italki
Tutor marketplace: marketplace of professional and community tutors, priced per lesson.
Prices checked 17 Oct 2026 · How we check
Is italki worth it?
Our pick: Best for speaking with a tutor.
Yes, if you want lessons with a teacher you choose, paid lesson by lesson, in any of 104 languages.
What it costs. Set by each teacher: typically $4 to $10 for a 30-minute lesson in English, French and Spanish, as italki states (checked 17 Oct 2026). One such lesson a week is $208 to $520 a year. Prices by language are under Plans and prices.
What's free. No free tier; discounted trial lesson with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.
Skip it if you want one fixed price or an app to study alone: each teacher sets their own rate.
What learners rate it. 4.8 out of 5 from 9,847 ratings in Apple's US App Store and 4.8 from 18,656 on Google Play, checked 11 Oct 2026.
What unhappy reviewers mention. Of the 101 one- and two-star reviews among the 500 most recent in Apple's US App Store, 21 mention the price, billing or the subscription; 20 the use of AI; and 9 bugs, crashes or the app not loading. Read 15 Oct 2026; a review can mention several.
$4 to $10 a lesson typical for 30 minutes in English, French and Spanish; each teacher sets a rate
In our comparison: strongest on speaking practice and the number of languages, weakest on offline use.
- Annual plan
- —
- Monthly plan
- —
- Lifetime plan
- —
- Free tier
-
None - Languages
- 104
- Speech recognition
- —
- Live tutoring
- Every lesson is live and one to one; italki also sells group classes.
- Offline mode
- —
- Placement test
- Yes
- CEFR levels
- —
- Refund or trial
- Discounted trial lesson with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee: up to two credit refunds on trial lessons if the teacher did not show up or did not meet expectations, requested within 48 hours
- Platforms
- iOS, Android, Web
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Links to the app makers' own sites earn us nothing. Commissions never affect which apps we recommend. Affiliate disclosure and how the data is collected.
How an italki lesson works
- What you do
- A live video lesson with the teacher you pick, usually 30 to 60 minutes.
- What comes back
- A person: your tutor corrects you as you speak, live.
- Not included
- Lessons to study alone between classes.
How a lesson works in a tutor marketplace
Plans and prices
Every consumer plan on italki's own pricing page or app-store listing, in US dollars unless marked. Per month is the plan price divided by its term. Each price is what the seller was charging on the day we checked it. When a plan was on sale, its regular price is shown under the sale price; a crossed-out figure that is only a comparison, such as a year at the monthly rate, is in the plan's note.
| Plan | Billing | Price | Per month | Covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typical 30-minute lesson (English, French and Spanish tutors)Each teacher sets a rate. italki's English, French and Spanish pages say tutors cost $4 to $60 an hour and a 30-minute lesson typically $4 to $10; other languages have their own figures, under Prices by language below. | Per lesson | $4 to $10 | per lesson | one teacher, one lesson |
Prices by language
What italki's own page for each language says its tutors charge (checked 11 Oct 2026). Each tutor sets a rate, so these are italki's figures, not a price for any one tutor. Languages italki gives no figure for are left out.
| Language | What italki says lessons cost | One lesson a week, for a year |
|---|---|---|
| Arabic | $5 to $50 an hour | $260 to $2,600 for an hour a week |
| Chinese | $10 to $40 an hour | $520 to $2,080 for an hour a week |
| English | $4 to $60 an hour; a 30-minute lesson typically $4 to $10 | $208 to $520 for 30-minute lessons at the typical price |
| French | $4 to $60 an hour; a 30-minute lesson typically $4 to $10 | $208 to $520 for 30-minute lessons at the typical price |
| Greek | $10 to $40 or more an hour | From $520 for an hour a week |
| Japanese | $15 to $60 an hour; a 30-minute lesson typically $3 to $10 | $156 to $520 for 30-minute lessons at the typical price |
| Portuguese | $5 to $30 an hour | $260 to $1,560 for an hour a week |
| Spanish | $4 to $60 an hour; a 30-minute lesson typically $4 to $10 | $208 to $520 for 30-minute lessons at the typical price |
| Turkish | About $10 to $30 or more a lesson | From $520 for a lesson a week |
| Amharic | $5 to $30 or more an hour | From $260 for an hour a week |
| Bosnian | About $5 to $30 or more a lesson | From $260 for a lesson a week |
| Bulgarian | $8 to $25 an hour | $416 to $1,300 for an hour a week |
| Catalan | $10 to $40 an hour | $520 to $2,080 for an hour a week |
| Georgian | $10 to $30 an hour | $520 to $1,560 for an hour a week |
| Gujarati | $5 to $30 an hour | $260 to $1,560 for an hour a week |
| Indonesian | $10 to $30 or more an hour | From $520 for an hour a week |
| Lao | $8 to $30 an hour | $416 to $1,560 for an hour a week |
| Macedonian | $8 to $25 an hour | $416 to $1,300 for an hour a week |
| Malay | $5 to $30 an hour | $260 to $1,560 for an hour a week |
| Somali | $5 to $25 an hour | $260 to $1,300 for an hour a week |
| Swahili | $10 to $30 an hour | $520 to $1,560 for an hour a week |
Before subscribing, compare trial, cancellation and refund terms, including how purchases through an app store differ.
How to cancel italki, and how refunds work
What italki says about itself
| Feature | What italki says |
|---|---|
| CEFR levels | — |
| What it is | Marketplace of human teachers and community tutors booked per lesson, paid with prepaid italki Credits. |
| Languages offered | 104: Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Azeri, Basque, Belarusian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Cebuano, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, Flemish, French, Gaelic, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Khmer, Kinyarwanda, Klingon, Korean, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Lao, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luo, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay, Malayalam, Maltese, Maori, Marathi, Mongolian, Nepali, Norwegian, Ojibwe, Pashtu, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Quichua, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Sanskrit, Serbian, Sindhi, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tajik, Tamazight, Tamil, Tatar, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uyghur, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Welsh, Xhosa, Yiddish, Yoruba, Zulu |
| Free tier | None |
| Platforms | iOS, Android, Web |
| Offline mode | — |
| Speech recognition | — |
| Live tutoring | Every lesson is live and one to one; italki also sells group classes. |
| Placement test | Yes |
| Refund or trial | Discounted trial lesson with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee: up to two credit refunds on trial lessons if the teacher did not show up or did not meet expectations, requested within 48 hours |
| Company | italki HK Limited, Hong Kong, founded 2006 |
How italki compares
italki is strongest on speaking practice and the number of languages, weakest on offline use. Each criterion is scored out of 5 from what each app says about itself and from independent reviews, to compare apps that do the same job; it is not a review of the app. How we score.
| Feature | Score (of 5) | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Teaching depth | 2 | Marketplace of professional and community tutors, priced per lesson |
| Speaking practice | 5 | Live lessons with a tutor are the product |
| Language coverage | 5 | 104 languages |
| Free tier | 2 | No free tier |
| Price per month | 3.5 | $4 to $10 a lesson; the tutor sets the rate |
| Trial and refund | 3 | A trial lesson that disappoints is refunded in credit, not cash |
| Offline use | 1 | — |
| Staying power and bugs | 4 | Reviewers report people keep using it and few bugs |
Languages you can learn on italki
104 languages as listed by italki.
Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Azeri, Basque, Belarusian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Cebuano, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, Flemish, French, Gaelic, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Khmer, Kinyarwanda, Klingon, Korean, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Lao, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luo, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay, Malayalam, Maltese, Maori, Marathi, Mongolian, Nepali, Norwegian, Ojibwe, Pashtu, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Quichua, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Sanskrit, Serbian, Sindhi, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tajik, Tamazight, Tamil, Tatar, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uyghur, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Welsh, Xhosa, Yiddish, Yoruba, Zulu
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References
- italki: English teachers (checked 11 Oct 2026)
- italki: site map of languages taught (checked 6 Sept 2026)
- italki: home page (checked 6 Sept 2026)
- italki: the app
- italki: about (checked 6 Sept 2026)
- italki help: satisfaction guarantee (checked 6 Sept 2026)
- italki: company
- italki help: affiliate programme (checked 6 Sept 2026)
- The Mezzofanti Guild, the reviewer used the app (1 Sept 2026)
- Eternal Expat, the reviewer used the app