ChatGPT answers, unedited

If your priority is “I create the class, and the platform brings students who book it”, rather than simply giving you software to sell your own audience, the options differ quite a bit.

If your priority is “I teach, and the marketplace brings me students/bookings”, rather than building your own audience, the shortlist looks like this:

My practical take

• For language classes → Preply. It's heavily focused on language learning, has a large global tutor marketplace, and handles discovery, scheduling and payments. Its 2026 materials describe 100,000+ tutors across 90+ languages. Preply Preply
• For children's language or hobby/enrichment classes → Outschool. Its marketplace model is built around teachers creating their own classes, particularly group classes for kids. RoamJobs
• For adult hobbies + languages → Superprof. It covers a much broader range of subjects—music, arts, sports, hobbies, languages, etc.—and supports online and in-person lessons depending on the instructor. Superprof Superprof
• For US-focused academic/skill tutoring → Wyzant. It is a broad US marketplace where students browse instructor profiles and book/pay for lessons. Find My Guru

One important distinction: none of these guarantees bookings. You're getting access to a marketplace and its student-acquisition machinery, but competition, profile ranking, reviews, pricing, availability and subject demand determine how much traffic converts into actual students. Tuton

If you're selling your own original classes rather than 1:1 tutoring, I'd narrow the decision to Outschool vs. Superprof. If you're selling 1:1 language lessons, I'd start with Preply or italki.

If you tell me what language/hobby you teach, whether it's adults or kids, 1:1 vs group, and your target price per class, I can compare the platforms specifically for your situation—including fees and how much student acquisition each one actually does.

If your priority is “I list my class, and the platform brings me students”, rather than simply providing booking software, the strongest options are different depending on the type of class.

My take by use case

For language classes: Preply is the obvious marketplace to investigate first. Students actively search for tutors by language, specialty and availability, and can message or book directly from tutor profiles. Preply Help Center Preply Help Center

The catch is economics: Preply takes 100% of the first trial lesson, then 18–33% of subsequent lessons, with the rate decreasing as you accumulate teaching hours. Preply says part of the commission is used to acquire students and operate the platform. Preply Help Center

For children's language or hobby classes: Outschool is particularly interesting. It's explicitly a marketplace: teachers list classes, families browse and enroll, and Outschool says it markets classes to its audience while handling enrollments and payments. Outschool Support

As of 2026, Outschool takes a 30% teacher fee, leaving the teacher 70% of the class price. Outschool Support It supports recurring weekly classes as well as one-off/fixed-duration classes, which is useful if you're trying to turn a marketplace customer into a recurring student. Outschool Support

If you're selling hobby classes

I'd lean toward Outschool if the students are primarily children/teens and the class is online.

For example:

• conversational Spanish for kids
• beginner French
• drawing
• creative writing
• chess
• coding
• music
• crafts
• cooking
• photography

For adult creative/hobby classes, I'd investigate ClassBento and other experience marketplaces alongside a local/in-person strategy, because the marketplace dynamics are quite different from language tutoring.

The key distinction

If you want:

“I need software to take bookings.”
→ Use something like Calendly, Acuity, Wix, etc.

“I want a marketplace with people already searching for classes.”
→ Preply / Outschool / Superprof / ClassBento are much closer to what you're describing.

If you tell me whether your classes are (1) language, (2) children's hobbies, or (3) adult hobbies—and whether they're online or in-person—I can narrow this to the 3 platforms most likely to actually generate bookings for you, including current fees and student-acquisition model.

If your priority is “I create language or hobby classes, and the marketplace itself brings me students who book”, you want a demand-generating marketplace, not just a course-hosting tool.

Here are the strongest options:

Find My Guru TeacherOn## My shortlist by use case

Best overall for language teachers: Preply

• Strongest existing demand for language learners.
• Students actively search by language, accent, goals, and availability.
• Works well for conversation practice, exam prep, business language, and beginners.
• Tradeoff: competition is high and marketplace fees can be significant. Find My Guru

Best for unusual hobbies: Superprof

Good if you teach:

• Guitar
• Painting
• Cooking
• Photography
• Dance
• Chess
• Crafts
• Languages

It is broader than language-only marketplaces and attracts people searching for niche skills. TeacherOn

Best for structured group classes: Outschool

Best if your classes are:

• Small groups
• Recurring weekly
• Designed for children/teens
• Project-based (e.g., “Spanish through cooking,” “beginner drawing,” “Japanese culture club”)

Best if you want higher control but still some discovery: Profify

It positions itself as a broader skills marketplace covering languages, music, arts, sports, and coaching with search, booking, and payments. Profify

Platforms I would avoid for your goal

These are useful tools, but they do not primarily bring you students:

• Teachable
• Thinkific
• Kajabi
• Tuton

They help you sell, schedule, and teach, but usually you must generate your own traffic. tuton.io

If I were choosing:

• Solo language tutor → Preply
• Hobby instructor → Superprof
• Kids/group workshops → Outschool
• Premium niche classes → Superprof + your own website/email list
• Trying to build a teaching business long-term → marketplace for acquisition + your own platform for repeat students

A useful strategy is to use a marketplace to acquire your first students, then move repeat learners into your own community (newsletter, membership, packages, private groups) so you are less dependent on marketplace algorithms.

If your priority is “I list my class, and the marketplace itself brings students who book it”, rather than simply giving you scheduling/payment software, I’d narrow it to these:

1. Outschool — best for actual classes

I would pick Outschool if you're selling things like:

• Japanese conversation for beginners
• watercolor painting
• cooking
• guitar
• chess
• creative writing
• crafts
• dance
• D&D
• other structured group classes

The important distinction is that Outschool is genuinely a class marketplace. You create a class and specific sections/times, and parents discover and enroll in them. Outschool explicitly says it markets classes to its audience and handles enrollments and payments. Outschool Support Outschool Support

The downside is the 30% teacher fee, so you keep 70% of the class price. Outschool Support

It's also unusually broad: its marketplace currently covers languages plus activities such as cooking, dance, art, music, yoga, games and other enrichment. Outschool Support

Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for group hobby classes

2. Preply — best for language teaching

For language classes, I'd choose Preply over Outschool if you're comfortable with primarily 1:1 tutoring.

Students actively search the marketplace for tutors based on language, specialty, availability, etc., and can book directly from your profile. Preply Help Center Preply also describes itself as providing a steady stream of new students. Preply

The economics are more complicated: your first trial lesson with a new student is subject to 100% commission, while subsequent lessons start at 33% and decline to 18% as you teach more hours. Preply Help Center

Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for 1:1 language tutoring; ⭐⭐⭐ for group classes

The key distinction

If what you're really looking for is:

“I want to create a class listing, set times/prices, and have the platform's existing audience fill my seats.”

then Outschool is probably the closest fit.

If instead it's:

“I want people searching for a particular language to discover me and book recurring private lessons.”

then Preply is the better fit.

And if you're trying to sell adult hobby classes rather than children's education, I'd look at a somewhat different set of marketplaces—particularly platforms oriented around experiences, workshops, and adult learning. I can compare those next, including how much of the customer acquisition each platform actually does for you and the effective commission.

If your priority is “I list my classes, and the marketplace brings me students”, rather than simply giving you software to sell to your existing audience, I’d rank them like this:

My top picks

For language teaching: Preply.
Preply is specifically built around students discovering and booking individual tutors. It says tutors reach students in 180+ countries, can set their own rates and schedules, and get a steady stream of new students. The tradeoff is substantial commission: the first trial lesson with a new student is 100% commission, then subsequent lessons are 18–33% depending on your accumulated teaching hours. Preply Preply Help Center

For hobby/group classes: Outschool.
This is probably the closest match to what you're describing if you're teaching things like painting, crafts, cooking, music, writing, chess, photography, dance, or other structured hobbies. You list classes, Outschool markets them to its audience, handles enrollment and payment, and students can discover and book classes directly. Teachers keep 70% of the class price under its current policy. Outschool Support Outschool Support

The important distinction is that Outschool is particularly good for “I have a class concept”, whereas Preply is better for “I am an instructor whom students book for lessons.”

What I would choose

• Spanish/French/Japanese/English/etc. → Preply
• Painting/crafts/cooking/music/chess/etc. → Outschool
• Recorded/self-paced hobby course → Udemy
• Academic tutoring → Wyzant
• Language-only alternative → italki

If you tell me what language or hobby you want to teach, whether you want 1:1 or groups, and your target student (kids/adults), I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 marketplaces specifically for that class, including fees and how much student acquisition each one actually provides.

For language teaching: Preply.
Preply is specifically built around students discovering and booking individual tutors. It says tutors reach students in 180+ countries, can set their own rates and schedules, and get a steady stream of new students. The tradeoff is substantial commission: the first trial lesson with a new student is 100% commission, then subsequent lessons are 18–33% depending on your accumulated teaching hours. preply.com help.preply.com

For hobby/group classes: Outschool.
This is probably the closest match to what you're describing if you're teaching things like painting, crafts, cooking, music, writing, chess, photography, dance, or other structured hobbies. You list classes, Outschool markets them to its audience, handles enrollment and payment, and students can discover and book classes directly. Teachers keep 70% of the class price under its current policy.

If your priority is “I create language or hobby classes, and the marketplace itself brings me students”, you generally want a demand marketplace, not just a course-hosting tool. The best choice depends on whether you sell 1:1 lessons, live groups, or hobby workshops.

Best marketplaces that drive student bookings

RoamJobs TutoringPlatforms.com## My shortlist by business model

1. Language teacher starting from zero students

Best: Preply or italki

Why:

• Students are already searching for tutors.
• You can start without an existing audience.
• Reviews and ratings compound over time.
• Students can book recurring lessons. TutoringPlatforms.com Sharetribe

Tradeoff:

• You are competing with many tutors.
• The platform takes a commission.
• You usually do not fully own the customer relationship. Tuton

2. Hobby classes (painting, cooking, crafts, chess, photography, dance)

Best: Outschool or Superprof

Outschool is especially interesting if you can package a class as:

• “Beginner Japanese for kids”
• “Watercolor painting club”
• “Minecraft architecture”
• “Teen photography workshop”

Superprof is broader and works more like a directory/marketplace for many skills. TeacherOn

3. Higher-income teacher building a brand

Use a hybrid:

• Marketplace for discovery: - Preply / italki / Outschool
• Your own platform for repeat customers: - Teachable
• Thinkific
• Kajabi

The marketplace fills your calendar; your own platform gives you more control over pricing, email lists, memberships, and courses.

If I were choosing today

• Language 1:1: Preply first, italki second.
• Kids/group hobby classes: Outschool.
• Adult hobby workshops: Superprof plus your own website.
• Long-term business: start on a marketplace, then move repeat students into your own community/course ecosystem.

A key question: are you planning to sell live classes (Zoom/in-person) or recorded courses, and are your students mainly kids, adults, or corporate learners? That changes the best platform quite a bit.

If your priority is “I list my classes, and the marketplace itself brings me students/bookings”, rather than simply giving you software to sell to your own audience, I’d shortlist these:

1. Outschool — my pick for actual classes

outschool.com

This is probably the closest match to what you're describing. Teachers create class listings, schedule sections, and families discover and enroll through the marketplace. Outschool explicitly says it markets classes to its audience and handles enrollments and payments. Outschool Support Outschool Support

It isn't limited to academics: its catalog includes languages, art, music, cooking, dance, coding, games, yoga, and other enrichment/hobby subjects. Outschool Support

The important catch: Outschool takes a 30% teacher fee, leaving the teacher 70% of the class price. Outschool Support

Why I'd choose it: If you're teaching something like Spanish conversation, watercolor, guitar, chess, cooking, creative writing, crafts, D&D, etc. and want group bookings generated by a marketplace, this is unusually well aligned.

2. Preply — best if it's primarily language teaching

preply.com

Preply is much more established around 1-to-1 language lessons. It says tutors get a steady stream of new students, with learners in 180+ countries, and tutors choose their own rates and availability. Preply

It also now covers more than languages—its tutor marketplace includes 100+ subjects, including hobbies and art—but its core strength remains language tutoring. Preply

Choose Preply over Outschool if: you're selling yourself as a tutor—e.g. “Spanish conversation for adults,” “Japanese for travelers,” “French pronunciation coaching”—rather than selling a recurring group course.

3. Superprof — broadest hobby marketplace

superprof.com

Superprof is interesting if your subject is unusual. It covers 1,000+ subjects and operates as a huge instructor marketplace. However, the model is closer to a directory/marketplace where students browse instructor profiles and contact them, rather than a highly curated course marketplace. Preply

So I'd rank it below Outschool if your main requirement is “the platform should actively drive bookings for my predefined classes.”

My recommendation

For group language or hobby classes → Outschool.

For 1:1 language lessons → Preply.

For unusual hobbies where you want maximum subject breadth → Superprof.

One particularly attractive strategy is Outschool for packaged group classes + Preply for 1:1 premium tutoring. That gives you marketplace acquisition in both formats rather than having to build your own audience from scratch.

If you tell me what language/hobby you want to teach, whether it's adults or kids, group vs. 1:1, and your target price per student, I can rank the platforms specifically for your situation—including how much marketplace traffic they provide, fees/commission, booking friction, and realistic earning potential.

If your priority is “I teach the class; the marketplace finds students and handles bookings/payments”, I’d narrow it to these:

1. Preply — best for adult language teaching

Preply is probably the strongest choice if you're teaching Spanish, English, French, German, Japanese, etc. Its entire business is built around connecting tutors with learners, rather than merely giving you scheduling software. Preply says it has millions of learners and actively sources students for tutors. Preply Help Center Preply

The tradeoff is commission: new-student trial lessons are currently 100% commission, while subsequent lessons start at 33% and decline to 18% as you accumulate teaching hours. Preply Help Center Preply

Verdict: If you're a language tutor and want the platform to actually bring you students, I'd start with Preply.

2. Outschool — best if you want groups or hobbies

Outschool is more interesting if you're teaching things like:

• Languages
• Art
• Music
• Coding
• Cooking
• Games
• Crafts
• Life skills
• Other niche hobbies

It explicitly markets classes to families, handles enrollments and payments, and markets classes to its audience. Outschool Support Its current marketplace categories include both Languages and Games & Hobbies. Outschool

The downside is a 30% teacher fee, leaving you 70% of the class price. Outschool Support

Verdict: Probably the best fit if your idea is “sell a course/class,” rather than “sell tutoring hours.”

3. ClassBento — strong for hobby/workshop businesses

ClassBento is particularly attractive for creative and experiential classes—art, crafts, cooking, wellness, etc. It explicitly operates as a marketplace and says it automatically connects instructors with its community and brings additional bookings. ClassBento

It's especially worth considering if your classes are workshop-style rather than ongoing academic tutoring.

My recommendation

I'd choose based on the class:

• Adult language lessons → Preply
• Kids/teen language classes → Outschool
• Group hobby courses → Outschool
• Art/craft/cooking/creative workshops → ClassBento
• You want the marketplace to do as much student acquisition as possible → Preply or Outschool, rather than something like Teachable, Kajabi, Wix, or Calendly, which are primarily tools for selling to your own audience.

The important distinction is that marketplace discovery is what you're looking for. Many “online course platforms” handle checkout beautifully but leave you responsible for bringing 100% of the students yourself.

If you tell me what language/hobby you want to teach, whether it's adults or kids, online vs. in-person, and 1:1 vs. group, I can rank the top 5 platforms specifically for that class, including their commissions and how much student acquisition they actually provide.

It's especially worth considering if your classes are workshop-style rather than ongoing academic tutoring.

If your priority is “I list my class, and the marketplace brings me students/bookings”, rather than building your own audience, I’d shortlist these:

🥇 For languages: Preply

Preply is probably the strongest match.

Preply explicitly brings tutors students through its marketplace, and says it has millions of learners worldwide. Preply Help Center Preply

The tradeoff is substantial commission: 100% of a new student's trial lesson, then 18–33% on subsequent lessons, depending on your accumulated teaching hours. Preply Help Center

That makes it particularly attractive if you want recurring students rather than constantly marketing yourself.

🥇 For hobby classes: Outschool

Outschool is my first choice if your classes can be aimed at children/teens.

You create a class listing and schedule sections; Outschool handles enrollment and payments and markets classes to its audience. It says it has over 1 million learners globally. Outschool Support Outschool Support

It takes a 30% teacher fee, leaving you 70% of enrollment revenue. Outschool Support

It can work for things like:

• Spanish/French/Japanese conversation
• Drawing
• Music
• Chess
• Creative writing
• Cooking
• Crafts
• Gaming/Roblox/Minecraft-related classes
• Other niche skills

The big advantage is that you're selling a defined class, rather than simply selling your time. Outschool also provides guidance on optimizing listings for its search/discovery system. Outschool

🥇 For adult hobbies: ClassBento

ClassBento is particularly interesting for creative, experiential, and hobby classes.

It says it advertises instructor listings to its marketplace audience and handles bookings, rescheduling, reminders, receipts and review collection. ClassBento

Examples would be:

• Pottery
• Painting
• Jewelry making
• Crafts
• Cooking
• Dance
• Floral design
• Other hands-on workshops

ClassBento is especially compelling if you're doing in-person classes rather than Zoom tutoring.

My ranking

If I were choosing purely based on “I don't want to spend my time finding students”:

1. Preply → best for adult language teaching / 1:1
2. Outschool → best for online group classes, particularly kids/teens
3. ClassBento → best for adult hobby/creative workshops
4. italki → very good language-specific alternative

One important distinction: Preply is optimized around recurring tutoring relationships, whereas Outschool/ClassBento are closer to an actual class marketplace where people discover a specific class and book it.

If you tell me what language or hobby you want to teach, whether it's online or in-person, adult vs. kids, and your target price per student, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 platforms most likely to actually generate bookings and compare their fees, audience, and earning potential.

If your priority is “the marketplace brings me students” (rather than you having to run ads, build a following, or sell courses yourself), you want a student-demand marketplace, not just a course-hosting platform.

The best choice depends on whether you teach languages, hobbies, 1:1, or groups:

Preply Abridge Academy## My shortlist by class type

If you teach a language

1. Preply — best overall for getting discovered

• Large international student marketplace.
• Students actively search for teachers.
• Good for English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, etc.
• Works well if you can offer a clear niche: - “Business English for executives”
• “Spanish conversation for travelers”
• “Japanese for anime fans”
• “IELTS preparation”

Trade-off: you compete with many teachers, and marketplace fees reduce earnings. Preply supatutor.in

2. italki — best for serious language teachers

• Strong reputation among language learners.
• Good if you have credentials or a specialized language.
• More teacher-brand oriented than some competitors. simpleTEFL Kilo Lingo

If you teach hobbies

1. Outschool — probably the strongest fit
Good categories:

• Drawing
• Painting
• Music
• Dance
• Crafts
• Cooking
• Gaming
• Coding
• Creative writing
• STEM activities

The advantage is that you can sell repeatable group classes, not only your time one student at a time. Abridge Academy

Examples:

• “Beginner watercolor club — 8 weekly sessions”
• “Kids’ Minecraft engineering”
• “Ukulele for adults”
• “French cooking night”

If you want maximum flexibility

Superprof

• Broadest subject range.
• Works for unusual niches.
• Better for specialized offerings like: - pottery
• photography
• yoga
• instruments
• crafts

But it is more like a directory than a high-conversion marketplace, so you may need a stronger profile. Preply

Platforms I would not choose first if you need bookings

• Udemy — good for prerecorded courses, but less suited to live teacher-student relationships.
• Teachable / Thinkific — excellent tools, but you bring the audience.
• A standalone website — best later, after you have demand.

Best strategy for most instructors

A practical stack:

1. Start on Preply or italki (languages) or Outschool (hobbies) to get your first students.
2. Collect reviews and testimonials.
3. Create a recognizable niche offer.
4. Later add your own email list, website, or membership.

If you tell me what class you want to teach (language/hobby), age group (kids/adults), and whether you prefer 1:1 or groups, I can narrow this to the top 2–3 platforms.

If your priority is “I list my class, and the marketplace brings me students”, rather than simply providing software to sell to your existing audience, I’d shortlist these:

My picks

For languages: Preply is probably the strongest choice.
It is explicitly a student–tutor marketplace: students search tutors, filter by language/specialty/availability, and can book lessons directly. Preply Help Center Preply The big catch is economics: the first trial lesson with a new student has 100% commission, while subsequent lessons start at 33% and decline to 18% as you teach more hours. Preply Help Center

For hobby classes: Outschool is the standout if you're willing to teach children/teens.
It covers an unusually broad range of subjects—art, cooking, music, dance, yoga, games, languages, coding, etc.—and explicitly markets classes to its learner/parent audience. Outschool Support Outschool Support Outschool says it handles enrollments and payments and markets classes to its audience. Outschool Support Its current teacher fee is 30%, leaving the teacher 70% of the class price. Outschool Support

Superprof is interesting if you want adult hobby classes.
It covers everything from languages to climbing, piano and ceramics, and lets instructors set their own rates and schedules. Superprof However, I'd expect it to require more active lead conversion than Preply/Outschool.

The important distinction

If you mean “I don't have an audience; I want the platform itself to supply customers”, I'd rank them:

Languages:
1. Preply → 2. AmazingTalker → 3. Superprof → 4. Classgap

Hobbies / creative skills:
1. Outschool → 2. Superprof → 3. niche-specific marketplaces

If you tell me what language or hobby you want to teach, adult vs. kids, live vs. prerecorded, and roughly what you want to charge per class, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 platforms and compare their actual student acquisition, fees, and earning potential.

If your priority is “I create the class, and the marketplace brings me students/bookings”, rather than merely giving you software to sell your own audience, I’d shortlist these:

My picks

For language classes → Preply.
It's probably the strongest fit if you're teaching Spanish, French, English, Mandarin, Arabic, etc. Students actively search by language, specialty, availability and price, and can book directly through the platform. Preply says it has learners from 180+ countries and millions of learners. Preply Preply Help Center

The downside is the commission, especially the 100% commission on a new student's trial lesson. After that, it ranges from 33% down to 18% as you accumulate teaching hours. Preply Help Center

For hobby/group classes → Outschool.
This is the one I'd investigate first if you're offering things like:

• Art
• Drawing
• Music
• Cooking
• Chess
• Crafts
• Creative writing
• Language clubs
• STEM
• Dance
• Cultural classes

Its model is much closer to “list a class → marketplace finds families → they enroll → you teach.” Outschool explicitly says it markets classes to its audience and handles enrollments and payments. Outschool Support

The big caveat: it's primarily oriented toward children/families, so it's less attractive for adult hobby classes. You keep 70% of the class price. Outschool Support

For adult hobbies + maximum subject breadth → Superprof.
Superprof covers languages, music, crafts, sports, arts and many unusual subjects, with both online and in-person possibilities. But it's less of a turnkey booking engine than Preply/Outschool—the student typically finds you and coordinates the lesson. Preply Superprof

If I were choosing

I'd rank them:

1. Preply — best for adult language teaching + recurring 1:1 students
2. Outschool — best for structured group classes + kids/teens
3. italki — best alternative for language-only teaching
4. Superprof — best for unusual hobbies and broad subjects, but less marketplace-driven

One important distinction: “marketplace drives bookings” and “course platform lets me sell courses” are very different businesses. I would not put Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Podia, etc. at the top of your list if your main requirement is organic student acquisition—those are much more useful when you already have an audience.

If you tell me what language/hobby you want to teach, adult vs. kids, 1:1 vs. group, and your target price per class, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 platforms most likely to actually generate bookings.

If your priority is “I want the marketplace itself to bring me students and handle bookings”, rather than building your own audience, I’d rank the options like this:

🥇 My pick: Outschool

For language or hobby classes, Outschool is probably the closest match to what you're describing.

You create a class listing, choose the price, schedule and class size, and Outschool markets classes to its existing audience. Parents then enroll through the marketplace; Outschool handles enrollment and payments. Outschool Support Outschool Educator Library

It also isn't limited to traditional academics. Teachers can create classes around essentially any area of demonstrated expertise or passion, including languages, arts, music, cooking, crafts, games, etc. Outschool Educator Library

The tradeoff is 30% of the class price goes to Outschool, leaving the teacher 70%. Outschool says that fee supports things including marketing, payment processing, Zoom, and platform support. Outschool Support

So, for example, a $25 student enrollment would leave you roughly $17.50 before your own taxes.

🗣️ If it's primarily adult language teaching: Preply

I'd choose Preply over Outschool if you're teaching Spanish, French, English, Japanese, etc. to adults and want students to book recurring 1:1 lessons.

Preply explicitly positions itself around bringing tutors students from its global learner base, with students in 180+ countries. Preply

The downside is its commission structure: the first trial lesson with a new student is currently 100% commission, and subsequent lessons start at 33%, declining to 18% as you accumulate teaching hours. Preply Help Center

🎨 If you're teaching adult hobbies

For things like:

• pottery
• painting
• cooking
• photography
• dance
• crafts
• floristry
• jewelry making
• wellness

I'd investigate ClassBento. It's more of an experiences/classes marketplace than a conventional tutoring marketplace, so it can be particularly interesting if you want people discovering and booking a specific experience rather than hiring you as an ongoing tutor.

Bottom line

If you want group classes + marketplace-driven bookings → Outschool.

If you want 1:1 language students → Preply.

If you want adult creative/hobby experiences → ClassBento.

One important distinction: marketplace demand varies enormously by niche. A platform can technically have millions of learners but still be poor at generating bookings for your particular class. If you tell me what language/hobby you want to teach, whether it's adults or kids, online vs. in-person, and your approximate price per class, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 platforms most likely to actually generate students.

I'd choose Preply over Outschool if you're teaching Spanish, French, English, Japanese, etc. to adults and want students to book recurring 1:1 lessons.

Preply explicitly positions itself around bringing tutors students from its global learner base, with students in 180+ countries.

If your #1 priority is that the marketplace itself brings you students/bookings—rather than you having to build an audience on Instagram, Google, etc.—I’d narrow it to these:

My #1: Preply for language classes

If you're teaching Spanish, French, English, Mandarin, Japanese, etc., I'd start with Preply. It explicitly positions itself as a marketplace with students from 180+ countries and says it provides a "steady stream of new students." You set your rate and schedule, while Preply handles the marketplace, booking, payments and classroom. Preply Preply

The downside is the commission: 100% of the first trial lesson, then 18–33% on subsequent lessons, depending on your accumulated teaching hours. Preply Help Center

That commission is actually relevant to your question: you're paying for customer acquisition. If your alternative is spending hours finding students yourself, that can be a worthwhile trade.

preply.com

For hobby classes: Outschool

If by "hobby" you mean things like:

• drawing
• crafts
• music
• cooking
• chess
• creative writing
• languages for children
• STEM
• dance

then Outschool is probably the better fit, particularly for group classes.

Teachers create their own classes, while Outschool handles enrollments and payments and markets classes to its audience. Its own teacher documentation specifically describes the process as list → get enrollments → teach → repeat. Outschool Support

The important distinction is that Outschool is heavily oriented toward children/families, whereas Preply is much more naturally suited to adult language learners.

If I were choosing based on your goal

Want students to book you without having to build your own audience?

• Adult language 1:1 → Preply
• Language tutoring, alternative to Preply → italki
• Kids' language classes → Outschool
• Kids' hobby/creative group classes → Outschool
• Adult hobby/creative experiences → ClassBento
• Academic tutoring → Wyzant

One important caveat: no marketplace guarantees bookings. Your profile, reviews, price, niche, availability and marketplace ranking affect how much demand actually reaches you. Preply, for example, explicitly says its commission helps fund bringing students to the platform, but you're still competing with other tutors. Preply Help Center

If you tell me what language/hobby you want to teach, adult vs. kids, online vs. in-person, and your target price per class, I can rank the top 5 platforms specifically for that class and compare their student acquisition, commissions, and booking potential.

If you want a platform where the marketplace itself brings you students (rather than you having to build an audience), you’ll generally want a two-sided marketplace rather than a course-hosting tool. The best choice depends on whether you teach languages, creative hobbies, kids/families, or premium adult workshops.

Best marketplaces for language classes

Speaklay supatutor.in### My top pick for most language teachers

Preply is usually the strongest starting point if your priority is students finding you. It has a large global learner base and built-in search, reviews, scheduling, and payments. The tradeoff is competition and marketplace fees. Everything-PR Abridge Academy

italki is often better if you have a strong teaching profile (certifications, exam prep, business language, rare languages) and want a language-focused audience. supatutor.in

Best marketplaces for hobby classes

RoamJobs TeacherOnFor hobbies, Outschool is especially strong if your audience is children or parents looking for enrichment classes. For adult hobby workshops (painting, cooking, photography, crafts), broad marketplaces tend to be less specialized, so you may need either a niche marketplace or some direct marketing.

If you want “students come to me” but also want to own the business

Marketplace platforms are great for discovery, but they usually control the customer relationship. A common strategy is:

1. Start on Preply / italki / Outschool to get initial students.
2. Build reviews and a reputation.
3. Move repeat students toward your own branded site, memberships, cohorts, or courses.

Tools like Teachable, Thinkific, or teacher-focused platforms can help with ownership, but they generally do not provide the marketplace traffic you’re asking for.

My ranking by goal

• “I have no audience and need bookings now” → Preply or italki
• “I teach kids’ creative classes” → Outschool
• “I teach a rare language or premium niche” → italki / Verbling
• “I want to eventually build a real education business” → Marketplace first, then your own platform

If you tell me what kind of class (language vs hobby), age group, online vs in-person, and your country, I can narrow this to the 2–3 platforms most likely to generate bookings.

roamjobs.com teacheron.comFor hobbies, Outschool is especially strong if your audience is children or parents looking for enrichment classes. For adult hobby workshops (painting, cooking, photography, crafts), broad marketplaces tend to be less specialized, so you may need either a niche marketplace or some direct marketing.

If your priority is “I list my class, and the marketplace brings me students and handles booking/payment”, I’d rank them differently depending on whether you teach languages 1:1, group hobby classes, or kids’ classes.

My picks

For languages: Preply

This is probably the strongest fit if you don't already have an audience. You set your own price and schedule, while students search the marketplace and book you. Preply explicitly says its ranking algorithm considers how likely students are to book you, so the marketplace itself can generate demand rather than simply providing scheduling software. Preply Help Center

The catch is economics: Preply takes 100% of the first trial lesson with a new student, then 18–33% of subsequent lessons depending on your accumulated teaching hours. Preply Help Center

preply.com

For hobby classes and group courses: Outschool

I'd choose Outschool if you're teaching things like drawing, music, crafts, cooking, chess, creative writing, languages, coding, or other enrichment classes to kids/teens. It's much closer to the model you're describing: you create a class, set the price and class size, and families enroll through the marketplace. Outschool currently takes 30%, leaving the teacher 70%. Outschool Support Outschool Support

outschool.com

For adult language learners: italki

It's another strong marketplace specifically for languages. The big advantage is that students are already there specifically looking for language teachers, rather than you having to convince people to visit your own website. Kilo Lingo

If I were starting from zero

I'd use:

• Language, 1:1 → Preply
• Language, 1:1 and especially international/adult audience → italki
• Hobby/creative class for children → Outschool
• Hobby class for adults → I'd look beyond the major tutoring marketplaces, because most of them are optimized for tutoring rather than marketplace-driven enrollment in recreational classes.

The important distinction is marketplace vs. course-hosting platform. Something like Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, etc. gives you excellent infrastructure, but generally you have to bring the students yourself. If your #1 requirement is “I don't want to do the marketing; I want the platform to have buyers searching for classes”, I'd favor Preply/italki/Outschool.

If you tell me what language or hobby you want to teach, adult vs. kids, online vs. in-person, and your target price per class, I can narrow this down to the 3 marketplaces most likely to actually generate bookings.

The catch is economics: Preply takes 100% of the first trial lesson with a new student, then 18–33% of subsequent lessons depending on your accumulated teaching hours. Preply Help Center

preply.com

For hobby classes and group courses: Outschool

I'd choose Outschool if you're teaching things like drawing, music, crafts, cooking, chess, creative writing, languages, coding, or other enrichment classes to kids/teens. It's much closer to the model you're describing: you create a class, set the price and class size, and families enroll through the marketplace. Outschool currently takes 30%, leaving the teacher 70%. support.outschool.com support.outschool.com

outschool.com

For adult language learners: italki

If your priority is “I want the marketplace itself to bring me students and handle bookings”, rather than simply giving you software to sell classes, I’d narrow it to these:

🥇 Best overall for hobby + language classes: Outschool

teach.outschool.com

This is probably the closest match to what you're describing. You create a class listing, choose the price/schedule/class size, and Outschool markets classes to its learner base. Parents enroll and pay through the platform. Outschool explicitly says it helps teachers reach new students, handles enrollments/payments, and markets classes to its audience. Outschool Support Outschool Support

The tradeoff is significant: Outschool takes 30%, leaving you 70% of the class price. Outschool Support

It's particularly attractive for:

• Spanish, French, Mandarin, Japanese, etc.
• Conversation clubs
• Art/drawing
• Music
• Chess
• Cooking
• Crafts
• STEM
• Games and other enrichment

And you can sell one-off classes, recurring classes, or longer courses, rather than being restricted to hourly tutoring. Outschool Educator Library

🥇 Best specifically for language teaching: Preply

preply.com

If you're primarily thinking language instruction, I'd choose Preply over Outschool.

Preply is built around students actively searching for tutors, so the marketplace is much more directly aligned with “find me language students.” Preply says it has learners from around the world and specifically positions its marketplace as solving the problem of tutors finding regular students. Preply Help Center

The downside is the commission structure: Preply takes 100% of the first trial lesson with a new student, then 18–33% on subsequent lessons, with the percentage declining as you accumulate teaching hours. Preply Help Center Preply Help Center

So I'd pick:

Preply → 1:1 language tutoring / adults / ongoing lessons

Outschool → group language classes / kids / themed courses / hobby classes

🥇 Best for in-person creative hobbies: ClassBento

classbento.com

This is particularly interesting if you're teaching something like pottery, painting, cooking, crafts, floral arranging, jewelry making, dance, or other experiential workshops.

ClassBento says it uses its commission to advertise and generate orders for teachers, handles bookings, automatically collects reviews, and offers instant bookings and waitlists. Its current teacher terms advertise a 20% commission, with no upfront/fixed listing fee. ClassBento

This is arguably a better fit than Outschool if your class is physical/in-person and experience-oriented.

My recommendation

If you're deciding where to put your effort:

• Language, 1:1: Preply
• Language, group classes: Outschool
• Kids' hobby/enrichment classes: Outschool
• Adult creative/hobby workshops: ClassBento
• You want the marketplace to do as much customer acquisition as possible: Outschool or Preply
• You want your own website + marketplace simultaneously: ClassBento is particularly interesting because it also offers a booking widget for your own site/social channels. ClassBento

One important distinction: platforms like Teachable, Thinkific, Wix, Squarespace, etc. are primarily tools for selling your own audience. If your requirement is “I don't want to have to find all the students myself”, I'd prioritize an actual marketplace with built-in learner demand like Preply, Outschool, or ClassBento.

If you tell me what class you want to teach, online vs. in-person, adults vs. kids, and your target price, I can rank the top 5 marketplaces by how likely they are to actually generate bookings for that specific class.

The downside is the commission structure: Preply takes 100% of the first trial lesson with a new student, then 18–33% on subsequent lessons, with the percentage declining as you accumulate teaching hours. Preply Help Center Preply Help Center

So I'd pick:

Preply → 1:1 language tutoring / adults / ongoing lessons

Outschool → group language classes / kids / themed courses / hobby classes

🥇 Best for in-person creative hobbies: ClassBento

classbento.com

This is particularly interesting if you're teaching something like pottery, painting, cooking, crafts, floral arranging, jewelry making, dance, or other experiential workshops.

ClassBento says it uses its commission to advertise and generate orders for teachers, handles bookings, automatically collects reviews, and offers instant bookings and waitlists. Its current teacher terms advertise a 20% commission, with no upfront/fixed listing fee.

If your priority is “I want the marketplace itself to bring me students and handle bookings”, rather than simply giving you software to sell classes, I’d narrow it to these:

My picks

For language classes → Preply is probably the strongest choice.

It is explicitly a language marketplace: students search for tutors, filter by things like language, specialty and availability, and can directly book lessons. Preply says it has learners in 180+ countries and a large pool of students. Preply Preply Help Center

preply.com

The tradeoff is substantial commission—particularly the 100% commission on a new student's trial lesson—but that's partly what you're paying for: acquisition, marketplace traffic, payments, classroom infrastructure, etc. Preply Help Center

For hobby classes → Outschool is the standout if you're willing to teach kids/teens.

You create a class, Outschool markets it to its audience, handles enrollment and payments, and students can discover you through its marketplace. Outschool Support Outschool Educator Library It covers an unusually broad range of hobbies—from art and music to coding and special interests. Outschool Support

outschool.com

The big limitation: Outschool is for learners roughly ages 3–18, so it's not the answer if you're targeting adults. Outschool Support

If you're teaching adults

I'd rank the options differently:

1. Preply — best for adult language instruction and 1:1.
2. Superprof — broader range of subjects/hobbies and adult learners.
3. ClassBento — particularly interesting if the class is a local, in-person workshop (cooking, crafts, art, etc.).
4. Your own site + Calendly/Stripe/etc. — better economics, but you have to generate the demand, so it doesn't meet your stated priority as well.

The key distinction

There are two very different kinds of platforms:

Marketplace:

“We have students searching for classes → here's your listing → students book you.”

Course-selling software:

“Here's a website where you can sell your class → now go find the students.”

For your requirement, I'd strongly favor the first category, even if the commission is higher.

If you tell me what class you want to teach (e.g. Spanish, pottery, chess, cooking, guitar, knitting) and whether it's online/in-person + adults/kids, I can give you the 3 best marketplaces specifically for that class and compare their student volume, fees, and likelihood of actually generating bookings.

If your priority is “I list my class, and the marketplace brings me students who book it”, rather than building your own audience, I’d rank the options like this:

🥇 For language classes: Preply

I'd start with Preply if you're teaching Spanish, French, English, Japanese, Mandarin, etc.

Preply explicitly says it provides tutors with a stream of new students and has learners in 180+ countries. Students can discover your profile and book lessons directly through the platform. You set your own price and availability. Preply Preply Help Center

The downside is the commission: Preply takes 100% of a new student's trial lesson, then 18–33% of subsequent lessons depending on your accumulated teaching hours. Preply Preply Help Center

preply.com

🥈 For hobby/group classes: Outschool

If by "class" you mean something like:

• Beginner watercolor
• Creative writing
• Guitar for beginners
• Spanish for kids
• Chess
• Crochet
• Photography
• Cooking
• Minecraft/game design

Outschool is probably the more interesting marketplace.

You create the actual class listing, choose the price and class size, and families browse and enroll. Outschool currently takes a 30% teacher fee, leaving the educator 70%. Outschool Support Outschool

It is particularly attractive if your product is a repeatable group class, rather than selling your time one student at a time.

teach.outschool.com

The important distinction

I'd choose based on this:

• “I want students looking for a tutor.” → Preply / italki
• “I want families looking for an actual class.” → Outschool
• “I teach a specialized skill to US customers.” → Wyzant
• “I want almost any hobby/skill represented.” → Superprof
• “I already have an audience.” → Don't optimize for a marketplace; use your own booking/course platform instead.

For maximum marketplace-driven bookings, I would not put Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, etc. at the top of the list. Those are primarily infrastructure for selling to an audience you generate yourself; they aren't comparable to a marketplace whose core job is discovering students for you.

If you tell me the exact class you're considering (e.g. “Spanish conversation for adults,” “watercolor for beginners,” “Japanese cooking,” etc.), I can narrow this down to the 2–3 platforms most likely to actually generate bookings and compare their fees and student traffic.

If your priority is “I teach, and the marketplace brings me students”, rather than simply giving you software to sell your own classes, the shortlist is fairly clear.

Best options

1. Preply — best for language classes

If you're teaching Spanish, French, English, Japanese, Mandarin, etc., I'd start here.

Preply explicitly operates as a marketplace: students search for tutors, filter by things such as language, specialty and availability, and can book directly from your profile. Preply Help Center Preply

The big advantage is that student acquisition is part of what you're paying for. Preply says it invests its commission in bringing students to the platform. Preply Help Center

The downside is substantial commission: the first trial lesson is currently 100% commission, and subsequent lessons start at 33% and decline to 18% as you accumulate teaching hours. Preply Help Center

Verdict: 9/10 for languages.

preply.com

2. Outschool — best for hobby/group classes

This is probably the most interesting alternative if by “hobby classes” you mean things like:

• Drawing/painting
• Music
• Chess
• Cooking
• Writing
• Crafts
• Coding
• Languages for children
• History/geography/culture
• Games and unusual niche interests

Outschool is explicitly a marketplace, and its model is much closer to “create a class → marketplace markets it → families enroll.” Outschool says it markets classes to its audience and handles enrollment and payments. Outschool Support

You set the price, class size, length and schedule. Outschool currently takes a 30% teacher fee, leaving you 70% of the class price. Outschool Support Outschool

It also has a pretty compelling demand-side advantage: Outschool says families discover classes through its website and personalized emails. Outschool Support

Verdict: 9/10 for structured group hobby classes; 8/10 for adult classes.

outschool.com

The important distinction

I'd think about the platforms in two categories:

Marketplace-first

“Give me students.”

• Preply
• Outschool
• ClassBento

Software-first

“Give me a website/payment system; I'll find the students.”

• Teachable
• Thinkific
• Kajabi
• Podia
• Wix

For what you're asking, I would not start with the second category. You'd end up spending a lot of your time on Instagram, Google, ads, email lists, etc. rather than benefiting from existing marketplace demand.

My recommendation

If you tell me what kind of class you want to teach, whether it's adults or kids, online vs. in-person, and roughly what you'd charge per student, I can narrow this down to the top 3 marketplaces with the strongest existing student demand and lowest effective commission for your particular class.

If your #1 criterion is that the marketplace itself brings you students and handles bookings, rather than you having to build an audience, I’d narrow it to these:

🥇 For language classes: Preply

Preply is probably the closest match to what you're describing.

Students actively search the marketplace by language, specialty, availability, price, etc., and can message or book teachers directly. Preply explicitly describes itself as a marketplace where students find tutors, rather than simply software for hosting your own course. Preply Help Center Preply Help Center

The downside is the commission: 100% of the first trial lesson and then 18–33% on subsequent lessons, depending on your teaching history. Preply Help Center

preply.com

I'd choose it if you're teaching: Spanish, French, English, Japanese, Mandarin, conversation practice, business language, test prep, etc.

🥇 For hobby/group classes: Outschool

Outschool is more interesting if you're selling actual classes rather than tutoring sessions.

It has a large marketplace of live classes for ages 3–18, including academic subjects and unusual interests/enrichment. Families browse the catalog and enroll directly. Outschool

You set your class price and class size, while Outschool handles the marketplace infrastructure. Its current teacher fee is 30%, leaving teachers with 70% of the class price. Outschool Support

outschool.com

This could be particularly good for things like:

• Japanese for kids
• Spanish conversation clubs
• Drawing
• Chess
• Creative writing
• Cooking
• Music
• Coding
• Art/crafts
• Cultural classes

🥈 Superprof if you want languages + hobbies

Superprof has unusually broad coverage—more than 1,000 subjects, including languages, sports, music, arts and hobbies. Tutors set their rates and schedules and can teach online or in person. Superprof

The catch is that it's more of a marketplace/directory than a completely managed class-booking machine. Students find instructors, but there can be more coordination involved than on Preply. Preply

superprof.com

My ranking for your specific requirement

If by "marketplace drives student bookings" you mean I don't want to spend most of my time marketing myself on Instagram/Google/etc., I'd rank them:

1. Preply → best for adult language instruction
2. Outschool → best for packaged/group classes, particularly kids
3. italki → excellent if you're strictly teaching languages
4. Superprof → best if the subject is an unusual hobby or you want local/in-person possibilities
5. Wyzant → strongest if you're targeting the U.S. tutoring market

The important distinction is marketplace vs. course-hosting platform. I would not put Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Podia, etc. at the top for your use case: they're good at selling your audience courses, but they generally don't solve the "where do my students come from?" problem.

If you tell me what class you want to sell (e.g. Spanish conversation, watercolor, guitar, cooking), adult vs. kids, group vs. 1:1, and your target price, I can narrow this to the 2–3 platforms most likely to actually generate bookings.

🥇 For hobby/group classes: Outschool

Outschool is more interesting if you're selling actual classes rather than tutoring sessions.

It has a large marketplace of live classes for ages 3–18, including academic subjects and unusual interests/enrichment. Families browse the catalog and enroll directly.

You set your class price and class size, while Outschool handles the marketplace infrastructure. Its current teacher fee is 30%, leaving teachers with 70% of the class price.

If your priority is “I list my class, and the marketplace brings me students who book it”, rather than simply providing scheduling software, I’d narrow it to Preply vs. Outschool.

My ranking

1. Preply — best if you're teaching languages

Preply is probably the strongest match if you're offering Spanish, French, English, Japanese, conversation practice, pronunciation, etc.

Preply says tutors get access to students from 180+ countries and describes a “steady stream of new students.” You set your own hourly rate and availability, while Preply handles the marketplace, payments, calendar and classroom. Preply

The tradeoff is high commission: Preply takes 100% of a new student's trial lesson, then its commission starts at 33% on subsequent lessons and decreases toward 18% as you teach more hours. Preply

I'd choose Preply if:
You want individual adult students to discover and book you, especially for languages.

2. Outschool — best overall for hobby classes

Outschool is arguably the better fit for things like:

• Drawing
• Music
• Cooking
• Crafts
• Chess
• Coding
• Creative writing
• Language clubs
• Cultural classes
• Specialized hobbies
• Kids' enrichment

The important distinction is that Outschool is genuinely a marketplace. Teachers list classes, Outschool markets classes to its audience, parents enroll, and Outschool handles enrollment and payment. Outschool Support Outschool Support

It currently says it reaches 1M+ families/learners globally, and it takes a 30% teacher fee, leaving the educator 70% of enrollment revenue. Outschool Support Outschool Support

It also supports both group classes and 1:1 offerings; its newer 1:1 system lets families book times from the availability you've provided. Outschool's Educator Library

I'd choose Outschool if:
You want to sell a specific class/product rather than sell yourself primarily as a tutor.

The important distinction

Think about the business model this way:

Preply:

“I'm a French teacher. Find me students.”

Outschool:

“I offer a 6-week French conversation class / watercolor class / chess class. Find me students.”

That distinction matters enormously.

If you tell me what language or hobby you want to teach, whether it's adults or kids, online vs. in-person, and 1:1 vs. group, I can tell you which marketplace is likely to generate the most bookings and compare 5–10 platforms by marketplace traffic, commission, ease of getting your first students, and booking automation.

If your priority is “I want the marketplace itself to bring me students and handle bookings”, rather than building your own audience, I’d rank them:

🥇 For language classes: Preply

Preply is probably your strongest option. It has a global learner base, specifically built around language instruction, and actively generates student demand for tutors. Preply says tutors teach students from 180+ countries, with 800,000+ students, and its model explicitly charges commission when bookings happen. Preply Preply Help Center

The downside is the commission: the first trial lesson is 100% commission, then subsequent lessons are charged at 18–33%, depending on your accumulated teaching hours. Preply Help Center

So if you're teaching Spanish, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic, ESL, etc., I'd start with Preply.

preply.com

🥇 For hobby classes: Outschool

If by hobby you mean things like art, crafts, cooking, music, chess, creative writing, gaming, dance, photography, etc., Outschool is particularly interesting—provided your target students are children/teens.

Outschool explicitly markets classes to ages 3–18, including hobbies and special interests. Teachers list classes, while Outschool handles enrollments and payments and markets classes to its existing audience. Outschool Support Outschool's Educator Library

It also has a discovery/search system designed around getting families to discover and enroll in individual classes. Outschool's Educator Library

teach.outschool.com

🥈 For adult hobby classes: Superprof

Superprof is broader than Preply. It covers languages plus thousands of non-academic subjects and hobbies, and supports online and, depending on the instructor, in-person teaching. Superprof Superprof

The important distinction is that Superprof is more of a large tutor marketplace/directory. Students search profiles and contact instructors, rather than the platform providing the highly structured booking funnel that Preply does. Preply

So I'd choose it if you're teaching something unusual—e.g. watercolor, knitting, guitar, photography, chess, pottery, etc.—and want access to a broad marketplace.

The key distinction

If you're evaluating these platforms as an instructor, I'd think about them this way:

• Want the platform to actively generate language students → Preply
• Want the platform to generate kids/teen hobby-class enrollments → Outschool
• Want broad exposure for unusual adult hobbies → Superprof
• Want US academic tutoring → Wyzant
• Want another language-specialist marketplace → italki

One important caveat: none of these is truly “passive.” The marketplace supplies discovery, but your profile, reviews, pricing, availability, class title, photos/video, and response rate heavily influence whether that traffic turns into bookings. Preply explicitly recommends competitive initial pricing to get first students, while Outschool emphasizes optimizing class listings for search and conversion. Preply Outschool's Educator Library

If you tell me what kind of language/hobby you want to teach, whether it's adults or kids, your target hourly price, and whether you want 1:1 or group classes, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 platforms with the best economics and student acquisition.

So if you're teaching Spanish, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic, ESL, etc., I'd start with Preply.

preply.com

🥇 For hobby classes: Outschool

If by hobby you mean things like art, crafts, cooking, music, chess, creative writing, gaming, dance, photography, etc., Outschool is particularly interesting—provided your target students are children/teens.

Outschool explicitly markets classes to ages 3–18, including hobbies and special interests. Teachers list classes, while Outschool handles enrollments and payments and markets classes to its existing audience. Outschool Support Outschool's Educator Library

It also has a discovery/search system designed around getting families to discover and enroll in individual classes. Outschool's Educator Library

teach.outschool.com

🥈 For adult hobby classes: Superprof

Superprof is broader than Preply. It covers languages plus thousands of non-academic subjects and hobbies, and supports online and, depending on the instructor, in-person teaching. superprof.com superprof.com

The important distinction is that Superprof is more of a large tutor marketplace/directory. Students search profiles and contact instructors, rather than the platform providing the highly structured booking funnel that Preply does.

So I'd choose it if you're teaching something unusual—e.g. watercolor, knitting, guitar, photography, chess, pottery, etc.—and want access to a broad marketplace.

The key distinction

If your priority is “I list my class, and the platform itself brings me students”, rather than merely giving you booking software, I’d narrow it to these:

My recommendation

For language classes → Preply.

Preply explicitly positions itself around connecting tutors with learners and says it has students from 180+ countries. You create a profile, set your own rate, and the platform supplies discovery, payments, scheduling and the virtual classroom. Preply Preply Help Center

The downside is significant commission: Preply takes 100% of the first trial lesson, then starts at 33% and decreases to 18% as you teach more hours. Preply

For hobby classes → Outschool.

This is probably the closest match to what you're describing if you're teaching things like:

• drawing/painting
• crafts
• music
• cooking
• chess
• creative writing
• cultural classes
• languages
• specialized hobbies

Outschool is an actual class marketplace: you create a listing, set sections/times and pricing, and families search and enroll. Outschool says it markets classes to its audience and currently reports 1M+ families globally. Outschool Support Outschool Support

It takes 30% of enrollment revenue, leaving the teacher 70%. Outschool Support Outschool Support

One important distinction: Outschool is primarily oriented toward children/teens and their parents, whereas Preply is much better suited to adults looking for language tutoring.

If you're teaching both languages and hobbies

I'd actually consider using two marketplaces:

Preply → adult/1:1 language students
Outschool → children/teen language + hobby group classes

That's a much better fit than trying to force one platform to handle both business models.

If you tell me what language/hobby you want to teach, whether adults or kids, and whether you prefer 1:1 or groups, I can rank the 5–10 marketplaces most likely to actually bring you bookings, including fees and how much student acquisition each platform really does.

If your priority is “I create the class, and the marketplace brings me students who book”, rather than simply giving you software to sell to your own audience, the best choice depends heavily on the type of class.

My ranking

🥇 Best overall for classes: Outschool

If you're teaching things like Spanish conversation, cooking, drawing, music, crafts, chess, writing, coding, cultural classes, or other hobbies, I'd start with Outschool—particularly if children/teens are part of your target market.

Outschool is explicitly a marketplace: you create a class and sections, and parents discover and enroll in them. The company says it markets classes to its audience, while handling enrollment and payments. Outschool Support Outschool Support

It also supports a very broad range of enrichment subjects, from languages and academics to cooking, dance, art, music, yoga and gaming. Outschool Support

Downside: it's primarily a kids/teens marketplace, not the ideal destination for adult hobby learners. And the economics are a meaningful consideration: Outschool currently retains 30% of the class price, leaving the educator 70%. Outschool Support

teach.outschool.com

🥇 Best for adult language classes: Preply

For adult language instruction, I'd pick Preply.

It's much closer to the model you're describing than something like Teachable: students actively search the marketplace for tutors and can message or book them directly. Preply Help Center

Preply says it has learners in 180+ countries and provides tutors with a steady stream of new students. Preply

The catch is the commission. A new tutor gets 100% commission on the first trial lesson, and subsequent lessons start at 33% commission, declining to 18% as teaching volume increases. Preply Help Center

So if your product is:

“Book me for 1:1 Spanish/French/Japanese/English lessons”

Preply is probably the strongest marketplace choice.

If your product is:

“Join my 6-week beginner Japanese course with 8 other students”

Outschool is a much better fit, assuming your audience is children/teens.

What I'd choose based on your business model

• Adult 1:1 language lessons → Preply
• Kids/teen language classes → Outschool
• Kids/teen hobby classes → Outschool
• Adult group hobby classes → I'd look beyond the major tutoring marketplaces
• Broad 1:1 tutoring → Superprof / Preply
• You already have a large audience → use a platform like Teachable, Thinkific, etc., rather than sacrificing 20–30%+ to a marketplace

The key distinction is marketplace vs. course-hosting software. If “the marketplace drives student bookings” is your #1 requirement, I'd strongly favor Preply or Outschool over conventional course platforms.

If you tell me (1) adult vs. kids, (2) language vs. hobby, (3) 1:1 vs. group, and (4) live vs. prerecorded, I can narrow this down to the top 3 platforms and compare their student acquisition, fees, and booking model.

Outschool is explicitly a marketplace: you create a class and sections, and parents discover and enroll in them. The company says it markets classes to its audience, while handling enrollment and payments. Outschool Support Outschool Support

It also supports a very broad range of enrichment subjects, from languages and academics to cooking, dance, art, music, yoga and gaming. Outschool Support

Downside: it's primarily a kids/teens marketplace, not the ideal destination for adult hobby learners. And the economics are a meaningful consideration: Outschool currently retains 30% of the class price, leaving the educator 70%. Outschool Support

teach.outschool.com

🥇 Best for adult language classes: Preply

For adult language instruction, I'd pick Preply.

It's much closer to the model you're describing than something like Teachable: students actively search the marketplace for tutors and can message or book them directly.

Preply says it has learners in 180+ countries and provides tutors with a steady stream of new students.

The catch is the commission. A new tutor gets 100% commission on the first trial lesson, and subsequent lessons start at 33% commission, declining to 18% as teaching volume increases.

So if your product is:

“Book me for 1:1 Spanish/French/Japanese/English lessons”

Preply is probably the strongest marketplace choice.

If your product is:

If your priority is “I list the class, and the marketplace itself brings me students/bookings,” I’d put Outschool at the top—especially for language and hobby classes taught online.

My ranking

🥇 Outschool is probably your best fit

Outschool explicitly operates as a marketplace: you create the class, schedule sections, and Outschool markets classes to its audience. It handles enrollments and payments, while you teach. support.outschool.com

It also isn't limited to conventional academics. Its marketplace includes languages, cooking, dance, art, music, yoga, gaming, D&D and other enrichment/hobby subjects. support.outschool.com

The big advantage is that you don't necessarily have to sell yourself as a generic tutor. You can sell a specific class/product, e.g.:

• “Spanish Through Minecraft”
• “Conversational Japanese for Anime Fans”
• “Beginner Watercolor: Paint 4 Cute Landscapes”
• “Italian Cooking for Teens”
• “Chess for Absolute Beginners”
• “K-Pop Dance Fundamentals”

That distinction matters because marketplace search can bring you students who are already looking for that thing, rather than requiring you to generate leads from scratch.

The downside: Outschool takes 30% of the class price, leaving the teacher 70%. In return, the fee covers things including marketplace marketing, payment processing, Zoom and platform support. support.outschool.com

And there is real marketplace functionality: families can browse/filter classes, select schedules, and enroll directly; recurring classes and tutoring can also be booked through the platform. support.outschool.com

If you're specifically teaching languages: Preply

I'd consider Preply first if your business is essentially:

“I am a language teacher and want people actively searching for a tutor to book me.”

It's more naturally suited to 1:1 language tutoring than to packaged hobby courses.

If instead you're thinking:

“I want to create fun, packaged language experiences/classes and let the marketplace discover students for me,”

I'd lean Outschool.

If the classes are in-person

Then I'd investigate ClassBento. Its model is closer to a marketplace for experiences—particularly crafts, cooking, art, wellness and similar activities—rather than an online tutoring marketplace.

The important distinction

There are two very different kinds of platforms:

Marketplace-driven

“People come to the site looking for classes → discover yours → book.”

Software-driven

“You build a class page → you advertise it yourself → students book through your software.”

If student acquisition is the thing you're trying to outsource, prioritize the first category—even if the commission is substantially higher.

My recommendation:

• Online language + hobby classes for kids/teens: Outschool
• 1:1 adult language lessons: Preply
• Broad adult tutoring/skills: Superprof
• In-person creative/hobby experiences: ClassBento

If you tell me (1) online vs. in-person, (2) adults vs. kids, and (3) language vs. hobby, I can narrow this to the 2–3 platforms most likely to actually generate bookings, including their current fees and marketplace size.

If your priority is “I want the marketplace itself to bring me students/bookings,” rather than merely giving you scheduling software, I’d rank the options differently depending on whether you teach kids, adults, online, or in-person.

My top picks

🥇 Outschool — strongest fit for “marketplace brings me students”

This is probably the closest match to what you're describing if your classes can be for ages 3–18.

Outschool explicitly markets teachers' classes to its learner/parent audience, handles enrollment and payment, and says it has 900,000+ learners in 174 countries as of July 2026. Outschool Support Outschool Support

It isn't limited to academics: languages, cooking, art, music, dance, gaming, D&D, crafts and other hobbies are all represented. Outschool Support

The downside is the economics: Outschool takes 30% of the class price, leaving the educator 70%. Outschool Support

Important: Outschool is specifically for children/teens, not adult classes. Outschool Support

🥇 Preply — if you're teaching adults languages

For something like:

• Spanish conversation
• English for professionals
• Japanese
• French
• Mandarin
• IELTS/TOEFL preparation

I'd look at Preply first. Its model is fundamentally a tutor marketplace, so students are actively searching for teachers rather than you having to generate all the demand yourself.

The tradeoff is that 1:1 tutoring marketplaces tend to be more competitive and price-sensitive than selling a distinctive group hobby class.

🥇 ClassBento — if these are physical hobby experiences

If you're talking about things like:

• pottery
• painting
• cooking
• floral arranging
• crafts
• dance
• photography
• other local workshops

ClassBento is particularly interesting because its platform is explicitly designed around consumers purchasing leisure activities and workshops from local providers. ClassBento

That's much closer to “list my class → marketplace finds customers → customer books” than a generic course platform.

What I would not choose

If marketplace-generated bookings are your #1 requirement, I wouldn't start with Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Podia, Wix, Squarespace, etc.

They're excellent for selling to an audience you already have, but they're fundamentally different from a marketplace where people are already browsing for something to buy.

The key distinction

I'd choose based on this:

Kids + group classes + online → Outschool

Adults + language + 1:1 → Preply / AmazingTalker

Adults + language + group classes → marketplace options are weaker; I'd investigate Preply plus your own group offering

In-person hobbies/workshops → ClassBento

Any skill + local/private tutoring → Superprof

If you tell me what language/hobby you want to teach, adult vs. kids, online vs. in-person, and your country, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 marketplaces most likely to actually generate bookings, including their fees and how much demand they have.

If your priority is “I create the class; the marketplace brings students and handles bookings”, you’ll generally want a marketplace with built-in learner demand, not just a course-hosting platform.

Here are the strongest options:

kilolingo.comwww.superprof.com

Best choices by use case

1. Teaching a language (adult learners)

• Best overall: italki
  • Strong language-only audience.
  • Good for conversational classes, exam prep, pronunciation, business language, and niche languages.
  • Students actively search teachers rather than just browse courses. kilolingo.com

• Best for predictable recurring students: Preply
  • Strong discovery engine and recurring lesson model.
  • Good if you want students to book weekly lessons. onlinecourseing.com

2. Teaching a hobby (painting, cooking, crafts, music, dance, photography)

• Best broad marketplace: Superprof
  • Covers many skills beyond academics and languages.
  • Works for both online and local classes. www.superprof.com

• Best for premium creative workshops: ClassBento
  • Better fit if your offer is an “experience” (e.g., “Japanese pottery evening,” “watercolor brunch,” “sushi-making class”) rather than ongoing tutoring.

3. Teaching children

• Best: Outschool
  • Built around parents looking for enrichment classes.
  • Better for groups than 1:1 tutoring.

Platforms I would avoid if your main goal is marketplace-driven bookings

• Teachable / Thinkific — good software, but they do not bring you many students; you usually need your own marketing.
• Skillshare — better for audience exposure than high-value live teaching.
• Building your own website first — highest margin, but you become responsible for traffic acquisition.

My ranking for a solo instructor starting today

1. Language tutor: italki → Preply → Superprof
2. Creative hobby instructor: ClassBento → Superprof → Outschool (if kids)
3. Premium niche expert: Marketplace + your own mailing list/community

A strong strategy is often one discovery marketplace + your own brand: use the marketplace to get the first students, then build repeat demand through referrals and a direct audience.

If you tell me what class you want to teach (language/hobby), student age, and online vs in-person, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 platforms.

If your priority is “I want the marketplace itself to bring me students and handle bookings”, rather than building your own audience, I’d rank the options:

🥇 For languages: Preply

Preply is probably the strongest fit if you're teaching Spanish, English, French, Japanese, conversation practice, pronunciation, business language, etc.

The important distinction is that Preply isn't merely scheduling software: it actively acquires learners and matches them with tutors. Preply says it has millions of learners and specifically describes its value to tutors as connecting them with new students. help.preply.com

The downside is the commission. New tutors currently give up 100% of the first trial lesson, then pay 18–33% on subsequent lessons depending on accumulated teaching hours. help.preply.com

Verdict: If you have zero audience and want the platform to generate bookings, I'd start here.

🥇 For hobbies/classes: Outschool

Outschool is much more interesting if by “hobby” you mean things like:

• Art & drawing
• Music
• Creative writing
• Cooking
• Chess
• Coding
• Crafts
• Photography
• Science experiments
• Languages for kids
• Special-interest clubs

Outschool is explicitly a marketplace for educators to list classes and reach new students. It handles enrollments and payments, while marketing classes to its audience. support.outschool.com

It also has built-in discovery/search: Outschool's own 2026 guidance specifically discusses optimizing listings to improve visibility and enrollments. teach.outschool.com

The catch: it's focused on ages 3–18, so it's not the obvious choice for adult hobby classes. teach.outschool.com

🥈 italki for languages

italki is another very strong language-specific marketplace. It is particularly attractive if you want to set your own rate and build a recurring student base. Current comparisons put its teacher commission around 15%, substantially below Preply's starting commission. kilolingo.com

I'd choose italki over Preply if maximizing your take-home percentage is more important than maximizing the sheer marketplace/discovery machinery.

The key distinction

There are really two types of platforms:

Marketplace → students come to you

• Preply
• italki
• Outschool
• Wyzant
• Superprof

Creator platform → you bring the students

• Teachable
• Thinkific
• Kajabi
• Podia
• Calendly + Stripe/Zoom-type stacks

If your requirement is specifically “I don't want to have to build an Instagram following/email list/SEO funnel; I want the platform to generate student bookings,” I'd stay firmly in the first category.

My picks:

• 🌎 Adult language: Preply
• 🗣️ Language + better economics: italki
• 🎨 Kids/teen hobby classes: Outschool
• 👨‍🎓 Adult hobby classes: the marketplace options are considerably weaker; I'd evaluate Superprof/Wyzant depending on the subject.

If you tell me what language/hobby you want to teach, adult vs. kids, 1:1 vs. group, and your target hourly price, I can narrow this to the 2–3 platforms most likely to actually produce bookings rather than just giving you a generic platform list.

If your priority is “I want the marketplace itself to bring me students and handle bookings”, rather than building your own audience, I’d rank the options like this:

🥇 My pick: Preply for languages

If you're teaching Spanish, English, French, Japanese, etc., Preply is probably the closest match to what you're describing. Students actively search for tutors, the platform matches/recommends tutors, and it handles scheduling and payments. Preply explicitly says its commission helps fund bringing students to tutors. help.preply.com

The catch is economics: your first trial lesson with a new student is 100% commission, and subsequent lessons start at 33% commission, falling to 18% as you accumulate teaching hours. help.preply.com

Preply — teach on the marketplace

🥈 italki — potentially better economics

I'd choose italki over Preply if you already have a strong teaching profile and want more control over pricing and individual lessons. It's a major language-teaching marketplace with students specifically looking for language tutors. Recent comparisons describe it as particularly strong for language variety and flexible, pay-as-you-go lessons. kilolingo.com

italki

🥉 Outschool — interesting if these are classes, not tutoring

If by “hobby classes” you mean things like:

• drawing
• photography
• cooking
• crafts
• music
• creative writing
• chess
• languages for children
• STEM

…and you're comfortable teaching groups, Outschool is worth considering. Its marketplace model is much closer to “publish a class and let the platform find parents/students” than a conventional course-hosting platform.

The important distinction

There are really three different businesses hiding in your question:

1. Marketplace tutoring → Preply / italki
You create a profile → marketplace finds students → students book you → platform takes a substantial cut.

2. Marketplace group classes → Outschool
You create specific classes → marketplace exposes them to students/parents → students enroll.

3. Course platform → Teachable / Thinkific / Kajabi / etc.
You create the course → you have to bring the students yourself.

For your stated requirement—“the marketplace drives student bookings”—I'd strongly favor #1 or #2, not a conventional course platform.

If you tell me what kind of classes you want to teach (language, cooking, art, music, fitness, etc.), whether they're adults or kids, and 1:1 vs group, I can narrow this to the 2–3 platforms most likely to actually generate bookings for you.

If your priority is “I create the class, and the marketplace brings me students who book it”, I’d narrow it to two strong choices:

🥇 For language classes: Preply

I'd pick Preply if you're teaching languages.

It is specifically built around students searching for tutors, comparing profiles, and booking lessons. Preply says it has millions of learners worldwide, and its marketplace/search system is designed to connect tutors with new students. help.preply.com

The downside is the commission: 100% of the first trial lesson, then 18–33% on subsequent lessons, depending on your accumulated teaching volume. preply.com

So if you want to teach something like:

• Spanish conversation
• English for travelers
• French for beginners
• Japanese through anime
• Italian cooking vocabulary
• Business English

Preply is probably the strongest marketplace-first option.

🥇 For hobby classes: Outschool

For hobbies and structured classes, I'd choose Outschool.

This is much closer to the model you seem to be describing: you create a class listing, establish sections/times, and families browse the marketplace and enroll. Outschool explicitly says it markets classes to its audience and handles enrollments and payments. support.outschool.com

It works particularly well for:

• arts & crafts
• cooking
• music
• chess
• writing
• photography
• gardening
• history
• science
• creative hobbies
• niche enthusiast subjects

And unlike a typical course-hosting platform, you're not expected to bring all the students yourself.

The tradeoff is a 30% teacher fee, so you keep 70% of the class price. support.outschool.com

The important distinction

I'd think about it this way:

Preply = “Find me a teacher.”
Outschool = “Find me an interesting class.”

That's a meaningful difference if you're trying to avoid becoming your own marketer.

For example, “Spanish lessons with Maria” fits Preply naturally.
“Spanish Through Latin American Cooking — 4-Week Class” fits Outschool much better.

What I would not choose

I wouldn't make Skillshare/Udemy-style platforms my first choice if your goal is live classes + marketplace-generated bookings. They're much more oriented toward prerecorded courses/content consumption.

And I would put Superprof behind Preply/Outschool if marketplace demand is your primary criterion. Superprof is an open tutor marketplace where students choose tutors, but it is less purpose-built around filling scheduled group classes. www.superprof.com

My ranking for your use case:

1. 🥇 Preply — best for languages / 1:1
2. 🥇 Outschool — best for hobbies / group classes
3. Superprof — good broad marketplace, especially if you want flexibility
4. Course-hosting platforms — better if you already have an audience

If you tell me what language or hobby you want to teach, whether it's adults or kids, and whether you want 1:1 or groups, I can give you the 3–5 marketplaces most likely to actually generate bookings for that specific class, including their current fees and how much demand they have.

If your priority is “I teach the class; the platform brings me students and handles bookings,” the best choice depends heavily on the subject and audience:

🥇 If you're teaching languages: Preply

Preply is probably the strongest fit. Its business model is specifically built around matching tutors with learners, rather than merely giving you software to run your own school. Preply says it has millions of learners and actively sources new students for tutors. help.preply.com

The downside is commission: Preply takes 100% of the first trial lesson and subsequently takes 18–33% depending on your accumulated lesson volume. help.preply.com

Best if: Spanish, English, French, Mandarin, Japanese, etc.; primarily 1:1 or personalized instruction.

🥇 If you're teaching hobbies/classes: Outschool

Outschool is particularly attractive if your students are children or teens. It covers languages and an enormous range of hobbies—art, music, gaming, crafts, cooking, science, social clubs, etc.

Crucially, it actually provides the marketplace piece you're asking for: Outschool says it markets classes to its audience, handles enrollments and payments, and gives teachers access to a global learner community. support.outschool.com

The tradeoff is a 30% teacher fee, leaving you 70% of the class price. help.preply.comsupport.outschool.comclassbento.co.uk

It also gives you control over your price, class size, schedule and format. teach.outschool.com

🥇 For in-person creative workshops: ClassBento

ClassBento is worth considering if you're offering things like pottery, painting, cooking, crafts, dance, photography, or other experiential workshops rather than conventional tutoring. Its marketplace is explicitly designed to send bookings to workshop providers. classbento.co.uk

My recommendation

If I were choosing specifically for marketplace-driven bookings, I'd rank them:

Language tutoring → Preply
Kids' language/hobby classes → Outschool
Adult hobby/creative workshops → ClassBento
Academic/private tutoring → Wyzant

One important distinction: don't choose Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Wix, etc. if your main goal is having the platform find students. Those are primarily course-hosting/business infrastructure products—you generally have to bring your own audience.

If you tell me what class you want to teach, whether it's adults or kids, online vs. in-person, and your country, I can narrow this down to the 3 platforms most likely to actually generate bookings for you, including fees and estimated earning potential.

If your priority is “I teach the class; the marketplace brings me students and handles booking/payment”, the best choice depends heavily on whether you teach languages, adult hobbies, or kids’ classes.

My ranking

🥇 For language classes: Preply

Preply is probably the strongest fit if you're teaching Spanish, French, Mandarin, English, etc. to adults.

It has a very large global language marketplace—Preply says it has 100,000+ tutors across 90+ languages and 180 countries—and students search for tutors, book trials, and continue lessons through the platform. preply.com

The big catch is economics: Preply takes 100% of a new student's trial lesson, then starts at 33% commission on subsequent lessons, declining to 18% as you teach more hours. preply.com

Verdict: If you want students supplied by the marketplace rather than having to build your own audience, I'd start here for languages.

🥇 For hobby/group classes: Outschool

Outschool is especially compelling if your class is something like:

• Drawing
• Creative writing
• Chess
• Music
• Cooking
• Crafts
• Coding
• Photography
• Cultural/language classes
• Other niche group activities

Outschool explicitly markets teachers to its existing audience, handles enrollments and payments, and has its own discovery/search system. support.outschool.com

The tradeoff is a 30% teacher fee, leaving you 70% of the class price. support.outschool.com

One important limitation: Outschool is primarily oriented toward children and families, so it isn't my first choice for adult hobby classes.

🥈 For broad adult hobby classes: Superprof

Superprof has an unusually broad catalog—languages, music, sports, arts, crafts and many other specialties. It operates more like a giant instructor marketplace than a managed class platform. www.superprof.com

The downside for your particular goal is important: it doesn't provide as much of the “marketplace finds student → student books → everything happens on platform” experience as Preply or Outschool. Students often contact instructors directly and arrange lessons.

What I'd choose

If you're teaching adults:

1. Preply — language
2. italki — language
3. Superprof — unusual hobbies/skills
4. Wyzant — U.S.-focused tutoring/skills

If you're teaching kids:

1. Outschool — by far my first experiment
2. Wyzant — more tutoring-oriented
3. Superprof — broad but less managed

If your main requirement is “I don't want to market myself; I want the platform to generate bookings,” I'd favor Preply or Outschool over Superprof.

If you tell me what class you want to teach, adult vs. kids, group vs. 1:1, and your target price per class, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 platforms most likely to actually generate bookings and compare their fees/economics.

If your goal is to teach language or hobby classes and have the marketplace bring you students, you want a demand marketplace, not just a course-hosting platform. The best choice depends on whether you teach languages, live hobbies, or structured courses.

My picks by scenario

1. You teach a language (Spanish, French, Japanese, English, etc.)

• Best first choice: Preply
• Also list on: italki
• Consider: Verbling if you want a more curated teaching environment. kilolingo.com

2. You teach hobbies (painting, cooking, music, crafts, photography, yoga, etc.)

• Best first choice: Outschool (especially for families/kids)
• Add: Skillshare or Udemy for passive income
• Consider building toward your own audience after you validate demand.

3. You want the marketplace to do almost all customer acquisition
Prioritize:

1. Preply / italki for languages
2. Outschool for live hobby classes
3. Wyzant for US tutoring niches

Avoid starting with tools like Teachable or Thinkific if your main problem is finding students—they help you sell to your own audience, not usually provide the audience.

A practical strategy many instructors use:

• Start on a marketplace to get reviews and discover what sells.
• Raise prices after you have social proof.
• Move repeat students and fans toward your own email list/community where appropriate.

If you tell me what class you want to teach (language vs hobby), age group, live vs recorded, and whether you want adults or kids, I can narrow this to the top 2–3 platforms.

If your priority is “I list the class, and the marketplace brings me students who book”, I’d rank the options like this:

1. Preply — best if it's primarily language

This is probably the strongest choice if you're teaching Spanish, French, English, Japanese, etc.

Preply says it has 800,000+ students, learners in 180+ countries, and a steady stream of new students. You set your own hourly price and availability, and students search and book you. preply.comclassbento.com.au

The major downside is the commission: 100% of the first trial lesson, then 33% down to 18% on subsequent lessons depending on your volume. preply.com

Best model:

“Conversational Spanish for travelers — 50-minute 1:1 lessons”

rather than trying to sell a six-week course.

2. Outschool — best if you want actual classes

This is the one I'd look at most closely if you're teaching children/teens, particularly language + hobbies.

Outschool actively markets classes to its learner/parent audience, handles enrollment and payments, and lets you create public sections that prospective students can enroll in. support.outschool.com

It supports a surprisingly broad range of subjects: languages, art, cooking, dance, music, coding, games, D&D, etc. support.outschool.com

The catch: Outschool is for kids/teens, not adult classes. support.outschool.com

Its current teacher fee is 30%, leaving you 70% of the class price. support.outschool.comsupport.outschool.com

It also supports 1:1 tutoring where families can book from your availability, which makes it more marketplace-like than a normal course platform. support.outschool.com

3. ClassBento — particularly interesting for hobby classes

If by “hobby” you mean painting, pottery, cooking, crafts, flower arranging, jewelry, etc., ClassBento is unusually close to exactly what you're describing.

It says it automatically connects your listings with its audience, advertises classes, handles customer administration, collects reviews, and provides instant bookings. classbento.com.au

The marketplace commission is currently 20%, versus 3.9% + $0.30 for bookings that originate through your own website/widget. classbento.com.au

The big limitation is geography: ClassBento is primarily an Australia-focused marketplace, so I'd only choose it if you're operating in one of its supported markets.

What I'd choose

Language → Preply

Kids' language/hobby classes → Outschool

Adult creative/hobby workshops → ClassBento (where supported)

Recorded courses rather than scheduled bookings → Skillshare

And I would not start with Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Wix, Shopify, etc. if your main goal is marketplace-generated bookings. Those are primarily “bring your own audience” platforms; you're paying for infrastructure rather than buying access to an existing student marketplace.

If you tell me (1) language or hobby, (2) adults or kids, (3) online or in-person, and (4) your country, I can narrow this to the 2–3 marketplaces most likely to actually generate bookings without you having to advertise yourself.

If you mean as a teacher/creator who wants the marketplace itself to bring you students, the strongest options depend on whether you teach languages, hobbies, or premium classes.

My shortlist by scenario

You teach a language and want students booking 1:1 lessons

1. Preply
2. italki
3. Verbling (smaller but more curated)

You teach hobbies (painting, cooking, crafts, music, photography, etc.)

1. Outschool (especially kids/families)
2. Superprof (broad skill discovery)
3. Skillshare/Udemy (if you can package content asynchronously)

You want the marketplace to do the marketing

• Prioritize platforms with search traffic + reviews + profiles, not course-hosting tools.
• Avoid relying only on your own website/social media unless you already have an audience.

A practical strategy many instructors use:

• Start on Preply/italki/Outschool to get initial students and reviews.
• Build repeat students and referrals.
• Later move higher-value students into your own ecosystem (newsletter, membership, private bookings) if the platform rules allow it. tutorlingua.co

If you tell me (1) language vs hobby, (2) kids vs adults, (3) live group vs 1:1, and (4) your target country, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 platforms.

If your priority is “I want the marketplace itself to bring me students and handle bookings”, rather than simply giving you software to sell classes, the best platform depends heavily on who you teach.

My ranking

🥇 For language classes: Preply

I'd start with Preply if you're teaching adults or 1-to-1 language instruction.

Preply explicitly positions itself as a language-learning marketplace, with students discovering tutors through the platform. You don't pay to create a profile; instead, Preply takes commission when you get lessons. The current structure is 100% of a new student's trial lesson, then 18–33% on subsequent lessons, with the rate decreasing as you accumulate teaching hours. help.preply.com

Teach on Preply

Big advantage: you don't need to build your own audience from scratch.

Big disadvantage: the first-lesson economics are painful, and competition between tutors can be intense.

🥇 For hobby classes / kids: Outschool

Outschool is probably the strongest fit if you're talking about things like:

• Art
• Cooking
• Music
• Chess
• Crafts
• Coding
• Languages for children
• Writing
• Dance
• STEM
• Other enrichment classes

Outschool explicitly says it markets classes to its audience, handles enrollments and payments, and helps teachers reach new students. support.outschool.com

Its current teacher fee is 30%, leaving the educator 70% of the class price. support.outschool.com

It also lets you create essentially any class around a demonstrated area of expertise, with one-time, ongoing, and longer course formats. teach.outschool.com

Teach on Outschool

One particularly nice feature is that Outschool gives teachers marketplace information about what parents are searching for and which topics/classes are popular, which can help you choose what to offer. teach.outschool.com

The important distinction

If you mean:

“I want to upload my class, and strangers browsing the marketplace should discover it, book it, pay, and leave reviews.”

I'd narrow it to:

Adult language → Preply
Kids language → Outschool
Kids hobbies/enrichment → Outschool
Adult creative/hobby classes → ClassBento or a specialized marketplace
General private lessons → Superprof

I would not make Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Podia, etc. your first choice for this particular goal. They're excellent course-commerce platforms, but they're primarily infrastructure for a business that has to generate its own traffic—not marketplaces whose core value is bringing you students.

If you tell me what class you want to teach, adult vs. kids, online vs. in-person, and roughly what you'd charge, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 marketplaces most likely to actually generate bookings, including their current fees and estimated take-home per student.

If your priority is “I list my class, and the marketplace brings me students/bookings”, rather than simply giving you software to sell to your existing audience, I’d narrow it to these:

🥇 My pick: Outschool

If you're willing to teach children/teens, Outschool is probably the closest match to what you're describing. You create a class listing, and Outschool explicitly says it markets classes to its existing audience and handles enrollments and payments. It supports everything from academics to languages, music, coding, crafts and unusual hobbies. support.outschool.com

The important distinction is that this isn't just a course-hosting tool—you are getting access to a marketplace of parents actively looking for classes. Outschool currently lists more than 140,000 live classes. outschool.com

Teach on Outschool

🗣️ If it's adult language classes: Preply

For Spanish, English, French, Mandarin, Japanese, etc., I'd choose Preply over Outschool if your target is adults. It's heavily optimized around people actively searching for a language tutor, with filters for language, availability, price, specialization and other attributes. Preply says it has 100,000+ tutors across 90+ languages. preply.com

The downside: it's much more oriented toward 1:1 tutoring than selling a packaged group class.

🎨 If you're teaching hobbies: Superprof

For things like:

• guitar
• painting
• photography
• cooking
• chess
• dance
• crafts
• fitness
• languages
• music production

Superprof is interesting because its marketplace spans 1,000+ subjects, and instructors can set their own rates and schedules. www.superprof.com

The catch is that it's more of a directory/marketplace than Outschool: students often browse profiles and contact instructors rather than simply clicking “Enroll” in a standardized class. preply.com

Become a Superprof tutor

The key distinction

If I were choosing based specifically on “I don't want to have to generate my own leads”:

Kids/teens + group classes → Outschool
Adult languages + 1:1 → Preply
Adult hobbies + 1:1/local → Superprof
Languages + another strong language marketplace → italki
US academic/skill tutoring → Wyzant

I would not start with Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Podia, etc. if marketplace demand is the priority. Those are primarily tools for selling to your own audience; you have to bring much more of the traffic yourself.

If you tell me what language/hobby you want to teach, adult vs. kids, and group vs. 1:1, I can rank the top 5 platforms specifically by how likely they are to bring you students without advertising yourself.