What a GMAT tutor costs

  • Marketplace coaches: about $100 to $420 an hour. The median of 22 GMAT coaches on Leland was about $170 (October 2026).
  • Large test-prep firms: about $290 to $340 an hour in their tutoring packages (Target Test Prep and Manhattan Prep, October 2026).
  • A review of one practice test: about $600 for two hours (Stacy Blackman, October 2026).
  • A 20-hour package, a common purchase: roughly $2,000 to $6,500 at those rates.

Mocks, question banks and help between sessions are often extra. More detail in what a private GMAT coach costs in 2026.

Work out your own cost

$4,080A coach: 2 h a week for 12 weeks at $170 an hour
$180ChatGMAT: 3 months at $60, every mock reviewed

Coaching hours only. Mocks, question banks and help between sessions are often extra with a coach, and included in ChatGMAT's $60.

When a tutor is worth it

  • You stall without someone checking on you, and encouragement keeps you going.
  • You need someone to hold you to a schedule.
  • You want admissions and application advice from the same person.

If those are what you need most, a tutor can be money well spent.

When it is not

  • What you need most is someone reading every mistake in every mock. At about $600 a review, that is a lot of paid hours.
  • You have questions at eleven at night, and the next session is days away.
  • You study after work and need each hour spent on the right thing, every day.

Or both

ChatGMAT reviews every mock, answers questions while you study, and plans each day, for $60 a month. If you want a person for encouragement or admissions, keep a coach for those, and let ChatGMAT do the reviews. Compare them side by side on ChatGMAT vs a private coach.

Coaching prices change often; check with each coach.