italki

I've worked for a while on italki teaching English and Russian. What I really like about the site is how easy it is to find students - or more specifically, for students to find you. As a native English teacher fluent in Russian, I find I have quite a high level of demand from Russian-speaking students. It's also totally flexible - you choose when you're available to work and how much you charge for your various lessons. I like that you can offer different kinds of lessons and packages and price them accordingly. 

If you're an experienced teacher with lots of resources on hand and good conversation skills, I don't see any reason you couldn't earn a full-time living on italki. I personally don't myself, because I wouldn't want to teach for 30 hours a week, but I know there are those who do. What I also really like about italki compared to teaching privately is their cancellation policy - students can't just no-show you at the last minute and expect to get away without compensating you for your time. If someone wants to cancel you have to agree to it. 

The one downside of the site is earning capacity feels a little limited in two ways - the amount you can realistically charge due to the sheer number of other English teachers on the site (the most I charge is $22 per hour), and the fact that italki take 15% commission for every lesson you teach. The commission thing can get quite annoying, because even by charging more for your lessons, you just end up paying more in commission. Of course they need to make money, but I think either 10% or just a flat $1-$2 rate per lesson would be fairer. 

Anyway overall a very positive experience. I also find the majority of students to be really nice and motivated to learn, which is a big plus. 

I've worked here for a year and a half. The flexibility is great and italki has always had my back. There have been students who don't attend class and then don't want to pay you despite my (and italki's) 24-hour cancellation policy. Italki has sided with me every time a student tried not to pay. That's made me feel very secure there. Italki takes a 15% commission, which, compared to other sites, is actually pretty good.

The only issues are these: 
1. It's hard to get paid a decent wage. You set your own prices, but many of your students will be from poorer countries, so they won't be able to afford higher prices. 
2. I think the market might be oversaturated with teachers right now. Not long after China passed a law to ban foreign teachers, my bookings dried up. If you've searched around for ESL jobs, you'll know that the best paying ones were for China. And a LOT were for China. Even though I don't have any Chinese students, I think the teachers from those sites have been flooding other online teaching sites looking for work. It's just my theory, but in a year and a half, almost every slot I opened was booked, and for the past 3 weeks, I've gone from 28 bookings to 3-5, forcing me to look for another job. 

All in all, it's still probably worth checking out. The application process is not grueling unlike some other websites. No demos or interviews. And I do like the company. 

I really enjoy working at italki. I teach English to adult students all around the world. I can set my own hours and teach however I want and whatever I want. I do not have a boss telling me what to do. I only have to sell lessons to the students and there seems to be many students wanting to learn English, thanks to italki's marketing efforts. The website and app work well in scheduling lessons and collecting money. Italki fees are less than many other similar websites and you can charge whatever you want to charge. You can plan your own lessons or buy a curriculum and use it. I plan my own lessons, which takes time and was stressful at first before I figured out a system. You are pretty much on your own, without a boss or interaction with co-workers, but the students are very interesting to get to know. The only downside is it is hard to make enough money to live in the USA, and of course there are no benefits.

A solid place to start out if you're interested in teaching languages but don't have much experience. You're able to work as a community tutor, providing conversation-based lessons. Many tutors (like myself) will later become qualified as professional teachers after finishing school and increase their prices later on. Highly flexible environment for this reason!

However, although I had relatively consistent hours from students for 4-5 years, I've found that within the past 2 years, the site is a bit overwhelmed with the number of teachers compared to students, resulting in very limited hours now. Because of this, I'd only recommend italki as additional income and not as a primary source.

I truly enjoyed being part of the team and working in a positive, supportive environment. A typical day was fast-paced, collaborative, and focused on helping students and families. I learned how important communication, organization, and teamwork are in creating a successful workplace.

Management was professional, approachable, and always willing to help when needed. The workplace culture was welcoming, respectful, and motivating, which made it enjoyable to come to work every day.

The hardest part of the job was balancing multiple responsibilities during busy hours, but it helped me improve my multitasking and problem-solving skills. The most enjoyable part was interacting with people, supporting students, and feeling like an important part of a team working toward a shared goal.


This is a pretty great job if you need quick money or money on the side. if you are in a real pinch this is what you do. Work is very fun and it's very interactive of course because you're teaching. The job really requires you to be a socially advanced. The management was very organized I felt that it was all held together really well except the process of getting paid was incredibly lengthy. The hardest part of the job is trying to accommodate the students learning desires because they all have different methods. Also getting them to open up was really hard because students can be very shy but part of the job is to make things more comfortable. The most enjoyable part was getting to know your students. I met a lot of people and they were all so eager to learn which was really great.

I've been working here for a few years, and compared to other websites I just love it. Your schedule is completely flexible, and you set your own rates as well. Of course you have to keep your colleagues' rates in mind when doing so, but overall I can get a fair amount of money (not big, but fair, at least for Southern Europe). It's also very good that they have two different types of teachers, professionals and tutor, the difference being that tutors don't have training or relevant experience in the field; in this way, students know what to expect (and I can guarantee this, as I also use Italki as a student).
The only con I can think about is that you have to be patient, it can take quite a few years to have a good amount of students. 

This is an online platform that helps language learners find teachers or community tutors to help them learn or practice a language. As a Certified Teacher, I worked as a contractor and could set my rates (with a TEFL certificate I could do this, within specified limits) and availability. However, in order to gain repeat students and make it affordable for people in many countries, my rates had to be low. This is not a full-time job with benefits, it's a side gig to supplement other jobs. When I became a parent I could no longer give lessons because I could not keep a predictable schedule.

I have been working thanks to Italki since 2015  and have only good things to say about this company.
- You set your own prices and chose your own schedule.
- you can retrieve your money whenever you want.
- The customer service is always reactive and will do everything to make it a good experience for both the customers as well as the tutor or teacher.

There is a lot of competition but honestly if you find the right price to charge for the lesson and do all you can to provide what the student want, you can get quite a lot of work.  Some students have been staying with me since the beginning.

Good luck finding students and keeping them if you teach languages that are not in demand. I have been teaching for 4 years and there is no way to ensure a steady flow of students on this platform. The algorithm always keeps the same people at the top of the teacher search list and you are competing with thousands of people who, in my case, are willing to work for much less than the average salary in my country. These people think they will get more students if they offer the absolute lowest rate, but they are just hurting everyone. Low rate = poor quality!

Working at italki: Company Overview and Reviews

italki

italki Ratings

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected