Comparison
TutorPax vs italki
italki is a marketplace built specifically for language teaching, with a large international student base and its own booking and payment system.
TutorPax is not a marketplace and never sends you students. It rents you the website — your own domain, your own pages, your own course sales — for a flat €19 a month, and takes nothing from what you charge.
Where italki is the better choice
- Genuinely global demand for language lessons, all day, every timezone.
- Lower commission than most general tutoring marketplaces.
- Students arrive already expecting to book and pay online.
Why tutors look for something else
- A commission on repeat students you brought back yourself.
- Heavy price competition — the marketplace makes rate the first thing a student compares.
- No way to package your method into a course students buy once and work through alone.
- You are building a profile, not a business that can be sold or handed on.
How they charge
Free to join. italki keeps a published percentage of each lesson's price, applied to every lesson including repeat students.
Published figures as of 2026-09-19. Platforms change their terms — check your own account for the rate that applies to you today.
Side by side
italki compared with TutorPax
| italki | TutorPax | |
|---|---|---|
| Cut of your lesson fee | Commission on every lesson | None — you charge students directly |
| Repeat students | Still commissioned | Cost you nothing extra |
| Sell recorded courses | No | Yes, with video hosting included |
| Your own domain | No | Yes, your own domain |
| Set your own terms | Within platform rules | Entirely yours |
Not sure the commission is worth worrying about? Put your own rate and hours into the calculator →
Straight answer
When you should stay with italki
You have no students yet
A marketplace solves the hardest problem in tutoring: the first student. If you are starting from nobody, the commission is buying you something real. Build your own site alongside it, not instead of it.
You teach occasionally
A flat monthly fee only beats a percentage once you are teaching regularly. A few hours a month and the maths goes the other way — check it before you move.
Most tutors run both for a while. The marketplace keeps producing students while your own site builds up search traffic and referrals, and the balance shifts on its own.
Questions tutors ask
I teach languages online only. Do I need a website?
You need somewhere that is yours to send people to. For an online-only teacher that matters more, not less — you have no shopfront, no local word of mouth, and no noticeboard. Your site is the whole shopfront.
Try TutorPax free for 30 days
Build your site, connect a domain, sell a course. No card needed to start.