EF English Live Discount: Is EF English Live Worth Doing?

Although EF English Live is a global platform with a long-standing history, it is one of the least transparent platforms in the industry when it comes to pricing. Not displaying its prices directly on the website is its biggest disadvantage and the most frequently criticized aspect.

Discount Strategy: Phone Negotiation Instead of Public Codes

The platform’s discount strategy follows a traditional retail sales approach:

• No Public Discount Code: Codes like “EF20,” which existed in the past, generally no longer work. The goal is not to send you away with a code but to convince you to buy during a phone call.
• Special Offers: The platform attracts users into its sales funnel with offers that appear attractive—such as “1 Month Free and 12 Extra Private Lessons”—but can only be obtained after a one-on-one call with the sales team.

Insight: It is difficult to find a working discount code because EF aims not to present clear pricing upfront, but to persuade you over the phone to purchase a long-term, high-cost package. For users who are price-sensitive, this significantly increases the risk of being drawn into an expensive commitment.

EF English Live’s biggest difference from its competitors is that it does not separate private lessons and group lessons. Regardless of the package you choose, you receive around 30 group classes per month. This is a strategy designed to make users feel as if they are receiving plenty of lessons.

Group Classes: Unlimited Appearance, Limited Effectiveness:

Group lessons last 30 minutes and can have a high number of students. Although having many group classes is often used to justify the high price, your individual speaking time (especially in classes with 8–10 students) remains very limited.

Package Options & Pricing

Below is EF English Live’s current structure:

• Private lessons are 40 minutes.
• Prices are based on a 12-month commitment.

The platform generally does not offer short-term or commitment-free packages.

Cost Per Lesson: The Hidden Reality

EF does not sell private lessons separately. Because group lessons are bundled into the monthly package, the true cost of private lessons becomes hidden.

For example, if you pay $109/month for 4 private lessons, each private lesson costs about $27.25 USD (even without counting group classes).In the cheapest plan with only 2 private lessons ($89/month), each private lesson costs about $44.5 USD.

These numbers make the platform quite expensive for users who do not need group lessons and prefer one-on-one private lessons.

I'm sharing my experience that outlines, step by step, the sales process the platform uses to confirm our suspicions about hidden costs:

When I wanted to learn EF English Live’s prices, I couldn't find any pricing on the website. I had to register in order to get price information.

• Registration: I signed up by providing my personal details and phone number.
• Email: Shortly after, I received an email saying they would call me and asking me to choose a time for the call.
• Waiting Time: The earliest appointment they offered was exactly 3 hours later. Waiting 3 hours just to learn prices is unreasonable and part of a tiring sales funnel.
• Phone Call (Sales Pitch): The sales representative gave a long presentation about the platform’s long history, certified teachers, and extensive group-class options before discussing prices. Pricing was left until the end, and the emphasis was on the “high value” of ~30 monthly group classes rather than on private lessons.

💡 Insight: This process is a classic Sales Funnel tactic: by keeping prices hidden, they get the customer emotionally invested in the platform and create a “don’t-miss” feeling over the phone to push expensive packages.

A summary of the platform’s strengths and weaknesses:

EF English Live stands out with its strong corporate structure and group classes, while new-generation online English platforms focus on transparency, flexibility, and AI-supported one-to-one lessons.

Flalingo Integration: Transparency and Assurance

Flalingo offers the exact opposite model of EF’s confidentiality and long-term commitment policy:

Price Comparison Chart: Cost Per Lesson (Monthly)

Compared to EF’s high-commitment packages with limited private lessons, here are the estimated monthly costs of its competitors (calculated based on 2 private lessons per week):

Most of the complaints about EF English Live focus on post-sales support and cancellation issues. This is the biggest risk in any subscription that requires a long-term commitment.

Cancellation Fee Warning:

According to reports, EF’s contracts may charge users who want to cancel after the 14-day legal withdrawal period up to 30% of the remaining contract amount as a cancellation fee. In some cases, cancellation is not allowed after 90 days, and the platform requests the full remaining payment.

Unauthorized Card Charges:

Users have reported unauthorized charges even after their subscription period ended or despite submitting cancellation requests.

User Experience Summary (Trustpilot – 1 Star):

 One user (Arezou, October 2025) stated that the $330 cancellation fee for the 12-month course was intentionally hidden from them. They also mentioned that group classes were ineffective (half of the 40-minute lesson spent on introductions) and that the promised quality was not delivered. This shows that low quality is paired with strict financial obligations.

How to Protect Yourself

If you plan to subscribe to a platform with such a long commitment and a difficult cancellation process:

• Always read the contract carefully.
• Consider using a virtual card for payments.
• Keep a record of every interaction you have with customer service.

EF English Live can be a good option for users who want corporate-level structure, certified teachers, and plenty of group classes, and who do not mind price opacity or long-term commitments.

However, whether it is truly worth it depends entirely on your need for one-to-one lessons and your tolerance for financial risk.

• If you need 4 or more private one-to-one lessons per week, EF’s packages are insufficient and expensive.
• If you prefer knowing prices upfront, do not want to be persuaded through phone sales, and expect easy cancellation/refund guarantees, EF becomes a risky choice.

With more transparent, commitment-free, and private-lesson-focused alternatives available, taking on EF English Live’s high price tag and hidden commitment risks is not the path I would recommend as an EdTech Analyst.