italki vs Preply vs Cambly (2026): Real Prices, Trial Rules and Which to Pick
Last verified: 15 August 2026. Prices on all three platforms change without notice — the figures below were read directly from each company’s own site and help centre on that date.
The short answer
Pick italki if you want the lowest price and no commitment. Lessons start around $4–5, you pay per lesson, and there is no subscription. Pick Preply if you want structure and will genuinely study every week. It is now subscription-only, which is either the discipline you need or a trap, depending on you. Pick Cambly if your problem is that you never actually speak. It is the only one of the three where you can open an app and be talking to a native speaker within a minute, and it records every lesson so you can review your mistakes.
Three things about these platforms changed in 2026 and almost every comparison article you will find is still wrong about them:
- Preply’s trial lesson is not free. You pay the tutor’s full normal rate. What is free is a replacement, capped at two per account — and a replacement is not a refund.
- Preply no longer sells single lessons at all. A subscription is mandatory. Their own help centre states it is “not possible to purchase individual lessons separately, including through customer support.”
- Cambly scrapped its old pricing grid. The “15/30/60 minutes × 2/3/5 days per week” table that every review still shows is gone. Cambly now sells three tiers — Small Groups, Private+ and Pro — priced per 30-minute lesson.
italki vs Preply vs Cambly: full comparison
| italki | Preply | Cambly | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $4–$20 community tutors $10–$40 professional teachers | $3–$40+ per 50-min lesson (avg ≈ $25/hr) | From $17/mo group $39/mo private $56/mo Pro |
| Payment model | Pay as you go. No subscription | Subscription only. Billed every 28 days | Subscription only. 1, 3 or 12 months |
| Buy one lesson? | Yes | No | No |
| Trial | 3 trial lessons, ~30–50% off | Paid at full rate | $1 for 30 minutes |
| Money-back | Satisfaction guarantee, up to 2 trials | 2 free replacements per account | 7-day full refund on first plan |
| Book in advance? | Yes, plus instant lessons | Scheduled only | Yes, plus 24/7 on demand |
| Talk to someone now? | Instant lessons (trials, starts in 5 min) | No | Yes — the core feature |
| Lesson lengths | 30 / 45 / 60 / 90 min | 25 / 50 min (extendable) | 30 min |
| Recordings | No | No | Yes + transcripts (Private+ and Pro) |
| Tutors | 20,000–30,000+ (4,277 for English) | 100,000+ | Not published |
| Native speakers only? | No | No | Yes |
| Teaching credential required? | Professional teachers: yes Community tutors: no | No | No |
| Languages | 150+ | 90+ languages, 120+ subjects | English only |
| Trustpilot | 4.2 (14,572 reviews) | 4.3 (~22,500 reviews) | 2.2 (256) — see caveat below |
| App rating | 4.4 Android | 4.8 iOS / 4.6 Android | 4.5 iOS (9,300 ratings) |
| Best for | Cheap, flexible, any language | Structure and accountability | Speaking practice on demand |
What you will actually pay
italki: the cheapest floor, and no commitment
italki splits teachers into two categories, and understanding the split is how you save money. Community tutors charge $4–$20 per lesson and are not required to hold any teaching qualification — they are vetted as friendly and knowledgeable, nothing more. Professional teachers charge $10–$40 and must upload credentials before italki approves them.
The smart move most experienced learners make: book a professional teacher occasionally for grammar and exam work, and a cheap community tutor two or three times a week purely to talk. You cannot do this on the other two platforms at these prices.
There is no subscription, no monthly minimum, and italki states plainly that there are no hidden booking fees at checkout. You buy italki Credits, and teachers often discount multi-lesson packages.
The catch: italki Credits are non-refundable to cash. Their payment policy states that authorised payments are final. Credits come back to your balance as credits if a lesson is cancelled, but they never come back to your bank. Credits also expire after 12 or more months of account inactivity. Do not preload a large balance.
italki also sells an optional AI add-on, italki Plus, at $5.99/month or $59.99/year with a 30-day free trial. It gives you automated lesson summaries, flashcards and AI roleplay between lessons. It does not change what you pay for lessons, and you do not need it.
Preply: subscription only, and the details matter
English tutors on Preply run $3 to $40+ per 50-minute lesson, with the platform’s own stated average around $25 an hour. But the headline rate is not the thing to focus on. This is:
- You cannot buy a single lesson. Subscription is mandatory, minimum four lessons per cycle.
- You are billed every 28 days, not monthly. That is 13 payments a year, not 12. This is the single most common complaint in Preply’s reviews — people who thought they were buying a lesson package and found a recurring charge.
- Unscheduled lessons expire when your cycle renews. If you paid for four and only booked two, the other two are gone. Lessons you have actually booked are protected.
- One subscription covers one tutor. Want lessons with two different tutors? Two subscriptions.
- Your balance expires after 180 days of inactivity.
In fairness, cancelling is genuinely free with no lock-in and no cancellation fee, provided you do it at least a day before renewal, and you can pause once per cycle for up to 20 days. Preply is not trying to trap you. But the 28-day cycle and the expiring lessons mean this only makes financial sense if you will genuinely take every lesson you pay for.
Cambly: new pricing in 2026
Cambly replaced its old minutes-per-week grid with three tiers. You choose a tier, then how many 30-minute lessons per week (1, 2, 3, 5 or 10), then a 1, 3 or 12-month term.
| Tier | From | Regular | What you get | Ages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small Groups | $17/mo | $24/mo | Tutor plus 1–2 other students. From about $4 a lesson | 21+ |
| Private+ | $39/mo | $56/mo | One-to-one, lesson recordings, transcripts, Cambly Courses | 18+ |
| Pro | $56/mo | $80/mo | Exclusive Pro tutors, structured lessons, targeted feedback, study plan | 18+ |
On the Pro tier, the published per-lesson prices are $18.75 monthly, $15.58 on a 3-month term, and $12.12 on an annual term. Cambly labels those as 10% and 30% discounts; the actual arithmetic is closer to 17% and 35%, so the annual saving is slightly better than advertised.
Three rules that catch people out:
- Minutes do not roll over. Your balance refreshes every Monday at 3am local time and anything unused is lost.
- You cannot use more than 60 weekly minutes in a single day, so you cannot save up and binge on a Sunday.
- Cancelling an annual plan early claws back the discount. Cambly recalculates the days you used at the standard monthly rate. If that exceeds what you paid, you get nothing back. This makes the 12-month plan riskier than the headline price suggests — do not buy it until you have proven to yourself that you will use it.
Against that, Cambly has the best safety net of the three: a 7-day full money-back guarantee from the start of your first plan, even if you have already taken lessons. And the trial is a genuine $1 for 30 minutes.
Cambly Kids is a separate, well-built product for ages 4–15 with a CEFR-levelled A1–C1 curriculum, 30-minute private lessons, 2 to 7 lessons a week, and a $1 trial. Per-lesson pricing runs $17.25 monthly down to $11.15 on the annual plan.
The trial lesson trap
This is where the three platforms differ most, and where the marketing is least honest.
Cambly is the cleanest. One dollar, thirty minutes, no conditions. Then a 7-day full refund window on your first plan.
italki is generous. You get three trial lessons, each with a different teacher, at teacher-set discounts that italki says are typically 30–50% off. There is a satisfaction guarantee you can use up to twice.
Preply’s is the one to read carefully. Preply’s landing pages say “100% money back if you’re not happy with the selected instructor” and invite you to “try 2 more for free.” The help centre describes something different. Your trial is a normal paid lesson at the tutor’s full rate. If it goes badly you can request a replacement — and Preply’s own wording is: “A free replacement means your trial is moved back to your balance — it is not a separate free lesson on top of what you paid.” It goes back as credit, not cash. You get two of those per account, then trials are simply paid.
Cash refunds on trials are possible, but only within 90 days of payment and at Preply’s discretion. For missed or cancelled lessons, refunds are explicitly at the tutor’s discretion — Preply states the tutor is not obligated.
One more thing worth knowing, because it affects the lesson you get: Preply takes 100% commission on trial lessons. Your tutor is paid nothing for teaching you that first lesson. Ongoing commission then runs 18–33%, starting at 33% for new tutors. It is the harshest tutor economics of the three, and it is a reasonable thing to factor in if you care whether your teacher is motivated.
Can you actually talk to someone right now?
This used to be Cambly’s whole reason to exist, and it is still the main reason to choose it — but the gap has narrowed.
Cambly still advertises 24/7 instant access to native English speakers over video. It works. Two caveats from people who use it regularly: the pool of tutors showing as “available now” is thinner than the marketing implies, and scheduling ahead gets you meaningfully better availability. Cambly’s own beginner onboarding guides now talk about scheduling and do not mention instant lessons at all, which suggests the company is quietly steering people toward booked, recurring lessons.
italki now has Instant Lessons too. This is not widely known. You filter for teachers offering them, and your lesson starts within five minutes. The restrictions: they are only available as 30, 45 or 60-minute trial lessons, they must be taken in italki Classroom, and they cannot be cancelled or rescheduled.
Preply is scheduled only. There is no on-demand option.
Cambly’s real remaining advantage is not just speed — it is that every lesson on Private+ and Pro is recorded and transcribed automatically, with an interactive transcript that lets you jump to specific moments in the conversation. Neither italki nor Preply offers this. If you have ever finished a lesson knowing you made mistakes but unable to remember what they were, that feature is worth more than the price difference.
Who is actually teaching you
Cambly guarantees native speakers — every tutor must be a native English speaker and 18 or over. What it does not guarantee is teaching ability. Cambly’s own tutor application page states: “While helpful, no prior teaching certificate or experience is required to apply.” No credential verification process is described anywhere on the site. So you are guaranteed a native accent and a genuine conversation partner. You are not guaranteed a teacher. Finding a good one means spending some paid lessons on duds.
italki is transparent about the split, which is its real advantage here. Professional teachers must upload credentials before approval and their profiles show verified education. Community tutors need nothing. You know exactly which you are buying, and you pay accordingly.
Preply has by far the most tutors — over 100,000 across 90+ languages and 120+ non-language subjects, from 180 nationalities. It mixes native and non-native teachers openly, which is not a weakness: a non-native teacher who learned English as an adult often explains grammar better than a native speaker who absorbed it as a child. Preply raised $150 million in January 2026 at a $1.2 billion valuation, so it is also the best-funded and least likely to disappear.
One supply signal worth noting: Cambly’s tutor page currently states it is “temporarily limiting the number of new tutors we welcome” to protect existing tutors’ schedules. Read that as a small tutor pool relative to demand.
About Cambly’s 2.2 Trustpilot score
You will see this figure quoted as proof that Cambly is bad. It deserves context, because the number is real but the conclusion usually drawn from it is not.
Cambly’s Trustpilot rating is 2.2 out of 5 from 256 reviews. Read them and a pattern emerges immediately: they are overwhelmingly written by tutors, not students. The complaints are about pay — $10.20 an hour, unchanged for roughly a decade — about $2 compensation for student no-shows, about rejected applications and unresponsive support. These are legitimate grievances, and they tell you something real about how Cambly treats the people teaching you. They tell you very little about the learning experience.
The student-weighted sample looks different: Cambly’s App Store rating is 4.5 out of 5 from around 9,300 ratings. That is 36 times more feedback than the Trustpilot sample, from people actually taking lessons.
Both numbers are true. Use the Trustpilot score to judge Cambly as an employer and the App Store score to judge it as a product.
Cambly vs Preply
These two are the least alike, so the choice is usually clear.
Choose Cambly if your English is decent on paper but you freeze when you have to speak, if your schedule is unpredictable, if you want native speakers specifically, or if you want your lessons recorded so you can review them. The $1 trial and 7-day refund make it nearly risk-free to test.
Choose Preply if you need a curriculum and a person expecting you at a fixed time each week, if you are preparing for IELTS or a job interview and need targeted instruction rather than conversation, or if you want a language other than English. Preply’s AI Lesson Insights — automatic transcript analysis producing grammar corrections, vocabulary lists and practice exercises after each lesson — is the strongest study-support layer of the three.
On price, Cambly’s Small Groups tier at roughly $4 a lesson undercuts almost any Preply tutor. Cambly Private+ at $39/month is comparable to two or three cheap Preply lessons.
italki vs Preply
These two are direct competitors — both are marketplaces where you browse tutor profiles and book lessons. The deciding factor is not price. It is commitment.
italki lets you buy one lesson and disappear for two months. Preply does not. If your life is unpredictable, if you travel for work, if you study in bursts before exams, italki is the only sensible choice of the two — a Preply subscription will quietly bill you for lessons you never take, and those lessons expire at renewal.
Preply wins if you know you are inconsistent and want to be forced. A recurring charge and a booked slot is a real behavioural tool. Plenty of people learn more on Preply precisely because it does not let them drift.
Beyond that: italki offers 150+ languages to Preply’s 90+, and longer lessons (up to 90 minutes vs 50). Preply offers three times as many tutors, non-language subjects, and better AI study tools. italki is cheaper at the bottom end. Preply is more polished.
Cambly vs italki
The closest call of the three, because italki’s Instant Lessons now overlap with Cambly’s core feature.
italki is cheaper and far more flexible. A community tutor at $5 for 30 minutes beats Cambly’s $12–$18 per 30-minute lesson, you can pick any of 150+ languages, and you are not on a subscription.
Cambly is better if you specifically want native speakers and lesson recordings, and if you value being able to start a conversation at 11pm without booking. italki’s instant option is restricted to trial lessons; Cambly’s is the everyday experience.
Honest summary: italki gives you more control and costs less. Cambly gives you less friction. If the reason you are not improving is that booking a lesson feels like effort, pay the premium for Cambly. If you are disciplined, italki is better value.
Which should you pick?
| If this is you | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Tight budget, want maximum hours | italki community tutors | $4–5 a lesson, no subscription |
| You freeze when you have to speak | Cambly | On demand, native speakers, recorded so you can review |
| You need someone to make you show up | Preply | Subscription and fixed slots create accountability |
| IELTS, TOEFL or exam prep | italki professional teachers or Preply | Verified credentials; Cambly tutors need no qualification |
| Business English for work | Preply or Cambly Pro | Structured curricula and targeted feedback |
| Unpredictable schedule | italki | Pay per lesson; nothing expires while you are busy |
| Cheapest structured speaking practice | Cambly Small Groups | About $4 per 30-minute group lesson |
| Learning for a child | Cambly Kids | CEFR curriculum for ages 4–15, $1 trial |
| A language other than English | italki (150+) or Preply (90+) | Cambly is English only |
| Just testing whether tutoring works for you | Cambly | $1 trial and a 7-day full refund is the lowest-risk entry |
Not sure what level you are starting from? Take our free 40-question English level test first — it takes about ten minutes and tells you your CEFR level plus which skill is holding you back, which makes choosing a tutor considerably easier.
Try them yourself
Try italki — best for low prices and no commitment. Three discounted trial lessons.
Try Preply — best for structure and accountability. Remember the trial is charged at full rate.
Try Cambly — best for on-demand speaking practice. $1 for your first 30 minutes.
Preply alternatives and competitors
If you are searching for sites like Preply, you are usually trying to escape one specific thing: the mandatory subscription. The direct answers:
- Want to pay per lesson instead of subscribing? italki. It is the closest like-for-like alternative and the main reason people switch.
- Want conversation without booking? Cambly.
- Want cheaper than both? Cambly Small Groups at around $4 a lesson, or italki community tutors at $4–5.
- Want a free option first? Language exchange apps pair you with someone learning your language. Free, but you spend half the time teaching rather than learning, and there is no teaching skill involved.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheapest — italki, Preply or Cambly?
Per lesson, Cambly Small Groups is the cheapest structured option at roughly $4 per 30-minute group lesson, though you are sharing the tutor with one or two other students. For one-to-one, italki community tutors start at $4–$5. Preply’s floor is $3 per 50-minute lesson but you must commit to at least four lessons per 28-day cycle.
Is Preply’s first lesson free?
No. You pay the tutor’s full normal rate for the trial lesson. If it does not go well you can request a free replacement, which moves the value back to your Preply balance rather than refunding your card. You get two replacements per account.
Can I buy a single lesson on Preply?
No. Preply’s help centre states that it is not possible to purchase individual lessons separately, including through customer support. A subscription of at least four lessons per 28-day cycle is required. italki is the alternative if you want to pay per lesson.
Are all Cambly tutors native English speakers?
Cambly’s tutor application requires applicants to be native English speakers, and Cambly Kids states 100% of its tutors are native speakers. However, no teaching certificate or experience is required, and Cambly does not publish a credential-verification process. Some users report encountering non-native but highly proficient tutors in practice.
Do Cambly minutes roll over?
No. Your minute balance refreshes every Monday at 3am local time and unused minutes are lost. You also cannot use more than 60 of your weekly minutes on any single day.
Can I get a refund if I cancel Cambly early?
Within the first 7 days of your first plan, yes — a full refund, even if you have taken lessons. After that, Cambly charges you for the days you used at the standard monthly rate rather than your discounted rate. On an annual plan this can mean no refund at all. Treat the annual discount as something to buy only once you are certain you will use it.
Which platform is best for IELTS or TOEFL preparation?
italki professional teachers or Preply. Both let you filter for exam specialists with verified credentials. Cambly is a poor fit for exam prep specifically, because tutors are not required to hold any qualification and some users report its IELTS materials are out of date.
Can I use more than one platform?
Yes, and it is often the best value. A common combination is one structured weekly lesson with an italki professional teacher or a Preply tutor for grammar and correction, plus cheap conversation practice on Cambly or with an italki community tutor to build fluency between lessons.
How we researched this
Every price, policy and feature above was read directly from italki, Preply and Cambly’s own websites, help centres, refund policies and terms of service in August 2026, not copied from other comparison articles. Where the companies contradict themselves — and two of them do — we have said so. Where a figure could not be verified from an official source, we have left it out rather than guess.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you sign up through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This never affects which platform we recommend — you can see above that we recommend against all three of them in specific situations. Prices were accurate on 15 August 2026 and change frequently; always check the current price before you buy.
