Teach English online or tutor IELTS: what platforms pay and how to earn more

What the main platforms pay after fees

There are two kinds of platform, and they pay in different ways.

Cambly pays a set rate for time spent teaching: $0.17 a minute, which is $10.20 an hour, for adults, and $0.20 a minute, $12 an hour, on Cambly Kids. It pays weekly and says it needs no teaching certificate, bachelor's degree or prior experience. When we checked, it was temporarily limiting the number of new tutors it accepts, so profile approval may take longer than usual. The appeal is simplicity: students find you, and you are paid from the first minute.

Preply lets you choose your hourly rate and takes a commission. The commission on every trial lesson with a new student is 100 percent, so trial lessons earn you nothing. After that, it starts at 33 percent for new tutors and falls to 18 percent as your total teaching hours grow. Preply's own example: at a $10 hourly rate, a new tutor receives $6.70 a lesson, while a tutor with 400 or more completed hours receives $8.20.

italki charges no commission on trial lessons. It takes 21 percent on single lessons, 19 percent on 5-lesson packages, 17 percent on 10-lesson packages, 15 percent on 15 and 20-lesson packages, and 30 percent on group classes.

On marketplaces, the first weeks are mostly trial lessons and building a profile with reviews, so income is small and uneven. On Cambly, income starts sooner but is capped by the fixed rate. Many tutors run both at first: a fixed-rate platform for guaranteed small income, and a marketplace profile to build regular students at a higher rate. RichTactic's platform fee calculator shows what you take home from each platform at a given rate.

Do you need TEFL, CELTA or a degree?

For most online platforms, no. Cambly says no certificate or degree is needed, and marketplaces such as Preply and italki let tutors list without formal teaching qualifications. Students choose based on your profile video, reviews and specialities.

A qualification still helps in three situations:

• You want to teach for schools or companies that list a certificate as a requirement.
• You want to charge more on a marketplace, where a recognised certificate on your profile builds trust.
• You want real teaching method, because explaining grammar you use instinctively is harder than it sounds.

TEFL is a general term for many different courses, and quality varies widely, so check the hours, the observed teaching practice and who accredits the course before you pay. CELTA, from Cambridge, is the most widely recognised option. Cambridge says it involves at least 120 hours of study, usually over 4 to 5 weeks full-time or a few months to about a year part-time, and can be taken online, face-to-face or blended through more than 280 authorised centres.

If money is tight, start teaching first and add a certificate once you know you like the work. Your IELTS score is already evidence of your own level, and for non-native speakers a high band score on your profile shows students your level before they book.

Specialise in IELTS writing and speaking prep

General conversation practice competes on price. Exam preparation competes on results, and students with a deadline and a target band will pay more for a tutor who knows the test.

IELTS is well suited to this because the marking is published. In the Academic Writing test, candidates have 60 minutes for two tasks: Task 1 needs at least 150 words, with about 20 minutes suggested, and Task 2 at least 250 words, with about 40 minutes. Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1. Examiners mark four criteria: task achievement or response, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy. The Speaking test takes 11 to 14 minutes.

That structure gives you products to sell:

1. Writing feedback. The student sends a timed Task 2 essay, and you return it marked against the four criteria with specific rewrites. This can be done without a live lesson, which fits around other work.
2. Mock speaking tests. A timed, recorded mock in the real format, followed by feedback on each criterion.
3. Short courses. A fixed number of lessons on Task 1 report writing or Task 2 essay structure, sold as a package.

Two honesty rules protect you. Never claim to be an IELTS examiner unless you are one. Never guarantee a band score, since you cannot control the result. Describe what you will do: "I mark your essays against the four public criteria and show you how to fix each one."

A high-value niche is healthcare professionals who have passed everything clinical and are stuck on the English test, often half a band short in writing. The OET vs IELTS guide for clinicians explains their rules, and knowing them makes you far more useful to those students. Some will need OET instead of IELTS, so learn its format too if you target that group.

Set your rate and move regular students to your own bookings

On a marketplace, new tutors usually start at a low rate to win the first reviews, then raise it in steps. A practical rule: raise your rate for new students once your calendar is mostly full, and leave existing students on their current rate for a while so you keep them.

Work out what you actually earn per hour of your time, which includes preparation, marking and unpaid trial lessons. RichTactic's hourly rate calculator does this from your income goal and the hours you can teach.

Once you have steady students, you may want some of them on your own bookings to avoid commission. Read each platform's terms first. Preply's terms of service, for example, say tutors will not teach its students outside the platform or take payment from them directly, and breaking that kind of rule can close your account and cost you your reviews. The safe route is to find new private students yourself: through your own website or social media, local community groups, or referrals from people who know your work. For private students, you need a booking link, a payment method and a written cancellation policy, such as payment in advance and 24 hours' notice to reschedule.

RichTactic's online language teaching playbook covers startup costs and the step by step move from platform work to an independent teaching business. If you would rather tutor a subject other than English, its online tutoring guide covers the wider market.

A realistic first three months

The first month is setup and trial lessons. Record a short profile video, write a profile that names your speciality and your own test score, and set availability for the hours students in your target countries are awake. Teach whatever bookings arrive, and ask happy students for a review.

The second month, aim for repeat students. Regular students who book weekly are worth far more than one-off trials, because they bring predictable income and, on Preply, push your commission rate down. Build a simple lesson plan for each level so preparation time shrinks.

The third month, add the speciality. Launch IELTS writing feedback or mock speaking tests as a separate offer, at a higher rate than conversation lessons.

Be ready for slow weeks. Student numbers fall around exam results, holidays and the end of term in their home countries, and a few cancellations can halve a week's income.

Tax applies from the start. In the US, self-employment tax is 15.3 percent once net self-employment earnings reach $400. In the UK, trading income above the £1,000 trading allowance means registering for Self Assessment by 5 October after the tax year ends. Other countries have their own thresholds, so check yours. If you are also job hunting, keep that going; regular teaching hours look good on a resume and leave daytime free for interviews, which matters if you have been out of work a while, as unemployed for six months explains.