Marketplace vs your own students
A marketplace finds students for you and keeps a share of each lesson, and those students stay on its platform. Your own students pay you the full price, and finding them is up to you.
| Where the student comes from | What you pay | Can you teach them outside the platform? | How you get paid |
|---|---|---|---|
 Preply | 100% of the trial lesson, then 33% down to 18% per lesson | No: no lessons or payments outside Preply | Bank transfer (via Wise), Wise, PayPal, Payoneer or Skrill |
 italki | A platform fee per lesson that varies (no single published figure) | No: no lessons or payments outside italki | Credits go to your teacher wallet; the withdrawal method may charge its own fee |
 Superprof | 10% only if the student pays through Superprof, nothing with Premium | Its fee only applies when students pay through Superprof | Through Superprof: to your bank, more than 30 euros |
| Your own students (referrals, Google, your booking link) | Only your payment method's fee | Yes: your contacts, your prices, your rules | Straight to you: card, Bizum, transfer or cash |
Example: from a €20 lesson, Preply keeps 33% to 18% after the trial, so you keep €13.40 to €16.40. The same lesson paid with a Spanish card through SmartCookie leaves you €19.33 after Stripe's fee and ours. Full numbers in our tutor platform commissions guide and the Stripe fee calculator.
What Preply's terms allow (and what they don't)
You can run your own tutoring business while you teach on Preply. You can't teach the students you met on Preply outside the platform or take their payments directly.
Preply's Terms of Service (updated 25th of November 2025) say tutors "may and, in fact, are expected to" teach for others, "including with Preply's competitors if desired", as long as that doesn't break the terms.
The same terms (section 3.4 f) say you will not teach Preply students outside the platform, receive payments from them directly, or ask them to pay "through any channels other than those provided by Preply".
Preply's help centre lists "Bypassing (e.g. offering payments outside Preply)" as one of the reasons to block a student.
italki's Teacher Policy has the same rule: no suggesting, soliciting or accepting payment outside italki, and if a student asks for lessons outside the platform, you remind them to book through italki.
The hybrid playbook in 6 steps
Keep earning on the marketplace while you set up your own booking, payments and channels. Move hours over only when direct students fill them.
- 1
Keep your marketplace profile
Don't close it. It still brings new students, and the reviews you have there took time to earn. Treat it as one channel, not your whole business.
- 2
Set up your own booking and payments
Create a booking page with the hours you want to give to direct students and a way to take payments: card, Bizum or transfer.
- 3
Set your direct price
Without a commission you can charge less than on the marketplace and still earn more per lesson. Work out the number from what you want to take home, not from what others charge.
- 4
Open one or two channels of your own
Tell people you know, set up a Google Business Profile and post in local groups. Every channel points to the same booking link.
- 5
Keep the two worlds apart
Marketplace students book and pay on the marketplace. Direct students book and pay with you. Never share your booking link or contact details in marketplace chats.
- 6
Move hours as direct students grow
When your direct calendar fills up, close a few marketplace slots. Do it gradually, one block of hours at a time, so your income never drops.
Where do direct students come from? Our guide on how to find students compares 12 channels. To set your price, use the tutoring rate calculator.
What you need to teach online on your own
Five things replace what the marketplace did for you: a booking page, a way to get paid, a video tool, a cancellation policy and a record of your students.
- A booking page where students pick a free slot, so you don't swap ten messages to set one lesson.
- A way to get paid before or right after the lesson: card, Bizum or bank transfer, plus packs for regular students.
- A video tool you control, like Google Meet or Zoom, with one link per student or per lesson.
- A written cancellation policy, because on your own nobody enforces the marketplace's rules for you.
- Notes and attendance per student, so you know what you did last lesson and who has paid.
Compare Google Meet and Zoom for lessons, write your rules with the cancellation policy generator and grab invoices and agreements from our tutoring templates.
When the marketplace is still the better deal
Going independent isn't always worth it. Stay mostly on the marketplace if any of these sounds like you.
- You're just starting, with no reviews and no students of your own: the marketplace brings people you can't reach yet.
- You don't want to chase payments, cancellations and no-shows yourself.
- Most of your students live in other countries and you'd rather the platform takes their payments.
- Your marketplace calendar is full at a price you're happy with, after commission.
Run your direct students in one place
Give your own students a SmartCookie booking link, take payments by card or Bizum and keep their packs and notes together, while your marketplace profile keeps doing its job.