How To Become A Preply Tutor and Get Paid to Teach English Online
Teaching English online has been a big part of our family’s life for many years. My husband now teaches across a couple platforms full-time as a certified tutor, and it helps fund our remote and abroad lifestyle. A lot of people tell us it is too oversaturated, pays badly, or is impossible to make work, but our experience says otherwise when you approach it with a strategy so I thought we’d share more on one of the platforms he uses as well as the pros and cons.
What is Preply?
Preply is an online marketplace that connects tutors and students for one-to-one classes in languages, school subjects and specialist skills. Students search by language, price, availability and niche, then book directly through tutor profiles, so you do not have to build your own website or handle payments manually.
For us, Preply is one part of our bigger picture. Through FroFamilyTravels I talk a lot about building an income that allows you to move abroad, teach online and travel slowly as a family, and Preply is one of the pillars that makes that possible for us.
An Honest Review From Personal Experience
My husband is a certified TESOL tutor with several years of experience with children & adult learners, so he had a background in online teaching before he ever started with Preply. I do think that helped.
Here are some other things that helped him build regular business:
- He picked a clear niche
- He built a strong, friendly profile and video that sounded like an actual human, not a generic advert.
- He priced himself sensibly at the beginning, then increased his rates as he built regular students and reviews.
He breaks down his experiences even more here:
Requirements to become a Preply tutor
Preply is relatively open compared with some platforms – you do not need a degree or a teaching certificate, and you can apply as long as you are over 18 and can show you are capable of teaching your subject. That said, there is a big difference between being “accepted” and actually being successful.
Preply looks for tutors who can:
- Communicate clearly on camera and in writing.
- Demonstrate subject knowledge and some kind of teaching or mentoring experience.
- Present themselves professionally with a good profile, photo and video.
If you have read my post on getting started with online English teaching, you will know I am a big fan of getting a TEFL or similar certification, even if it is not strictly required. My husband’s certification made it easier for students to trust him and for him to structure lessons that actually work, not just random chats.
Step-by-step: how to apply and set up your profile
The application itself is not complicated, but how much care you put into it will decide whether you are buried on page 20 or actually attract students.
- Create your tutor account
Head to the “Teach” section and sign up as a tutor. Choose your main subject(s) – most people reading this will probably pick English, but there are plenty of other languages and topics. - Fill in your tutor profile
This is where you write your “about me”, list your experience and upload any certificates. Take your time here. If you have read my Twenix blog, you will notice a similar theme: talk directly to your ideal student and be specific about who you help, rather than saying “I teach everyone”. - Add a professional photo
My husband uses a simple, well-lit headshot with a neutral background – nothing fancy, but it looks clean and friendly. Avoid blurry holiday photos, sunglasses, or anything that makes you look like you were dragged out of a nightclub. - Record your intro video
This is the bit that scares most people, but it is crucial. Aim for around a minute or so where you:- Introduce yourself and where you are from.
- Explain who you teach (e.g. adults, exam students, beginners).
- Describe your lesson style.
- Invite them to book a trial.
The way my husband does it is very similar to how we discuss intro videos and demo classes in other posts – relaxed, conversational, but clearly structured.
- Set your availability
Use the calendar to open the hours that suit your time zone and the time zones of your ideal students. When we are in Mexico, he leans into peak times for European and Latin American students; when we are elsewhere, he adjusts – that flexibility is similar to what I talk about in our posts on structuring your days while travelling with kids. - Submit and wait for approval
Once everything is in, Preply reviews it. If something is off – video quality, vague description, missing info – they can ask for changes or reject the application, so take their feedback seriously and resubmit.
Tech you actually need
You do not need a fancy studio, but you do need to look and sound like someone students want to spend an hour with. My husband keeps it simple:
- A laptop with stable internet (aim for at least 10 Mbps up and down).
- A decent headset or mic so students can hear him clearly.
- A basic HD webcam.
- A quiet, tidy corner with good lighting – often the same space I show on Instagram when we talk about our “home base” setup between beach trips.
Preply’s classroom lets you share screens, use a whiteboard, and upload documents. He leans heavily on digital resources in a similar way to how we describe materials and lesson ideas in our other teaching posts, so he is not reinventing the wheel every time he plans a class.
What and who you can teach on Preply
Preply started as a language platform and that is still its core, but there is a range of subjects now. You can teach:
- English (general, conversational, business, exam prep).
- Other languages like Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and more.
- School subjects (maths, sciences, etc.) if you have the background.
- Specialised skills like interview preparation or industry-specific English.
My husband works mostly with adults who need English for work, which is very similar to the type of learner we talk about in the Twenix blog – busy professionals who want practical conversation, not grammar lectures. That niche is a big part of why he can charge a decent rate and keep students for months at a time.
If you are not sure what your niche is, have a look at the kinds of teaching I mention across the site – from teaching adults online to using platforms like Twenix – and ask where your experience overlaps.
Teaching Hours on Preply
One of the big reasons we lean on Preply is the flexibility. There are no minimum hours or fixed shifts; you simply open the slots you want to offer.
For our family, that usually looks like:
- Teaching in blocks that fit around school runs and beach days.
- Shifting his schedule when we move countries, just like we describe how we juggle travel and work in our other posts.
- Taking time off when family visit or we are doing big travel days, then ramping back up.
It is worth saying: the flexibility is both a blessing and a curse. If you treat your schedule like a suggestion, students will pick tutors who are more consistent. My husband treats his calendar like any other work schedule – the flexibility is about where and when he teaches, not about cancel-everything whimsy.
Getting Paid on Preply
Preply is not a salaried job; you set your hourly rate and Preply takes a commission. The commission is higher at the beginning and drops as you teach more hours on the platform over time but essentially, you are in the drivers seat. If you do some research by looking at other tutor profiles you will see rates as low as $5 an hour, all the way up to $50 an hour and lots inbetween.
Some key things from our experience:
- New tutors often start with lower rates to attract students, then increase as they build reviews.
- Trial lessons pay less because of higher commission, but they are crucial for building a regular student base.
- Payments are handled through the platform and withdrawn via services like PayPal or Wise, which makes things straightforward when you are travelling.
My husband’s income fluctuated at first – exactly as we mention in other blogs when we talk about the reality of freelance teaching and travel. Over time, as he filled his timetable and increased his rates, it stabilised into a proper full-time income that covers our living costs abroad. It is not “get rich quick”, but it is absolutely workable.
Is Preply oversaturated – and is it worth it?
If you scroll through the English tutor listings, it is easy to think “there are too many teachers, I have no chance”. But a lot of profiles are inactive, generic, or clearly thrown together in ten minutes.
What has actually mattered for my husband is:
- Having a clear, specific profile and video that speak to a particular type of learner.
- Delivering consistently good lessons so students rebook and leave positive reviews.
- Incrementally raising prices instead of joining the race to the bottom.
I don’t think that Preply is “oversaturated”; it just has a lot of tutors who are not really playing the game.
Pros and Cons of Teaching On Preply
What we like
- Freedom to live in places like Mexico, Spain or elsewhere while still earning online.
- A relatively low barrier to entry, especially if you already have certification and some teaching experience.
- Built-in classroom and payment system, saving us the time of building everything from scratch (which fits nicely with our “keep it simple” mantra for travelling families).
- Ongoing development via courses and resources – similar to the training we highlight in other teaching-related posts.
What we do not love
- High commission at the beginning and on trials, which can make the first few months feel slow.
- No benefits or security – you are freelance, so you handle your own taxes, insurance and savings.
- Seasonal dips in student demand, meaning we plan around busier and quieter months, just as we do with other online platforms.
- You need to constantly think about your niche, pricing and scheduling – it is not “set and forget”.
Ultimately, I would suggest combining Preply with other teaching platforms. Here’s a list of other teaching English platforms that you may want to consider
FAQs about becoming a Preply tutor
1. Does Preply prefer certified tutors?
Preply does not require certification, but students often prefer tutors with credentials and experience. My husband’s TEFL certification and teaching background help him stand out, just like I recommend in my other blogs when I talk about giving yourself every advantage in a competitive space.
2. How long did it take your husband to go full-time?
His profile was approved within a few business days, and he started getting trial lessons shortly after. It took a few months of consistent work – tweaking his profile, adjusting his prices, and staying available at peak times – before it felt like a stable full-time income that could reliably support our life abroad.
3. How much can I expect to earn starting out?
Most English tutors on Preply charge somewhere in the 10-15 USD per hour range, depending on experience and niche. Early on, you might charge a bit less while you collect reviews, then increase your rates as you build a loyal student base, just as my husband did.
4. Is it realistic to combine Preply with other platforms?
Absolutely. In fact, that is how we prefer to do it. Many of the strategies I talk about in the Twenix blog and other online teaching posts fit neatly alongside Preply, so you are not relying on a single platform. You can mix and match – for example, Preply for general and business English, Twenix for ready-made conversation classes with adults – to keep your schedule balanced and your income more resilient.
5. How do I know if Preply is right for me?
If you like the idea of flexible, one-to-one teaching, enjoy working with people from different cultures, and are willing to treat it like an actual job rather than a quick side hustle, Preply is worth exploring. If you are already interested in the options I share on Fro Family Travels – from Twenix to broader online teaching and moving abroad guides – Preply is a very natural next step in the same direction.
