Preply is an online educational platform for several fields, which was established in 2012 by three young Ukrainians, anyhow later. It became one of the most prosperous sites in Ukraine and one of the most significant sites for learning languages on top of many skills remotely. Furthermore, at this time, perply is under an American administration.

More than 47,000 teachers are working with Preply. Moreover, according to statistics from July 2017, nearly 100,000 students have signed up for the site.

Preply Website Services

Preply allows you to learn more than twenty-seven languages, primarily Arabic, English, Russian, Spanish and Chinese, for being the most important languages in the world.

In addition, you can learn various skills such as programming, information technology, besides subjects such as physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, etc.

However, suppose you aim to get a permanent job and learn a language at the same time. In that case, perply offers many job opportunities on the site. You can work as a programmer, customer service representative, and several other offers. Check them out from here.

How does Preply work?

When you sign up for Preply as a student, you should go to the “Search for teachers” page, then select the language you want to learn. After that, a list will appear that contains each teacher’s name and the price of his/her lessons, besides a profile and an introductory video about him\her. You can filter your search results for teachers according to your budget, requirements, and time. However, I suggest you read the profile and watch the introductory video before choosing the teacher. Also, don’t forget to read the comments and reviews on his page. It helps to identify the teacher’s skills. After selecting the proper one, contact him via a text message and tell him about your level in the language and why you want to learn it, with asking any question you like.

After contacting the teacher, you can determine whether he is suitable for you or not. After that, you book a trial lesson by specifying the appropriate time and date. Then pay the cost of the first hour of trial afterward meet with the teacher on the selected date via the Preply Space platform, where you can make video calls along with providing a virtual whiteboard to explain lessons. Through it, on top of sending files related to classes. Also, it enables recording detailed lesson information such as homework, notes, important topics, new words, and clarifying student mistakes during the educational process, including the upcoming lesson plan.

In case that you didn’t take the lesson or were not satisfied with it, you should contact the website, and they will take the proper measures in a matter of 72 hours. as well as returning what you have paid for the first lesson 100% or you can choose another teacher on perply

Why would I choose Preply?

As we have mentioned earlier perply one of the most important platforms for learning a language online. As a result, there is ample opportunity to find skilled teachers and students who were interested in learning a new language.

Signing up for the website is free, so it’s available for everyone. Besides, searching for a teacher, texting them, and posting for requesting a teacher with specific skills, all of that is 100% free. The student should only pay his classes fees. On the other hand, for the teacher, a percentage will be taken from him by the website

tens of thousands of teachers are working in perply which means that the student will definitely find a perfect teacher, in contrast, there is a vast opportunity for the teacher to gain money, experience and having a chance to work with people from different countries around the world

The most essential courses and skills available on Preply

Preply offers many educational courses such as:

Learning the most popular languages in the world, which are: English, Spanish, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Arabic and Italian.
Courses for learning or improving the most popular scientific subjects such as: mathematics, algebra, biology, chemistry and physics, in addition to programming and computer languages.
Ready-to-use educational plans and courses. The website added a new feature, about a year ago, for learning the English language. These are ready plans that include placement exams, the essential educational materials, written and oral tests that can take place with the tutor. These courses save the tutor’s effort, as he/she does not need to search for material sources or appropriate tests for the student. On the other hand, students can choose their preferred subject that they wish to learn or improve.

The next steps after having the first lesson

After having your first lesson, where you discuss with your tutor all details about the plan of your sessions, you can decide whether you are going to continue working with that tutor or not. Also, you can buy a package of lessons that can be of 5, 10, 15, or 20 lessons, which will guarantee the safety of your money as you receive a confirmation request immediately after the lesson, and the tutor gets paid after you rate and confirm it.

You can use other platforms apart from Preply such as Skype, WhatsApp, or others, and you will still be able to receive a confirmation request on Preply.

If you are satisfied with the first lesson, leave a good review on the tutor’s profile. It will help other students to choose the appropriate tutor for them.

The steps to take for a satisfacting results

Discuss with your tutor all the details that concern the educational process, then set a work plan to ensure achieving the desired result. After confirming each lesson, the tutor will receive the funds on his\her Preply account.

If you choose the auto-confirmation of lessons within your settings, the lesson will be confirmed 72 hours after the lesson completion time (or 72 hours after the lesson is added to the Calendar for the lessons added in the past). This feature is applied to all lessons except the first one, and it can be enabled or disabled at any time.

If you do not have any books or materials for learning, ask your tutor to send you there. Keep doing your homework, repeat everything you have learned during the lesson, and text the tutor in Preply chat if you need any further help.

For the best results, choose the system of “weekly lessons” which lets you meet your tutor at a specific regular time every week. You can schedule more than one weekly lesson and meet your tutor regularly several times a week. This system will organize the educational process and ensure the highest benefit of lessons. Also try to avoid side talks during the lesson, as the time is limited.

If your plans change and you have to cancel or reschedule the lesson, that should occur no less than four hours before its planned time. Otherwise, you are liable to be charged the full amount for the scheduled lesson.

If you want to cancel or reschedule the lesson, you should do so, in less than four hours before the lesson, in order to avoid paying without having it. However, if you need to cancel the lesson in less than 4 hours, contact your tutor and ask for a cancelation or reschedule.

Payment methods in Preply

Preply offers three payment methods for students to pay for their courses:

Paypal
MasterCard / VisaCard

As for tutors, they can withdraw their income to their accounts on:

Direct withdrawal to a Payoneer MasterCard.
Skrill
Paypal
Wise

Click here to sign up on Preply and get a private tutor

Preply compared to other educational websites

Preply is free, while there might be some conditions or charges on using the website services. Here is a simple comparison between Preply and another two educational websites: Italki and Verbling.

The prices of lessons in Italki are usually cheaper than lessons in Preply and Verbling. Furthermore, Italki provides free additional features that help you to get a higher benefit of learning. These features are not available on the other two websites.

In contrast, Preply has a lot of other subjects to learn besides languages, but you can work with only one tutor at one time. The website will suggest another tutor in case you stop working with that tutor.

The system in Verbling and Italki gives you the opportunity to pay for one lesson each time, which makes buying lessons more convenient than it is at Preply.

The most important rules on Preply:

Preply does not allow sharing any contact information or full names before the student pays for the first lesson on the platform. Otherwise, your account might be hidden or blocked.
The value of the first lesson paid by the student will be 100% for the website, which means that the teacher does not get it. For the next lessons, the website commission will be 33%, 28,% 25%, 22%, or 18% of lessons value according to the number of the completed lesson hours with students. So do not worry, this concerns the tutors but never affects students. The next table shows more details:

Number of hours	Commission value
0–20	33%
21–50	28%
51–200	25%
201–400	22%
400+	18%

Preply prevents tutors from registering two or more accounts on the platform, providing misleading or fake information in their profile and getting payments from Preply students outside the platform.

Registering on Preply as a tutor

Signing up and registering on Preply as a tutor is free and available for anyone. After that, the tutor can add his\her information that the website requests. In addition, he\she sets the preferred withdrawal method then verifies the account by adding an introductory video and uploading some documents.

The website allows tutors to send requests to the students who are looking for tutors by posting public requests. Do not forget to contact the support center if you face a problem or need any help.

The education quality on Preply

The education quality in Preply is considered excellent, especially that you can filter your search to choose the best tutor for you with the best qualification and preferred specialization. Moreover, you can choose a learning plan that Preply provides. Eventually, a lesson’s quality depends on both tutor and student.

The tutor should be responsible for providing an effective, clear, and beneficial lesson. In contrast, the student should be serious about the lesson, listen to the tutor’s advice and instructions, keep doing homework on time, and focus on the time he\she spends on learning at home more than the lessons they have with the tutor because it is important to make sure that he\she will not forget the new information they just learned, and therefore, to continue to the next lesson.

Cons of Preply for both Tutors & Students

If you search for an online language learning platform, Preply will appear at the top of the google search page, as it is one of the most popular websites. However, same as any other thing, it has some negatives despite its popularity. Here are some negative sides of Preply that some people may find negative:

1. Contacting outside Preply:

Preply prevents contact between students and tutors outside the platform, as well as sharing contact information, full names, emails, and sending files before the student pays for the first lesson. In case of violating this condition, both student and tutor’s accounts who exchanged their emails or phone numbers will be blocked or hidden.

2. Preply’s commission values from tutors:

Registration on the website is free for both students and tutors. If you want to work as a tutor, the website’s commission will vary from 33% to 18% on each lesson. The commission value will be deducted automatically from your lesson’s price before you receive your funds. Note that the more lessons you make the less commission you pay, but it can not be less than 18%, no matter how many lessons you had already. Preply’s commission of the first lesson will always be 100% of its value.

3. Tutoring more than one language or subject:

You can choose to teach two languages at the same time, that is possible. However, if you decided to teach a third language or even a scientific or literary subject, that is not possible. According to the website conditions, professionalism requires specialization in one or -maximum- two languages or subjects.

4. Money withdrawal for tutors:

There are several methods to withdraw funds from the Preply account, as mentioned above. However, some of them might not be available in your country, so you will need to pay more commissions -on other websites- to receive your funds from your bank account.

5. Minimum lessons packages:

After the first lesson takes place, Preply will ask the student to buy a lessons package of at least 5 hours, which might be a reason for them to not continue learning on this website.

For example, if your lesson costs $10, the student has to pay at least $50 at once and this might be difficult or inconvenient for some students who wish to pay for only one or two lessons.

In contrast, this condition might be great in order to encourage some students to continue learning.

Important notes on Preply:

If you are registered in Preply as a student, search for a tutor with specific qualifications or abilities that you need, filter your search by choosing, the price range, the convenient time and tutor’s origin. You can also filter your search by the exam you want to prepare for, such as TOFEL and IELTS. After you choose a tutor, watch their video, read their introduction and reviews. In case they are good and appropriate, contact the tutor by sending a message in which you explain your goals, your language level and preferred time for a trial lesson.
Whether you are a student or a tutor on Preply, try to stay within the process of language or skill learning without any side conversations that are not related to the lesson or educational process, because this will waste the lesson time and student’s money.
Conducting lessons through Preply Space guarantees the platform’s supervision of the lesson to be within the needed standards and conditions. It also provides an auto-confirmation of the lesson and the tutor receives the funds as the lesson is over.
In case you are a tutor, keep checking your account and email regularly to make sure that you reply to all students that are contacting you. If you do not reply to a new message within 48 hours, your profile might be hidden. And the average time you take to respond to your new messages is also shown on your profile.

Is working on Preply as a tutor worth it?

A new tutor may face difficulties to find new students, as there are so many tutors that have been working on Preply for a long time, have a good experience, and lots of positive reviews. However, the new tutor can find new students and get experience with time. Also, replying to the public requests that students post searching for tutors, may help.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of Preply is the possibility of working and getting paid remotely. No need to meet your student locally which might be inconvenient for both of you, so, your lesson can take place no matter where you are based or located, as long as you have a good Internet connection and are able to conduct lessons.

You can choose the same currency on the platform and your bank account, in order to receive your funds -through money transfer websites or directly- in the same currency and avoid losing an amount during conversion.

Click here to sign up on Preply and get a private tutor

The conclusion of Preply Review:

Overall, Preply is one of the greatest online platforms for learning languages remotely and it is becoming more and more popular in the middle east, as it offers so many educational choices.

The purpose of any of the notes mentioned above is for both tutors and students to take into consideration and avoid any future inconveniences after signing up for Preply. In my opinion, they are not all negatives as much as they are notes.

For me, Preply is one of the websites would definitely recommend, if you find your educational aspirations, especially with tutors from different countries. That will ensure that you get a highly experienced tutor and an excellent quality of education.

For less serious online lessons you can learn through other platforms such as Cambly.

Frequently asked questions about Preply

Is preply one of the best online learning websites?

If you search for the best online platforms for learning languages, Preply will appear at the top of the list, with the best qualified and certified tutors and different specializations from all over the world.

Is registering for Preply free?

Yes, both students and tutors can register for free.

Can I refund my money if I decided to stop having lessons?

Of course, you can refund your unused money on Preply.

Can I have a free lesson on Preply?

No, all lessons on Preply are paid according to the tutor’s price.

As a tutor, how can I withdraw money from Preply?

The website provides several options to withdraw money, including PayPal, Skrill, and others.

Can I pay for the tutor outside Preply?

Preply prevents placing payments outside the platform. Otherwise, your Preply account can be blocked.

Can I have less or more than one hour at once?

Yes, the site provides a lesson with a duration of half an hour to three hours at once.

What if the tutor increases the lesson price?

You can stop conducting lessons with that tutor, get your money back for the unused lessons, report the issue and ask the support center to suggest another tutor.

Is it possible to place an advertisement on Preply?

The website is only for teaching and you cannot promote any product or service outside this field.

What is Preply? Is it the best site to learn Arabic? 2021