Online English teachers typically earn between £8 and £32 per hour, with most beginners starting at the lower end and building up with experience and specialist skills. Some teach part-time to top up an income; others build it into a full-time job or use it to fund a digital nomad lifestyle.

Whether you’re looking to make a bit more cash or you’re serious about a career as an online English teacher, this guide breaks down what you can realistically earn, how to set your own rates, and the highest-paying niches to move into.

Here’s everything you need to know about how much you can earn teaching English online.

Key takeaways

• Starting rate: £8–£16 / $10–$20 per hour with a TEFL certification and no experience
• Experienced rate: £24–£32 / $30–$40 per hour with specialisms (Business English, exam prep)
• Highest-paying niches: Business English (£20+/$25+ per lesson), exam prep (£15+/$19+)
• Three ways to earn: work for an online company, teach through a marketplace, run your own business
• Monthly potential: £1,600–£2,400 ($2,000–$3,000) full-time for most teachers, higher with niche specialisms

Three ways to earn online

There are three main options for earning an income through teaching English online: working for an online teaching company, teaching for online marketplaces, and running your own business.

Some teachers start their English teaching careers by working for an online platform like Cambly before moving to starting their own business. We’ll explore these options so you can choose which one is right for you.

Option 1: Working for an online teaching company

Working for an online teaching company is the best way to get started teaching English online. If you have no experience teaching English, you may find it very challenging to find clients as an independent online teacher, which can be one of the toughest and most time-consuming aspects of the job.

The good thing about online English teaching companies is that they do the hard work of sourcing students for you. Many will also provide all of the lesson materials as well, so there’s no need to spend additional hours on curriculum development.

It’s a good way to find your feet and build up online teaching experience, but if you’re ambitious and aiming to maximise your earnings, you’ll want to progress on to building up your own business as an independent teacher.

The table below details the requirements and salaries for multiple online companies and platforms.

Option 2: Teaching through an online marketplace

Teaching through an online marketplace is another great way to get started teaching English online. Several of the most popular marketplaces include Preply, iTalki, and Cambly.

One of the biggest benefits of teaching for an online marketplace is that it’s extremely flexible. You’ll create your own schedule and be able to develop your own lesson plans to suit the needs of each student.

You’ll also decide your hourly rate, giving you more control over how much money you make. That being said, students may be dissuaded by high hourly prices, depending on your experience and which subject you’re teaching.

When it comes to finding students, it’s important to garner positive reviews from previous pupils. You’re also completely dependent on the platform, and you’ll lose your student base if you leave.

Option 3: Running your own online teaching business

Running an independent online teaching business is one of the best ways to build a strong client roster. You’ll never have to pay commission fees and won’t be reliant on a platform for finding new students, which can be a double-edged sword.

Having your own business also allows you to teach specific niches, customise lessons, and diversify your income streams.

Setting your rates as an independent teacher

What type of lesson is it?

We’re going to get into the different types of online lessons in more depth shortly. Certain types of lessons — like conversational classes — are popular with students and an easy way for teachers to get started. But due to the number of teachers offering these lessons, you won’t earn as much as you would with other kinds.

If you have the skills and expertise to offer more specialist lessons — such as exam preparation and Business English, or even more niche topics — then you can expect to earn more.

How much experience do you have?

What are your qualifications?

If you have no qualifications at all, you’re going to have your work cut out for you. Employers, as well as students, will expect you to be TEFL certified, and having further qualifications such as a university degree is beneficial (and a necessary requirement to work for a number of online employers). However, it is possible to teach English online without a degree.

Remember that in order to attract clients, you need to sell yourself. Would you hire someone to teach English with no previous teaching experience and no credentials? Probably not, so don’t expect English language learners to do so either, especially when they have plenty of other options.

Consider where your students are from

You can’t expect a student in Vietnam to pay the same amount as one from Sweden. You need to take into account average salaries in countries and adjust your prices accordingly.

Some teachers choose to specialise in teaching language learners from particular countries, so if this is your intention, this is particularly important. You’ll also want to make sure to advertise lesson prices in your international students’ currency.

Work out how much you need to earn

Calculate how much you need to be earning each month to cover your outgoings. It’s unlikely you’ll start teaching English online and immediately have a full schedule of students paying your ideal rate, but knowing how much you need to earn in order to go full time will help guide you.

How much can you earn per month teaching English online?

How much you earn is based on several factors, including your hourly rate and how many hours per week you can devote.

For example, if you’re looking to earn an average of £2,000/month at £12/hour, you’ll need to teach roughly 42 hours a week. At £20/hour teaching a subject like Business English, that drops to just 25 hours a week.

English teachers who work for part-time supplemental income may find it easier to make ends meet than those who are looking to make a full-time wage.

For those who work for online ESL companies, you may also be able to count on incentives like attendance bonuses and positive feedback. This can help push your monthly earnings higher, although it’s not a guaranteed income stream.

Teaching English online as a digital nomad

For those who are dreaming of location-independent work, teaching English online might be the perfect career path for you.

Many online English teachers make a comfortable living wage while making a home in lower-cost countries like Vietnam, Mexico, and Portugal. Considering the purchasing power of earning $15 to $20 an hour in a country like Vietnam, where a beer can be as cheap as $0.50, English teachers can have a high quality of life and even save money.

Highest-paying online English teaching niches

There are so many different types of online lessons that it would be impossible to cover them all, so we’ll take a look at some of the most common ones. Keep in mind what we’ve just covered about how to set your fees. The figures listed below are just a rough estimate, and factors specific to you can lead to earning less or more.

Business English

£20+ / $25+ per lesson

Business English can be a very lucrative area of TEFL, and teachers who succeed in finding their niche can be high earners from it. You don’t necessarily need experience in business to be a successful Business English teacher, although it can help, especially when you’re first starting out.

Keep in mind that there can be a lot of preparation work involved with these kinds of lessons. From a needs analysis to preparing a tailored lesson plan, there can be a lot of work outside of the lesson slot, so that has to be factored into your fee.

Examination preparation

£15+ / $19+ per lesson

English learners preparing for their IELTS, TOEFL, or Cambridge proficiency exams often look for extra tuition in the run-up to the exam. You’ll need to become familiar with how these exams are structured and assessed, so prior study on your part will be required before you can get started in this area of TEFL.

It’s possible to earn even more, up to $55/hour, for specialised exam tutoring as this is a very specific niche. Getting an exam prep certification will give you the edge that students are looking for.

Interview coaching

£15+ / $19+ per lesson

Just like a typical job interview, you will be helping the learner practise talking about themselves, their strengths and achievements, and what they can bring to the role. Roleplay and scenario-based tasks are best used in this type of lesson.

Young learners

£15+ / $19+ per lesson

Because teaching young learners is specialised, teachers can often command higher rates. Parents are often willing to pay a higher premium for English teachers with prior teaching experience with children.

General or conversational English

£8+ / $10+ per lesson

Conversational English is a great place to start if you’re new to online teaching or if you’re looking for a side job to bring in some cash. These lessons don’t typically require a lot of lesson planning or in-depth grammar study; their focus is on practical English and increasing your students’ confidence in their language ability.

But don’t think that it just involves you sitting back and simply listening to your student speak! There’s a skill to conducting good conversational English lessons, and those able to hone it will be in high demand and able to up their hourly rate.

One-on-one conversations with adult students are another great way to command a higher price.

Sample or trial English lessons

£1+ / $1+

How much you charge for sample lessons is up to you, and it might be something that takes a bit of trial and error. Making these lessons free will undoubtedly fill up these slots with time-wasters and students who will never convert into paying customers, so even charging as little as £1 can help to drastically limit this.

Keep trial lessons short — there’s no need to give them a full-hour lesson! Around 20–30 minutes is enough time to sell yourself and give a potential student an idea of what a lesson with you involves.

Is teaching English online worth it / a good side hustle?

Yes, teaching English online can be a great side hustle. Not only does it offer the flexibility to be able to work around another job, but it also has a low overhead, as the only required material is essentially a computer and stable internet connection. English teachers who start their own business can also scale to earn even more income.

Tips for maximising your online teaching income

Block lessons

Offering students the option to block book lessons is a great way of filling up your schedule with guaranteed income, as these are paid for in advance. An incentive, such as 10% off for booking ten lessons, for example, can work well for both you and the student.

You can get creative with this and put together all sorts of lesson packages. This can be a great way of marketing yourself!

Currency

When you’re advertising lessons, you need to consider what currency to use. You will most often see teachers advertising lessons in US Dollars ($) or Euros (€), but if you’re focusing on teaching English to people from specific countries, then it makes sense to use the currency relevant to them.

Receiving online payments

PayPal is the most common payment method for teaching English online lessons, and it’s straightforward to use. It only takes a few clicks to send an invoice to your students and keep on top of payments.

Know when to raise your fees

You might be wondering at what point you start raising your fees; it’s actually quite simple. If you’re filling up all your lesson slots each week and have to turn students away, then you’re in a position to consider raising your fees.

You might worry about losing students, but have confidence in the quality of the lessons you’re offering. If one or two choose not to continue with you, then they’ll be replaced with students who are willing to pay your higher rate.

Marketing

If you’re going to work as an independent English teacher, then you’re going to have to learn how to market yourself effectively. You could be offering the best English lessons going, but if you’re not marketing them, then no one’s even going to know they exist!

If you don’t know where to start with this, then take a look at our 40-hour Teaching English Online advanced TEFL course, which covers how to set up and promote yourself as an online English teacher.

Tax and self-employment when teaching English online

Most online teaching companies employ teachers as independent contractors rather than full-time salaried employees. This means that you’ll need to pay taxes separately rather than having a portion taken out of your wages.

The HMRC’s self-assessment threshold is £1,000 in the UK. Be sure to keep records of your income so that you can easily save money for your taxes later.

The same goes for the USA and Canada, where you may also be required to pay quarterly tax instalments.