Ludi or Preply: a comparison for language tutors

Preply is a student marketplace: it brings the demand and takes a commission on every lesson. Ludi is the teacher's workspace: you pay a flat monthly fee (or use the free plan), bring most of your students yourself and get a public directory as an extra storefront. They are not the same thing, so the right choice depends on where you are in your career.

• Signing up is free and there is no fee to host your profile.
• On the trial lesson with each new student, the commission is 100%: the tutor is not paid for it.
• On subsequent lessons, the commission ranges from 33% to 18% of the hourly rate. It starts at 33%, drops to 28% after 20 hours taught and keeps falling with your total hours on the platform, trial lessons included.
• In Preply's own example, a tutor charging US$10 an hour receives US$6.70 per regular lesson at first and US$8.20 after 400+ hours.
• Earnings reach your balance about 15 minutes after a lesson in the Preply classroom, or 72 hours after a lesson held elsewhere, unless the student confirms sooner.
• Withdrawals go through Wise, Payoneer, PayPal or Skrill.

Preply information checked on the official site in October 2026; it may change.

• Free plan: up to 3 active students and 24h of live lessons a month, no card needed.
• Essential: R$99 a month (Brazilian reais), up to 10 active students and 80h of live lessons, with a public profile and storefront.
• Professional: R$189 a month, up to 25 active students and 200h of live lessons, with one group of up to 10 students included.
• Lesson packages: a 3% fee for students you bring yourself and 10% for students who find you through your Ludi profile or a partner's coupon. The fee is added on top of your price and paid by the student: you receive the amount you set.
• Material sales through your storefront: a 5% Ludi fee.
• Payment provider fees (card, Pix or Wise) are separate.

All limits and add-ons are on plans for teachers.

• Ready demand: students are already there looking for a tutor. If you are starting from zero, that is worth a lot.
• Global reach: Preply cites students from over 180 countries, something no solo teacher reaches quickly.
• No fixed cost: you only pay when you teach, which lowers the risk at the start.
• Structure around the lesson: trial lessons with a free replacement for unsatisfied students, its own classroom and training webinars for tutors.

Ludi is a new platform and its directory is still growing. If you have no students and need demand right away, a marketplace like Preply solves a problem that Ludi does not currently promise to solve at the same volume. For other sources of students, see how to find private students.

• You already have students, from referrals, social media or earlier work, and do not want to pay a per-lesson commission on them.
• You want to charge under your own brand and price, in reais, dollars or euros, by package.
• You want to prepare lessons where you teach them: activities, games, slides and whiteboard. See Ludi or Zoom, Kahoot and Hotmart.
• You want to sell your own e-books or materials without opening another platform.
• You want to teach groups: Professional includes one group of up to 10 students.

Before picking a Preply alternative for tutors, run the numbers with your own figures. Example: 40 hours of regular lessons a month at US$20 an hour, or US$800 gross. On Preply, a new tutor (33%) keeps US$536 and a tutor in the 18% bracket keeps US$656, not counting trial lessons, which do not pay the tutor.

On Ludi, with the same students brought in by you, the student pays US$824 (your price plus 3%) and you receive the US$800, minus the payment provider's fee and the plan's monthly fee, for example R$99 on Essential. The math is only fair if you already have those students: Preply's commission pays precisely for the work of bringing them in.

Yes, as long as each student stays in the right place. Having a Preply alternative for tutors does not mean you have to leave Preply. Many tutors use a marketplace to find students and their own platform for the students they won on their own. Follow Preply's rules: a student who came from Preply stays on Preply. Use Ludi with students who came through you and with those who find your profile in the teacher directory, which has no middleman.