10 Best Online Writing Tutoring Services of 2024

Developing strong writing skills is not only important for research papers and essay questions. Writing is an essential skill that you will use far after you graduate from primary school, high school, and even college. From writing professional emails to drafting reports and business statements, writing is a skill that you will need to utilize in almost every industry and business profession. Thankfully, every student can overcome their writing struggles — all it takes is finding the right tutor.

Whether students need help with creative writing or technical writing or simply learning how to write a thesis statement, online tutors can lend a helping hand. Aside from helping students with their coursework and writing assignments, online writing tutors can also assist with things such as explaining key grammar concepts, outlining proper sentence structure, and teaching students how to write an annotated bibliography. Online writing tutors can also teach non-native speakers who are learning English as a second language. To help kick start your search for the perfect online writing tutor, we’ve reviewed ten of the best online writing tutoring services on the market. 

A Quick Look

Learner

Experienced writing tutors? Budget-friendly? Excellent private writing tutor matching process? Check, check, and check. Learner easily meets all of the criteria and then some for an excellent online writing tutoring service. Students or parents will begin the process of finding a certified writing tutor through Learner by filling out a basic questionnaire. The answers from this questionnaire help the Learner team understand your timeline, priorities, and interests, which allows them to match you with the best tutor for you. Only 5% of the tutors who apply for this platform pass the rigorous vetting process, and each tutor in Learner’s network is highly qualified. 

Learner caters to students, young learners, foreign-language speakers, and adults with various learning styles by offering private writing tutoring and group sessions. If you choose to opt for private online tutoring, then your writing instructor will develop a tail-made lesson curriculum just for you. Not only is every session recorded for later viewing, but each session also includes a valuable feedback session with the tutor and parents. This allows parents to constantly be in the know about their child’s writing process. 

With a 9.9/10 average customer satisfaction rating, customer satisfaction is of the utmost priority for Learner. Customers get a full satisfaction guarantee — if they aren’t satisfied after their first session, Learner will help them find a better tutor match. The next session will then be free of charge. Pricing at Learner starts at an affordable $40 per hour. 

Pros:

• Highly qualified and vetted tutors
• Affordable 
• Excellent matching process
• Feedback sessions
• Each session is recorded
• Full satisfaction guarantee 

Cons:

• Tutors aren’t available 24/7

Bottom Line: With high-quality tutors, a budget-friendly hourly rate, an excellent tutoring matching process, and a full satisfaction guarantee, Learner easily meet all of the criteria for an excellent online writing tutoring service. 

Wyzant 

Wyzant is particularly well suited for those interested in improving their creative writing skills. Wyzant has various professional writing tutors that can help you with a creative writing assignment for school, or with creative writing that you are doing on your own time. 

Customers have 24/7 access to tutors. While Wyzant will not match you with the ideal tutor for you, interested parties can use the Wyzant database to search for a tutor based on the subject area, grade level, and hourly rate. While most tutors have advanced degrees and/or previous professional experience, Wyzant has no cohesive curriculum or methodology that tutors must abide by, which makes each tutoring experience vastly different across the board. It’s important to keep in mind that previous customers have stated that their experience with Wyzant is very dependent upon which tutor you choose to work with. That said, if you are not satisfied with your writing instruction, then you won’t be charged for the first hour of your lesson. Tutors also get to pick their own hourly rates, which typically range from around $35 to $70 per hour. This platform is best suited for those who need help with a one-off academic writing assignment or who require occasional assistance with essay writing. Do not sign up for this tutoring service if your goal is to develop a strong working relationship with one particular tutor. 

Pros:

• An abundance of creative writing tutors
• Relatively affordable
• 24/7 access to tutors

Cons:

• Experience with tutors vastly differs
• Not suited for long-term instruction

Bottom Line: While this online tutoring company has a wealth of creative writing in its network, it is not a beneficial service for those who want to improve and build on their writing skills long-term. 

Varsity Tutors

Varsity Tutors is an extensive and popular tutoring platform with over 3,000 subjects and 40,000 tutors in its network. This tutoring service originally started out as an in-person tutoring company in 2007 but has been mostly online for the last five years. Whether you want to hone basic skills or work on writing essays for your Language Arts course, Varsity Tutors has a variety of writing classes available to take your wordsmith abilities to the next level.

While Varsity Tutors may have a large network, they assure their customers that they have a thorough vetting process that includes background checks and interviews. While a tutor’s previous experience, college degrees, and certifications are certainly important to Varsity Tutors, their number one priority is finding tutors who can explain information in a clear and understandable way. This company also wants to hire writing tutors who can connect with their students and form strong working relationships with them. Varsity Tutors uses a placement algorithm to match students with tutors based on a student’s schedule, learning style, learning interests, and academic goals. 

Pros:

• Thorough vetting process for tutors
• Utilizes tutor matching algorithm 

Cons:

• Exact pricing is only available upon request 

Bottom Line: Whether you want to hone basic skills or work on creative writing techniques, Varsity Tutors has a variety of writing classes available to take your wordsmith abilities to the next level. Through their placement algorithm, Varsity Tutors is able to match students with a highly qualified, expert writing tutor. 

Chegg

Chegg has thousands of writing experts in its network, each with their own specialty and area of expertise. From lab reports to literary analysis to history research papers, there’s guaranteed to be a tutor that can help assist with your particular writing needs. To top that off, users can also take advantage of Chegg’s services by submitting a paper for review. Whether you have a specific question or you just want a second pair of eyes on your work, a tutor in Chegg’s network will be able to provide you with feedback within 24 hours. 

For an extra $9.95 a month, students also have the option to sign up for Chegg Writing. This learning tool includes a plagiarism detector, a free citation creation, and proofreading and grammar scans for as many writing samples as you wish to submit. Unlike many other online tutoring services, Chegg operates on a membership basis. Students will pay $14.95 a month for unlimited live lessons. That said, if you choose to sign up for this platform, you will most likely not receive instruction from the same tutor more than once, and you will not receive personalized lesson plans. Chegg should be used by independent students who require occasional assistance on homework or assignments. 

Pros:

• Affordable
• A wealth of writing experts in its network
• Lots of writing specific learning tools

Cons:

• Not geared towards developing student/tutor relationships
• No customized lesson plans

Bottom Line: With thousands of writing experts in its network, and several writing-specific learning tools, Chegg is an excellent budget-friendly tutoring service. That said, this service is best used for submitting essays for review or occasional homework assistance — students will not receive tailored lesson plans or develop a working relationship with a single tutor. 

Kaplan

As anyone who has taken the SAT or ACT knows already, writing is a significant portion of college admissions tests. While a few general courses are offered here and there, Kaplan mainly specializes in preparation for standardized tests. This premier test prep tutoring company offers both small, remote group sessions as well as private, one-on-one tutoring. 

Kaplan follows a strict curriculum, which includes full-length tests and broken down, analyzed scores. While a lot of the tutoring will focus on multiple-choice preparation, Kaplan tutors will also guide tutees through the writing sections of each test. Tutors will help build upon students’ pre-existing writing skills and help them understand what review boards are looking for in essay sections. 

This platform is only for rigorous, long-term tutoring. Tutors are only of the highest quality and students will get access to extremely exclusive materials. That said, Kaplan pricing packages are very expensive. To give you an idea, a 10-hour package for the SAT costs $2,000, and a 40-hour package for the SAT costs around $4,400. A 10-hour package for the LSAT costs around $2,300, while a 40-hour package costs $4,900. 

Pros:

• Very catered curriculum
• Provides students with exclusive materials
• Highly qualified tutors

Cons:

• Very expensive
• Catered towards standardized test prep only

Bottom Line: If you are looking to boost your writing skills in preparation for a standardized test, it’s hard to top Kaplan’s premier services. That said, this top-notch service does come with an expensive price tag. 

Tutor.com

Funneled with the same resources as the established and well-known Princeton Review, Tutor.com is particularly geared towards high school students who need a little helping hand with writing. Tutor.com hires a wide variety of experts, some with master’s degrees and others with Ph.Ds, who can help with anything from a book report to an admissions essay. Tutors are available 24/7, which is beneficial if you are pulling an all-nighter to meet a next-day deadline. 

This service does not do the work of matching a student with a tutor. However, on the tutor.com website, tutors are organized by category, making it easy and convenient for students to find a tutor that specializes in their niche area of interest. 

Students can opt for several different pricing plans with this platform. Tutor.com offers several monthly subscription options, each with a different specified number of hours per month, as well as a monthly plan that allows for unlimited homework help. If you plan on receiving long-term instruction from this platform, you can also sign up for a six-month plan for a slightly better deal. That said, students will most likely not be able to receive instruction from the same tutor with every lesson. Students will also not receive personalized lesson plans. 

Pros:

• 24/7 access to tutors
• Offers several different packages and pricing plans
• A wide range of tutors with various specialties

Cons:

• Not ideal for long-term instruction
• Does not do the work of matching students with tutors
• Students do not receive personalized lesson plans

Bottom Line: Funneled with the same resources as the established and well-known Princeton Review, Tutor.com is a great go-to for high school students who need a little extra guidance with writing.

Business Writing Center

Who said online tutoring was just for students? Whether you are cranking out lengthy lab reports or drafting book proposals, writing skills are required in most business professions. 

If you are looking to hone your business writing skills, Business Writing Center (BWC) is a great go-to online service for you. 

Referring to its tutoring services as “coaching” rather than traditional tutoring, this specialized tutoring company has several different packages available, depending on what type of instruction you are seeking. Individuals can sign up for one-on-one tutoring sessions with instructors that will also provide feedback on reports, proposals, and any real-life work documents they are working on. BWC also offers classes that are specially geared towards non-native English speakers. Each course costs around $395, and can last for as long as four months. 

Pros:

• A niche online tutoring company for business professionals
• Offers several different courses, including one for non-native English speakers

Cons:

• Courses are self-paced, which may not suit everyone
• Relatively expensive 

Bottom Line: If you are looking to hone your business writing skills, Business Writing Center (BWC) is a great go-to online service for you. With $395 self-paced courses, BWC can help bolster your writing skills with lab reports, business proposals, and more. 

Skooli 

Skooli offers tutoring in a wide range of subjects, therefore, you shouldn’t have any issues finding online writing tutors with various specialties. Unlike some of the online services that do the heavy lifting of matching you with a tutor, it is up to you to find your ideal tutor. Closely examine each tutoring profile and select a tutor that will be able to help you with your particular needs. For example, if you need help with a lab report, you may want to select a tutor with a science background. For the most part, Skooli tutors are well-vetted experts. 

While you can use Skooli as a long-term tutoring platform, it’s far more cost-effective for short-term homework help and essay questions. Customers are charged by the minute at Skooli, with rates being approximately $1 per minute. This means, that if you plan on having hour-long sessions with each tutor, lessons begin to get expensive, fast. Additionally, lessons must be a minimum of 15 minutes each. 

Pros:

• Cost-effective for quick homework help
• 24/7 access to tutors

Cons:

• The payment plan is not sustainable for longer lessons
• Sessions must be a minimum of 15 mins
• The quality of tutors widely varies

Bottom Line: With its pay-as-you-go payment plan and 24/7 access for tutors, Skooli is an ideal tutoring service for quick homework help. However, this platform is not a cost-effective option for those who want to have longer sessions with tutors. 

Pearson’s Smarthinking 

Pearson’s Smarthinking tutors specialize in numerous areas, but helping students improve their writing skills is one of their specialties. Along with regular homework help and writing assistance, Pearson’s Smarthinking also offers some additional writing-based services. If you want to receive feedback on either a school essay or an SAT sample essay, you have the option to submit the paper to Smarthinking for review. For an SAT essay, this will only set you back $13, while a standard essay costs around $32. Long-form essays (10 pages or longer) will cost around $42. Additionally, if you are currently applying for jobs and looking for feedback on your cover letters or resume, Pearson’s Smarthinking has also got you covered. 

As for the writing teachers, tutors have an average of nine years of experience in their subjects, Not only have tutors received training and certification from Smarthinking, but about 90% have earned master’s degrees or Ph.D.s in their area of expertise.

Pros:

• Offers writing help for various formats
• High-quality tutors

Cons:

• Can get expensive

Bottom Line: Pearson’s Smarthinking offers online tutoring in various subjects, but its writing services are what help this platform stand out from the crowd. This tutoring company can help students improve their writing skills, but also offers additional writing-based services including reviewing cover letters, personal essays, and SAT sample essays. 

TutaPoint 

TutaPoint is particularly geared toward helping students prepare for standardized tests including the SAT and ACT. Tutoring packages do rear on the more expensive side, starting at around $425. Each package includes three hours of online tutoring, a practice test, and a tailor-made study plan. If you want to add more hours to your plan, then package prices gradually climb in price. For example, a 10-hour package costs around $1,895. Aside from learning basic test-taking strategies and getting special help in weaker testing areas, students also have access to various study tools including quizzes and practice drills. 

TutaPoint’s tutoring network is mainly composed of retired teachers, college professors, and teaching assistants. If your child has special needs, then TutaPoint also has tutors who have been trained to help students with any learning disabilities. 

Pros:

• Includes a lot of learning tools in each package
• For the most part, tutors have years and years of previous teaching experience
• Caters toward students with special needs

Cons:

• Packages are expensive
• Writing assistance is very focused on test prep

Bottom Line: If you need help preparing for SAT or ACT-specific writing, then TutaPoint is another great go-to service. Aside from tailor-made lesson plans and customized writing guidance, this pricier service also offers a handful of other helpful learning tools. 

How to find the right online writing tutor for your needs

There are many factors to consider when searching for the best writing tutor for you or your child. First and foremost, consider what type of writing you need help with. Do you need help writing lab reports or research essays, or are you simply trying to improve your understanding of grammar and proper sentence structure? By figuring out what your overall writing goals are, you can compare how they align with the focus of different online tutoring services. This will make it easier to choose the best online tutoring platform for your needs. 

Similarly, consider your learning style and what type of tutoring setup you want. Do you want a long-term private tutoring arrangement or would you prefer small group classes on a short-term basis? Are you most interested in occasional homework help or intensive exam preparation? One way to differentiate between online tutoring services is to see whether they specialize in long-term or on-demand tutoring. Similarly, decide whether it’s important to you to form a relationship with a specific tutor or whether you are just as happy with tutoring from a variety of instructors. If you know what you want, you can rule out tutoring platforms that don’t fit your needs and interests. 

Deciding on your tutoring budget will also help you find a compatible tutor. Tutoring packages and hourly rates vary substantially from service to service. Some tutoring companies are relatively affordable, but others, especially those that offer intensive test prep courses, are much more expensive.

When you have a better idea of what you’re looking for, it’s time to narrow down your search for the best tutoring platform and online writing tutor. Keep these factors in mind to help you choose the best one:

Choose a reputable platform and double-check tutor qualifications 

If you like the idea of online writing tutoring, there are numerous reputable services to choose from. We’ve included some of the best-known companies on our list. Although tutoring platforms should make an effort to verify tutor credentials, it’s always a good idea to double-check.

Ask the prospective tutor about their qualifications and their tutoring history. Before you start a tutoring program, make sure that your tutor has a good track record of helping students measurably improve their writing, whether that means raising their score on the SAT, passing English as a Second Language exams, or developing essay writing techniques that earned them good grades in their high school courses. 

Get to know your tutor through ratings and interviews

Writing is arguably one of the more difficult subjects to teach, making it even more important to find the right tutor. Before you start lessons, try to get to know your tutor’s teaching style, personality, and communication skills. Some prospective clients ask for a sample lesson or query how the tutor would help with a certain piece of work, such as a persuasive essay or a short story. Within just a few minutes, you’ll probably have a sense of whether the tutor’s teaching style and level of expertise are suitable. 

Checking out ratings and reviews from former students is another great way to determine whether the tutor successfully guided those students to success, though this needn’t take the place of a (virtual) meeting with the tutor. Some tutoring platforms will gladly set up an interview and will swap your tutor if you aren’t satisfied after your first session. However, you’re less likely to have this option with ad hoc services, where you pay by the minute and don’t have much say over which tutor you work with. 

Ask around for writing tutor recommendations

If you’re feeling self-conscious about seeking help to improve your writing, try not to be so hard on yourself. Even though it may seem natural to some, many people find it hard to master key ideas like essay structure, using literary techniques, and writing clearly and concisely. And for those writing in their second or third language, the challenge is immense. 

Whatever your situation, you’re likely to have friends, classmates, and family members who have sought help for themselves or their children with some aspect of English or language arts. Reach out to your community for recommendations and advice about tutoring. Someone may point you in the direction of a fantastic tutor (in person or online) who has made a real contribution to their writing ability and confidence.

How we chose the best online writing tutoring services

With so many online writing tutoring services available, we narrowed the options down to ten of the best to make it easier for you to choose one. We also wanted to give prospective clients a wide range of choices, such as different prices and minimum time commitments. Some of the companies on our list focus on long-term tutoring, while others are much better for occasional help with homework or intensive, short-term exam prep. 

We recognize that not everyone needs help with the same kind of writing, so we’ve made sure that our list includes platforms that help with general writing skills as well as those that focus on a specific niche, such as helping young writers, ESL students, incoming college students, or business professionals. A young student learning to write for the first time has very different needs from a busy professional who wants to get better at drafting proposals, presentations, or legal documents. It only makes sense that their respective tutors should be experts at working with students of similar ages and academic levels and should structure their lessons around their specific needs.

Here are the criteria we used to select the tutoring platforms for our list:

High-quality tutors

We chose platforms that carefully check the tutors in their network to make sure they are qualified, have a lot of experience, are kind and patient, and have a teaching style that works well with online tutoring.

Customized learning plans

The best online tutoring services design their programs around the needs of the student, taking into account their age, grade level, learning style, strengths and weaknesses, academic objectives, and (if applicable) professional goals.

Flexible scheduling and frequent availability

We looked for companies that offer students the flexibility to work with their tutor at the times that suit them best, whether that’s before school, after school, in the evening, or on weekends. We included some platforms that offer pay-by-the-minute tutoring and some that focus on tutoring with a longer duration, such as for a semester or in the lead-up to an exam.

Use of technology and online educational resources

All of the companies on our list make excellent use of virtual education tools to improve the tutoring experience, keep students engaged, and prepare them for the role of technology in the real world. This might include interactive online activities, collaborative editing, digital literacy, and uploading, sending, and sharing documents and resources. 

Frequent communication and helpful feedback

It’s important for parents to feel connected to their child’s tutor, so we chose platforms that prioritize communication among parents, children, and tutors. This could involve lesson recordings, progress reports, or instant messages. Likewise, tutors need to provide honest feedback and attainable targets so that their students always know exactly where they stand and how they can make meaningful progress.

Benefits of online writing tutoring

Writing is a hard skill to perfect. It’s one of the most common areas that high school and college students struggle with, and writing difficulties often extend into adulthood. Writing can be especially challenging for students who don’t speak English as their first language or who have special needs. And with so many types of writing, it’s that much harder to master them all. From SAT essays to lab reports, literary analyses to research papers, even after you’ve mastered one style of writing, there’s more work to be done. 

That’s where writing tutors come in. Just like any skill, writing challenges can be overcome with the right tools, practice, and guidance. Tutors can teach students about the mechanics of writing, such as grammar and sentence structure. They can also give students feedback and show them how to use new formats and styles. Most importantly, tutors can help students gain confidence in their writing abilities, even if they’ve been struggling in the classroom. 

While you can have a great experience working with an in-person writing tutor, here are some benefits that are unique to online writing tutors:

Convenience and flexibility 

One of the aspects of online tutoring that families are most excited about is how convenient and flexible it is. While many in-person tutors offer afternoon lessons, online tutors tend to have a wider range of availability, including mornings, evenings, and weekends. Online tutoring is also a popular choice with students, as they can attend sessions from the comfort of home rather than having to spend more time at school or go to a learning center. 

Affordability 

The fact that online tutoring eliminates the need for tutors and students to commute has another benefit. With tutors spending less time traveling to attend sessions and having fewer overhead costs, they can offer more affordable rates. Although each tutoring service has its own pricing structure, which can vary a lot from one platform to the next, online tutoring is usually cheaper than in-person tutoring, especially for small groups. There are even programs that help low-income families pay for online writing tutoring, so students can get help no matter what their background is. 

Wide range of high-quality tutors

Online writing services can connect students with tutors from all over the world. With so many tutors to choose from, it’s much easier to find one who has the relevant qualifications, expertise, and teaching style for a student’s unique needs. No matter what aspect of writing you’re hoping to improve, you’ll find an online tutor who can guide you toward better writing. Many of the best online platforms match students with tutors and make sure that the tutor has the skills needed to help students improve their writing for school, business, or other professional purposes.

Personalized learning experience

If you choose an online service that focuses on long-term tutoring, your tutor will design sessions around your unique learning goals. They’ll create lesson plans that take into account not only the topics and skills you want to master but also your specific academic strengths and weaknesses and preferred learning style. Some platforms focus on helping students who have learning challenges like dyslexia, while others offer programs for people who are learning English as a second language.

Use of educational technology

The virtual learning environment of online tutoring can help make lessons more personalized. Educational tools and resources such as live collaborative editing, screen sharing, virtual whiteboards, instant messaging, and recorded lessons can make the online learning experience even more engaging than in-person lessons. Many students respond very positively to online tutoring because they like using technology in their everyday lives as well as in their education. It’s also a great way for tutors, students, and parents to stay connected through updates, questions, and feedback.

FAQs

What are online writing tutoring services?

Online writing tutoring services are virtual companies that can connect students with tutors. These companies may be tailored towards a particular demographic or style of writing, or they may be a more general tutoring platform that covers a wide range of subjects. 

Who should use online writing tutoring services?

Anyone and everyone can take advantage of online writing tutoring services. More than most other skills, writing is something that students begin learning at a young age and continue to utilize throughout the rest of their lives. Whether you are struggling with a particular style of writing, or are seeking feedback on an essay or cover letter, there are online writing tutoring services catered to your particular needs. 

How much do online writing tutoring services cost?

The cost of online writing tutoring services varies from service to service, as do the pricing plans. While some tutoring services will charge by the minute or hour, others will charge a monthly membership fee or include several packages to choose between. 

What should you look for in online writing tutoring services?

There are many factors to consider before selecting an online tutoring service. You should look for the style of tutoring, the virtual learning tools that the service utilizes, the added benefits included in a package or membership, and the quality of the tutors in each network. 

What are the pros of using online writing tutoring services?

Online tutoring is more convenient, accessible, and affordable than in-person tutoring. Not only does online tutoring provide most of the same benefits as in-person tutoring, but it’s also much easier to find a tutor that specializes in your area of interest and can cater to your learning style. Without a commute to worry about, it’s far easier to squeeze online tutoring into your busy schedule.

What are the cons of using online writing tutoring services?

Some individuals, particularly younger children or students with learning disabilities and special needs may struggle with learning online. Consider your child’s learning style before you opt for an online tutoring service. If they struggle to remain engaged or sit still for long periods of time, in-person hands-on learning may be better suited to their needs.