Parents and students book lessons from your live availability, get the video link and reminders by email, and pay at booking when the lesson calls for it.
Updated 22 October 2026
Tutoring happens in the hours after school, and so does the admin. One parent asks whether Thursday still works, another wants to move to Wednesday because of football practice, and a Year 11 student wants three extra sessions before mocks. Each answer means opening your diary, replying and waiting. Tymeslot puts your free times on one booking page. Parents or students pick a slot, the lesson lands in your calendar, and the confirmation and reminders follow without another message.
A tutor's diary has its own shape: a few weekday hours after school, weekend mornings, a surge before exams and a lull in the holidays. The person booking is often a parent and the person turning up is their child. Generic tools assume the booker is the attendee and that every week looks the same. Tutoring business platforms go the other way, with invoicing, attendance and student records, and a monthly subscription to match.
Tymeslot does the scheduling. A parent books and adds the student as a guest, and the confirmation and reminders reach the two of them. A weekly limit on exam-preparation sessions stops the surge from taking over your week. Time off keeps school holidays off the booking page before anyone books into them. On Pro, families pay for each lesson as they book it, so there are no invoices to chase at the end of the month. Each lesson is booked on its own; Tymeslot does not create a repeating weekly series.
Turn on guests for a lesson type. A parent books and adds the student's email, and the confirmation, video link and each reminder reach both inboxes. Older students can book for themselves through the same page.
Cap the exam-preparation sessions a single day, week or month may hold. Once a week is full, that type's remaining slots for the week disappear from your page.
Add half-term and holiday weeks as time off on your availability schedule, and set a booking horizon so nobody books beyond the term you have planned.
Online lessons get a Google Meet, Zoom or Microsoft Teams link as soon as they are booked, and the link is in the confirmation email.
On Pro, put a fixed price on weekly and exam lessons and parents pay by card through your Stripe account as they book, which ends the month-end round of payment reminders. The trial lesson can stay free.
Send several reminders per lesson type, for example the evening before and 30 minutes before, so an after-school lesson does not get lost between pickup and dinner.
Without Tymeslot
With Tymeslot
Much tutoring runs on a fixed weekly slot. Tymeslot books each lesson separately, so the way to hold a regular slot is to let families book several weeks ahead in one go.
As GCSEs, A levels or the IB approach, every family wants extra sessions at the same time. Without limits, the diary fills past what you can teach well.
An online lesson that starts ten minutes late because nobody could find the link is ten minutes nobody gets back. The link and the reminders should reach the parent and the student without you sending anything.
| Meeting type | Duration | Buffer | Minimum notice | Bookable ahead | Payment at booking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trial lesson | 30 min | 15 min | 1 day | 2 weeks | None |
| Weekly lesson | 60 min | 10 min | 1 day | 6 weeks | Full fee at booking |
| Exam preparation session | 90 min | 10 min | 2 days | 4 weeks | Full fee at booking |
When a parent books for a child, a first name and school year are enough to plan the first lesson; dates of birth and school names can stay off the form. The trial, the weekly lesson and exam preparation each want their own notice and horizon, so give each one an availability schedule of its own.
Tymeslot books and charges for lessons, TutorBird runs a whole tutoring business, and Calendly books meetings for anyone. For a private tutor the deciding rows are about money: whether a lesson is paid as a parent books it, whether you can start without a subscription, and what it costs once your student list grows. If you want attendance, student records and invoices next to the timetable, TutorBird is the better choice; Tymeslot suits a tutor who already invoices and wants the evening messages about times to stop.
| Feature | Tymeslot | TutorBird | Calendly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deposit or payment at booking | Pro: weekly and exam lessons paid as booked | Yes: deposit or registration fee charged at sign-up | Paid plans only: Stripe or PayPal at booking |
| Free plan | Yes: trials, weekly lessons and exam prep | No: 30-day free trial, no card needed | Yes, limited to 1 event type and 1 calendar |
| Entry price | Free to start; Pro is flat, not per student | $16.95/month, plus $4.95 per extra tutor | $10/seat/month, billed yearly |
Sources checked 5 October 2026.
A rough estimate, not a promise.
200
minutes saved per week
173.3
hours saved per year
€7,799
annual value of saved time
A tutor who invoices families at the end of the month can run every lesson type below on Free, guests and exam-season limits included. Pro (€9/month) suits the tutor who wants weekly and exam lessons paid the moment they are booked, with the student's year and subject asked on the form.
Free
€0 / month
Pro
€9 / month
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