Preply Review – Worth It or Not? (What to Expect)

There’s a website called Preply that offers an opportunity for you to earn extra cash by working as a tutor.

If you are interested in learning more, I encourage you to continue reading this Preply review, as it will give you an inside look.

That way, you’ll know exactly what to expect from it before you even attempt to sign up. Then, you can make an educated decision on whether it is worth it or not.

So, let’s go ahead and break down what Preply is all about, shall we?

What is Preply, and what does it offer?

Preply is an online tutoring marketplace that connects students with tutors from all over the world. And yes, it is indeed legit because you can earn real money by working as an online tutor.

However, to find out if it is the right fit for you, you must first understand how it works. The only way to do so is to take a closer look at the earning opportunities it offers. This will give you a clear picture of how much time and effort are needed to earn from it.

So, here’s how to earn from Preply.

Option 1 – Lessons

The main way to earn from Preply is by teaching students. To do so, they must book a lesson from you.

When you become a Preply tutor, you will be asked to create your tutor profile, which will include the subject you will be teaching, your availability, credentials, and the price for each session.

Once your profile is complete, students can view it on the platform when they are searching for tutors. If a student wants to hire you, you will receive a notification from Preply. It’s up to you if you wish to accept the booking or not.

If you decide to accept the booking, then all that’s left is to show up during the appointed time and date and teach the student. Now, keep in mind that when conducting lessons, you must use Preply’s in-house classroom.

It has all the features you will need, but it also means you need to use a video camera. If your camera doesn’t have an audio feature, then you’ll need to use a headset to speak with the student. This also means you must work in a quiet room so that your student can hear you properly, and that there will be no distractions during your tutoring session.

One full lesson lasts for 50 minutes, while a 25-minute session is counted as half a lesson. When the session is over, your student must confirm that the service has been rendered for the payment to be released into your account.

Your student can also leave a review of the session, which means you must always make sure you do your best because each session will reflect your performance as a tutor. And if you keep getting good reviews, there’s a good chance you’ll get more bookings.

Now, one thing to note is that students can book a trial lesson from you, which will essentially be free of charge, since you won’t get paid for doing it. It’s a very important part of the job because it can help the student decide if they really want your services.

I’m not exactly sure how long a trial lesson lasts, but trial classes are usually not as long as a full session, in my experience. Just think of this as a sample of what you can offer, which means you still have to do your best when conducting them.

As you can see, even if you get accepted as a Preply tutor, there’s still no guarantee you will earn from this opportunity. The best way to increase your chances of getting bookings is to promote your profile link outside of the platform, which leads me to the other earning opportunity it offers.

As for the subjects you can teach, Preply is best known for language learning, but it also offers tutoring in school subjects, test preparations, and even skills like music, art, coding, and more. So, you do have plenty of options. Plus, you can teach more than one subject, too.

Option 2 – Referral Program

Preply has a referral program you can take advantage of. To earn from it, you must share your referral link with the student you want to invite to join the platform.

When they click the link and sign up as a student, they will become your referral. Then, when they book their first lesson from any tutor on Preply (doesn’t have to be you), you will receive the referral reward, which will be $25.

This will be credited to your Preply account balance 30 days after the confirmed lesson booking. It’s a convenient opportunity, in my opinion, because if you want to maximize your earnings from Preply, you’ll need to promote your profile link outside of the platform (social media sites, your blog/site, etc.).

So, while you are promoting your tutor profile, you can also get referrals to earn extra cash.

Recommended: Check Out the Best Online Tutoring Sites to Earn From

How do you get paid?

The money you earn from tutoring students will be stored in Preply’s in-house wallet. When you want to withdraw your earnings, you can do so via Wise, PayPal, Payoneer, or Skrill.

You don’t need to reach a threshold to do so. However, Preply recommends you only withdraw your earnings when they exceed $10, so the transaction fee will be lower.

Now, there’s an important thing you need to know regarding Preply. As you can see in the photo above, every time you finish a tutoring session, Preply will deduct a certain percentage from the fee the student paid.

The percentage will depend on the number of hours you’ve taught. For example, if you’ve taught for 20 hours or less, Preply’s commission will be 33%, which is quite high, in my opinion. If you’ve taught for more than 20 hours but less than 50 hours, the commission will only be 28%.

The lowest commission will be 18% (400+ hours). So, it incentivizes tutors who have been tutoring for Preply for a long time.

Overall, I would say its payout system is quite straightforward. I like the fact that it offers a convenient payout method like Payoneer. If you are interested in more sites that use Payoneer as a payout method, I suggest you also check out the top sites that pay via Payoneer.

How much money can you make?

The amount you can earn from Preply will depend on how many bookings you get. As explained earlier, when you become a Preply tutor, there’s no guarantee you will start earning right away.

To increase your chances of earning, you must market your services. This means you’ll have to promote your Preply tutor profile outside of the platform, because if you just rely on students finding your profile, it can take weeks or even months before you can earn.

Now, the thing with marketing your profile outside of Preply is that it can take a lot of time and effort to do so before it will pay off. So, you must be patient. But if you have already established a large audience/network, it will be easier to market your services.

The problem is that you still won’t be able to maximize your earnings since Preply will take a cut of your earnings. This is why I would consider its earning potential to be not that great. I understand that they must take a cut of your earnings since they are offering the service for free, but 18% to 33% is quite high, in my opinion.

So, if you want to maximize your earnings from online tutoring, it would be better not to rely on a third party to ensure you get the full payment. Later, I will tell you how you can do it.

Can you use it on mobile?

Due to the nature of the earning opportunity it offers, you will need to sit in front of a computer to conduct tutoring sessions. That’s because you’ll need to use its in-house classroom software, which can only be used on a computer.

So, to answer the question above, NO, you can’t. You’ll need a computer with a webcam and a headset with a microphone. Aside from that, you’ll also need a quiet place to work.

Who can join Preply?

The site doesn’t specifically say which countries it is available in, but from what I can see, it is available globally, so you should be able to apply as a tutor anywhere in the world. However, applying and getting accepted as a tutor are two different things.

Applying as a tutor is quite easy. As you can see in the photo above, you can use your Google account to sign up. Then, you’ll have to fill out the application form. This is the part where you can specify the subjects you want to teach, your availability, the amount you will be paid per session, as well as your qualifications as a teacher of the subject.

After you’ve submitted your application, you’ll have to wait for no more than five days to hear back from Preply. If you get accepted, you’ll receive further instructions.

It can take some time before you can start earning from Preply, so this is not for people who are looking to earn immediately.

Can you get support?

Preply has an extensive Help section that covers all the important topics you need to know about the site. But if you can’t find the answers you are looking for, you can contact its support department instead.

You can do so by logging in to the member dashboard and clicking the button with a question mark found at the lower right-hand corner of the dashboard. Then, click on the “Send Us a Message” link to open the contact form. Simply fill out all the necessary fields and hit submit.

Overall, I would say Preply does provide decent support to its members because of the extensive Help section it provides. Plus, it also offers a convenient way for you to ask for help.

Final Verdict

Preply is a legit online tutoring site that lets you earn by working as an online tutor. It has a couple of great features, but it also has some limitations you must consider.

Let me wrap up this review by summarizing its pros and cons, so you can see a clear overview of what it offers. Then, you can determine if it is for you or not.

Pros:

In my opinion, Preply is a decent online tutoring site. It is available globally, and it offers convenient payout options. You can earn a good amount from it, but its commission is quite high, which is its biggest disadvantage.

So, if you want to maximize your earnings as an online tutor, you are better off building your own online tutoring business. That way, you won’t have to share your earnings with a third party.

To learn how to set up your online business, I recommend you check out this guide on how to build your own online business. It will teach you how to set up your online business from the ground up, so you can potentially start earning a full-time income online on your own terms.

If you have any comments, questions, or experience with Preply, I would love to hear from you in a comment below.