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TeachX vs Preply: The Best Preply Alternative for Online Tutors

Compare Preply’s high-fee, one-to-one lesson model with TeachX’s flexible, low-commission platform built for tutors who want to grow a real teaching business, not just fill a schedule.

Saad Akbar
Saad Akbar
Nov 25, 2025
1 min read
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TeachX vs Preply: The Best Preply Alternative for Online Tutors

If you’ve ever searched “Preply alternative,” it’s probably because something felt… off.

Maybe it was the high commission, the unpaid first lesson, or just the sense that you’re growing their platform more than your own business.

TeachX takes the opposite approach: it treats you like an entrepreneur, not just another profile in a directory.

Below is a clean breakdown you can paste straight into Notion.




Quick Snapshot: TeachX vs Preply

Teaching Formats

Preply: Mainly 1-on-1 online lessons
TeachX: 1-on-1, group classes, self-paced courses, workshops, memberships, and in-person teaching

Commission & Earnings

Preply:
100% of the first lesson goes to Preply (you earn $0)
Then up to ~33% commission per lesson, slowly dropping to ~18% after hundreds of hours
TeachX:
Flat 15% commission
Can effectively feel like ~5% with cashback and incentives

Flexibility

Preply: Online-only, single main format (1:1 lessons)
TeachX: Online + in-person, multiple products, recurring revenue options

Branding & Tools

Preply: A profile in their marketplace, basic scheduling + classroom
TeachX: Website-style pages, CRM, analytics, courses, memberships, events, marketing support

Who keeps more of the money? Almost always: TeachX tutors.




1. What You Can Actually Sell

Imagine two versions of your teaching business:

Version A: You only sell 1-on-1 online lessons, one student at a time, forever.
Version B: You sell private lessons, group classes, workshops, courses, and memberships — all in one place.

That’s essentially Preply vs TeachX.

Preply: One Format, All the Time

On Preply, your main product is:

1 student + 1 tutor + 1 video call = lesson

They used to experiment with group classes, but that’s gone. There are no native:

Courses
Webinars
Memberships
In-person events

If you’re happy doing only 1-on-1 online tutoring, Preply can be okay. But your income will always be tightly tied to your hours.

TeachX: A Whole Teaching Ecosystem

On TeachX, your “store” can include:

1-on-1 lessons (online or in-person)
Group classes (teach 5–10+ students at once and multiply your hourly rate)
Self-paced courses (record once, sell many times)
Workshops & events (online webinars and in-person sessions)
Memberships / subscriptions (recurring revenue from a loyal community)

You can design your week like this:

1-on-1 students during weekdays
A group class every Saturday
A monthly paid workshop
A course quietly selling in the background 24/7

On Preply, most of that simply isn’t possible. On TeachX, it’s normal.




2. Online-Only vs Online and In-Person

Another huge difference: how (and where) you’re allowed to teach.

Preply: Strictly Online

Lessons are expected to happen through Preply’s online classroom.
Moving students off-platform (or arranging in-person lessons) conflicts with how the platform is set up.

You’re basically living in one mode:

“Open laptop → video call → repeat.”

TeachX: Hybrid-Friendly

TeachX is built for both online and in-person teaching:

Offer online lessons to students worldwide
Run in-person lessons, workshops, or classes in your city
Still manage bookings, schedules, and payments through the same platform

If your ideal teaching life includes Zoom lessons + real-world classes, TeachX makes that blend easy.




3. Commission: Who Actually Gets Paid Here?

Let’s talk about the part everyone feels but no one loves: platform fees.

Preply: The Expensive Convenience

Here’s how it typically works on Preply:

First lesson with every new student:
Preply keeps 100% of that payment
You earn $0
After that:
Commission starts around 33%
Slowly drops as you teach more total hours
Best case (after a lot of teaching) is around 18%

Example (new tutor):

You charge $20/hour
Trial lesson: $0 to you
Regular lesson at 33%: $13.40 to you

That’s a big chunk gone from every single lesson.

TeachX: “We Earn When You Earn — But You Keep Most of It”

TeachX keeps it straightforward:

Flat 15% commission on transactions
With cashback and incentives, that can effectively feel closer to ~5%

Same $20 example on TeachX:

After 15%: $17 to you
With cashback/loyalty perks, you can effectively keep around $19

Scale that up to $1,000 in earnings:

On Preply (as a newer tutor): roughly $670 after commission
On TeachX: around $850–$950, depending on perks

Over a year, that difference is not “coffee money.” It can be thousands.




4. What Your Day-to-Day Looks Like

Money aside, what does your everyday workflow feel like on each platform?

Scheduling & Bookings

Preply:
Set availability → students book 1-on-1 time
Works fine for a simple private-lesson schedule
TeachX:
Same 1-on-1 scheduling plus:
Recurring group classes
Limited-seat events
Different time slots for different products

TeachX has to handle more complexity — and that’s good news if you want a business with more than one revenue stream.

Teaching Environment

Preply:
Built-in classroom (video, chat, whiteboard, etc.)
Focused mainly on the live lesson experience
TeachX:
Integrated online classroom (video, whiteboard, screen sharing)
Also supports:
Course delivery
Student dashboards
Certificates and resources for self-paced learning

For 1-on-1 calls, both get the job done. TeachX just goes further because it supports more types of teaching.




5. Tools for Actually Growing a Business (Not Just Filling Slots)

Here’s the real philosophical difference:

Preply: “We’re the marketplace; we’ll bring you students (for a price).”
TeachX: “We’re your infrastructure; you build the business.”

Marketing & Discovery

On Preply, the engine is:

Their SEO
Their ads
Their marketplace algorithm

Your job is mainly:

Make a good profile
Hope the algorithm blesses you
Accept the commission in exchange for that visibility

On TeachX, you get:

A public, SEO-friendly tutor page
Individual SEO-ready pages for each course, class, event, or membership
A zero-code website builder so your profile can look and feel like your own mini site
Links you can share anywhere (social, email, WhatsApp, etc.)

You’re not just a listing. You’re building an actual online presence.

Marketing Budget Match

TeachX goes one step further:

If you spend money to advertise your TeachX offerings
TeachX can match your ad budget (up to a certain limit)

So your $50 in ads can behave more like $100 worth of reach.

Preply doesn’t encourage you to run ads for yourself; their whole model is built on their centralized marketplace.

Affiliate & Referral Perks

TeachX also includes:

Affiliate & referral tools
The ability to earn commissions for bringing students or other educators to the platform

In some cases, this can offset your platform fees and bring you closer to “net-zero” fees over time.

Preply has minor referral things here and there, but nothing that meaningfully changes your commission situation long-term.

CRM, Analytics & “Real Business” Features

With TeachX, you’re not just teaching — you’re running a small operation with:

CRM: manage leads, inquiries, and students all in one place
Analytics: see which offerings perform best, revenue trends, conversion rates
Parent portals: for younger learners
Automated reminders: to cut down on no-shows
Team features: if you ever decide to bring in more tutors and grow into a mini academy

Preply gives you:

Messages
Lesson list
Basic scheduling

That’s enough to function as a freelancer, but not to fully operate like a business.




6. Branding & Ownership

This part is subtle, but huge long-term.

On Preply

You build a Preply profile under the Preply brand
Students are essentially Preply’s customers
If you ever leave, you can’t easily take “your” audience with you

You’re renting space in their mall. If your shop closes, all the foot traffic stays in the mall.

On TeachX

Your content (courses, materials, etc.) remains yours
Your pages look and feel more like your own site
You can build long-term relationships with students under your own name

TeachX becomes the engine under the hood, not the face on the door.

You’re not just “a Preply tutor.” You’re your own brand, powered by TeachX.




7. So… Which One Should You Pick?

It really depends on your goals.

When Preply Might Make Sense

Preply can be useful if you:

Just want to test online tutoring
Don’t want to think about marketing at all
Are okay with:
High commission
Unpaid first lessons
Sticking to 1-on-1 online lessons only

Some tutors use Preply as a stepping stone: they start there, gain confidence and reviews, then eventually move off to something where they keep more control and income.

When TeachX Is the Better Fit

TeachX is a better choice if you:

See yourself as a business owner, not just a profile
Want to keep 85–95% of what you earn
Want to build:
Courses
Group classes
Memberships
Workshops
In-person offerings
Care about having:
Your own pages and brand
Proper tools (CRM, analytics, marketing support)
Room to scale beyond just “hours for money”

In short:

If your goal is to build an actual teaching business, not just fill a timetable, TeachX is the platform that matches that ambition.



Final Verdict: The Best Preply Alternative for Serious Tutors

Preply has the bigger name right now.
TeachX gives you the bigger upside.

With TeachX, you get:

Lower commissions
More ways to earn from the same expertise
Flexibility to teach online and offline
Real business tools and branding control

If you’re an ambitious tutor who wants to own your growth, not just rent space in someone else’s marketplace, TeachX is the stronger long-term home.

You can join for free, explore the features, and start building something that really belongs to you.

Because if you’re going to pour your time, energy, and creativity into teaching… you might as well build your business, not just theirs.