varies by tutor band, with the higher tutor-facing rates compensating for the deeper cut at the top end.
MyTutor is the better fit if your child is preparing for a specific academic exam, you want recorded lessons to review, and you'd rather pay one inclusive price than vet and arrange logistics yourself.
Tutor Hunt
One of the older UK directories. Tutor Hunt is a directory rather than a lesson-handler: you browse profiles and contact tutors directly. The platform's cut is built into the displayed rate, so the price you see is the price you pay. Lessons and payment are arranged between you and the tutor.
Tutor Hunt is the better fit if you want a wide directory including long-tail niches (instruments, languages, vocational), you're comfortable making contact and arranging lessons yourself, and you prefer one inclusive price over a separate platform fee.
Superprof
Headquartered in France; the UK arm is one of many country sites. The biggest of these six by tutor count.
Superprof works differently from the others. You pay a monthly subscription called the Student Pass, which auto-renews until you cancel and unlocks the ability to message tutors. Lessons themselves are paid directly to the tutor, off-platform. The subscription keeps billing whether you're actively in touch with anyone or not, which is worth flagging because plenty of students forget to cancel.
So some of the tutors you see at the top are there because they paid for placement, not because they're the best match. There's no visible "Premium" badge distinguishing them from tutors who rank organically.
Superprof is the better fit if you're looking for something the smaller UK platforms don't carry (a less common language, a niche music or art discipline), and you're prepared to do your own vetting before booking. Watch the subscription auto-renew carefully.
TutorDex
A UK tutor marketplace. You pay a one-off finder's fee to unlock a tutor's contact details, then arrange lessons with the tutor directly. The fee isn't flat: it scales with the tutor's hourly rate, ranging from £9.99 to £39.99 per tutor. Higher-rate tutors cost more to unlock. No commission on the lessons themselves.
Tutors can buy a Premium subscription (£10 to £29.99/month) which the tutor-facing subscriptions page lists as including the benefit above.
Tutorperch
Couple-founded by a former UK tutor and a software engineer.
The cost model is the simplest on this page. You pay a flat £9.99 once to unlock a tutor's contact details. After that you arrange lessons and payment with the tutor directly. Every penny you pay the tutor goes to the tutor; the platform takes no commission and doesn't sit in between for any of the lessons that follow.
On First Tutors reviews specifically: before First Tutors went dark we indexed every profile that public archives had captured. Tutors who were on First Tutors can claim their old profile and have their original reviews appear in a separate "Reviews from First Tutors" block on their Tutorperch profile.
If a tutor you've unlocked doesn't reply within 14 days, you get the £9.99 back. The rule is in the actual terms of service, not in a help-centre article that can change without notice. A separate clause covers what happens if Tutorperch itself ever shuts down: every user gets thirty days' written notice and an automatic data export. We wrote this in after watching First Tutors close without one.
Ranking is editorial. The full formula is published at /how-we-rank and tutors can't pay for higher placement at any tier. Imported First Tutors reviews show on profiles but don't feed search ranking.
On safeguarding, every tutor passes a government-ID check before they can publish, and DBS certificates are reviewed by hand. The detail (process, badge meaning, scope) is at /dbs-verified-tutors rather than condensed here, because the comparison version always under-serves what parents actually need to know.
Tutorperch is the better fit if you want a single flat price and the freedom to deal with the tutor directly rather than through a platform.
Tutorperch isn't the right fit if you want one app that hosts the video lessons and processes payment, with the platform as referee on any dispute that arises. MyTutor or Tutorful are better fits for that.
Decision
How to choose between them.
Three questions tend to cut the list quickly. Worth working through in this order.
1. How much will it really cost?
Add the platform's cut to twenty lessons at the tutor's listed rate. A 25% per-lesson commission on a £30/hr tutor over 20 lessons works out at around £150 extra. A one-off £9.99 unlock fee over the same course is £9.99. The two models look closer per-lesson than they are in aggregate.
2. What happens if it doesn't work out?
Help-centre articles change without notice. Terms of service don't. If a refund rule matters to you, look it up in the actual T&Cs of the platform you're considering.
3. Do you want the platform to handle lessons, or just the introduction?
These are genuinely different services. A lesson-handling platform takes responsibility for scheduling, payment and disputes. It charges for that work. A directory introduces you to the tutor; everything after is between the two of you. Neither is universally better, but it's worth deciding before browsing.
On safeguarding
Whichever platform you're considering, read its safeguarding policy directly on its own site before booking. Each platform's vetting changes over time, and the responsible answer to "is this tutor safe" lives on the platform's own page rather than in a comparison summary. Our side is at /dbs-verified-tutors.
For tutors
Tutored on First Tutors? Recover your reviews.
Tutors moving over from First Tutors have two paths. If your old First Tutors profile is in our Common Crawl / Wayback Machine archive (most public profiles are), you can claim it directly and have your original reviews appear on your Tutorperch profile. Ownership is proved either by avatar-match against your identity-verified Tutorperch photo, or by uploading an original First Tutors email so we can verify its DKIM signature. See how the import works →
If your profile isn't in our archive, or you want the raw data First Tutors holds about you (messages, payment records, account history) rather than just the reviews, we've published a step-by-step Data Subject Access Request walkthrough with a copy-paste email template covering UK GDPR Articles 15 and 20. See the DSAR walkthrough →
Questions
Common questions.
- Is First Tutors really closed?
- Yes. EduNation Limited (the company that operated firsttutors.co.uk for more than nineteen years) published a closure notice on 8th May 2026 directing customers to info@firsttutors.co.uk and data-privacy enquiries to dpo@firsttutors.co.uk. The directory itself is no longer accessible. Read the full news + recovery guide →
- Can I get my data (messages, account history, payment records) out of First Tutors?
- Yes. UK GDPR Articles 15 and 20 give you a statutory right to recover your data from First Tutors free of charge within one calendar month. We've published a step-by-step Data Subject Access Request walkthrough with a copy-paste template covering the right legal references. See the DSAR walkthrough →
- I tutored on First Tutors. Can I keep my reviews?
- Yes. If your old First Tutors profile is in our archive (we indexed every snapshot Common Crawl and the Wayback Machine captured before the directory went dark), you can claim it and have those reviews appear in a "Reviews from First Tutors" block on your Tutorperch profile. Ownership is proved either by avatar-match or by uploading an original First Tutors email. The DKIM signature is checked against the public key First Tutors publishes in DNS. See how the review import works →
- Are these all UK-based platforms?
- Yes. Each of the six platforms covered here serves UK students and lists UK-based tutors. Superprof operates internationally; the others are UK-only or UK-headquartered. The parent and tutor advice in this guide is UK-specific; pricing detail and safeguarding standards both assume UK delivery, as do the refund rules each platform applies.
- Why is Tutorperch in this list? Surely you should recommend everyone use you?
- Pricing, refund policy and what the platform does for you differ enough across these platforms that no one of them suits every parent. Tutorperch fits parents who want a clear flat fee and the freedom to arrange lessons and payment with the tutor directly. Where another platform is the better fit, the section above for that platform says so.
- How recent is this data?
- Last reviewed on the date stamped at the head of this page. Pricing and policies do change, and a percentage quoted on a competitor's page may be out of date by the time you read this. Click through to each platform's own pricing page before you book.
Related
Worth reading next.
First Tutors closing: news + recovery
The closure in context, with the recovery walkthrough for tutors.
Recover your First Tutors reviews
How the import flow works for tutors whose archived profiles we already hold.
Why we don't take commission
The rationale for the one-off finder's fee model.
DBS verification explained
How our manual safeguarding check works.
Ready to find a tutor?
Browse the Tutorperch directory, or read the closure guide for the full news context.