Verbling vs Preply vs italki: Which Marketplace Treats Tutors Best?

Preply is the volume play, italki is the simplicity-and-packages play, and Verbling is the full-time-professional play — that is the short answer. Preply supplies the most students fastest, italki has the simplest commission maths and the best package rate, and Verbling takes teaching most seriously with a higher entry bar and a smaller, quieter marketplace. The rest of this comparison is the detail, and the detail is where your decision actually gets made.

All three marketplaces sell student access, not teaching freedom

Framing first: Preply, italki and Verbling are marketplaces. They supply students, process payments and take a percentage of every lesson you deliver. None of them employs you, none guarantees bookings, and all three can change their commission tables with a settings update — so treat every figure here as a 2026 snapshot and verify before you commit. What you are choosing is which funnel, which cut and which rules suit your teaching, not whether to hand over a cut, because all three take one.

The summary table, then the sections where the differences earn their keep:

	Preply	italki	Verbling
Commission, first lessons	33% for your first 20 hours	21% on single lessons	15% on every lesson
Commission, long-run	18% floor after enough hours	15% on 15-lesson packages	15%
Student demand	Largest; students from 180+ countries	Very large; 30,000+ teachers	Smallest; about 2,000 tutors
Trial lessons	Paid trial; platform keeps the full fee	Paid trial at a price you set (min $5); 0% commission	First trial free for new students, then a flat ~$6; not set by you
Entry bar	Low; no certificate, video intro required	Low (Community Tutor) to verified documents (Professional Teacher)	Highest; certificate or proven teaching experience, plus video intro
Payout methods	Bank transfer, Wise, PayPal, Payoneer, Skrill	PayPal, Payoneer, Hyperwallet	PayPal, Payoneer, Wise
Payout cycle	Check current payout terms	Check current payout terms	Check current payout terms
Classroom tools	Preply Classroom: whiteboard, notes, vocabulary	italki Classroom with screen share; Zoom or Meet also allowed	Verbling Video: whiteboard, materials, screen share
Group classes	One-to-one focused	Group Classes for 2 to 6 students (30% commission)	One-to-one focused; group lessons for businesses
Best for	Fast volume	Simple maths and package sellers	Full-time professionals

How much commission does each platform take?

Commission is the biggest structural difference, and the shape of each scheme matters more than the headline rate. Preply starts at 33% and slides down to an 18% floor as your total teaching hours on the platform accumulate — Preply's help centre publishes the current schedule: 33% for your first 20 hours, then stepping down to 18% after 400 hours, and 100% of every trial lesson with a new student. italki charges 21% on single lessons and 15% on 15-lesson packages — italki's commission page has the exact current split, and the package discount rewards tutors who sell structured bundles. Verbling takes 15% of your rate on every lesson, so a $20 rate pays you $17. All three change these tables periodically, so verify before you build a business plan.

Quick maths on a $20 lesson: on early Preply you keep about $13.40; an italki single leaves you $15.80 and a package lesson $17; Verbling pays about $17 on a regular lesson. The per-lesson gap looks small. Over 200 lessons a year it is the difference between roughly $2,680 and $3,400 — which is why our breakdown of the hidden costs of marketplace teaching matters more than any single rate.

Where is the student demand?

Demand is where the three platforms are least equal. Preply has the largest student base of the three, with students from over 180 countries, and it ranks tutors algorithmically against each student's preferences. italki is also very large and genuinely global, with more than 30,000 teachers, and students mostly find you by searching and filtering. Verbling's marketplace is the smallest, with about 2,000 tutors, and Verbling doesn't assign students to teachers, so expect a slower, thinner flow of enquiries.

None of this makes Verbling a bad platform — it makes it a narrow one. If your students are quality-driven adults, a thinner funnel with better-fit enquiries can outperform raw volume. If you are filling a calendar from zero, volume wins, and volume lives on Preply.

What does it take to get listed?

Entry requirements rise from italki to Preply to Verbling. italki accepts applications with ID verification and splits tutors into Community Tutors — no formal credentials needed — and Professional Teachers, whose certificates, degrees or documented experience get verified. Preply's bar is low: no certificate or teaching experience required, but you must record a short video introduction. Verbling is the most selective: it requires previous teaching experience or a certificate, with proof, as well as a video introduction. If your profile would struggle anywhere, it will struggle most at Verbling's door. In practice the video introduction is the real gate on all three; it is the closest thing to an in-person impression a browsing student ever gets.

How do trial lessons work on each platform?

Trials are auditions everywhere, but the mechanics and the cost differ. Preply's trial is a paid first lesson on which the platform keeps the full fee: that is your acquisition cost, so verify the current policy before you price around it. italki's trial is a paid session at a price you set (at least $5), and italki takes no commission on it. On Verbling, a new student's first trial is free and later trials cost a flat fee of about $6, whatever your rate; Verbling doesn't publish what the teacher earns on a trial, so check before you rely on trials.

The pattern to internalise: on every platform, the first lesson with a new student is marketing, not income. Structure it — quick rapport, a real level check, and a concrete plan for the first month — and track how many trials convert into regulars. That conversion ratio, not the trial fee, is the number that decides whether the funnel works.

Which classroom tools hold up mid-lesson?

All three have a built-in classroom. Preply Classroom has a whiteboard, notes and vocabulary tools. italki Classroom is a video room with screen sharing, and italki also lets you teach on Zoom, Google Meet and other tools. Verbling runs every lesson in Verbling Video, with a whiteboard, shared materials, a text pad and screen sharing. Whatever the platform, keep a backup video call ready and your materials somewhere you control: classroom outages are rare but never convenient.

How do payouts compare?

Payouts are the least dramatic difference. All three hold student payments until a lesson completes, then release funds for withdrawal, with minimums and timings that vary by platform. Preply pays out through bank transfer, Wise, PayPal, Payoneer and Skrill; italki through PayPal, Payoneer and Hyperwallet; Verbling through PayPal, Payoneer and Wise. Method fees and thresholds vary by country and change over time, so check each platform's current payout page before deciding where your cash flow lands. Treat all three as similar on this axis — no platform wins or loses a decision here.

The verdict: which platform treats tutors best?

The verdict depends on what you are optimising for, so run your situation through this list.

1. Need income this month? Choose Preply. Demand volume and algorithmic matching get new profiles booked fastest, and you accept 33% early commission as the cost of speed. If you would rather skip commission by skipping business-building entirely, our Cambly tutor review covers the fixed-low-pay alternative.
2. Selling structured packages? Choose italki. The 15% package rate is the best long-run commission of the three, and the low entry bar gets you listed quickly.
3. All-in on full-time teaching? Consider Verbling. The flat 15% rate is the joint-lowest commission from your very first lesson, and the entry bar keeps the roster small, but expect a slower ramp in a smaller marketplace.
4. Done with commission altogether? That is the independent route. Students who find you directly — through referrals, your own profile and your professional network — pay no commission at all, and our Preply vs italki vs teaching independently comparison runs the full numbers on that trade-off.

None of the three is built for you; they are built on you. If you teach on any of them, keep every marketplace student on their marketplace and grow the direct-find roster separately — that is the only compliant way to build independence while you keep the account.

Frequently asked questions

Which platform has the lowest commission for tutors?

Verbling's flat 15% on every lesson and italki's 15% on 15- and 20-lesson packages tie for the lowest rates, with Preply's 18% floor just behind. The complications: italki's single-lesson rate is 21%, and Preply starts at 33% and only reaches its floor after substantial hours. Verify the current tables on each platform's official pages before committing.

Can I move students between Preply, italki and Verbling, or take them off-platform?

No on both counts. Every marketplace's terms prohibit arranging lessons with platform students outside the platform — including moving them to a rival marketplace — and tutors lose their accounts when they breach those terms. The only compliant path to independence is a separate roster built from students who find you directly, through referrals, your own profile and your professional network. Keep marketplace students on the marketplace and grow the direct side alongside it.

Which marketplace is best for new tutors with no reviews?

Preply, if raw speed of first bookings is the goal — demand volume and algorithmic matching give empty profiles the fastest start. italki is a close second thanks to its low-bar Community Tutor tier. Verbling is the hardest first step: it accepts only teachers with a certificate or proven teaching experience, requires a video introduction, and has a thinner flow of enquiries for a brand-new profile.

Do I need a teaching certificate to teach on any of these?

Not on Preply, which needs no certificate or teaching experience, or on italki, which asks for credentials only for the Professional Teacher tier. Verbling is stricter: it accepts only teachers with a certificate or verifiable teaching experience. A recognised certification helps conversion everywhere.

Can I teach on more than one platform at the same time?

Yes, and many tutors do — none of the three demands exclusivity. Watch two things: your calendar's real capacity, and each platform's expectation that advertised availability is genuinely open. What you should never do is move students between platforms; each marketplace's terms forbid it, and accounts are lost over it.

How much do tutors actually earn per lesson after commission?

Work backwards from your rate. On a $20 lesson: about $13.40 on early Preply at 33%, $15.80 on an italki single at 21%, $17 on an italki package lesson at 15%, and $17 on a Verbling lesson at 15%. At 200 lessons a year, the spread between the worst and best case is over $700, which is why the commission structure should drive your choice.