Italki Prices: Why Are The Prices Not Stable?

Online English
Last update: January 8, 2024

Table of Contents


  1. Italki Prices: An Overview
  2. Italki's Cheapest and Most Expensive Lessons
  3. Italki Language Test
  4. Conclusion: Is Italki Worth It?

Italki prices range from 5 to 80 USD for individual lessons. Group lesson prices range from 6 to 16 USD.


1. Italki Prices: An Overview


Italki prices, as seen on their website, are not fixed. This is because teachers set their own rates and aim to offer a more diverse pricing structure, likely due to teaching over 150 different languages. The prices range from 5 to 80 USD for individual lessons and from 6 to 16 USD for group lessons. Even though the difference is not much for group lessons, the price range between individual lessons is too much. 

This range is most probably because of the number of teachers italki works with. Only for English, italki has almost 3000 tutors. When these tutors decide how much to claim for an individual lesson, naturally, the difference between the cheapest and the most expensive lesson increases. Also, according to the feedback from people who have previously taught at Italki, Italki teachers initially keep their prices very low and then increase them in order to gain experience and get as many evaluations as possible when they start teaching. I personally think that the high number of tutors and the high variability of prices makes it very difficult for the student. In addition to this, the fact that Italki claims to offer lessons in more than 150 languages, in my opinion, lowers the quality of the platform for English lessons and discourages users from using the platform.


2. Italki's Cheapest and Most Expensive Lessons


Since prices are highly variable and there are a large number of teachers on the platform, I would be glad to provide you with more information by comparing the two teachers I’ve selected: the teacher with the lowest price and the teacher with the highest price.


The Lowest-Priced Teacher:


On Italki, many teachers charge $5 per hour for their lessons. To save you from having to browse through all of them individually, I have selected the one I believe to be the most qualified: 


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Marwane. They have been teaching for over nine years, stating that Arabic is their native language, but they are also professionally proficient in English and French. Marwane has provided a total of 887 lessons on Italki and has received an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 from student evaluations. They offer beginner-level English lessons and English conversation lessons. Beginner-level English lessons come in 30, 45, 60, or 90-minute options, priced at $5 for 30-45 minutes, $6 for 60 minutes, and $9 for 90 minutes. Conversation lessons are available for 30-60 minutes, priced at $5. While these prices may seem very affordable, personally, I do not believe it is reasonable to expect extensive lessons at these prices from a non-native English speaker.


The Highest-Priced Teacher:


On Italki, I encountered very few teachers who charge $80 per hour for English lessons, and to prevent you from getting lost among thousands of teachers on the website, I would like to share one of them with you:


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Madame Daria is a native Greek speaker but is professionally proficient in English. She did not mention how long she has been teaching or her age, but in my opinion, she seems relatively young and may not have extensive experience. Madame Daria has taught 3916 lessons on Italki so far and has received a perfect rating of 5 out of 5 from her students. She offers English conversation lessons at the A2-C2 levels. Daria's 30-minute lesson is priced at $77, while the 45 and 60-minute lessons are priced at $80. The hourly rate is quite expensive, especially for a non-native English speaker, and I have my doubts as to whether it is worth paying such a high fee for her lessons.

3. Italki Language Test


We thought it would be beneficial to share the experience of one of our users for you to have a closer look at Italki prices. Here is their experience of researching Italki prices and taking a language test:


“I first heard of italki when I read an article on the italki experience on bestlanguagelearningapps.com. Later on, I thought of giving Italki a chance and decided to gather more information about the prices. During this process, I visited the italki website and noticed that the prices offered by teachers could vary significantly. This led me to question the platform's sincerity because I was used to platforms offering fixed prices. I still believe they are better. Anyway, apart from the varying prices, another thing that made me question the platform was it working with too many teachers and teaching too many languages. I personally believe an online language learning platform should focus on one language and should be very selective when hiring tutors. 


Still, I wanted to give italki a chance and decided to try their language test. However, I was shocked when I saw you had to pay for the test. I couldn’t believe it because what kind of a language learning program would want money to test your level. For italki language test, you need to pay 30 Dollars while for Oxford Placement Test, also provided on italki website, you need to pay 10 Dollars. I couldn’t figure out why we would pay for a test like this but I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the italki language test was more expensive than Oxford Placement Test. This made me think the platform is after its students’ money and does not care about them at all. That is why I suggest anyone go try other platforms.”


4. Conclusion: is Italki Worth it?


Based on my research and considering the feedback from our users, I believe that Italki may not be worth the money unless you opt for the cheapest lessons available. This is primarily due to the high number of teachers available on the platform, which may lead to a lack of professionalism in some cases. Additionally, the fact that Italki offers instruction in over 150 languages, including English, raises concerns about the quality of English lessons. Therefore, while I leave the final decision to you, I would suggest researching other platforms where you can find lessons at similar prices. It may be beneficial to choose a platform that focuses specifically on English instruction. 


On your journey to find the best online English learning platform, don’t forget to visit our website to compare two platforms of your choice!

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