10 Best Places to Teach English Online in 2026 (Work From Anywhere)
Ishbel Rose
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I'll be honest with you. When I first started looking into teaching English online I spent weeks trawling through forum posts, Reddit threads and YouTube videos, most of which were either completely out of date or clearly written by someone who'd never actually logged into the platform they were recommending.
So I decided to write the guide I wish I'd had.
(This post contains affiliate links, I may earn a small commission if you sign up through my link, at no extra cost to you.)
This guide covers the 10 best platforms and marketplaces hiring English teachers right now in 2026 — including honest pay figures, real requirements, and the pros and cons nobody else wants to tell you. I'll also cover which platforms are open to non-native English speakers, because that question gets asked constantly and most articles completely ignore it.
Before we get into the list, there's one important distinction worth understanding — the difference between a teaching platform and a teaching marketplace. They work very differently and choosing the wrong type for your personality and goals could waste you a lot of time.
Platforms vs Marketplaces — What's the Difference?
This distinction matters more than most guides acknowledge, so let's get it straight before we dive in.
A teaching platform is where the company essentially acts as your employer. They find the students, provide the lesson materials, set your schedule and determine your pay rate. You just show up and teach. It's structured, predictable and requires very little hustle on your part — but in exchange, you have less control over your earnings and your working life.
A teaching marketplace, on the other hand, is where you set up your own profile, set your own hourly rate, and build your own student base over time. It takes more effort to get established, but the earning potential is significantly higher — and the longer you stay on the platform, the more you earn.
Neither is better than the other. It completely depends on whether you want stability and simplicity, or freedom and higher income potential. I'll flag which category each company falls into throughout this guide.
Quick Comparison: All 10 Platforms at a Glance
| Platform | Type | Pay (USD/hr) | Degree? | TEFL? | Non-Native? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EF Online | Platform | $15–22 | Required | Preferred | C2 Level |
| Cambly | Platform | $10–12 | No | No | Native Only |
| Engoo | Platform | $10–15 | No | Boosts pay | Yes |
| Preply | Marketplace | $16–100+ | No | Recommended | Yes |
| iTalki | Marketplace | $10–45 | No | For pro tier | Yes |
| Lingoda | Platform | $12–18 | No | Required | Yes |
| Palfish | Platform | $18–30 | Often | Preferred | Native Only |
| VIPKid | Platform | $22–26 | Required | Preferred | Native Only |
| Amazing Talker | Marketplace | $15–35 | No | Recommended | Yes |
| Outschool | Marketplace | $20–90+ | No | No | Yes |
EF Online (English First)
EF — or English First — is one of the biggest names in language education globally, and their online division hires teachers to work from home. Unlike their teach-abroad programme which requires you to relocate, this is fully remote.
The application process is more rigorous than most — you'll go through a structured interview and a trial lesson — but the upside is the credibility that comes with working for one of the world's most recognised language brands.
Best for: Teachers who want a reputable brand name on their CV and prefer a structured corporate environment over freelancing.
Cambly
Cambly is probably the most well-known platform on this list — and it was my personal starting point. When I was living in Thailand, I used Cambly to earn extra income alongside my school teaching job. I'd sit down after my school day and within minutes I'd be having a conversation with someone on the other side of the world. There's genuinely nothing quite like it.
The concept is beautifully simple: students call you for English conversation practice. There's no lesson planning, no curriculum, no prep work. You show up and chat. That's it.
The pay is on the lower end — around $0.17 per minute, which works out to roughly $10–12 per hour. But when you factor in zero preparation time, that hour really is just talking. For anyone new to online teaching, it's the lowest-barrier way to get started that exists.
Best for: Complete beginners who want to get comfortable on camera with zero pressure. Also great as a flexible top-up alongside another job — exactly how I used it.
Engoo
Engoo is a genuine hidden gem — and one of the most underrated platforms on this entire list. They're one of the largest online English schools in Asia, delivering over a million lessons every month. Most of their students are based in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, which works beautifully if you're teaching from Europe — your daytime is their peak learning hours.
What sets Engoo apart is just how easy it is to get started. No degree. No TEFL. No prior teaching experience. You need a laptop, a webcam, a headset and reliable wifi. That is genuinely the full list of requirements.
All lessons are 25 minutes long and every single piece of material is provided by the platform — so there is no preparation involved whatsoever. Pay starts at $10/hr but jumps to $15/hr for teachers with a TEFL certificate, plus there are weekend and monthly bonuses on top.
Best for: Absolute beginners who want to dive in immediately. Also excellent as a second platform alongside Preply — use Engoo to fill quiet hours while building your higher-paying student base elsewhere.
Preply
Preply is where things get genuinely exciting — and where you can build a real, sustainable income from online teaching over time.
Unlike the platforms above, Preply is a marketplace — meaning you set your own hourly rate, build your own profile, and attract your own students. Beginners typically start at $16–18/hr to build up reviews quickly, while experienced teachers commonly charge $30–60/hr. Specialists in business English or exam preparation can charge well over $100 per hour.
Preply takes a commission that starts at 33% and reduces to 18% as you build more lessons with the same student. The longer you keep your students, the more you earn — which is a genuinely smart incentive structure that rewards quality teaching.
A TEFL certificate isn't mandatory but it is one of the most visible things on your profile. Students can see your qualifications before they book, and it directly influences whether they choose you over someone else.
Best for: Anyone who wants to build a long-term, high-earning online teaching career. It rewards consistency, quality, and patience.
iTalki
iTalki works similarly to Preply — you set your own rates and build your own student base — but with one important distinction. iTalki has two separate tiers of teachers: Community Tutors, which anyone can become, and Professional Teachers, which requires a recognised teaching qualification or degree.
Professional teachers appear higher in search results and can charge significantly more. Community tutors typically charge $10–18/hr, while professional teachers cluster around $25–45/hr. This gap is one of the clearest illustrations of why a TEFL certificate pays for itself so quickly — an extra $10 per hour for four hours a week means your certification has paid for itself within a month.
Best for: People who want full scheduling flexibility and are willing to invest initial effort into building a strong profile and student base.
Lingoda
Lingoda sits in a different category from everything above — and for a certain type of person, it's actually the best option on this entire list.
Lingoda provides everything: the students, the lesson materials, the curriculum. You don't find your own students, you don't create your own content, and you don't have to market yourself at all. You apply, you get approved, you teach.
The trade-off is less control — you can't set your rates or build ongoing relationships with individual students. But for anyone who finds the idea of self-promotion stressful, Lingoda's structure is genuinely appealing. Clock in, teach a good lesson, clock out. It's as close to a traditional employment experience as online teaching gets.
Worth noting: Lingoda is one of the platforms that requires a TEFL or TESOL certificate as part of their application. If you don't have one yet, our accredited 120-hour course is the most affordable way to get qualified.
Best for: People who want reliability over freedom. If you hate the idea of marketing yourself and just want to teach, Lingoda is genuinely great.
Palfish
Palfish focuses on Asian markets — primarily Chinese students — and the pay reflects the high demand. Teachers earn $18–30/hr, which is among the highest on this list for a structured platform. The student base is enormous and booking consistency is generally very good.
The catch — and it's a significant one for UK-based teachers — is the time difference. Chinese students are typically available in the early morning UK time. We are talking 5am starts in many cases. If you're an early bird and you have a degree, Palfish can be seriously lucrative. If you're not, it's worth knowing upfront rather than discovering it after you've applied.
Best for: Early morning people with a degree who want consistently high pay and don't mind the unsociable hours.
VIPKid
VIPKid was, for a long time, the most talked-about platform in the online English teaching world — and for good reason. Paying $22–26/hr to teach Chinese children, with all lesson materials provided, it attracted hundreds of thousands of teachers at its peak.
The landscape changed significantly after China restricted private tutoring companies in 2021, and VIPKid is no longer what it once was. That said, they've pivoted into other markets and continue to operate, so they're still worth mentioning — particularly for teachers in North America where they continue to hire more actively.
Best for: North American teachers with a degree who are eligible and find they're actively hiring in their region.
Amazing Talker
Amazing Talker doesn't get nearly enough attention and it absolutely deserves more. It works similarly to Preply and iTalki — you set your own rate and build your own student base — but with a particularly strong focus on Taiwanese and Japanese learners, which means consistent demand from a highly motivated student market.
There's no degree requirement, no nationality restriction, and a TEFL certificate — while not mandatory — visibly improves your profile ranking within the platform, directly influencing how often students find and book you. It's an excellent second platform to run alongside Preply or iTalki, giving you access to a slightly different audience and diversifying your income.
Best for: Teachers on Preply or iTalki who want to diversify, or anyone who wants marketplace flexibility with strong Asian market access.
Outschool
Outschool is genuinely unlike anything else on this list — and I think it's one of the most underrated opportunities in online teaching right now.
Instead of one-to-one lessons, you create your own group classes on any topic. English is one of the most popular categories on the platform. You design the curriculum, set the schedule, set the price, and students enrol. You keep 70% of everything students pay.
The maths on this is exciting: five students paying $18 each for one group class equals $63 for a single hour of teaching — and you only taught the class once. With a strong class and good reviews, you can run the same session repeatedly with new enrolments each time.
Best for: Creative, entrepreneurial teachers who want to design their own curriculum and have the highest earning potential per hour of any platform on this list.
🌍 Non-Native English Speakers — Your Options
This section gets left out of most guides on this topic, which genuinely frustrates me — because a huge proportion of people who want to teach English online are non-native speakers, and you absolutely deserve to know where you stand.
The platforms open to non-native English speakers are: Engoo, Preply, iTalki, Lingoda, Amazing Talker and Outschool. That is six out of ten platforms on this list — more than half — and between them they represent some of the best earning opportunities available.
What you need is not a native accent. What you need is fluency, confidence, and an accredited TEFL certificate — which levels the playing field completely. A TEFL certificate tells every employer and every student that you know how to teach, regardless of where you were born. If you're a non-native speaker and you don't have one yet, it's the single most impactful step you can take right now.
So Which Platform Should YOU Choose?
Let me make this as simple as possible.
Ready to Get Started?
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- Study at your own pace — no deadlines, lifetime access
2 comments
Hi Gobopaone,
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! I am absolutely thrilled that my experiences with Cambly resonated with you. Those moments of genuine human connection across different time zones truly made my evenings in Thailand incredibly special, and it is wonderful to share that joy with you. Online teaching really does open up a unique window to the world.
To answer your question regarding TENIX: Yes, leaving them out of this particular list was intentional. While they are a notable platform in the online education space, they have a slightly different structure and application criteria compared to the ten flexible, highly accessible options I wanted to spotlight in this specific post.
That being said, TENIX is a great platform worth exploring if you are looking for more structured curriculum options, and I am actually planning a separate deep-dive review on them very soon!
Thank you again for reading and for taking the time to share your thoughts. It means the world to me.
Best wishes,
Ishbel
Hi Ishbel,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience from Thailand. Reading about your evenings on Cambly — chatting with someone in Brazil, helping a Japanese businessman prep for a presentation — actually made me smile. It’s rare to hear someone describe side work as “one of the loveliest parts of my week,” and it really shows how much connection you were building beyond just teaching English.
Your point about how much opportunity there is in online teaching really landed. I hadn’t thought about it that way before.
I noticed you didn’t mention in the note. Was that intentional? I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on TENIX.
Thanks again for taking the time to write this.
Best,
Gobopaone Ranjang Mmusi