TVO Mathify vs a private tutor: when free is enough, and when it isn't

Let's get the awkward part out of the way: we sell tutoring, and this page is about a free alternative. TVO Mathify is genuinely good. It's funded by the Ontario government, staffed by Ontario Certified Teachers, and costs nothing. If a company selling tutoring won't tell you that, don't trust the rest of what they say. So here's the honest version of when Mathify is all you need — and the specific cases where a private tutor earns their fee.

What Mathify actually is

Mathify is TVO's free online math help for students in Grades 4–12 at Ontario's publicly funded schools. You register with your child's Ontario Education Number (OEN), then drop in during operating hours — weekdays 9am–9pm and weekends 3pm–9pm in the school year (reduced summer hours) — and an available Ontario Certified Teacher helps 1-on-1 over voice or text chat with a shared whiteboard. No fees, no ads, no catch.

When free is enough

Mathify is the right answer — full stop — when the problem is a question, not a pattern:

• Homework help on specific questions, the night they're due.
• A student who's basically on track and occasionally gets stuck.
• Self-driven teens who'll actually log in and ask.
• Families where any tutoring budget would strain the month. Use Mathify without a second thought — it's your tax dollars doing their job.

When it isn't

Mathify's limits are structural, not quality problems. It's drop-in help, and drop-in can't do these jobs:

• Rebuilding a gap. A different teacher each session means nobody owns the question "why is Grade 9 hard for this kid?" — usually the real answer lives two grades back, and finding it takes the same person watching your child work, week after week.
• A plan with accountability. Drop-in help waits for your child to bring questions. Struggling students mostly don't — avoidance is half the problem. A standing weekly session with the same tutor removes the "will they log in?" variable.
• Practice between sessions. Mathify's session ends when the question is answered. Gaps close on reps between sessions — that's why every Winny Math lesson comes with custom practice matched to the course and unit.
• The students it doesn't cover. Mathify starts at Grade 4 and follows the Ontario curriculum. Grades 1–3, AP, IB, and university courses are outside it.
• Scheduling around real life. Drop-in queues during set hours vs a booked time that fits around practice, jobs and weekends.
• Test-prep sprints. Timed practice on the exact topics of next week's exam is a program, not a drop-in question. (For Grade 9 families, see our EQAO prep guide — the assessment now counts toward the course grade.)

Side by side

Mathify details from mathify.tvolearn.com, checked July 2026.

The setup we actually recommend

Use both. Keep Mathify bookmarked for homework-night questions — free, certified teachers, no reason not to. If the marks keep sliding anyway, that's the signal the problem is a pattern, not a question: get a diagnostic, find the real gap, and work a weekly plan until it closes. That second job is what we do, and the first session costs the same as Mathify — nothing.

Common questions