Disclosure: We may earn a commission if you sign up to either of these through the links below, at no extra cost to you. Both pay us; that has not changed what we say about them.
italki vs Preply
Both are marketplaces for one-to-one lessons with the same basic model, so the real difference is price and how much sifting you are willing to do.
Side by side
| italki | Preply | |
|---|---|---|
| How you study | 1-on-1 tutor | 1-on-1 tutor |
| Supports up to | C2 | C2 |
| Typical cost | about $60/month at a normal cadence | about $40/month at a normal cadence |
| Last checked | 2026-08-07 | 2026-08-07 |
Pick italki if
You would rather pay a little more for a deeper pool of professional teachers, and you want the option of cheap community tutors for conversation practice separately.
Pick Preply if
Budget is the binding constraint and you are willing to try several tutors to find one worth keeping.
Pick neither if
At A1 with no self-study habit, either is expensive silence. Tutor time is worth most once you have something to be corrected on — build a base first, then buy the correction.
The same target, both ways
Hours to C2 at an hour a day, five days a week — the highest level both of these support, so the only one they can honestly be compared at. Method multipliers are 1.05×–1.05× for italki and 1.05×–1.05× for Preply, rising with the level in both cases.
Identical, because the model treats both as the same study method. Whatever separates these two, it is not efficiency — so the choice is about what you will actually keep doing, and about price.
What each costs over that project
Spanish to C2 at that pace runs about 43 months. Over that stretch:
- italki — about $60/month at a normal cadence, about $2,580 across 43 months — and it keeps charging after that if you keep going.
- Preply — about $40/month at a normal cadence, about $1,720 across 43 months — and it keeps charging after that if you keep going.
Prices were checked on 2026-08-07 and 2026-08-07 and go stale; confirm on each merchant's own site before paying. A one-off and a subscription are also not comparable as headline prices — the break-even is about nineteen months, and most real projects run longer than that.
Who each one is wrong for
italki
- Absolute beginners with no self-study habit — lessons are expensive silence otherwise
- People who cannot commit to a scheduled time each week
- Anyone uncomfortable speaking badly in front of a stranger, at least at first
Preply
- Anyone who wants one vetted tutor rather than a marketplace to sift
- Learners who need a fixed curriculum — quality varies by tutor
What this comparison is not
We have not run these two side by side for a month and scored them. Everything above is either documented fact — price, method, the level each product covers — or the same matching logic the calculator uses. You will not find a star rating here, because we have not earned the right to give one.
Work out what your target actually takes first — it changes which of these two is even a candidate.