Adminished vs TutorCruncher (2026)
Quick take: One is built to run a tutoring agency with employed and contractor tutors. The other runs any UK class or tuition centre on safeguarding-first, capacity-based pricing. Here's where each one wins.
What TutorCruncher is: TutorCruncher is a UK-built tutor management platform and CRM aimed at tutoring businesses, agencies and centres. It handles client and tutor records, scheduling, automated lesson-based invoicing, payment collection through Stripe and GoCardless, and — notably — automated tutor payroll and pay runs with custom compensation rules. It supports the "split payment" agency model used under the UK Employment Agencies Act, syncs with Xero and QuickBooks, and offers a REST API, webhooks and Zapier integrations. It is sold on tiered subscriptions with a two-week trial.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Adminished | TutorCruncher |
|---|---|---|
| Who it's built for | Any UK club, class or tuition setting — martial arts, dance, scouts, community centres and tutoring/Kumon-style learning, including adult self-learners who manage themselves. | Tutoring businesses, agencies and centres specifically, supporting both employed and self-employed contractor tutors. |
| Tutor payroll / pay runs | Basic tutor payroll only: totals sessions x rate with CSV export. Not full PAYE/NI/RTI filing. | A core strength — automated pay runs with custom per-tutor compensation rules. Better here if paying tutors is central to your business. |
| Payment rails | Stripe for cards plus Bacs/SEPA Direct Debit; recurring monthly/termly, per-class frequencies and drop-in; auto-charge and overdue reminders. | Stripe for cards plus GoCardless Direct Debit, bank transfer/ACH and multi-currency, with automated lesson-based invoicing. |
| Pricing model | Capacity-based and not feature-gated: free up to 20 students, £19/mo up to 75, £49/mo up to 200, every feature on every tier; transparent 1% platform fee. | Tiered subscriptions (roughly from around £25/mo to around £200/mo) plus card-processing fees; a two-week trial and no free tier. Check current pricing. |
| UK safeguarding (DBS) | Tracks DBS status and expiry for tutors and coaches as a built-in safeguarding feature. | Has a safeguarding/wellbeing-concerns log and recurring compliance/renewal tasks, but no dedicated DBS status-and-expiry field found as of 2026. |
| Consent forms & e-signing | Waivers, codes of conduct and media consent signed per child at sign-up, with a legal audit trail (name, timestamp, IP, version hash) and CSV export. | Focused on client/tutor CRM and billing; no equivalent per-child consent e-signing surfaced in our research. |
| Agency / split payments | Not built for the agency split-payment model; designed for a club or centre collecting from parents directly. | Supports the split-payment model under the UK Employment Agencies Act — a clear advantage for agencies acting between clients and tutors. |
| Accounting & integrations | CSV exports (payroll, consent records, members); Stripe-based payments. No native Xero/QuickBooks sync or open REST API. | Syncs natively with Xero and QuickBooks, plus a REST API, webhooks and Zapier — stronger for connecting into a wider toolset. |
| Migration & setup | Free, done-for-you migration of members, classes and saved card plus Bacs/SEPA Direct Debit mandates via Stripe, with zero downtime; iOS, Android and web. | Self-serve setup with a two-week trial; established UK platform with human support teams. |
When TutorCruncher is the better choice
A growing tutoring agency that books many tutors against many clients and needs the money to move in two directions at once — collect from parents and pay self-employed or employed tutors. If automated pay runs, custom per-tutor compensation rules, split payments under the Employment Agencies Act, and accounting sync to Xero/QuickBooks are core to how you operate, TutorCruncher is purpose-built for that and Adminished is not. Pick TutorCruncher when tutor payroll and agency billing are the heart of the business.
Pricing
TutorCruncher uses tiered monthly subscriptions — roughly from around £25/mo at the entry tier up to around £200/mo at the top tier (plus card processing fees of about 2.3–2.65% and a smaller fee on offline payments), with a two-week trial and no free plan. Check tutorcruncher.com for current figures, as fees and tiers change. Adminished is capacity-based, not feature-gated: free up to 20 students, Essential £19/mo up to 75, Pro £49/mo up to 200, with every feature on every tier and a transparent 1% platform fee on payments (which can be passed on at checkout). The models differ — TutorCruncher's cost scales with plan tier and card volume; Adminished's scales with how many students you have.
Switch in a weekend — we do the heavy lifting
Already on another tool? We bring your members, their classes and their saved card & Direct Debit mandates across — so payments never miss a beat. Zero downtime, no asking your families to re-sign, and we never charge for it.
- Members, contacts, classes & schedules imported for you
- Saved cards & Bacs/SEPA Direct Debit mandates carried over via Stripe — no re-authorisation
- Live in about a weekend, with your fees collecting as normal
Frequently asked questions
Is Adminished or TutorCruncher better for an independent tutor or small tuition centre?
For a single tutor or a small centre that mainly needs to enrol students, take attendance, collect fees and keep consent and safeguarding records, Adminished's free tier (up to 20 students) and £19/mo Essential tier (up to 75) are a low-commitment way to start, with every feature included. TutorCruncher is designed more for tutoring businesses and agencies and starts on a paid subscription with card fees on top, so it can be more than a small operation needs — but if you employ or contract several tutors and need automated pay runs, TutorCruncher is built for that and Adminished only does basic hours-times-rate payroll.
Does either platform pay my tutors automatically?
This is where they genuinely differ. TutorCruncher offers automated pay runs with custom per-tutor compensation rules — paying tutors is a core part of what it does. Adminished only provides basic payroll: it totals sessions multiplied by a rate and gives you a CSV export, not full PAYE, NI or RTI filing and not an automated pay run. If tutor payroll is central to your business, TutorCruncher is the stronger choice.
Can both collect UK Direct Debit?
Yes. TutorCruncher collects Direct Debit through GoCardless alongside Stripe card payments, bank transfer/ACH and multi-currency invoicing. Adminished collects Bacs and SEPA Direct Debit plus cards through Stripe, with recurring monthly or termly billing, per-class frequencies and drop-in, automatic charging and overdue reminders. Both can take Direct Debit; the difference is more about payroll, agency billing and pricing model than the Direct Debit rail itself.
What about safeguarding and consent forms?
Adminished tracks DBS status and expiry for tutors and captures waivers, codes of conduct and media consent signed per child at sign-up, with a legal audit trail and CSV export. TutorCruncher does have a safeguarding/wellbeing-concerns log and recurring compliance tasks, but we didn't find a dedicated DBS status-and-expiry field or per-child consent e-signing as of 2026 — so for safeguarding records Adminished covers more out of the box.
Does TutorCruncher have a tutor marketplace or lead generation?
From our research, no — TutorCruncher is a management and billing platform for your own clients and tutors, not a marketplace that matches tutors to new clients or generates leads. Adminished does not have a marketplace either; both are tools for running a business you already have, not for finding new students.
Which one integrates with my accounting software?
TutorCruncher is stronger here: it syncs natively with Xero and QuickBooks and offers a REST API, webhooks and Zapier, so it slots into a wider toolset. Adminished provides CSV exports for payroll, consent records and members, and Stripe-based payments, but does not have native Xero/QuickBooks sync or an open API. If deep accounting integration is a must-have, TutorCruncher fits better.
The verdict
Choose TutorCruncher if you run a tutoring agency or company where paying tutors and agency billing are central — automated pay runs, custom compensation rules, split payments under the Employment Agencies Act, and native Xero/QuickBooks sync are real strengths Adminished does not match. Choose Adminished if you run a class, club or tuition centre that collects fees from parents and needs UK safeguarding built in: DBS tracking, per-child consent e-signing with a legal audit trail, Bacs/SEPA Direct Debit and cards via Stripe at a transparent 1% fee, and capacity-based pricing that's free up to 20 students with every feature on every tier. They overlap on scheduling, invoicing and Direct Debit, but they're built for different jobs — agency payroll versus safeguarding-first club and tuition management. If tutor payroll is the heart of your operation, TutorCruncher is the better pick; if safeguarding, consent and simple per-student billing are, Adminished is.
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