Preply earnings calculator

Your numbers

The hourly rate is what students pay for regular lessons — on Preply you set it. Paid hours are booked regular lessons, not trials.

What lands, month by month

The commission tier follows your cumulative paid hours — trials don't count toward the slide. Weeks assume 4.33 weeks/month. At 10 paid hrs/week you cross the 50-hour tier during month 2, the 200-hour tier around month 5, and the 400-hour tier around month 10.

Steady state — year one, annualised

For comparison, the same booked lesson price and hours would leave about — per month after italki's 21% single lesson commission. This example assumes every booking is a single lesson. Trial lessons have no commission; package and group lesson fees differ. Both calculations exclude tax, payout fees, preparation time and gaps between bookings.

How this model works, and where it has to guess

• The commission tiers are Preply's published slide — 33% from hour 0, then roughly 25%, 22% and 18% as cumulative paid hours cross about 50, 200 and 400. Tier boundaries have shifted before; the model shows the mechanism, not a contract.
• Trials are modeled at $0 on purpose. Older posts describe free or discounted trials you can price yourself — that mechanic doesn't exist on Preply. The student pays the trial fee; Preply keeps all of it. Your only trial "lever" is converting them into regular bookings.
• The ramp is hours, not months. A teacher who fills 20 paid hours a week crosses tiers twice as fast as one at 10. That is why month 1 looks harsh and month 6 does not.
• What's not modeled: weeks off, cancellations, currency conversion (Preply pays in your local currency at its rates), and student churn. Real first-year totals land lower than the steady-state rows — plan accordingly.

Full mechanics: Preply pay page · commission explainer: the 33 to 18% slide · compare the landing: 12 platforms at a glance.