italki

italki is an online marketplace for language lessons. Learners pick a teacher, book a one-to-one lesson and pay for each lesson, with no subscription. Teachers set their own prices. The privacy policy names italki HK Limited, with its affiliate Lingbe, S.L., as the operating company, and the business page says italki was founded in 2007. The vendor homepage says the site has more than 20,000 teachers across over 150 languages, and learners from more than 190 countries use its community.

There are two teacher types: professional teachers with proven experience and qualifications, and community tutors who share a language they love. Beyond lessons, italki offers group classes, a free community, vocabulary sets, podcasts, quizzes and a language assessment. A separate italki Business product handles corporate training with an admin dashboard.

• One-to-one lessons. Lessons run 30, 45 or 60 minutes, and up to 90 minutes for longer sessions. The vendor says there is no cap on lessons per week as long as you and the teacher have time, and no fixed schedule to follow.
• Instant Lesson. For learners who want to start straight away, the vendor describes an Instant Lesson that begins a trial lesson without waiting for a booked slot. This suits trying a language before choosing a regular teacher.
• italki Classroom. A built-in classroom for video or audio lessons with screen sharing, a whiteboard that accepts uploaded files, drawing and text tools, and private lesson notes. It runs in current Chrome, Firefox or Safari, or in the iOS and Android app, with no separate software.
• Group classes. The homepage offers online group classes designed and led by expert teachers, listed beside one-to-one lessons. Class pages are organized by language, such as an English group class listing.
• Community and learning tools. Learners can post to the community for feedback from other learners and use vocabulary sets, podcasts, prompts and quizzes. The vendor homepage also offers a free language assessment that shows participation counts per language.
• italki Business. A corporate training product with a company dashboard, employee management tools, credit distribution, invoice download and reports. The Premium tier adds teacher recommendations, a customized learning plan and a dedicated account manager.

• A solo learner preparing for a work trip. The learner books a few 30-minute lessons around a travel date, picks a teacher whose listed price fits the budget and uses the Classroom whiteboard for vocabulary. No subscription means nothing recurs after the trip.
• A 40-person company with international clients. An HR lead uses italki Business to give staff lesson credits. Standard covers up to 100 users at $9.99 per user per month, with bulk invitations, department management and detailed reports, per the vendor's business page.
• A self-study learner on a tight budget. The learner skips paid lessons for now and uses the community, quizzes, podcasts and the free assessment. Teacher lessons can be added later, because lesson payment is per session and not tied to an account plan.

Choose a language on italki.com, use Find my teacher, compare teachers and book a lesson, or try an Instant Lesson. Sign-up happens through the Signup/Login button. To enter the lesson, go to your dashboard or lesson details and select Enter Classroom, after checking your connection, camera and microphone.

A supported browser needs no extra software, and iOS and Android apps are available. The vendor says you are not locked into hard commitments and can browse many teaching styles until one fits. Teachers apply separately through the Become a teacher page. A free language assessment is available for placement.

italki has no subscription: you book single lessons from teachers who price themselves, which gives the cleanest exit in the tutor category.

The homepage shows featured rates from USD 9 to 20, but the page lists no platform fee and no cost for trial lessons, so the real cost per hour comes from the teacher you choose and cannot be fixed in advance.

italki is entry #8 of 17 in the language learning apps list: it follows Preply and comes before Mondly. From place 4 the established names follow in their ranked order; we publish no numeric score.

By headquarters, 2 of the 17 are established in Asia-Pacific, as italki is in Hong Kong.

In the catalogue: Pay as you go; each teacher sets the lesson price.

Lessons are pay as you go and each teacher sets the price. Teacher cards on the homepage show lessons starting from USD 7.50, USD 10.00, USD 12.00, USD 13.00 and USD 15.00 for different teachers, which are examples and not a rate card. italki Business lists Basic at no charge for up to 10 users, Standard at $9.99 per user per month for up to 100 users, and Premium with unlimited users on request. Platform fees, credit purchase rules and refund terms were not readable on the pages we reached.

Read from italki.com when Best Language Learning Apps in 2026 was last reviewed (7 November 2026).

Lessons run 30 or 45 minutes and can stretch to 90, and group classes are offered.

The site covers 150+ languages, which is wide for a tutor marketplace, but scheduling and exit are entirely between you and the teacher.

The privacy policy is effective as of January 30, 2026 and names italki HK Limited and Lingbe, S.L. It says that where services are offered in the European Economic Area the company is subject to GDPR, with an EEA data representative and a data protection officer, and that UK GDPR applies in the United Kingdom.

Deletion is possible on a verifiable request, though content tied to lessons used by other users may stay. Hosting region and certifications are not stated.

Integrations the vendor names (3):

• italki app for iOS and Android
• WeChat mini program (named in the privacy policy)
• Chrome, Firefox and Safari browsers for the Classroom

These are the nearest neighbours of italki in the same list, picked on shared traits and price model.

• Rocket Languages (#1 of 17): Buy a course once and keep it, with a long refund window. (New Zealand)
• Pimsleur (#10 of 17): Suits: Commuters who want to learn to speak by listening.
• Rosetta Stone (#11 of 17): Aimed at: Learners who want immersion lessons plus optional tutoring.
• LingoDeer (#17 of 17): Grammar-led language courses with one subscription across twenty languages. Watch out: the pricing page does not say which membership plans the 7-day money-back guarantee covers, so refund terms need checking before purchase.

Read from the vendor’s own pages on 5 November 2026.

• italki.com/en: marketplace, teacher counts, FAQ, example lesson prices
• italki.com/en/business: italki Business tiers and features
• italki.com/en/italki-classroom: Classroom features
• italki.com/en/privacy: operator, GDPR statements, deletion

We test for four things rather than for features: setup time, price in practice, exit and audience. That puts italki at #8 of 17. Details: how we rank software.