In this guide
TutorUp and UrbanPro both help families find a tutor, but they are built differently. UrbanPro is a large marketplace for tutors, trainers and institutes, covering more than 1,000 categories in many cities. TutorUp does one thing: school tuition from Nursery to Class 12, with verified home tutors in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad (PCMC), shown nearest first, and verified online tutors for families anywhere in India. The other big difference is who pays: tutors pay nothing on TutorUp, while on UrbanPro tutors pay for a membership, which comes with coins, to respond to enquiries.
This guide compares the two as of November 2026, using UrbanPro's own public pages: first at a glance, then for parents, then for tutors, and finally when each is the better choice. TutorUp is not connected with UrbanPro in any way; the note at the end says more.
TutorUp vs UrbanPro at a glance
| TutorUp | UrbanPro | |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | School tuition only: Nursery to Class 12, on CBSE, ICSE, IGCSE, IB and the State Board | More than 1,000 categories, including school and college tuition, languages, music, dance, hobbies, IT courses and exam coaching |
| Who teaches | Individual tutors | Individual tutors, trainers and institutes |
| Where | Home tuition in Pune and PCMC; online classes anywhere in India | Many Indian cities, Pune among them, at your home, at a tutor's or institute's place, or online |
| How you find a tutor | Post a requirement and verified tutors apply, nearest first; or browse and request a demo | Post a requirement and interested tutors or institutes contact you with a quote; or search and book a demo, which UrbanPro advertises as free |
| Cost for parents | Free to start: post, browse, see who applies and open two full profiles. Reading tutors' notes and messages, chatting and opening every profile need TutorUp Pro, from ₹250 a month (₹2,999 billed yearly) | Posting a requirement is free. An optional paid Prime membership adds visibility and priority responses |
| Cost for tutors | Nothing: no membership, no lead fees, no commission | A free profile, then a paid premium membership with coins to respond to enquiries; tutors who qualify can also join a Tutor Partner programme, with a one-time registration fee and a fee taken from student payments |
| Paying for classes | Directly to the tutor, as you both agree | Its help centre asks students to pay through UrbanPro SecurePay, an escrow account that releases the fee to the tutor as classes are completed, not to the tutor directly |
| Tutor checks | A person checks every tutor's identity, and asks for their latest mark sheet or degree, before families can see them | Its team reviews each new profile before it goes live, and its terms say it follows a screening process; a Verified badge marks tutors whose ID proof and educational documents it has reviewed |
| Reviews | Only from parents who connected with the tutor on TutorUp; no site-wide rating on the website | Star ratings and written reviews on profiles, screened before they appear; its home page counts more than 4 lakh |
| Apps | Installs to your home screen from the browser; native apps coming soon | Separate apps for learners and for tutors, on Google Play and the App Store |
How TutorUp works
TutorUp is focused on purpose. It is built for one job: finding a school tutor for your child, at home in Pune and PCMC or online.
- Every tutor is checked before families see them. Before a tutor's profile is visible to families, someone on the TutorUp team checks their identity, on a short call or by reviewing a photo ID and a selfie by hand, and asks for their latest mark sheet or degree certificate, at least Class 12 passed. It is an identity check, not a police or background check, and not a judgement of teaching quality. How TutorUp verifies tutors explains it in full.
- Nearest first for home tuition. In Pune and PCMC, tutors who come to your home are matched by real distance from it, so a tutor a few streets away comes first. In evening traffic, that matters.
- Tutors pay nothing. No membership, no lead fees and no commission, so a tutor can apply to every requirement that fits them.
- You pay the tutor directly. Fees are agreed between you and the tutor and paid by UPI, bank transfer or cash; TutorUp never handles tuition money and never takes a cut.
- School tuition, every board. Nursery to Class 12 on CBSE, ICSE, IGCSE, IB and the State Board, so every tutor you see teaches school subjects.
- Online across India. Choose Online or Either is fine when you post, and verified online tutors anywhere in India can apply, matched to your child's class, board, timings and budget. TutorUp doesn't run the video call; you and the tutor agree the link in chat.
What UrbanPro does well
UrbanPro has been running since 2011, and it is much bigger and broader than TutorUp. If what you need is outside school tuition, or home tuition outside Pune and PCMC, it may well be the better place to look.
- Breadth. Its site lists more than 1,000 categories: school and college tuition, spoken English and foreign languages, music and dance, yoga, IT courses such as Python and Excel, and coaching for exams from IELTS to UPSC. If your child wants guitar lessons, or you want a course for yourself, UrbanPro has a category for it and TutorUp doesn't.
- Scale. Its home page puts its verified tutors at more than 7.5 lakh and its students at more than 55 lakh, with pages for many cities, Pune among them.
- Institutes as well as tutors, so you can compare a training centre or coaching institute with a private tutor in one place.
- Lots of reviews. Profiles show star ratings and written reviews, its home page counts more than 4 lakh of them, and UrbanPro says it screens each review for spam, inaccuracies and inappropriate language before it appears.
- Payment held until classes happen. Its help centre says students pay through UrbanPro SecurePay, an escrow account that holds the money until the tutor completes the promised number of classes.
- Free demo classes, as UrbanPro advertises them, and a choice of learning at home, at a tutor's or institute's place, or online.
- Its own online classroom. UrbanPro gives tutors its own tools for live online classes, with video and screen sharing, class scheduling and fee collection. TutorUp runs no video calls of its own.
Where TutorUp is narrower
To be just as plain about TutorUp's limits:
- Home tuition only in Pune and PCMC. Anywhere else in India, TutorUp can offer online tutors only.
- School subjects only. No music, dance or other hobby classes, no IT training, no college subjects and no competitive-exam coaching.
- Fewer tutors. TutorUp has 100+ verified tutors, and how many you see depends on how many have joined near you.
- Pro is paid. Posting, browsing, seeing who applies and opening two full profiles are free. Reading tutors' application notes and messages, chatting in the app, opening every profile and requesting a demo from any tutor need TutorUp Pro, from ₹250 a month (₹2,999 billed yearly).
- Fewer reviews, and no overall rating on the website. Reviews come only from parents who have connected with a tutor on TutorUp, so there are fewer to read, and TutorUp doesn't publish a site-wide rating.
- No classes, and no refunds on tuition. TutorUp runs no classes, coaching or video calls. Because it never holds tuition money, it can't refund a fee you have paid a tutor, so pay month by month once classes have begun.
For parents: finding a tutor on UrbanPro vs TutorUp
How you find and contact a tutor
On UrbanPro, you enter what you want to learn and where, answer a few questions and verify your mobile number, with an OTP or a phone call. Interested tutors and institutes then contact you with a quote and their availability, and you can message them, call or book a demo. UrbanPro lets you keep your number private and talk through its own messaging.
On TutorUp, you post a requirement with your child's board, class, subjects, budget, timings and location, and say whether classes should be at home, online or either. Verified tutors nearby apply, nearest first, and online tutors anywhere in India can apply too if you're open to online classes. You can also browse tutors yourself and request a demo.
Is UrbanPro free for parents?
Posting a requirement on UrbanPro is free, its help centre says, and UrbanPro advertises free demo classes; for a demo at your home, its help centre recommends that tutors confirm the time, duration and fees beforehand, so ask first. Parents can also buy an optional Prime membership, which it says gives a requirement more visibility, priority responses from top-rated tutors and a waiver of the 2% platform fee typically charged when you pay a tutor through the site. Its help centre asks students to pay tutors through UrbanPro SecurePay, an escrow account that releases the money as classes are completed, rather than paying them directly. The tuition fee itself is set by the tutor and agreed with you before classes start.
TutorUp is free to start, not free outright. Posting a requirement, browsing tutors, seeing who applies and opening two full profiles cost nothing. To read what tutors write to you, in an application note or a chat, to open every profile and to request a demo from any tutor, parents upgrade to TutorUp Pro, from ₹250 a month (₹2,999 billed yearly). Tuition fees are agreed and paid directly between you and the tutor, and TutorUp takes nothing from them. For what tuition itself costs, see home tuition fees in Pune.
So the practical difference for parents: on TutorUp you can see who has applied without paying, but reading what any tutor has written to you needs Pro. UrbanPro's help centre describes tutors contacting you with a quote and you messaging, calling or booking a demo, with Prime as an optional upgrade.
How tutors are checked
UrbanPro says its team reviews each new tutor profile before activating it, for accuracy and to prevent duplicate accounts, and its terms say it follows a screening process to check that the tutors and institutes it lists are qualified. It also gives a Verified badge to tutors whose identity proof, such as a PAN card, Aadhaar or a driving licence, and educational documents its team has reviewed, which it says usually takes 24 to 48 hours. Look for the badge on a tutor's profile.
On TutorUp, nobody appears to families until a person on the team has checked their identity, on a call or by ID and selfie, and asked for their latest mark sheet or degree. TutorUp's check confirms identity; it is not a police verification or background check.
No platform's check replaces your own. UrbanPro's terms ask users to do their own due diligence, and TutorUp's say the same: meet the tutor yourself, ask for identification and references, and use your own judgement. A demo class, and checking their ID against their profile, help too. Our home tutor safety checklist and questions to ask a home tutor work whichever site you found the tutor on.
Reviews and ratings
UrbanPro shows star ratings and written reviews on tutor profiles. A tutor can also invite their own students to review them, whether or not they found the tutor through UrbanPro, and it screens each review before it appears. So there are far more reviews on UrbanPro overall, though how many any one tutor has varies.
On TutorUp, only a parent a tutor has connected with on TutorUp can review that tutor, from a day after connecting and once per tutor. So there are fewer reviews, and each comes from a family the tutor has been connected with. TutorUp doesn't show a site-wide rating on its website.
UrbanPro for tutors vs TutorUp: do tutors pay?
On UrbanPro, a profile is free but responding to enquiries needs a paid premium membership with coins; on TutorUp, tutors pay nothing at any step. This is where the two differ most.
On UrbanPro
- Creating a profile is free, but responding to student enquiries needs a paid premium membership, which comes with UrbanPro coins. Plans differ in coins, duration and price.
- Coins are used when you respond to an enquiry, when a student contacts you from your profile, and when a demo is booked. UrbanPro describes them as a lead generation fee.
- How many coins an enquiry costs depends on the category, the student's location and demand, and is shown before you respond. Unused coins expire when the membership does. Some coins can be refunded later, depending on how the student engages.
- Tutors who meet its criteria, including ID verification and five positive reviews, can also join its Tutor Partner programme for a one-time registration fee and get demo bookings directly. Partners still use coins, which are charged when a student books a demo or connects with them. Students then pay through UrbanPro, which deducts its fee before paying the tutor: its help centre describes a one-time category fee of ₹600 to ₹1,500 from a new student's first payment, which its top Super Tutor Partner level doesn't pay, and a percentage on amounts beyond that, from 22% to 30%, which falls as the tutor's level, based on hours taught, rises. Partners get bonus coins equal to those deductions.
- UrbanPro says it verifies students' phone numbers, but can't guarantee that an enquiry turns into a paying student.
On TutorUp
Tutors pay nothing at any step. Creating a profile, getting verified, seeing requirements near you or online from anywhere in India, and applying are all free: no membership, no lead fees and no commission. Families pay you directly, by UPI, bank transfer or cash, and the fee you agree is the fee you keep. Home tutor jobs in Pune and online tutor jobs explain how it works.
The trade-off is reach. TutorUp has requirements for school tuition only, home tuition only in Pune and PCMC, and fewer families than a large marketplace, and like any platform it can't promise you students: what you see depends on how many families near you have posted. If you teach guitar, Python or IELTS, TutorUp isn't the right place for it. If you use more than one route to find students, our guide on how to get tuition students covers the others.
Sites like UrbanPro: the other ways to find a tutor
Sites and services like UrbanPro fall into a few kinds: other tutor marketplaces, such as TutorUp for school tuition; tuition bureaus and agencies; classifieds and social media posts; and word of mouth. You can use more than one, so it helps to compare them by kind rather than by name.
| Route | Good for | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Large tutor marketplaces, such as UrbanPro | Wide choice across subjects, hobbies and cities; many reviews; institutes as well as tutors | Whether a tutor has a Verified badge, what their reviews say, and how payment and refunds work |
| A school-tuition marketplace, such as TutorUp | School tuition near you in Pune and PCMC, nearest first, or online anywhere in India; every tutor checked by a person; tutors pay nothing | Fewer tutors; home tuition only in Pune and PCMC; Pro to read tutors' messages, chat and open every profile |
| Tuition bureaus and agencies | Quick introductions; some offer a replacement if a tutor leaves | Often charge for the introduction, to the parent, the tutor or both |
| Word of mouth: school parents, society WhatsApp groups | A tutor someone you know has seen teach | Choice is limited to your circle, and it can feel awkward to stop |
| Classifieds and social media posts | Many local tutors, often with fees shown | How much anyone has checked varies, so most of the vetting falls to you |
Whichever route you take, the steps that matter are the same: a demo class, a few direct questions, and fees, timings and notice agreed in writing. Our guide on how to choose a home tutor walks you through them.
Which should you use?
Use TutorUp for a school tutor at home in Pune and PCMC, or online anywhere in India; use UrbanPro for anything beyond school tuition, for institutes, or for a home tutor outside Pune and PCMC; or post on both.
| If you're looking for... | Try | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A school tutor who comes to your home in Pune or PCMC | TutorUp, and compare with others | Every tutor checked by a person, nearest first, fee paid directly to the tutor |
| As a school tutor, students without paying for leads | TutorUp | No membership, no lead fees and no commission |
| An online school tutor, anywhere in India | Either | Both have online tutors; post on each and compare a demo class |
| Music, dance, yoga, a language for yourself, IT training or a college subject | UrbanPro | TutorUp covers school tuition only |
| Entrance or competitive-exam coaching, such as JEE, NEET, UPSC or IELTS | UrbanPro, or a coaching institute | TutorUp has no exam-coaching categories |
| A coaching institute or a batch class | UrbanPro | TutorUp lists individual tutors only |
| A home tutor outside Pune and PCMC | UrbanPro, or an online tutor on TutorUp | TutorUp's home tuition covers Pune and PCMC only |
| Plenty of reviews to read before you choose | UrbanPro | TutorUp's reviews come only from connected parents, so there are fewer |
| Paying through the site, with the money held until classes are done | UrbanPro | TutorUp never handles tuition money, so it can't hold or refund a fee |
You don't have to pick one. Posting a requirement is free on both, so you can post on both and go with the tutor whose demo class goes best.
Trying TutorUp
Post your child's board, class, subjects, budget and timings, and choose at home, online or either. In Pune and PCMC, verified tutors near you apply, closest first, and you can browse by neighbourhood on the Pune home tutors page. Anywhere else in India, choose online and see online tutors. It's free to start, and the fee is agreed and paid directly to the tutor.