italki Review: How to Become a Teacher & What You Can Earn in 2025

italki is a platform that helps language learners of all ages connect with online tutors offering one-on-one lessons (or sometimes group lessons, although these are less of a focus).

italki has been around since 2007, when the platform was founded to help people learn languages and explore new cultures with native individuals (all without going abroad).

As an italki tutor, you can conduct lessons in an in-platform classroom, or you can use other popular video conferencing tools, such as Zoom or Google Meet.

You can also enjoy great flexibility in other areas, as you’ll be free to set your own schedule and rates of pay.

Which languages can you teach on italki?

italki currently supports about 150 languages, including:

• English
• German
• French
• Spanish
• Italian
• Chinese
• Japanese
• Korean

What types of students will you find on italki?

italki is available to students aged 5 years and older. However, the focus is on adult learners, and you don’t have to teach kids unless you want to.

italki has teachers and students from almost every country. Some countries might be unable to use the platform due to service limitations or international sanctions, but it remains widely accessible and connects learners and tutors across most regions of the world.

What happens in italki language lessons?

The types of lessons you’ll teach on italki will depend on whether you sign up as a Community Tutor or a Professional Teacher.

Here’s how these two types of tutoring differ:

• Professional Teachers: These teachers are often more qualified, and they may provide students with resources, prepared materials, and structured lesson plans.
• Community Tutors: These teachers or tutors focus on general conversation practice, not highly structured lessons. This type of tutoring is good if you have less experience or prefer not to spend time planning.

You can offer lessons of various lengths: 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes, or 90 minutes.

Which requirements do you have to meet to tutor on italki?

As mentioned, the exact requirements you must meet to become a tutor on italki depend on whether you want to become a Professional Tutor or a Community Tutor.

• To become a Community Tutor: italki Community Tutors require no qualifications or experience; they only need to be a native speaker of English (or whichever language they wish to tutor), or have C2 level proficiency (meaning they must be fluent).
• To become a Professional Teacher: For this type of teaching, you need to have a teaching qualification or proof of employment at a language teaching institution. As a qualification, italki will accept an accredited language teaching certificate (CELTA, DELTA, TESOL, or TEFL), a degree in English language teaching, or a teaching license.

In addition to having the right credentials, you’ll also need the right technical equipment for your italki lessons, including a reliable computer, a webcam, a microphone (often included on headphone or earphone sets), and a good internet connection. Headphones are also recommended.

Are there any fees to teach on italki?

italki charges no signup fees, subscription fees, membership fees, or withdrawal fees for tutors. However, it charges a commission each time a student pays you for a lesson.

This commission will be equivalent to 15%–21% of the lesson price for most italki classes, although some types of lessons will charge more or less.

Here’s the breakdown of what tutors pay in commission for various types of lessons:

* “Trial lessons” are short (usually 30-minute) introductory lessons that new students can book with a teacher to see if they like their teaching style. “Instant lessons (trial)” are trial lessons that students can book immediately without scheduling far in advance.

Although these types of commissions are always unwelcome, italki’s fees aren’t as high as some other tutoring companies’.

Note that, although italki charges no withdrawal fees when you take payments from the platform, the actual payment platform you use may charge you for withdrawals. For example, PayPal usually charges about 2% for withdrawals.

As mentioned, you’re free to set your own rates on italki.

In general, italki says rates start at $5 per lesson for Community Tutors (where lessons last 30–60 minutes) and $10 per lesson for Professional Tutors. Not surprisingly, Community Tutors tend to charge less than Professional Teachers do.

The italki website says that lessons go up to $120 each, although it’s not clear whether this is a formal cap they set on prices or if it’s just the maximum rate their tutors tend to charge. 1

The normal rate for ESL teachers is around $25–$30 per hour, although you may be able to charge more if you have more advanced qualifications and experience or if you simply manage to become very popular with students.

italki bonuses for tutors

italki also says that you can earn bonuses with their Teacher Excellence Rewards Program. The website describes this program as an “initiative to reward high-performing teachers with additional incentives and recognize their efforts in providing a high-standard learning experience for students.”

The bonus is equivalent to 2% of your earnings for eligible lessons you complete. You can read more about how the italki bonus system works on their website.

Tutors receive italki bonuses based on their performance. The platform uses a number of factors to decide whether you’re eligible, including:

• Your month-over-month retention of students
• How often students rebook a second lesson
• How often you fail to respond to lesson requests
• Your absences
• How often you get a 5-star review for your first lesson
• Your feedback from first lessons with students
• How often you decline lessons
• How often you cancel lessons

How does italki pay tutors?

italki offers a variety of payment options for tutors:

• PayPal
• Hyperwallet
• Payoneer
• Bank transfer (via Payoneer)

italki is definitely legit. It has masses of reviews and feedback on independent platforms like Trustpilot, Reddit, and Glassdoor confirming its legitimacy.

The presence of verifiable feedback is a positive sign in itself. Many online reports from italki tutors also suggest that italki is among the better language tutoring platforms you can find online.

Pros and cons

Before you sign up as a tutor, you should weigh the pros and cons of using italki.

What italki tutors really think about the platform

In general, language tutors quite like italki, and it has a decent reputation.

As we’ll see, though, the platform doesn’t only receive glowing reviews, and many people think it’s not as good as it used to be. However, some of the problems people report (such as fluctuations in demand from students) have been afflicting all tutoring platforms lately, so they’re not specific to italki.

The good

italki has received positive feedback on a few aspects of its service recently. The online chatter suggests:

• It compares positively with the competition: Many tutors (and students) continue to state that they prefer italki to alternatives like Preply or Cambly, which are two of the other most popular language learning platforms.
• Students like italki: There are many positive reports online from italki students who speak highly of the platform. This suggests that well-prepared tutors can find motivated learners willing to pay for lessons.
• Competent teachers can often do well on italki: Quite a few tutors report that they have been able to earn reasonable money on italki with hard work and perseverance (even if they had to charge lower rates initially).

The bad

Here are some of the complaints tutors (and students) have expressed about italki recently:

• Problems getting accepted: Some tutors report getting their applications rejected by italki (even though they were qualified), possibly due to oversaturation of applicants.
• Clunky platform interface: Many italki students and tutors complain about the platform from a technical perspective. They mention poor navigation controls, confusing redesigns, and lessons being difficult to find, among other problems.
• Technical problems with the in-platform classroom: The virtual classroom on italki is another source of technical issues that students and tutors complain about. Some tutors use alternative platforms like Zoom or Teams for their classes.
• Commission increases: Although italki commissions aren’t as high as some other platforms’, they used to be lower, and many tutors are unhappy about the recent fee increases.
• Some other platforms have more students: Although many tutors say they prefer italki to Preply, some say they still work with Preply more due to the huge numbers of students they can access on it.

Before you apply to tutor with italki, you should decide whether you want to apply to become a Professional Teacher or a Community Tutor. You can only choose one of these options (so you can’t be an English Community Tutor and a Spanish Professional Teacher at the same time).

If you first apply to become a Community Tutor, you can upgrade to Professional Teacher status later if you choose (by completing an application and providing relevant documentation). Conversely, you can become a Community Tutor if you’re already a Professional Teacher but want to downgrade.

Once you’ve decided which type of tutoring you wish to offer, the signup process for italki is relatively straightforward, albeit not instant.

1. Register for an account

Go to the application page on the italki website, and click on “Apply Now.” You can use your Facebook, Apple, or Google accounts to sign up, or you can just use your email or phone number.

2. Wait for italki to respond

italki says that it will contact applicants by email within 10 business days to let them know if they’re pre-approved.

3. Complete the onboarding process

Once you receive a pre-approval email from italki, complete the following onboarding process within 15 calendar days.

1. Upload a passport, ID card, or driving license (if you’re based in the US) on the italki website. (The italki website also provides more information about how to pass ID verification.)
2. Watch italki’s Teacher Success tutorial videos.
3. Complete italki’s guided tutorials to set up your account.
4. Pass the italki quizzes for tutors.

4. Set up your tutor profile

Create your profile so students can find you. This will include an introduction video, a short description of your teaching style, and your availability and prices.

italki will review and approve your profile before it goes live, so make sure your video and details meet their guidelines.

5. Start teaching

Once italki approves your profile, you’ll be ready to start recruiting students. italki allows you to contact students as well as receiving lesson requests from them (which you can then either accept or decline).

italki is just one of many platforms you can use to tutor English or other languages online. Here are some alternatives:

• Preply
• Cambly
• AmazingTalker
• Outschool
• Tutor.com
• Varsity Tutors

If you want more control over your earnings, you can also consider tutoring independently. The downside is that you’ll have to put in more work to find your own students.

If you want an easier way to get started tutoring English or other languages as soon as possible, platforms like italki are a convenient option for experienced teachers as well as those just starting out in education work.