italki vs Preply: Pay Per Lesson, or Subscribe to One Tutor?
Short answer: both are marketplaces of individual language teachers, and the teaching on each is only as good as the person you book. What genuinely separates them is the billing. italki has no subscription: you buy credit, book lessons one at a time, and change teacher whenever you want. A Preply subscription is between you and one tutor, charged automatically every 28 days for a fixed number of lessons, and Preply states that unscheduled lessons expire at renewal and do not carry over.
Where Preply is clearly better: money can come back as money. Preply returns approved refunds to the original payment method when no lesson from that cycle has been used and the charge is under 28 days old. italki’s payment terms say the opposite in plain words: no refunds will be given for italki Credits purchased. Preply also sets a higher published bar for its Professional Tutor badge, requiring a 120-hour accredited certificate or its own course, manually reviewed.
So choose on your own failure mode. If your weeks are unpredictable, a subscription that burns unbooked lessons will punish you, and italki fits. If you never get round to booking, the 28-day charge is the point, and Preply fits. Verified July 23, 2026.
The structural difference, in one picture
Feature lists make these two look almost identical: video lessons, individual tutors, profiles, reviews, a paid trial. The difference that decides which one suits you is what happens to your money between the moment you pay and the moment you actually sit down for a lesson.
italki vs Preply, side by side
| What you are comparing | italki | Preply |
|---|---|---|
| Billing model | No subscription. You buy credit and book lessons one at a time | A subscription charged automatically every 28 days for a fixed number of lessons |
| Minimum commitment | One lesson | Four lessons per cycle |
| How many teachers | Book any teacher at any time, with no arrangement to end | The subscription is with one tutor; moving to another runs through a transfer flow |
| What expires | Credits expire after twelve months of account inactivity; packages after six months | Unscheduled lessons expire at every 28-day renewal and do not carry over |
| Getting money back as money | "No refunds will be given for italki Credits purchased." Cancelled lessons return as credit | Approved refunds go back to the original payment method, if no lesson from that cycle was used and the charge is under 28 days old |
| Teacher vetting | Professional teachers upload documents showing training and experience; community tutors need no teaching documents | The Professional Tutor badge needs a 120-hour accredited certificate or Preply’s own course, and every certificate is manually reviewed |
| Published price information | Bands published: 10 to 120 dollars per lesson for professional teachers, 5 to 120 for community tutors | No band published. Each tutor sets the price; the help centre gives a worked example only |
| Pausing | Nothing to pause, because nothing renews | Pause once per billing cycle for up to 20 days, applied for before the billing date |
| Trial lesson | Discounted trial, with credit back up to twice if the teacher did not show or did not meet expectations, claimed within 48 hours | Paid trial of 25 or 50 minutes, one per tutor, with up to two replacements per account returned to your balance |
| Attributed rating | Trustpilot 4.3 out of 5 from 14,760 reviews | Trustpilot 4.4 out of 5 from 24,315 reviews |
Highlighted cell marks the clear advantage. It lands five to two in italki’s favour with four honest ties, and the two Preply wins are not small: they are the refund route and the vetting bar. Every line was read on each company’s own terms or help centre pages and verified July 23, 2026.
What Preply does better
Money can come back as money
This is the single most important difference for anyone who has been burned by a language platform. Preply states that if you cancel your subscription, have used no lessons from that billing cycle, and the payment is less than 28 days old, an approved refund is returned to the original payment method used for the charge. Requests are reviewed individually and the bank side can take up to 30 days to show. Cancelling alone does not trigger a refund, so you have to ask.
italki has no equivalent. Its payment terms state that no refunds will be given for italki Credits purchased, and a cancelled lesson request comes back as a 100 percent refund in the form of italki Credits to your student wallet. That is a full return of value, but it stays inside the platform. Our italki review works through the whole credit system, including the trial guarantee that does give you credit back twice.
A published bar for the top teacher tier
Both platforms have two kinds of teacher, and both let each teacher set their own price. The difference is what the badge means. Preply states that the Professional Tutor badge is awarded to tutors holding verified, high-standard teaching qualifications: either a passing grade in Preply’s own Online Language Teaching Course, or a government-accredited or government-endorsed teaching certificate from a course of at least 120 hours. It adds that every certificate a tutor uploads is manually reviewed by its team and checked against its criteria before the badge is awarded.
italki’s professional teachers must upload documents showing their training and experience as educators, while community tutors are required to provide no teaching documents at all. That is a real distinction, but Preply publishes a specific hour threshold and a manual review step, and italki does not. Preply also notes that Professional Tutors do not necessarily charge more, which is worth knowing before you filter by price.
One thing neither platform changes: the person is the product. On italki, professional teachers and community tutors both top out at 120 dollars a lesson, so price tells you nothing about qualification. Read the teacher’s own reviews and book a trial before you commit to anything recurring.
The rhythm is enforced for you
Preply’s subscription is designed to make you show up. The charge lands every 28 days whether you booked or not, which is precisely why unbooked lessons expire at renewal. If life interrupts, you can pause once per billing cycle for up to 20 days, provided you apply before the billing date, and you can cancel at least one day before the next billing date with no cancellation fee. For a learner whose problem is not motivation but follow-through, that structure is the feature.
What italki does better
Nothing renews, so nothing burns on a renewal date
On italki you buy credit and spend it when you can. There is no cycle, no minimum of four lessons, and no date at which unscheduled lessons vanish. The clocks that do exist are much slower: credits expire after twelve months of account inactivity, with one reactivation possible if they expired less than twelve months ago, and lesson packages must be completed within six months of purchase. If you travel for work, have exam season, or simply have unpredictable weeks, that is a far more forgiving shape.
You can change teacher without changing anything else
Because a Preply subscription is with one tutor, moving to a different one is a process. Preply lets you switch tutors completely, which ends the old subscription and starts a new plan at checkout; add a second tutor with a second subscription; or move lessons between subscriptions you already have. Lessons starting within 12 hours cannot be moved. The part worth reading twice: the remaining value converts into lessons at the new tutor’s rate, so a higher-priced tutor means fewer lessons, and any leftover value becomes Preply Credits that apply automatically at your next checkout and cannot be withdrawn as cash.
On italki there is nothing to unwind. You book someone else. For learners who want a grammar specialist one week and pure conversation practice the next, or who need to try three teachers before one clicks, that freedom is the whole point of a marketplace.
It tells you what things cost before you sign up
italki publishes real bands. Its own teacher-tier comparison puts professional teachers at 10 to 120 dollars per lesson and community tutors at 5 to 120 dollars per lesson, and its tutor pages state that English tutors cost between 4 and 60 dollars an hour, that a 30-minute lesson typically costs 4 to 10 dollars, and that professional teachers commonly sit in an 18 to 32 dollars an hour band. Preply publishes no band. Its help centre says pricing is set by each tutor individually and illustrates the model with a worked example: a tutor charging 10 euros a lesson gives a minimum plan of 40 euros per cycle for four 50-minute lessons.
That example is Preply’s illustration of how a plan is built, not a price list, so we do not present it as what Preply costs. Preply processes payments in dollars, euros or pounds, states that amounts shown in other currencies are indicative only, and adds a processing fee plus local tax at checkout. Our guide to what italki actually costs does the four-week arithmetic on italki’s published ranges.
What both of them do, and you should plan for
- Your money lives on the platform. italki turns cash into credits that are never refunded as cash. Preply turns leftover transfer value into Preply Credits that cannot be withdrawn. The refund route Preply offers exists only before you use a lesson from the cycle.
- Trials are paid, and the safety net is a replacement, not a bonus. Preply states plainly that trial lessons are paid lessons, of 25 or 50 minutes, one per tutor, and that up to two trial replacements per account move your trial back to your balance rather than granting a separate free lesson. italki’s guarantee is the same shape: credit back up to twice for a trial where the teacher did not show or did not meet your expectations, claimed within 48 hours of the lesson time and before the lesson is marked complete, with voucher-bought lessons excluded.
- Late cancellation costs you the lesson. Preply is explicit: cancel more than 12 hours before a lesson and it returns to your balance, cancel inside 12 hours and it does not, because the tutor is paid for reserved time. Book at times you can actually keep.
- Both ratings are attributed, and both profiles are paid business accounts. On Trustpilot on July 23, 2026, italki showed 4.3 out of 5 from 14,760 reviews with the profile claimed in January 2015, and Preply showed 4.4 out of 5 from 24,315 reviews with the profile claimed in September 2016. Both carry Trustpilot’s own paid subscription label, which means the company buys Trustpilot business services and is not evidence about the reviews themselves.
- For a child, supervision comes first. italki states that most of its users are adults, asks parents to create and manage the account, warns that not all teachers are prepared to teach kids, and tells parents to be there and supervise. Treat either platform as an adult marketplace you are supervising, not a children’s product.
Which one should you choose
- Ask which failure is more likely for you. Missing a booking window is punished by Preply. Never getting round to booking at all is punished by italki, where nothing pushes you.
- Count how predictable your next eight weeks are. Two fixed evenings a week suits a 28-day plan. Shift work, travel or exam season suits pay-as-you-go.
- Decide whether you want one teacher or several. One familiar face and a steady curriculum points to Preply. Sampling and switching points to italki.
- If getting a refund matters more than flexibility, Preply is the one with a documented route back to your card, and italki is the one that keeps your money as credit.
- Start with a trial either way, and do not buy a package or a large plan until you have taught yourself that you will actually book the lessons.
Our pick for most learners: italki, because the most common way people lose money on lesson platforms is paying for a rhythm they cannot keep, and italki has no renewal date to lose lessons on. Its published price bands and its freedom to change teacher also make the first month much cheaper to get wrong. Choose Preply instead if you want a single tutor and a recurring charge to enforce the habit, or if a documented refund back to your card matters more to you than flexibility.
Browse italki teachers and prices
Related reading
For the wider field, our best language learning apps comparison puts six products side by side on how each one bills you, what expires and when. If you would rather have classes scheduled for you than book them yourself, the Lingoda review covers the third shape, and the language learning hub explains which of the three fits which learner.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between italki and Preply?
The billing model, not the teaching. italki has no subscription: you buy credit and book lessons one at a time with any teacher you like. A Preply subscription is between you and one tutor, and every 28 days you are charged automatically for a fixed number of lessons with that person. Lessons you have booked are protected, but Preply states that unscheduled lessons expire at renewal and do not carry over.
Which is cheaper, italki or Preply?
Neither company sets the price, so the honest answer is that it depends on the teacher you pick. italki publishes bands for its two teacher tiers: 10 to 120 dollars per lesson for professional teachers and 5 to 120 dollars for community tutors. Preply publishes no band at all, only that each tutor sets their own rate, with a worked example of a tutor charging 10 euros a lesson and a minimum plan of 40 euros per cycle. Anyone quoting you one price for either platform is guessing.
Can you get a refund from italki or Preply?
This is the clearest difference between them, and Preply wins it. Preply states that approved refunds are returned to the original payment method, if you cancelled and used no lessons from that billing cycle and the charge is less than 28 days old. italki’s payment terms state that no refunds will be given for italki Credits purchased: a cancelled lesson comes back as credit in your wallet, not as money in your bank. On both platforms, money that stays on the platform can eventually expire.
Can you change teachers on Preply?
Yes, but it is a process rather than a click, because the subscription is tied to one tutor. Preply lets you switch completely, add a second tutor with its own subscription, or move lessons between active subscriptions. Lessons starting within 12 hours cannot be moved, and the remaining value converts into lessons at the new tutor’s rate, so a more expensive tutor means fewer lessons. Any leftover value becomes Preply Credits, which apply at your next checkout and cannot be withdrawn as cash. On italki there is nothing to transfer: you simply book someone else.
Which one should a parent choose for a child?
Look at supervision before you look at price. italki states plainly that most of its users are adults, asks parents to create and manage the account themselves, warns that not all teachers are prepared to teach kids, and tells parents to be there and supervise the lesson. Its category filter includes a Kids option. Preply’s subscription with a single tutor can suit a child who needs the same familiar face every week, provided you can reliably book the lessons before each renewal.
How we reach these verdicts, and the sources behind them, is on our methodology page. Every billing, expiry, refund, vetting and cancellation rule above was read on the company’s own terms or help centre and verified July 23, 2026: italki’s payment terms and its help centre articles on teacher types, the trial guarantee, lesson disputes and children, and Preply’s help centre articles on subscriptions, charging, refunds, lesson cancellation, moving lessons between tutors, the Professional Tutor badge and trial lessons. Ratings are attributed to Trustpilot. We publish no Preply tutor rate because Preply publishes none. We earn a commission if you sign up to italki through our link. Preply is named here purely as a benchmark: we have no commercial relationship with it and do not link to it.