At some point in every tutor's career, the spreadsheet stops being charming. You're tracking lessons in one tab, income in another, your student Maria's homework notes in a third — and somewhere in the chaos, you realise you've spent 45 minutes on admin for a 60-minute lesson. Meanwhile, Preply just quietly took a third of it.
So you start Googling. "Is Preply worth it?" "iTalki commission rate." "How to teach English independently online." And you end up on a blog post like this one. Welcome. Let's be honest with each other.
This isn't going to be a hot take designed to make you rage-quit Preply by the end. Both Preply and iTalki genuinely help tutors — especially newer ones who'd otherwise be cold-emailing strangers and hoping for the best. But the economics shift over time, and understanding when each model works for you is worth more than any platform loyalty.
How Preply Works (For Tutors)
Preply is essentially a talent marketplace — you're one of thousands of tutors with a profile, a star rating, and an hourly rate. Students browse, students book, Preply takes a slice. Simple in concept, slightly gut-punch-inducing when you see the numbers.
Here's the commission structure tutors start with:
- 0–199 hours: 33% commission (you keep 67%)
- 200–799 hours: 28% commission (you keep 72%)
- 800+ hours: 22% commission (you keep 78%)
- 1,500+ hours (top tutors): 18% commission (you keep 82%)
Yes, a third. When you're brand new, Preply takes one pound in every three you earn. The rate improves as you accumulate hours, but you'll need to teach nearly 1,500 hours on the platform before you hit the "good" tier of 18% — which is still almost a fifth of your income, forever, for the privilege of existing on their site.
The flip side is that Preply genuinely does the heavy lifting on student acquisition. You don't have to do outreach, run ads, or awkwardly post on LinkedIn about being "passionate about language learning." The students come to you, which is not nothing — especially when you're starting from zero.
Where Preply works well: - Student pipeline is real and relatively steady - Built-in scheduling, payment, and lesson tools - Reviews accumulate and compound over time - Low barrier to entry — profile live in a day
Where Preply is a headache: - You cannot take students off-platform (it's in the terms; they're not subtle about it) - Pricing power is limited — students are comparing you to 400 other tutors with similar rates - A profile algorithm tweak can kneecap your visibility overnight - You are building their platform, not your own
How iTalki Works (For Tutors)
iTalki takes a more restrained cut — a flat 15% commission regardless of how many hours you've taught. No tiered system, no clawbacks, just 15% off the top, every time.
It also has an interesting two-track model: Community Tutors (native speakers, no formal credentials required, lower rates) and Professional Teachers (verified qualifications, higher rates, application required). If you're a qualified teacher who's accidentally been underselling yourself in the Community Tutor tier, that distinction is worth knowing about.
One quirk: iTalki runs on an internal credit system. Students buy "iTalki Credits," spend them on lessons, and you eventually convert your credits to actual money. It sounds faintly like play money, and it sort of is — but it does all land in your bank account eventually. It's mostly just an extra step to track.
Where iTalki works well: - Lower commission than Preply (15% flat is genuinely better) - Large community, especially popular for Asian languages - Flexible tutor profile and instant booking options
Where iTalki grinds a bit: - 15% is still 15%, lesson after lesson, for years - The credit system adds a layer of friction to financial tracking - Like Preply, there's a race-to-the-bottom on price among community tutors - No straightforward path to building your own independent brand through the platform
The Real Maths
Right, let's get to the part everyone actually wants to see. Take a reasonably busy tutor: 30 hours per month at $25/hour. That's $750 gross. Here's where it goes:
| Platform / Scenario | Monthly Gross | Platform Cut | Monthly Take-Home |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preply (new tutor, 33%) | $750 | −$247.50 | $502.50 |
| Preply (established, 18%) | $750 | −$135.00 | $615.00 |
| iTalki (15%) | $750 | −$112.50 | $637.50 |
| Independent + Tuton (Solo $29/mo) | $750 | −$29.00 | $721.00 |
The gap between a new Preply tutor and an independent tutor using flat-rate tools is $218.50 per month. Annually, that's over $2,600. For doing the same work, teaching the same hours, charging the same rate.
Preply's commission structure means you're effectively paying them $247.50 a month to send you students. At $29/month for independent tools, the question becomes: can you find your own students worth more than the difference? Spoiler: if you've been teaching for a year and have any regulars at all, the answer is almost certainly yes.
What Independent Teaching Actually Looks Like
Here's the honest version, because the internet has a bad habit of making everything sound either terrifying or effortless.
Independent teaching means you are, in a small but real sense, running a business. You need:
- A way to video call students (Zoom, Google Meet, or a dedicated teaching platform)
- A booking/scheduling system that isn't just texting "does Tuesday at 4 work?"
- A way to collect payment (without chasing invoices like you're their accountant)
- Some method of tracking student progress that isn't a sticky note graveyard
None of this is complicated. But cobbled together from free tools — Zoom plus Calendly plus PayPal plus Google Sheets — it feels chaotic, looks unprofessional, and requires you to mentally context-switch between four different logins before you've said good morning to your first student.
The other thing independent teaching requires: you have to be findable. This is the part most tutors underestimate. You don't need a marketing agency. You need a clean public profile somewhere that prospective students can read, trust, and book from. Word of mouth does a lot of the work once you've been at it for a while — your students talk to their colleagues, their flatmates, their siblings learning Spanish — but that only helps if those people can actually find you and book a slot.
When Marketplaces Make Sense
Genuinely, honestly, no irony: start on a marketplace if you're just beginning.
The student acquisition problem is brutal when you have no reviews, no referrals, and no one who knows your name. Preply and iTalki solve that problem. Think of the commission as marketing spend — you're paying 33% for students who would never have found you otherwise. That's a reasonable trade when the alternative is silence.
Marketplaces make sense when: - You have fewer than 10 regular students and a wide-open schedule - You're new to teaching and want to build experience quickly - You teach a niche language where independent demand is thin - You want to fill gaps between your regular bookings - You're still figuring out whether tutoring is a career or a phase
There's also no rule that says it's one or the other. Plenty of experienced tutors keep a marketplace profile to catch overflow students while running their core practice independently. That's not a compromise — that's just smart capacity management.
When Independent Teaching Wins
Once you have a stable core of students — even 8–10 regular weekly sessions — the maths starts pointing firmly in one direction.
Go independent when: - You have consistent regulars who book week after week - Your hourly rate is above $20 (the commission bite compounds fast) - You're earning $400+/month from tutoring and want to keep more of it - Referrals are starting to come in without you doing anything - You want to specialise, build a reputation, and set your own terms - You're tired of competing against tutors who undercut you by $2 because they're fine earning $14/hour net
The bigger unlock with independence is pricing power. On a marketplace, you're always competing against the grid. When someone finds you through a referral or your own profile, they're already halfway convinced. They're not price-shopping — they're looking for the right person. That's a fundamentally different conversation, and it lets you charge what your experience and results are actually worth.
Running Your Independent Practice
So you've decided — or you're deciding — to take the leap. What does a professional independent practice actually look like in practice?
The smart move is finding tools that are built for tutors, not bolted together from generic software. Tuton was designed specifically for independent language tutors who want to run things professionally without hiring a personal assistant or spending three hours a week on admin.
Here's what it replaces:
- Video Classroom — No more Zoom link chaos. Teach directly in the platform, with everything you need in one window.
- AI Teaching Assistant — Lesson planning help, activity ideas, and in-session support. Like having a well-prepared co-teacher who never gets tired.
- Student CRM — Every student's notes, history, and relationship context, in one place. Remember that Maria mentioned she has a big presentation in Madrid next month? Tuton helps you remember that kind of thing.
- Vocabulary Tracking — Track what's been taught, what's been learned, what needs revisiting. Students love seeing this — it makes progress feel tangible.
- Lesson Library — Save your best lesson content and reuse it without starting from scratch every time.
- Progress Analytics — Show students how far they've come. This is underrated for retention — people stay when they can see their own growth.
- Invoicing — Professional invoices, payment tracking, no spreadsheets required.
- Scheduling — Students book based on your actual availability. No back-and-forth. No "does Tuesday work?" at 10pm.
- Public Tutor Profile — Your own bookable landing page to send to prospective students or share on LinkedIn.
Pricing: Solo plan is $29/month. Pro is $69/month (for busier practices with more advanced features). Business is $119/month for small tutoring agencies. Sign up at tuton.io/register.
At 30 hours/month at $25/hour, the Solo plan costs you less than 4% of gross income. On Preply as a new tutor, you're paying 33%. The maths isn't close.
The Verdict
Here's the honest summary from someone who's seen both sides:
Start on Preply or iTalki. Build your reviews, figure out your teaching style, fill your schedule. Treat the commission as a student acquisition budget. It's genuinely worth it at the beginning.
Plan your exit from day one. Not dramatically, not urgently — but have it in mind. As your regular student base grows, the cost of staying on the platform grows with it.
Go independent when you're ready. You don't need to burn your Preply profile to the ground. Phase it out gradually while building your own roster. One day you'll notice you haven't had a marketplace student in three months, and it won't feel like a problem.
The platforms are fine tools for where they're useful. But a third of your income — every month, forever — is a steep price for a service you can replace for $29/month once you've got your footing.
Your students are paying you to teach them. They deserve your best energy. Spend it on them — not on admin, not on commissions, and definitely not on reconciling four different apps before breakfast.
If you're ready to run your practice properly, Tuton's got you.