How Much Does Preply Take from Tutors? Fees & Pay (2026)

Preply takes 100% of your first lesson with each new student — you receive nothing for that trial session. After the trial, Preply's commission starts at 33% and declines to 18% as you accumulate teaching hours. That's the full fee structure: the trial lesson is a free audition, then the platform gradually reduces its cut as you build up hours.

Understanding this structure upfront matters more on Preply than on most tutoring platforms because the trial lesson policy is different from how it sounds. You're not losing a fee — you're losing the entire lesson revenue. That one session is how Preply incentivizes conversions: the tutor has skin in the game to deliver a great intro lesson so the student continues.

The trial lesson: Preply takes 100%

The trial lesson with every new student goes entirely to Preply. You invest the time — anywhere from 25 to 50 minutes depending on the session format — and receive no payment for it. This is Preply's model for reducing student risk: a student can try a tutor before committing to ongoing lessons, and the platform is confident enough in the structure to absorb the cost on the tutor side.

Why would tutors accept this? The incentive is conversion. A student who completes a trial lesson and decides to continue becomes a recurring source of lessons at the declining commission rate. If a student books 20 lessons at $25/hour after a trial, the tutor earns well even if that first session was unpaid.

The risk is churn: students who book a trial with no intention of continuing represent unpaid work. Preply's best protection against this is simple — deliver a trial lesson good enough that students want to return.

How the declining commission works

After the trial, Preply's commission starts at 33% for new tutors and gradually decreases to 18% as you accumulate total teaching hours on the platform. This is a tiered system: the more you teach, the lower the cut Preply takes from each lesson.

Here's what that looks like in real take-home math at different hourly rates:

Your rate	At 33% commission	At 18% commission
$15/hour	$10.05/hour	$12.30/hour
$25/hour	$16.75/hour	$20.50/hour
$40/hour	$26.80/hour	$32.80/hour
$60/hour	$40.20/hour	$49.20/hour

The difference between 33% and 18% is meaningful — roughly a 22% increase in take-home pay per lesson at the same hourly rate. Tutors who commit to Preply long-term benefit materially from accumulating hours.

Preply doesn't publicly publish the exact teaching-hour thresholds for each commission tier. The platform tracks your accumulated hours and applies the current rate automatically to each lesson.

What Preply tutors actually earn

Preply's own data shows English tutors averaging $15–$25 per hour in take-home pay. That's the platform's own benchmark, not a creator-reported range. It reflects tutors actively teaching after the trial phase at mid-tier rates and commission levels.

The range is wide in practice. New tutors in common subjects (basic English, intro math) at lower rates with 33% commission may net less than $10/hour early on. Specialist tutors in high-demand areas — business English, test prep (IELTS, SAT, GMAT), or niche academic subjects — who've built a strong review profile and reached lower commission tiers regularly charge $40–$80+/hour, keeping $33–$66+ per lesson at 18% commission.

The compounding effect matters: as you accumulate hours and lower your commission rate, every existing student becomes more profitable without changing your listed rate.

What you need to become a Preply tutor

The application bar is lower than many expect — Preply does not require formal teaching credentials or certification. To apply:

1. Basic personal info and a headshot photo — your profile photo is visible to prospective students and directly affects booking rates.
2. Written description of your tutoring strengths — what subjects, experience, and approach you bring.
3. Short video introduction (up to 2 minutes) — students watch this before booking. It's arguably the highest-impact element of your profile.
4. Your availability and pricing — you set your own hourly rate and block out your schedule. There's no minimum commitment.

Preply's Tutor Success team reviews applications within 5 business days. There's no formal credential check, no test, and no minimum follower count. If your profile is coherent and your video communicates clearly, the barrier to getting listed is genuinely low.

Preply vs Outschool vs Skillshare: which education platform pays better?

Preply vs Outschool: Outschool takes a flat 30% from every enrollment — simpler and more predictable than Preply's declining commission model. Outschool is for group classes teaching learners up to age 18; Preply is for one-on-one lessons with any adult. If you teach children in group formats, Outschool's structure is cleaner. If you prefer one-on-one with adult learners, Preply's eventual 18% commission can end up lower than Outschool's 30%.

Preply vs Skillshare: Skillshare pays a royalty based on watch minutes from paying Skillshare members — not per-lesson revenue. It's passive income from pre-recorded courses, not live teaching. Completely different model and audience. Skillshare suits creators who want to record once and earn from views; Preply suits tutors who want to build ongoing student relationships.

Preply vs self-hosting: Platforms like Teachable or running lessons through Zoom + Stripe let you keep 100% minus payment processing (~2.9%). The trade-off is that you have to find your own students. Preply's value is student discovery — you appear in search results for students actively looking for tutors in your subject. Whether 18–33% is worth that discovery depends on whether you have your own audience or are starting from zero.

Who Preply works best for

Preply's model suits tutors who:

• Teach one-on-one, live, in a subject with steady student demand (languages, test prep, academic subjects)
• Don't have an existing student base and want platform-driven discovery
• Can set a rate that accounts for the 33% entry commission and the unpaid trial lesson
• Plan to stay on the platform long enough to accumulate hours and benefit from the declining rate
• Are comfortable with Preply's platform mediating the student relationship

The trial-lesson structure is the biggest practical consideration. If you're teaching a subject where trial-to-continue conversion rates are high, the unpaid trial is a worthwhile acquisition cost. If students in your subject frequently book a trial and don't continue, the unpaid trial loop gets expensive in time.

The 18% floor commission — once you've accumulated enough hours — is genuinely competitive for a marketplace that handles student acquisition, scheduling, and payment processing. Getting there from 33% requires patience, but the economics improve meaningfully for active tutors.