Wyzant vs Preply vs Classentra: 2026 Head-to-Head
Honest head-to-head of Wyzant, Preply, and Classentra in 2026 — commission math on real lesson prices, student-ownership tradeoffs, feature comparison, and a decision tree on which to use when.
By Classentra Editorial
Three platforms, three completely different bets. Wyzant and Preply sell you leads in exchange for a big slice of your revenue. Classentra sells you the workspace and keeps you off the lead-rent treadmill — you bring the students. This post is the working comparison most tutors do in a spreadsheet at month four; we built the spreadsheet for you.
Who each platform is for
Wyzant is a US-leaning tutor marketplace. They send qualified leads in exchange for a 25% commission on every lesson you deliver. The strongest play: brand-new tutors with zero leads who want to fill capacity fast and can stomach the long climb up their internal reputation system.
Preply is the global tutor marketplace. Bigger surface area, especially for languages. Commission is roughly 33% plus a one-off introduction fee. Off-platform contact with students is forbidden — leave Preply and you leave with no list. The strongest play: language tutors targeting international students with no existing audience.
Classentra is the teaching workspace, not a marketplace. We do not send you leads. We give you live sessions (your own Zoom/Meet on every plan, or fully in-app with the optional Native Video add-on), scheduling, assignments, parent visibility, and direct Stripe payouts — and instead of a 25–33% commission, we charge one all-in fee of 7% + 30¢ per lesson on Educator, with card processing included. The strongest play: tutors who already have 3+ students and want to keep their margin.
The commission math (real numbers)
Tutors underestimate how much marketplace commission costs them over time. Here's the take-home on three common lesson prices. Marketplace figures are before any payment processing; the Classentra figure is after its all-in fee — card processing is included, so nothing else comes out.
| Lesson price | Wyzant (25%) | Preply (~33%) | Classentra Educator (7% + 30¢ all-in) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50 | $37.50 | $33.50 | $46.20 |
| $75 | $56.25 | $50.25 | $69.45 |
| $100 | $75.00 | $67.00 | $92.70 |
Now run the same comparison over a year. A tutor with 10 weekly recurring students at $60/hr (520 sessions a year):
| Platform | Annual gross | Commission | Take-home |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wyzant | $31,200 | $7,800 | $23,400 |
| Preply | $31,200 | $10,296 | $20,904 |
| Classentra Educator | $31,200 | $2,340 all-in (7% + 30¢, card fees included) | $28,860 |
The Educator subscription is $39/mo, or $348/yr billed yearly ($29/mo). Net of the subscription, Classentra still leaves the tutor with about $28,500 take-home — roughly $5,100–$7,600 more per year than the marketplace alternatives at the same gross.
This is the silent argument for moving direct: at any meaningful volume, the marketplace fee dwarfs the cost of running your own workspace.
The student-ownership tradeoff
Marketplaces send you traffic; they keep the relationship.
- Wyzant allows direct messaging but mediates payment. Many tutors keep students on-platform because the dispute mechanism is convenient.
- Preply explicitly forbids off-platform contact. If you violate it, you can be removed. If a student stops booking, you have no way to reach them.
- Classentra is yours. Students email you. They book on your calendar. You own the list. If you leave Classentra, you leave with your students.
The tradeoff is real, not theoretical: a marketplace's value to a tutor caps at their lead-volume contribution. Once you can find your own students, the commission is a tax with no offsetting benefit.
Feature matrix
| Capability | Classentra | Wyzant | Preply |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commission per lesson | 7% + 30¢ all-in on Educator (set your own price; card fees included) | 25% (US) | ~33% + intro fee |
| Own the student relationship | Yes | Mediated messaging | Off-platform contact forbidden |
| Recurring sessions + calendar | Built-in | Limited | Limited |
| Live video | External Zoom/Meet/Teams on every plan; optional Native Video add-on (+$19/mo, LiveKit) | Third-party (Zoom round-trip) | Built-in |
| Assignments + grading | Yes | No | No |
| Parent visibility | Yes (notes + grades shareable) | No | Limited |
| Direct payouts | Stripe Connect, daily | Weekly via platform | Weekly via platform |
| Marketplace traffic | Discovery directory + storefronts (early-stage — plan to bring your own students) | Yes | Yes |
Numbers source: published platform fee schedules, verified 2026-07-25.
Decision tree
A blunt rule that works for most tutors:
- You have zero students and no audience. Start on Wyzant or Preply. Pay the lead-rent for 3–6 months while you fill your calendar.
- You have 1–2 marketplace students and they're sticky. Keep them on the marketplace; you're still net-positive on lead value. Open a Classentra Free account on the side for the next student who comes via referral.
- You have 3+ recurring students. Switch to Classentra Educator. At this point, marketplace commission is costing you more per month than Educator's subscription plus its all-in fee, and you have enough relationships to keep the lead flow without paying for it.
- You teach languages targeting non-Anglophone international students. Preply is genuinely hard to replace as an acquisition channel. Hybrid: stay on Preply for new leads, migrate retained students to Classentra after the first 3 months.
The pivot point is usually 3 recurring students. Past that, the math runs decisively against the marketplaces.
Migration playbook
There is no automated export from Wyzant or Preply. Plan for two weeks of manual migration when you switch:
- Open a Classentra Free account, set up your workspace, recurring calendar, and Stripe Connect.
- Tell your sticky students you're moving sessions to your own platform from a specific date. Frame the move as "I'm giving you a parent-visible workspace with assignments and recordings" — that's a real upgrade for them, not just a save for you.
- For the first month, keep the marketplace listing open at a higher price (you don't need cheap leads anymore — only premium ones who are willing to follow). For everyone else, drop the listing.
We have a migration shape guide for tutors leaving Skool that maps to the Wyzant/Preply move; the data is different but the relationship-preservation playbook is the same.
What this means
If you have students already, the marketplaces are taxing your margin. If you don't, they are paying for themselves. The job is to recognize which of those two phases you are in and pick the platform that fits — not stay on the marketplace by inertia after the math has flipped.
Try Classentra free — solo tutors get the full scheduling, assignments, parent visibility, and Stripe Connect stack on the free tier (3 courses, 30 free roster spots — students paying $30+ through Classentra checkout never count and are unlimited), and every signup starts a 30-day Educator trial with no card required. Upgrade to Educator ($39/mo) when monthly bookings cross $500.