Preply vs italki: which one your money is better in
Preply and italki are both marketplaces where individual tutors set their own price, so neither carries one sticker price. The difference is how you buy. Preply bills you every 28 days for a set number of weekly hours, while italki sells single lessons out of a prepaid credit balance. That one structural choice decides almost everything else on this page.
[verified 2026-09-17]
Comparison table
Figures below come from each company's own published pages where one exists, checked on 2026-09-17. The highlighted cell is the side with the practical advantage on that row, and the reason sits under the row label so you can disagree with it.
Preply compared with italki, 2026-09-17. A highlighted cell marks the side with the advantage on that row; rows with no highlight are too close to call.
| Compared on | Preply | italki |
|---|---|---|
| How you payNothing is charged in a week you cannot study | Subscription, charged every 28 days in advance for a weekly hours commitment | italki has the edge here: Prepaid credits, spent one lesson at a time, no subscription |
| Published price rangeThe two ranges overlap almost exactly | $3 to $40+ an hour, set by each tutor | $4 to $40 a lesson, set by each teacher |
| Platform fee on topTrying five tutors on Preply means paying the fee five times | 18% one-time fee on your first lesson with each new tutor, nothing after | italki has the edge here: No booking fee added at checkout, per italki's own pricing page |
| Lesson lengthsA 90-minute slot exists for exam or interview preparation | 25 and 50 minute formats | italki has the edge here: 30, 45, 60 and 90 minutes |
| Trial lessonBoth charge for the first lesson, neither gives it away | Paid trial lesson, refundable in credits if you are unhappy | Discounted trial, usually 30 minutes at 30-50% off the normal rate |
| Trustpilot scoreIdentical score, and Preply's sample is the larger one | 4.4 out of 5 from 25,330 reviews | 4.4 out of 5 from 14,945 reviews |
Pricing compared
Rates are only half of it. Put the same weekly plan through both platforms and the gap usually opens up on the fees and the billing cycle.
Put a real number through both and the gap opens on the fee and the cycle. Say you want two hours a week from a $20 tutor. On Preply that is $160 over a 28-day cycle, plus $3.60 the first time you book that particular tutor, because the 18% platform fee lands once on that first lesson and never again with them. On italki, eight 60-minute lessons at $20 is $160 flat, with the credit sitting in your account until you spend it.
The fee only bites when you are still shopping around. Three tutors tried and dropped on Preply costs you that 18% three times over, and that is the real price of finding a match. Once you have settled on someone, the fee is behind you and the two platforms cost roughly the same for the same tutor rate.
Where Preply pulls ahead is the weeks you would otherwise skip. A subscription you have already paid for is uncomfortable to waste, and that discomfort is the product. italki asks nothing of you in a busy week, which is kinder and, for a lot of people, the reason the credits are still sitting there in March.
Is Preply or italki cheaper?
Neither platform is reliably cheaper, because on both of them the tutor sets the price. Preply publishes a range of $3 to $40 or more an hour and italki publishes $4 to $40 a lesson, so a careful shopper can find roughly the same rate on either. The difference shows up in two places. Preply adds an 18% one-time platform fee on your first lesson with each new tutor, which makes trying several tutors measurably more expensive, and it bills every 28 days whether or not you attend. italki charges no booking fee at checkout and sells lessons singly from prepaid credit, so an unused week costs nothing. For a learner who has already found their tutor and studies every week, the two land within a few dollars of each other. For a learner still auditioning tutors, or studying in bursts, italki works out cheaper in practice.
Verdict by use case
There is no winner here, only a better fit. Find the description that sounds like your week.
When does Preply suit you better?
You want the same slot every week with the same person, and you want the money already gone before the week starts. The 28-day cycle turns studying into a standing commitment, which is exactly what some learners need and the whole reason they stalled on a pay-as-you-go platform. Preply's own Trustpilot reviews keep crediting one named tutor by name, so this only works once you have found yours.
When does italki suit you better?
You study in bursts, or you are still working out who you want to learn from. Credits do not expire, a 90-minute slot exists when you have an exam coming, and nothing is charged in the fortnight you are travelling. There is also no per-tutor fee, so auditioning four teachers costs you four lesson prices and nothing on top.
Questions people ask about this pair
Can you use both at once?
Yes, and plenty of people do: a weekly Preply subscription for the routine, italki credits for occasional practice with a second language. The only thing to watch is the 18% Preply fee, which lands again each time you add a new Preply tutor to the mix.
Does either one guarantee a qualified teacher?
No. Both platforms carry a mix. italki labels teachers as professional or community, which tells you whether formal qualifications were checked. Preply has no equivalent public tier, so the tutor's own profile and reviews are what you have to go on.
Keep reading before you pay
Preply charges a 18% one-time platform fee on your first lesson with each new tutor, then only the tutor's own rate, and it bills every 28 days in advance. Both of those are on Preply's own help pages and both change the arithmetic above.
Where these figures come from
- italki pricing guide (own site) · company's own page
- italki vs Preply (own site, self-reported counts) · company's own page
- italki on Trustpilot · Trustpilot profile
- Preply commission model (Preply Help Center) · company's own page
- Preply on Trustpilot · Trustpilot profile
- Preply company facts (Wikipedia) · reference work
Checked on 2026-09-17. Prices on these platforms move, and a figure that was right in September can be wrong by spring, so treat the date as part of the number. Anything we could not verify is marked on the page rather than filled in.