How much to charge for private language lessons in 2026

There's no official price list telling you how much to charge for private language lessons. What exists are the rates teachers publish themselves on open marketplaces. In October 2026, we checked the public pages of a few of them. The figures below are observed ranges and averages at that point, not a recommendation. For rough dollar equivalents we use R$ 5 = US$ 1 to keep the math simple; check today's rate before quoting anyone.

Two things to keep in mind. First, averages pull the number down: open marketplaces are full of people just starting out, and on the same day the featured profiles on Superprof's English page ranged from R$ 65 to R$ 290 an hour (roughly US$ 13 to US$ 58). Second, compare like with like: Preply shows the price of a 50-minute lesson, Superprof the price of an hour.

These numbers move every week, and each site calculates its average its own way. Treat the table as a map of the terrain, not as your price. Your price comes from your own math, which the calculator above does in seconds.

Within the same range, what separates R$ 50 from R$ 150 an hour is the size of the problem you solve and how much the student trusts you to solve it. The factors that weigh most:

• The student's goal. General conversation is the most crowded market. Business English, job interviews and exam prep (IELTS, TOEFL, Cambridge, Celpe-Bras) serve a goal with a deadline, and in the table above IELTS and Business English sit above the overall average.
• Audience. Lessons for kids need their own prep: short activities, games, regular contact with parents. Lessons for executives need scheduling flexibility. Both justify a price different from your standard lesson.
• Experience you can show. Years in the classroom count, but they count more as evidence: students who passed, scores reached, real testimonials shared with the student's permission.
• Certifications. CELTA, TEFL/TESOL or a proficiency certificate won't carry a high price on their own, but they back up your case when students compare profiles.
• Student level. Advanced and exam lessons usually take more prep per hour taught. That time has to be in the price.
• Length. 30, 45, 50 or 60 minutes. Set your hourly rate and derive the others from it, so you don't lose track.

In case you haven't come across it, Celpe-Bras is Brazil's official proficiency exam in Portuguese for foreigners, run by Inep. Preparing students for it is a niche with a clear goal. If that's your path, the guide on teaching Portuguese to foreigners goes deeper.

The calculator above works out how much to charge for private language lessons from your own numbers. It's worth understanding the math behind it, so you choose each number you put in with care:

Minimum hourly rate = (target income + fixed costs) ÷ (1 − taxes and fees in %) ÷ lesson hours per month, where lesson hours per month = hours per week × (52 − weeks off) ÷ 12

1. Target income: what you want to earn each month, after costs and taxes. Think about a year-end bonus and savings, because nobody else is going to pay for them.
2. Fixed costs: your platform plan, internet, electricity, equipment spread over its useful life, courses, books and, if you're registered as an MEI in Brazil, the monthly tax slip (DAS), which is R$ 86.05 in 2026 for service providers.
3. Lesson hours per week: only the hours someone pays for. Prep, messages and billing are work, but they don't go here: your target income already covers them.
4. Weeks off per year: vacations, public holidays and the year-end break. They take hours out of the year and therefore raise your hourly rate: that's how you pay for your own time off.
5. Taxes and fees in %: what comes out of each payment, such as payment processing, platform commission and taxes charged on revenue. Marketplace commissions can weigh a lot: Preply, for example, keeps 100% of each new student's trial lesson and 18% to 33% of later lessons, depending on how many hours the tutor has taught there.

Why divide by (1 − %) instead of adding the fee on top? Because the fee applies to the full price. If you need to take home R$ 100 and lose 10%, charging R$ 110 leaves you R$ 99. Charging R$ 111.11 leaves the full R$ 100.

Example. You want R$ 5,000 a month (about US$ 1,000), have R$ 400 in fixed costs including your plan and DAS, can sell 15 hours a week, take 4 weeks off a year and lose 4% to taxes and fees. Monthly hours come to 15 × (52 − 4) ÷ 12 = 60, gross revenue needs to be (5,000 + 400) ÷ 0.96 = R$ 5,625, and the minimum rate works out to about R$ 94 an hour (around US$ 19). That's above the overall average and inside the observed ranges, which is what you'd expect from a teacher building a professional schedule. Remember that this is your floor, before any discount.

If the result lands far above the market, you have three levers: sell more hours, cut costs or specialize in a niche that accepts a higher price. If it lands below the market, don't drop to it just because you can. A price that's too low tells students something too.

Packages give both sides predictability: the student commits to a routine and you get paid up front. The rule is that the discount has to cost you less than it brings back: fewer empty slots, fewer unpaid no-shows, less time chasing payments. Using the price from the example above:

Big discounts rarely pay off in private teaching, because each lesson still costs you an hour whether the student buys 4 or 12. Instead of deepening the discount, add value: feedback on writing between lessons, extra material, first pick of time slots. The step-by-step is in the guide on how to create lesson packages, and the validity and rescheduling rules fit into the private lessons contract template.

On Ludi, you set up your packages and students buy them on the platform; the lessons go into their balance and are deducted as each class happens. Ludi's fee on packages is added to your price and paid by the student: 3% for students you already had and 10% for students who found you through Ludi's search or a partner's coupon. You receive the price you set, minus the payment provider fee, which is worth including in the calculator's taxes and fees field.

A student abroad doesn't compare you with the teacher down the street. They compare you with the international market, in their own currency. In October 2026, Preply's English-language pages showed average rates by tutor nationality of US$ 32 an hour for English tutors from the United States, US$ 26 for those from the United Kingdom and US$ 25 for Portuguese tutors from Brazil.

• Set a dollar price of its own, designed for that market, instead of just converting your price in reais. The R$ 94 from the example is about US$ 19 at R$ 5 to the dollar (a rate used here only to keep the math easy), below the international benchmark for teaching Portuguese to foreigners.
• Leave room for exchange rates and fees. Getting paid from abroad has conversion and transfer costs, and the dollar moves. Put that loss in the calculator's taxes and fees field and revisit your price when the exchange rate shifts a lot.

How to actually get paid (international account, card, transfer) is covered in the guide on receiving payments from students abroad. On Ludi, built-in billing works with Stripe and Wise.

A price increase doesn't have to be a drama. It needs a rule, and the rule needs to be known in advance.

1. Raise once a year, on a fixed date: January, or the month you started. Students accept what's predictable.
2. Give 30 days' notice, in writing, with the reason in one sentence.
3. Start with new students. The new price applies to newcomers; current students switch at renewal.
4. Use package renewal. The package in progress ends at the old price; the next one starts at the new one.
5. Watch your calendar. A waiting list is the clearest sign your price is too low.

Raising by the period's inflation only keeps your purchasing power. Going above it is a positioning decision, and it's easier when it comes with something new: a specialization, a certification, results you can show.

• Copying another teacher's price without knowing their costs or schedule.
• Dividing by hours you don't sell. Prep is work, but what pays for it is the hour you sell.
• Forgetting taxes and fees and finding the hole only at the end of the month.
• Stacking discounts: a free trial, a deep package discount and no charge for no-shows, all at once.
• Having no no-show and rescheduling policy. A lesson cancelled at the last minute is an hour you can't sell again.
• Charging every student differently, with no criteria. Keep a price list and make exceptions explicit.
• Hiding your price. People looking for a teacher want to know the cost before they send a message.

In Ludi's teacher directory, the price is right there: real profiles, visible prices and direct conversation, with no middleman. The public profile comes with the paid plans, from R$ 99 a month. Details are on the teacher plans page.

If you're just starting, also read how to find private students and how to teach English online. To formalize your income in Brazil, see the guide on MEI for private teachers.