
Last Updated on January 22, 2025 by Kieran Beckles
Are you ready to dive into language learning, and you’re looking to sign up for lessons with a dedicated tutor?
I found myself in this position following the birth of my daughter almost three years ago as I wanted to learn Spanish to speak to her.
My wife’s family is from Mexico and I wanted to be able to speak to them in Spanish as well as encourage my daughter to embrace her mother’s language.
While I did start by using apps such as Babbel and Rosetta Stone, I ended up switching to services like Preply and iTalki.
I noticed a dramatic improvement in my confidence in speaking Spanish thanks to private online classes through these platforms.
In this article, I’m going to compare Preply and iTalki based on my experience using these two language learning platforms.
Preply Vs iTalki: My recommendation

If you’ve already done your research and you want me to cut to the chase, I recommend iTalki.
I prefer the flexibility of iTalki compared to Preply when it comes to scheduling classes and their subscription plan.
With iTalki, I had the option to select one-off lessons or buy a package that offered classes at a discounted rate. When you purchase a bulk package, there isn’t any pressure to use these lessons within a tight timeframe.
Preply, on the other hand, forces students to pay monthly for a subscription plan, and if you don’t use all your credits up, they don’t roll over. You lose them.
I found this frustrating to deal with. As an entrepreneur and a parent of a young child, some weeks would be busier than others. When I couldn’t find time to schedule a lesson on Preply, I lost my credits.
This was the biggest factor in my decision to leave Preply and move to iTalki.
While I’ll go into more details on specific elements of iTalki and Preply in the sections below, I’d recommend iTalki if you’re ready to start right now.
The Tutors

When you get started with your journey, your first decision will be your tutor. There are lots of options on iTalki and Preply. But iTalki do a better job of categorizing tutors. Students can discover whether a candidate is a community or professional teacher. So you know the experience and level you’re paying for. Preply doesn’t categorize their tutors in the same way. But they do display how many current students they’ve got on their roster and how many hours of lessons they’ve taught. This gives you an idea of their experience and popularity.
Price Transparency

I much prefer iTalki’s approach to pricing. You understand what you’re paying for. You can order a bulk package or a single lesson. You can see how the price changes depending on your current level. For instance, some tutors may charge more if you’re at a more experienced level. Preply offers a trial price, and you can see how much lessons will cost moving forwards. Preply doesn’t provide single lessons. The minimum number of classes is six.
Flexibility

iTalki offers superior flexibility – and that’s something important to me. As I’ve already mentioned, you can pay for a trial lesson or a package deal. Usually, you’ll make a significant saving if you opt for a 10 or 20-lesson package rather than paying for one-off lessons. You can still opt for a single lesson at a time. This isn’t the case with Preply. Once you’ve completed your trial lesson, you’ll need to schedule a minimum of six hours and you’ll need to use all six hours up to avoid losing credits.
Interface

Preply does excel when it comes to interface. I preferred the appearance of Preply and my experience navigating their website. It felt more seamless and less clunky than iTalki. They did an overhaul of their brand colors a couple of years ago, and while I preferred the previous branding, it still outdoes iTalki.
No group lessons

If group lessons are your jam, iTalki does offer this format. While Preply ran group classes for some time, they’re no longer available (correct at the time of writing). This didn’t impact me because I was looking for one-to-one lessons, but some students may prefer learning with others.
Commissions
Finally, I wanted to share the experience of tutors on both platforms. From speaking to my teacher who has used both Preply and iTalki, he much preferred the latter. For example, Preply keeps the full amount you pay for the trial, and the tutor gets nothing. iTalki, on the other hand, keeps the commission structure the same.
Discount

Preply do come out on top when it comes to the discount that they offer new users. You can save 50% off your trial lesson on Preply.
iTalki offers $5 off when you deposit $10 for lessons, which isn’t as great. Most iTalki tutors offer a big discount on the first lesson anyway.
Wrapping Up
I’ve reached the end of my Preply and iTalki comparison article.
I’d recommend starting with iTalki ahead of Preply based on my experience with both of these language learning platforms.
I do have fond memories of Preply because I started my journey learning Mexican Spanish there, and my teacher was great.
But I much prefer iTalki’s overall approach.
Kieran runs Life With Klee Kai on social media and other online platforms alongside his wife Yasmin. With over 10 years of experience as a journalist and a passionate dog owner, Kieran loves to combine his passion for pets and writing to share useful insights and product reviews to help other dog owners.