What should you charge for online coaching?

Tell us the take-home pay you want. We work back through UK tax, NI, VAT and fees to the price you need to charge.

By Jack Symons, co-founder of Coachflow. Rates for the 2026/27 tax year, last checked 5 November 2026.

How to price online coaching in the UK

How the calculator works

Most pricing advice starts with what other coaches charge. This starts with what you want to take home. You tell it the monthly figure that should land in your personal account, and it works backwards: income tax and National Insurance on your profit (or corporation tax and dividend tax through a company), Stripe's fee on every payment, your software and running costs, and VAT once your turnover passes £90,000.

It finds the smallest amount you need to collect from clients in a year to leave that take-home, divides it by your client count and twelve months, and rounds up to the next £5 so the price never falls short. Then it turns that one number into four you can use this week: your price, the share of every payment to set aside for tax, how many new clients a month keep you full, and where VAT starts.

If you tell it what you charge now, how many results you could show and how your sales calls go, it adds a price check: whether your proof backs the price your goal needs, and the steps to get there. Everything runs in your browser on 2026/27 rates for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It doesn't yet include Scottish bands, student loans, pension contributions or Marriage Allowance.

What UK online coaches charge

Most UK online coaching programmes sit between £150 and £250 a month, and the usual range runs from about £100 to £400. Under £100 you're competing on price with every app on the market. Over £400 works when you coach a clear niche and can show the results to back it.

The market rate tells you what's normal, not what you need. A coach who wants £3,500 a month from 20 clients needs about £235 each as a sole trader. The same take-home from 10 clients needs about double that. Start from your own numbers, then check where they land against the range.

The VAT cliff: why £90,000 can cost you money

Once your turnover over any rolling 12 months passes £90,000, you must register for VAT and charge 20%. You have 30 days from the end of the month you went over to tell HMRC. Coaching clients are mostly individuals who can't reclaim VAT, so in practice it comes out of your price rather than on top of it: a sixth of every payment goes to HMRC.

That's why a coach just over the line takes home less than one just under it. With typical costs, the dead zone runs from £90,000 to about £108,500 a year: anywhere in between, you'd keep more by earning less. The calculator's take-home chart shows the drop at your own price. There are two ways through: stay under the line on purpose, or price for well above it. HMRC checks a rolling 12 months, not the tax year, so look at your total every month once you're within reach. You can deregister if turnover falls below £88,000.

How much to put aside for tax, and the first January

The simplest system that works: open a separate savings account and move a set percentage of every client payment into it the day it lands. The calculator works the percentage out from your numbers, rounded up so the pot is never short. For a sole trader taking home £3,500 a month from 20 clients it's about 20%. Past the VAT line it's over a third, because VAT goes in the pot too.

The first January is the one that catches coaches out. Self Assessment for a tax year is due by 31 January after it ends. If your bill is over £1,000, HMRC usually also asks for the first payment on account towards the next year, half of this year's bill. So in your first full year at these numbers, January's bill can be about one and a half times your yearly tax. The calculator shows that figure when it applies to you.

Sole trader or limited company for online coaches

As a limited company you pay corporation tax on profit (19% up to £50,000, 25% from £250,000, with marginal relief between), then dividend tax when you take money out: 10.75% in the basic band, 35.75% higher and 39.35% additional, after a £500 allowance. A director's salary of £12,570 uses your personal allowance, but the company pays 15% employer NI on it above £5,000, and a sole director can't claim the Employment Allowance. Add higher accountancy fees, payroll and Companies House.

Put together, and taking all the profit out, a limited company came out dearer than sole trader in every case we tested at 2026/27 rates. Where a company helps is when you leave profit in it, or pay into a pension through it, which this calculator doesn't model. If you pick "Not sure" or "Limited company", the results show both side by side. Ask an accountant before you switch.

Making Tax Digital: what changes for coaches in 2026, 2027 and 2028

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax started on 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000. The line drops to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028. Qualifying income is your gross income from self-employment and property, before expenses, from an earlier tax year. Once you're in, you keep digital records and send HMRC a short update every quarter through compatible software, then a final declaration after the year ends. If the calculator puts you over a line, it says from when.

How to raise your prices without losing clients

Raise for new enquiries first. Quote the next step of your ladder to everyone who asks from today, and leave your current clients where they are while you see how it lands. After five more offers at that step, look at how many said yes. At least half: move up again. Fewer than three in ten: stay where you are and look at what people see before they talk to you.

Your proof carries the price. Every new client is a chance to collect a result you can show a stranger: write down their starting numbers in week one, and ask for permission to share the change. When the price check says to earn the jump first, that's the work. Run the calculator again when you have three results to show.

Want to run the numbers again? Back to the calculator.

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