Suggested Fees
How much should meditation teachers charge for their services?
What are the standard fees for a meditation teacher?
How much do you charge a 1-1 client? A large corporation?
Should you lower your fees when you are starting out?
It’s difficult to know.
A clients’ ability and willingness to pay varies enormously. For example, the Calm app is a billion dollar company, and yet some traditions suggest that meditation teachers shouldn’t accept payment at all.
So what do you charge?
In the table and short discussion below we attempt to answer this question — and to provide some guidelines for deciding what to charge for your services.
Note: These are just suggestions. Other things you may like to consider are the size and budget of the organisation you are quoting for, and whether or not you feel comfortable with your pricing.
| New Graduate | 2+ years | 5+ years | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community Group or NFP* | $200* | $300 | $400 |
| School | $240 | $350 | $500 |
| Small Business | $300 | $400 | $600 |
| Corporate | $600 | $800 | $1000 |
| 1-1 Consultation | $100 | $120 | $150 |
* Rates are guidelines only.
Rates are per hour.
NFP: Not-for-profit.
When deciding on what fees to charge, it can be helpful to consider the rates set by people in similar professions (personal trainers, yoga teachers) and also what people pay would pay for various other services (plumbing, a movie, a haircut, a night out).
In comparison, do your fees reflect the value of what you offer — and do they do justice to the dedication and professionalism of the wider meditation community? You might also consider what your students and clients assume when you offer your services at a low cost (or for free)?
When quoting for work in the corporate sector it’s useful to know what workplaces typically pay for similar kinds of training. $1000/hr would not be unusual. In fact, they might pay more than that for food and drink at a meeting.
In contrast, if you were offering ongoing sessions in a yoga studio, gym or community centre $90—120/hr might be a reasonable amount to expect to be paid.
For courses that you run yourself, you need to consider the costs of venue hire, preparation time and other incidentals. In most cases, you’d need to charge $25 per person, per session just to break even.
Of course, there are times when working pro bono would be the appropriate thing to do.
On the other hand, what price can you put on peace of mind?