Preply Review: Is It The #1 Best Tutor-Finding Platform?

Preply review

Looking for a private language tutor online should be a lot cheaper, right? You’ll need a language partner to improve your skills to speak confidently.

But is Preply legit for improving your language skills? Are you still looking for other language learning apps like Ling to motivate you to learn a new language? Find out how students and tutors with this updated Preply review.

Should You Learn A New Language With Online Teaching Platforms?

At some point in our lives, there comes a time when we become so filled with a burning passion for learning a new language. Unfortunately, only a few can get full proficiency and confidence in using their target language. If you are truly interested in sounding like a native speaker, then this Preply review is perfect for you!

This unique platform allows you to focus primarily on learning critical language features with the help of native speakers and seasoned professional tutors. You can book your first lesson (or trial lesson) anytime and immerse yourself in your language of choice through this.

Planning to take up a new language but do not know what, where, when, or how to prepare? We understand that this endeavor is exciting but can also be pretty overwhelming for some. You might often end up with analysis paralysis as you are looking for suitable materials, learning tools, and textbooks to teach yourself. You might even find yourself with conflicting advice, which can stress you out, and think of dropping the idea of learning altogether.

But here’s the thing… learning a new language is possible! Finding consistency in your learning schedule is the only key to unlocking your target language. According to linguists, setting aside one hour daily is already enough to help you succeed. You can either teach yourself (which might take you more time) or find a tutor/ professional teacher who can guide you with steady professional experience.

If you want to take your skills to the next level and learn at a faster pace, finding the right teacher who can tailor lessons to fit your learning style is one of your stepping stones to fluency. One example of an online platform that connects language learners and new teachers/tutors is Preply.

Preply has been around since 2012 and continues to gain positive momentum due to its wide selection of tutors for over 50 languages- including niche languages! Depending on the tutor’s hourly rate, you can start learning for as low as $4 for a single lesson! Is Preply worth a try? Find out more in this updated and detailed Preply review.

Preply Overview

Preply makes language learning accessible for everyone. Search for the best language teacher in this online language teaching platform to hone your skills according to your learning style. 

Preply review logo

What Is Preply?

Preply is an online marketplace where students can book their favorite language teacher, depending on availability. Just like Italki, students also have the chance to book trial lessons to get a feel of someone’s teaching style before signing up with them regularly. It also offers great part-time work arrangements for native speakers and teachers looking to make a few bucks from online tutoring.

This online educational platform is attractive because it has an outstanding selection of tutors (both new and those with teaching experience). This means that you can truly rely on them to improve your language skills. Other tutors have special certifications and can accommodate students with special needs (ADHD or even dyslexic students). This feature is a great companion for casual learners. Still, there are also tutors on Preply that provide specialized training for Business English and test preparation (SAT, IELTS, TOEFL, ACT tutoring).

For busy parents out there who are looking for general tutors, Preply also offers more lessons for other specializations like Math, Chemistry, Computer Science, Arts, and even different programming languages. For this reason, we can say that Preply is truly a powerhouse, and it serves not just language enthusiasts but also real students and hobbyists.

One drawback is that there may be quite a few tutors for other specializations. It is understandable since they do not have a quota on how many tutors you can find in one subject. For instance, I only found 11 Preply tutors if you want to learn about other matters like corporate finance. The same low number of tutors can be found in IT Project Management, Marketing Strategy, and Copywriting specializations.

In terms of learning popular languages, you won’t be disappointed with the number of search results you will get from Preply. The tutor’s experience greatly varies, too, which is why it is a great thing that you can join a trial lesson to learn about the lesson quality of that specific tutor.

What Is It For? An online teaching platform for students who want to learn languages, other educational topics, and skills.

Languages Offered: 50 Languages

All Preply Languages

EnglishSpanishFrenchGermanJapanese
ItalianKoreanArabicChinese (Mandarin)Chinese (Cantonese)
Portuguese (Brazil)Portuguese (Portugal)TurkishUkrainianDutch
HebrewHungarianCzechSwedishNorwegian
FinnishHindiGreekPunjabiTibetan
Persian (Farsi)LithuanianSlovakVietnameseTelugu
TamilTagalogSign LanguageSerbianUrdu
Danish,KhmerBelarusianSanskritRomanian
IrishIcelandicCroatian,BulgarianBengali
RussianPolishCatalanThaiLatin

Level: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced levels

Pros:

  • Allows learners to purchase single lessons
  • Students can filter which Preply tutors they want
  • You can learn topics other than languages
  • Select native speakers as your Preply tutors

Cons:

  • Some tutors don’t have teaching certificates
  • Students can cancel their first lesson
  • Different hourly rates can affect options
  • Not recommended if you can’t meet the teaching hours

Who Is Preply For? For serious language learners who want to find a tutor for online language classes.

How Does Preply Work?

There are two ways of using Preply, as this is highly dependent on what account you will create. At present, you can either be a student (looking for a new teacher/tutor) or become part of the tutors on Preply. The good thing is that you won’t have to pay anything to create an account. You can simply log in to your account and start searching for a trial lesson right away.

For Students

Finding a new tutor with Preply is easy. Create an account and use the search feature to filter tutors based on your preferred criteria- hourly rate, availability, experience, popularity, number of reviews, specialization, and certification. Once you have clicked on the search button within the website, you will be greeted with several profiles. You can check them out individually to see their available schedule, rate, resume, introduction video, or demo video.

You can also send them a personal message from their profile to clarify if they can teach you a particular topic. Or simply take a leap of faith and book a trial lesson. You can also add profiles to your virtual list to look around other profiles before committing.

Once you show up for the lessons and figure that you want more time with your tutor, you can also purchase lesson packages. Currently, Preply offers 6, 12, or 20-hour packages (the rate for the additional lessons will depend on your tutor’s own rates.

For Teachers

If you have some spare time and would love to teach other people, joining Preply is a great thing too! From here, you are allowed to teach as many specializations as possible, proving you have expertise or experience. You can also set your own price from as low as $5 to as high as $40 per hour!

But of course, newbies in the online teaching world may like to set their own hourly rate at the minimum first just until they get to attract students.

Preply review User Interface And Design

Is Preply User Interface And Design Easy To Use?

Web-based learning materials like Drops surround themselves with accessible materials that are easy to download and, most of the time, free. However, teaching platforms like Preply aim to bridge user-friendliness and mobility by incorporating search features in their main dashboards. You can select the tutor you want to enroll in using the search filters. On top of that, tutors are accessible and ready according to how much you can pay for them.

There’s nothing much to compare if you’re using either the browser version or the Preply app, as they only have one dashboard to browse tutors. You can also message your class professor via the messaging feature and check your ongoing schedules.

Moreover, it is very minimal as its function is mainly to have online classes. So you won’t have to click on too many things to explore all of Preply fully.

Preply Features That Highlight Essentials In Online Teaching Platforms

Preply aims to be the biggest online teaching platform that will empower teachers and students for e-learning. There is a considerable contrast between using teaching platforms and language apps due to their functionalities. You can’t really compare either since they help their users using various methods.

Ready to learn from people with professional experience? Check out these exclusive Preply features to preview what you should expect.

Study Anytime Anywhere In A Virtual Classroom

Lessons feel traditional and boring, mainly if you are only limited to a timeframe that you’ll have to attend. Are you from Thailand and want to study French? If you’re hesitant to book a schedule due to time differences, Preply allows students to choose their own plan according to their time zone. Great news, isn’t it? You don’t have to get up in the wee hours of the night just to improve your language learning.

Preply review Great Selection For Language Tutors

Has A Great Selection For Language Tutors

One of the Preply requirements for finding good tutors is to have them create a tutor’s profile. Students will learn who will teach them through an introduction video and a brief description of what the teacher does. Moreover, there are student reviews that you can check if their teaching styles fit your methods. Don’t worry; you won’t be limited to only 5-10 professors!

Get A Trial Class And Get Refunded If It’s Not Satisfactory

Are you a beginner in Spanish? Language students with no personal experience talking to a native speaker won’t likely book recurring Preply lessons. Hence, the teaching platform allows trial lessons without worrying about the costs.

You can even get a refund if you don’t like how the lessons went. A trial class can also act as your placement test internally since you will be the one to gauge if you want to continue learning that language or not.

Has Structured Lessons According To Language Level

Another personalized option that Preply has an advantage over competitors like Lingvist is its filter for language levels. You can search for specific classes according to the language level that you want to attend. If you are a total beginner, search for online courses focusing on basic sentences or find a tutor that can teach all levels.

Seem to get too bored with basic Arabic classes? You can have your lessons taught by other tutors on the intermediate (B1 and B2) level until advanced (C1 and C2). The best part about having a structured learning plan is tracking your progress after months of learning. You can even ask your tutor to create a placement test for discerning if you’ve become a fluent speaker.

A Teaching Platform For Online Tutors

Conversely, online professional tutors can also hold online tutoring classes and get paid. If you are a native speaker of any of the languages available in Preply, you can offer your services.

Teaching hours are also flexible, so you don’t need to worry as a student if you can’t find a professional to start your grammar review. In the same way, tutors are also free to choose their availability accordingly.

How Much Does Preply Cost?

Distinguished from other language apps, Preply is an online teaching platform. Hence, you will not pay Preply by subscription plans or premium pricing, but you will have to pay the hours per language tutor. You can set how many days per week or get package hours if it’s available. Moreover, you’ll have your money back if you aren’t satisfied with the teaching style of

However, students with a valid university email address can get up to a 15 percent discount for Preply lessons. This promo won’t be available if you are a high school student or have graduated from your university.

Preply review Preply Pros Why Use It

Why You Should Use Preply Now: Preply Pros

Allows learners to purchase single lessons

Being on a tight budget is a common reason why many language learners often prefer not to have an online professional tutor. That said, having single one-on-one trial lessons is an excellent option for people who can’t access expensive subscription plans like those of Pimsleur and Babbel.

A single lesson or trial class is perfect if you just want to know if that tutor is your preference. We all have different personal learning styles, so it’s a great feature that Preply allows you to do a test run for any of the teachers you encounter.

Students Can Filter Which Preply Tutors They Want

When finding the best language tutor, it is up to you to decide which one fits your needs and budget. As a rule of thumb, it is always better if you send them a message and ask tutors to tailor-fit the lesson based on your needs and expectations. Do not show up in class and expect that the teacher automatically knows what to do.

You Can Learn Topics Other Than Languages

How much does Preply help when learning a new skill? You will know more than just languages worldwide. There are also available courses for Accounting, Math, Statistics, Javascript, UI/UX design, and even DOTA 2. If you don’t know what DOTA 2 is, that’s an online strategy game! Talk about diversity! Preply makes it even more exciting for students to explore more of their platform.

You can also seamlessly switch from different languages. Are you done learning intermediate Japanese and want to take Swedish after? Make sure you’ve planned on which languages you’ll discover next.

Select Native Speakers As Your Preply Tutors

Ever find it annoying to learn from language apps or language coaches who blatantly say they are the best? Yet, when you download their PDF lessons or listen to their audio files, you can’t distinguish how native speakers talk. With Preply, you can choose over a long list of true native speakers with filters like country of birth, specialties, and if you speak their same second language.

What Preply Needs To Improve On: Preply Cons

Some Tutors Don’t Have Teaching Certificates

To find tutors and get the best one out there, it would be wise for you to set the filter correctly when searching. For instance, you can search only for those with teaching experience or look only at profiles with certifications. Not all teachers have teaching certificates, though, so expect to have varied ways of learning from these options.

Given that Preply is a marketplace, the company does not have any hold on the quality of the learning instruction you can get from every teacher. For this reason, it would be wise to book only a few lessons with different tutors first to choose correctly. After all, your learning process will greatly depend on your expertise, right?

Students Can Cancel Their Lessons

The competition can be challenging for both students and professors. According to some professional tutors, meeting students is quite hard due to the competition you’ll have against your colleagues. Another tutor may have a higher and more competitive experience than you.

On the other hand, students who want to get into cheaper classes must have their schedules set. Sometimes, a tutor can teach shorter days as they don’t have a license yet or have too jam-packed classes.

Different Hourly Rates Can Affect Options

Preply claims to have tutor rates as low as $5 per hour to start a trial class. This claim sounds too good to be true for a new student with zero knowledge of finding the right tutor or learning a new language. However, as I filtered some of the Brazilian Portuguese teachers, there were only $7 and up rates.

There is an ongoing issue with Preply’s commission rates for a trial lesson. There are more instances where the tutors feel overworked without getting paid for their inconvenience. Imagine preparing for trial classes and doing your very best without any confirmation of whether you will be paid for your time.

Not Recommended If You Can’t Meet The Teaching Hours

Since one-on-one teaching is a commitment from both sides of educational learning, it’s important always to know ahead if you can commit to your classes. It will be a big problem if you’ve already booked and paid for a lesson but can’t attend, and you won’t be refunded for it, which will seriously turn you off.

Yet, as a student who struggles with motivation, signing up for a class will significantly help you stay focused. In the same way, teachers that want a stable income can trust Preply’s curriculum and selection process for online tutors.

Preply Review Updated Lesson Plans Help Learning Process

Updated Preply Review: A Few Lesson Plans Can Help Your Learning Process

According to many student Preply reviews, studying a language through this platform allows focusing on weekly or monthly goals. Since you have an accountability partner in the form of online teachers, you’ll have the motivation to accomplish your goals.

Hence, Preply is a great online language platform for serious language students that can dedicate their budget and time without problems. However, we don’t recommend it for people who are often traveling, working a 9 to 5, or have a hectic schedule. If you can’t commit to specific days, you might be wasting your time and money enrolling in a serious virtual classroom setting.

While Preply may seem like a decent platform for those looking for a good tutor, it may take time to find “the one” as not every teacher there will live up to your expectations. In addition, the tutors’ rate may easily throw you off as it can quickly become expensive if you book many lessons simultaneously.

Of course, the best thing about Preply is that you can subscribe to one-hour lesson plans each week or whenever you are available. But what’s a better way for a new student to learn one lesson at a time? Using a free language app like Ling, of course!

Get Free Language Lessons With The Ling App!

Unlike Preply, where you have to invest full-time, several language apps today focus on faster ways to learn for people with busy lives. It’s not wrong to enroll in classes; it even helps you naturally talk like a native speaker. But, a balanced app that promotes memory while being interactive is a great language learning material.

Is it even possible for language apps to accommodate this service? Certainly yes! The Ling app is a fantastic language learning tool that is aimed to help you master a few critical language concepts in as fast as 10 minutes! By simply committing a few minutes to use it, you can become confident in your target language in no time!

When you download Ling at the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, you’ll have access to 60+ languages. It includes free lessons on grammar, new vocabulary, and an AI chatbot for your listening and speaking practice.

Even better, basic Ling lessons are free with upgrades if you want to unlock more topics. Have your wits and memory power challenged by studying a new language with Ling today! 

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