Tracking lessons as a tutor: paper, Excel or an app? 3 ways compared
Kebao team · Updated November 1, 2026
With three students or fewer, paper or Excel is enough. Once you have more students, a leave and make-up policy, renewals to chase and bank transfers to match, manual records slip; a lesson app deducts lessons, issues make-up credits and reminds parents to renew automatically.
- Paper: free, hard to search
- Excel: easy maths, manual syncing
- App: automatic deductions and reminders
What do you need to track?
A bare "lessons left" number is not enough: when a parent asks why a lesson is missing, you need the date and the rule it was deducted under.
- For each student: lessons bought, lessons taken, lessons left.
- Why each lesson was deducted: a normal lesson, late leave, a no-show, or a make-up.
- Make-up credits issued, used and when they expire.
- Every tuition payment: how much, which day and how it was paid.
Who is a paper register right for?
Tutors with very few students, fixed weekly slots and almost no leave or make-ups. Nothing to learn; but only you can see it, parents have to message you to ask how many lessons are left, and the history is hard to check.
Pros and cons of Excel or Google Sheets
- Pros: free, formulas work out lessons left, and Google Sheets can be shared with parents.
- Cons: every lesson, leave request and payment is a manual update, and one missed entry throws the totals off; leave rules (such as deducting leave inside 24 hours) are left to your judgement.
- Cons: an edited cell leaves no trace, so it is hard to explain a deduction later.
When should you switch to a lesson app?
- You have more than five students, or both one-to-one and group classes.
- Leave and make-ups come up every month and you scroll through chats to check when a parent asked.
- You forget renewal reminders, or match bank transfers by the last five digits one by one.
- Parents often ask how many lessons are left.
The three side by side
- Cost: paper is free; Excel is free; most apps charge monthly and some have a free plan.
- Deductions: manual on paper and in Excel; an app deducts or issues make-up credits under your leave policy.
- Parent lookups: on paper parents ask you; with Excel you share a sheet; with an app parents check on LINE themselves.
- Renewal reminders: on paper and in Excel you have to remember; an app reminds parents when lessons run low.
- Audit trail: paper and Excel lose the old value when you change it; an app's ledger keeps every change and its reason.
Tracking lessons with Kebao
Kebao's lesson ledger records every lesson, leave request, make-up and payment. Parents see lessons left on LINE and get a renewal reminder when two are left. The Free plan covers up to 3 students, so you can move your current students in and try it.
FAQ
Is there an Excel template for tracking lessons?
The simplest columns are date, student, type (lesson / leave / make-up / purchase), lessons added or deducted, and notes; a sum per student gives lessons left.
What happens to my old spreadsheet when I switch?
Usually you enter each student's current lessons left once as the starting point and keep records in the app from then on.
Can parents see how many lessons are left?
Not on paper; a Google Sheet can be shared but needs one per family; Kebao lets each parent check their own child's balance on LINE.
Further reading
Set it up today. From your next lesson, the system does the asking.
Free forever for up to 3 students. No credit card needed.