How to find students for private lessons: 12 channels compared

12 channels to find students, compared

The cheapest channels are the ones closest to you: Google, local groups, schools and referrals. Marketplaces are the fastest way to get your first online students, but they charge per lesson.

Rows go from the most local to the most online. Costs come from each platform's own pages (sources at the end). For marketplaces, check the fees in your country before you sign up.

Speed and effort are our estimates from our own teaching, not measured data. Your city, your language and your prices change the picture, so test a channel for a few weeks before you drop it.

Which channels fit your students?

Choose by who you want to teach, not by what's trendy. Online adults search on marketplaces and Google, families ask at school, and people nearby read local groups and noticeboards.

• Online adults: a marketplace profile (Preply, italki or Superprof) plus a Google Business Profile, so people who find you elsewhere can read your reviews.
• Children: schools, AMPAs and local family groups. Parents decide and pay, so write for them.
• Exam prep: Google, Wallapop and Milanuncios as exam dates get close, plus referrals from students who passed.
• In-person lessons nearby: local Facebook and WhatsApp groups, noticeboards and a Google profile set to the area you cover.

Set up a Google Business Profile (even without a classroom)

A Google Business Profile is free and shows you on Google Maps to people nearby. You don't need a classroom: if you go to students' homes, set it up with no public address and add the area you cover.

Google says creating a profile is free. During setup, say you don't have a place customers visit, add the areas where you teach and keep your home address hidden. Then add your languages, levels, prices and a link to your booking page.

Reviews are what move you up. After the first lessons, send each happy student the review link from your profile. A few honest reviews say more than a perfect description.

Local groups, Instagram and TikTok

Local Facebook and WhatsApp groups bring students quickly because people there already want something nearby. Instagram and TikTok take longer: they work when you post short, useful videos regularly.

Join the groups for your neighbourhood, town or school and read their rules before you post. Post once a week, change the text each time and reply fast: in a busy group, a post from Monday is gone by Thursday.

On Instagram and TikTok, show a lesson instead of selling yourself: a two-minute pronunciation tip, a common mistake, a word everyone mixes up. Put your booking link in your bio and say in each video who your lessons are for.

Preply, italki and Superprof: use them to start, not forever

Marketplaces bring you students you'd never reach on your own, and they charge for it. Use them for your first online students and build your own channels at the same time.

On Preply, the trial lesson with a new student goes 100% to Preply, and later lessons pay a commission that drops from 33% to 18% as you teach more hours. italki takes a fee per lesson that varies, and Superprof only charges a fee when students pay you through the platform. We compare them in our guide to tutor platform commissions.

Every student who finds you through your own channels (Google, groups, referrals) pays you the full price. That's why it's worth starting them in the same month as your marketplace profile.

Schools, AMPAs and noticeboards

Schools and parents' associations (AMPAs) are the most direct channel for children's lessons, but they follow the school year. Noticeboards are slow and cheap: worth it if you teach in person near home.

Ask the school office or the AMPA if you can leave a flyer or a short message for families, and offer a group or a trial lesson. Families look for lessons most at the start of the school year and before exams.

For noticeboards, pick places your students actually go: libraries, coworkings, language exchanges, cafés near the university. Ask before you pin anything, add a QR code to your booking link and replace torn flyers every week.

Your first 30 days, step by step

In your first month, set up one booking link and a Google profile, tell everyone you know, then add one local and one online channel. At the end, keep what brought students and drop the rest.

1. 1

   Day 1: one link and one profile

   Create your booking page and your Google Business Profile. Every ad, post and message will point to that one link.

2. 2

   Week 1: tell your own circle

   Message friends, family, former colleagues and classmates: who you teach, what level, online or in person, and your price. Ask them to forward it to one person.

3. 3

   Week 2: one local channel

   Post in two or three local groups, or on Wallapop or Milanuncios. Use one ad per type of student and reply within a few hours.

4. 4

   Week 3: one online channel

   Open one marketplace profile or start posting short videos, depending on whether you want students now or in a few months.

5. 5

   Week 4: keep what worked

   Ask every new student how they found you. Keep the channels that brought trial lessons, drop the rest and ask your first students for a review or a referral.

Need the words for your ads? Copy one of our private lesson ad templates. Put your booking link in every one and, if you're just starting out, read how to start giving private language lessons.