Three years on Preply🎉🎊🥳

A day late, but here we are – I can’t believe it’s been three years on Preply! So much has changed, and it’s been quite the journey. This past year was shaped by my big price changes and taking a more selective approach. Curious? Check out my third annual Preply tutor earnings report on earnings, students, and retention for 2024-2025.

If you’ve been following my Preply journey, you know I started off with a pretty open-door vibe, welcoming every trial and filling up every hour I could to build my student base. Now, things have changed a lot. I’m being more selective, focusing on long-term students who are genuinely committed instead of just chasing every opportunity. Raising my prices has changed the game for me – not just in terms of money, but also in the kind of students I attract. I am still here and ready to share my Preply tutor earnings report from 25th February 2024 to 24th February 2025.

Psst! Before you go any further, take a peek at my other two Preply tutor earnings reports for 2022-2023 and 2023-2024!

My year in numbers

Just like last year (and the one before🙈), let’s begin with some numbers! I racked up a total of 904.25 tutoring hours this year, which breaks down to about 3.48 hours a day (weekends off, of course). All my classes got a perfect ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating. I still don’t push my students to leave reviews, but I’m super grateful to the five who took the time to share their thoughts this year – bringing my total to 16 awesome reviews! You can check them out at the bottom of the home page.

I wish I could show you another screenshot of my stats, but Preply changed things up, and it doesn’t make much sense anymore. So here’s the scoop: my current rank among other tutors is 237, which is the highest (or lowest?) it’s ever been for me. I haven’t booked many trial lessons since I wasn’t looking for anything on Preply. I don’t know how many times my profile got views this year, but in the last 90 days, it showed up 1,524 times. During that time, I only managed to book one trial lesson. I’m not sure what my conversion rate is, but I’d guess it’s pretty low.

Last year, I had my rates set at $50 an hour, and honestly, I didn’t get any business at that price! So, I dropped it to $40, and I started picking up a few students. The catch is that they’re pretty picky and have a clear game plan for what they want, which frankly makes sense for that price.

Trial lessons

So, like I mentioned earlier, this year I took a step back from Preply because I was totally booked and didn’t have any time for more students. Because of that, in the past year, I only had two trial lessons – both of which went well! That gives me a perfect 100% conversion rate to repeat students. The upside? I only worked 2 free hours this year, compared to 33 hours last year. So, Preply made $80 from trial lessons this year. Sorry, not sorry!

Student retention

I mentioned this last year, and I’ll say it again this year – keeping students around is my jam! This year, I had two new students who stuck with me for a while. Sadly, one decided to go with another tutor after six months, and the other had to leave because of the prices on Preply. Still, I’ve been able to keep teaching 23 students from previous years, with two of them being from the very start of my time on Preply! By the end of February, 11 of them were actively taking classes. Below, I’ve broken down the number of students and the hours they’ve committed to, splitting them into active and inactive so you can see for yourself.

This is where my issues with Preply start. Unfortunately, with the rising prices on the platform, many people not being able to count language studies as a business expense, and Preply changing up its policies with companies they used to team up with, I hit a major low in December (at least for my Preply experience!). Some companies decided to move their lessons to other platforms, for example, Italki, which meant a big hit for Preply – and sadly, for me, too.

I used to notice a pattern where students would commit to classes after hanging out together for a while, but this time it was harder to see that happening. With all the changing policies, some of my regulars who were taking classes more than once a week had to cut back on their meetings and eventually ended up leaving the platform.

Types of students

There haven’t been any changes on my end. All of my students are Polish, and they’re mostly adults in their late 20s to early 30s, with a few older learners in their 40s and 50s. I’ve got two students, both gentlemen between 60 and 75, who are still taking classes with me. It just goes to show that it’s never too late to learn a language!

The primary goal of this year’s classes was to enhance English skills for the workplace. Initially, I found the Business English lessons daunting, but they now come quite naturally to me. In addition to teaching on Preply, I also work with corporate groups, which means I use Business English daily. As a result, my collection of lesson plans for B1 and B2-level Business English materials has significantly increased!

Let the money do the talking

The community posts on Preply are full of tutors asking for at least some kind of payment for successful trial lessons, but nothing seems to change. Trial lessons are totally free for tutors! The same goes for the commissions. I was really excited about the idea of lowering commissions and making my work hours a bit more fun. The thought of commissions going down after teaching a certain number of classes was pretty cool. But once you hit 400 hours on Preply, that’s it. It would be great if Preply rewarded their tutors for doing an awesome job or at least lowered commissions for hitting bigger milestones, like 1000 hours, which only a few people would actually reach.

Over the last two years, Preply threw a few extra opportunities my way – beta testing, teaching groups, and even working with decision-makers. But this year? Nothing! Of course, that’s probably because I’ve cut down on trial lessons and overall hours, making me a less active (and less attractive) tutor on the platform.

Below, you’ll find the exact amount I made on Preply between March 2024 and February 2025.

Over the past year, I made $22,340.89, all from 1:1 lessons. Out of that, students paid $4,021.36 in commissions and $80 in trial lessons, meaning Preply took 15.5% of my total earnings – 6.5% less than last year!

But, of course, that’s not what actually landed in my bank account. There’s the currency exchange from dollars to euros, plus extra costs like my accountant, social security, MS Office, Zoom, and investing in better equipment…the list goes on and on…

Working hours

I’m still a full-time online tutor, so for the grand finale, let’s take a look at how many hours I worked and how that translated into income.

For the first time, I’m noticing a downward trend. Some months were better than others, but overall, I feel like I’m slowly stepping away from Preply – focusing more on my blog, working with academies, and teaching private students outside the platform.

Last year, I took some time off at the end of March, the beginning of May, in August, and, of course, in December and January. Even so, between March 2024 and February 2025, I still managed to average 82 hours per month (though there was a sharp decline toward the end of the year). Despite that, my monthly earnings averaged $2,055.02, which is a 30% increase from last year!

Below, you’ll find a graph showing how this income compares to my hourly rate.

Since I rarely have trial lessons but still like to take on new students occasionally, my current rate sits at $40 per hour. Of course, not all of my students pay that much per class. With fewer students overall, my Preply income has been dipping, but I’m still averaging $24.76 per hour – which, compared to previous years, isn’t too bad! Hopefully, things will start picking up again soon. If you are curious to see how many hours a week I really work, read my post Time Management: Essential Tips for Self-Emlpoyed Online Tutors.

What’s next?

Although many of you have messaged me privately, asking about my experience on Preply and how it can boost your income or help you start as an online tutor, or simply telling me about creating a profile on Preply thanks to my Preply tutor earnings report, sadly, I think this might be my last money update. As you can see, relying too much on one platform is a risky move, and having a backup plan is essential.

My plan? I’ll still teach on Preply now and then, but I won’t depend on it as my main source of income. I’ve really been enjoying working with academies because the classes are guaranteed, and if something gets canceled (for reasons beyond my control), I still get paid. On top of that, I had the chance to work on an e-learning platform and design two technical courses – and honestly, I think I enjoy that even more than teaching. Teaching is great, but it demands a lot of time, energy, and intense focus in every lesson.

I’m not completely turning my back on Preply – it was there for me when I needed it most. But maybe I’ve simply reached the end of my Preply journey? Only time will tell! If anything changes, you’ll be the first to know.