As a dedicated tutor, I joined Preply hoping to grow my teaching practice and connect with motivated students. While I’ve had the pleasure of working with some wonderful learners, my overall experience with the platform has been disappointing and financially unsustainable.Preply takes a 25% commission on every lesson, which is already quite high. But even worse: they take 100% of the payment for the first trial lesson with each new student, meaning I worked for free during my first week on the platform. This is incredibly discouraging for new tutors, especially those who spend time preparing even for trial classes.When I tried to raise my rate from $8 to $20 (which, after commission, is still modest), I discovered that the new price only applies once the student’s current subscription ends. This means tutors are forced to continue working at unsustainable rates for weeks or even months, even after announcing a price change.In euros, I was earning around 5€ per lesson, less than half the French minimum wage, despite investing a great deal of time and energy into each student and lesson.There is very little support for new tutors, even those with real teaching experience. The platform seems to prioritize student retention over tutor compensation and well-being. It creates a system where tutors are underpaid and overworked, especially in the beginning.If you're a tutor hoping to make a living on Preply: be very cautious. It may help you get some experience or exposure, but it’s not designed to support long-term, professional teaching careers.
