Lingoda vs Preply (2026): Group Classes or a Personal Tutor?

Last updated: July 2026. Written by Josh Hutcheson, OnlineCourseing editor. See our review methodology.

Lingoda vs Preply at a glance

The short answer

Choose Lingoda if you want a proper syllabus rather than a blank page — a CEFR-aligned course that takes you level by level, scheduled classes that force consistency, and a certificate at the end — and you are learning one of its six languages. Choose Preply if you want a dedicated tutor who adapts entirely to you, the most speaking time per hour you can get, help toward a specific exam or goal, or a language Lingoda does not offer. The honest split is structure versus personalisation: Lingoda gives you a path to follow; Preply gives you a person who follows you.

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The core difference: a curriculum versus a person

Everything else follows from one distinction. Lingoda is a school: it owns a curriculum, employs certified teachers to deliver it, and moves you through CEFR levels toward a certificate. In a group class the teacher rotates — you are following the syllabus, not building a relationship with one instructor. Preply is a marketplace: it owns no curriculum at all and instead connects you with an independent tutor you choose, keep, and who plans lessons around your goals.

That decides who each is for. Lingoda gives you structure, external discipline and a recognised path — valuable if you are the kind of learner who does better with a set course and a deadline than with an open-ended “study whatever you like.” Preply gives you personalisation and ownership — valuable if you know exactly what you need and want every minute spent on it. Neither is better in the abstract; they solve the discipline problem and the personalisation problem from opposite ends.

How Lingoda actually works

Lingoda is live, online and scheduled. You book classes from a rolling timetable that runs around the clock, so you can usually find a slot whatever your timezone. Group classes cap at two to four students, which keeps them conversational, and there are private options if you want the teacher to yourself. Every class fits a CEFR-aligned curriculum — Beginner (A1) through Advanced (C1) — taught by certified, native-level teachers who give feedback in the session.

Two features define the experience. The first is the certificate: complete a level and Lingoda issues a certificate verifying it, which some learners want for a CV, a visa file or their own sense of progress. The second is the Lingoda Sprint, a two-month higher-intensity bootcamp for people who want to push a level fast, offered alongside a more relaxed self-paced option. Lingoda teaches six languages — German, English, French, Spanish, Italian and Business English — and reports around 2,500 certified teachers and a 4.3 out of 5 Trustpilot rating across roughly 5,800 reviews.

How Preply actually works

Preply is a marketplace of independent tutors who set their own rates, plan their own lessons, and meet you one-to-one over video. You browse profiles, watch introduction videos, and pick a tutor; that person becomes your teacher, adapting every lesson to your level and goals. Rather than pure pay-as-you-go, Preply asks you to subscribe to a set number of lessons per week that renews automatically, which builds the weekly cadence that actually turns intention into progress, and you can pause, reschedule or switch tutors freely.

Because there is no fixed curriculum, the lesson is whatever you need: conversation practice, grammar repair, or focused preparation for a specific exam, interview or trip. Preply lists tutors in more than 50 languages, its homepage reports over 100,000 tutors, and prices run from about $3 to $40 or more per lesson depending on whether you pick a community tutor or a certified teacher. There is no certificate at the end — you are buying tailored instruction, not a credential.

Group versus one-to-one: the speaking-time trade-off

This is the difference that matters most in practice and rarely gets spelled out. In a Preply lesson, one hundred percent of the talking time is yours: the whole hour is you and the tutor, so you speak more, get corrected more, and progress on production faster. In a Lingoda group class of, say, four students, your share of the speaking time is a fraction of the session — you speak less, but you also hear other learners make and fix mistakes, which some people find takes the pressure off and mirrors real group conversation.

So the trade is straightforward: Preply maximises your individual speaking reps, while Lingoda’s group format trades some of that for lower cost per class and a less intimidating, more social setting. If your single biggest need is raw speaking practice, one-to-one wins on the maths. If group energy keeps you showing up and you like learning alongside others, Lingoda’s format is a feature rather than a compromise — and Lingoda’s private option exists for when you want the undivided attention anyway.

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Structure versus personalisation

Lingoda’s curriculum is its quiet advantage. A lot of learners stall not because they lack a tutor but because they lack a plan — they do not know what to study next. Lingoda removes that decision entirely: there is a syllabus, you follow it, and the levels give you unambiguous milestones. For self-directed people that can feel restrictive, but for anyone who has drifted on an app or an aimless tutor, a structured path is often the missing ingredient.

Preply’s advantage is the mirror image. Nothing is fixed, so a good tutor can spend an entire course on exactly your weak points, your industry vocabulary, or the specific exam you are sitting — work a general curriculum would never prioritise. The risk is that a poorly chosen tutor, or a learner who does not know what to ask for, can drift without the scaffolding a curriculum provides. Preply gives you the freedom to go anywhere; Lingoda makes sure you go somewhere.

Languages: 6 versus 50+

Lingoda teaches six: German and English to C1, French and Spanish to B2, Italian to A2, plus a dedicated Business English track. If your language is on that list, the narrow catalogue is irrelevant — what matters is the structured course. If it is not, Lingoda simply is not an option, and this comparison ends there.

Preply lists tutors in more than 50 languages, because its teachers are independent and it carries no production cost per language. For anything outside Lingoda’s six — Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Korean, Portuguese, and dozens more — Preply (or another tutoring marketplace) is the realistic route to live instruction. For the languages both cover, the choice comes back to structure versus personalisation rather than availability.

The cost question, honestly

Both bill as subscriptions, and the honest comparison depends on format rather than a single price. Lingoda charges by the number of classes you take per month, with larger plans lowering the price per class and a 7-day free trial to start; its group classes are its value play, because a group class costs less per session than one-to-one time. Preply charges per tutor within a weekly subscription, and a mid-priced native tutor once a week lands higher per session than a Lingoda group class — but that session is entirely yours.

So the value question is really: are you paying for a curriculum and group affordability, or for undivided, personalised time? Neither is cheaper in a way that settles it, because they are not selling the same hour. Because both run frequent promotions, confirm the current price on each platform at checkout, and use the free trials to judge which format you will actually keep using — a subscription you abandon is the most expensive option of all.

Does the certificate matter?

This is a genuine tiebreaker for some learners and irrelevant to others. Lingoda issues a certificate when you complete a CEFR level, which can be useful evidence for an employer, a university or a visa application, and gives structured learners a concrete sense of progress. It is not a substitute for an official state exam like the DELF, DELE or Goethe certificate, but it is a credible record of the level you have reached.

Preply offers no certificate at all — it sells instruction, not credentials. If a piece of paper matters to you, that alone can decide the choice in Lingoda’s favour. If what you need is to be able to speak rather than to prove it, the certificate is beside the point and Preply’s personalised time is the better spend.

Who should choose Lingoda

Lingoda is the better pick if you want a structured, CEFR-aligned course rather than an open-ended one, if scheduled classes are what keep you consistent, if you value a certificate, or if group learning suits you and you like the lower per-class cost. It fits people learning one of its six languages who want a clear path to follow and external accountability, and the Sprint option suits anyone wanting to push a level quickly.

It is the wrong pick if your language is not among the six, if you need maximum individual speaking time, or if your goal is narrow and specific enough that a general curriculum would waste your hours. Our reviews of the platform, including our Lingoda Sprint review, go deeper on how the classes actually run.

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Who should choose Preply

Preply is the better pick if you want a dedicated tutor who adapts entirely to you, the most speaking practice per hour, targeted help for a specific exam, interview or move, or a language Lingoda does not teach. It suits people who know what they need and want every minute spent on it, and who value being able to choose and keep their own teacher rather than following a rotating roster.

It is the wrong pick if you would drift without a curriculum, if you specifically want a certificate, or if group energy is what keeps you turning up. Our fuller assessment, including how community tutors compare with certified teachers, is in our Preply review, and we compare Preply with the other big tutoring marketplace in Preply vs italki.

See Preply tutors and prices

Can you use both, and the wider market

Most people will not need both, because they solve the same problem — live human instruction — from opposite ends. But a sequence can work well: use Lingoda’s curriculum to build a structured foundation and a certificate, then move to Preply for personalised polishing toward a specific goal, or run occasional Preply one-to-ones to shore up the weak points a group class cannot dwell on.

If you are not yet sure live classes are the right level of commitment, our guide to the best language learning platforms and apps ranks these alongside self-study options like Babbel, Pimsleur and Duolingo. And if your real choice is between a live tutor and a self-paced app rather than between two live options, start with Preply vs Babbel.

Comparing Lingoda to a self-study app instead of a tutor? See Lingoda vs Babbel.

Frequently asked questions

Is Lingoda or Preply better?

Neither is universally better; they suit different learners. Lingoda is better if you want a structured CEFR curriculum, scheduled classes and a certificate, and you are learning one of its six languages. Preply is better if you want a dedicated one-to-one tutor, maximum speaking time, exam-specific help, or a language Lingoda does not offer. The split is structure versus personalisation.

Is Lingoda group or one-to-one?

Lingoda is primarily small-group classes of two to four students on a fixed curriculum, though it also offers private one-to-one options. Preply, by contrast, is always one-to-one with a tutor you choose. In a Lingoda group your speaking time is shared with other students; in a Preply lesson the whole hour is yours.

Does Preply give a certificate like Lingoda?

No. Lingoda issues a certificate when you complete a CEFR level, which can be useful for a CV, university or visa file. Preply offers no certificate — it sells personalised instruction rather than a credential. If a certificate matters to you, that alone can point you toward Lingoda; if being able to speak matters more than proving it, Preply’s tailored time is the better spend.

Is Lingoda or Preply cheaper?

It depends on format. Lingoda charges by classes per month, and its group classes cost less per session than one-to-one time, which makes it the cheaper option for many learners. Preply charges per tutor within a weekly subscription; a mid-priced native tutor once a week costs more per session than a Lingoda group class, but the whole lesson is one-to-one. Both run promotions, so confirm current prices at checkout.

How many languages do Lingoda and Preply teach?

Lingoda teaches six: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian and a dedicated Business English track, structured to CEFR levels. Preply lists tutors in more than 50 languages because its teachers are independent. If your language is outside Lingoda’s six, Preply or another tutoring marketplace is the realistic route to live instruction.

Which gives more speaking practice, Lingoda or Preply?

Preply gives more individual speaking practice, because every minute of a one-to-one lesson is yours. In a Lingoda group class your speaking time is split among two to four students, so you speak less but hear other learners too. If raw speaking reps are your priority, one-to-one wins; if a social, lower-pressure setting keeps you consistent, Lingoda’s groups are a feature. Lingoda also offers private classes if you want the undivided attention there.

Can you get a certificate with Preply?

Not from Preply itself — it does not run a certificate program. A tutor can prepare you for an official external exam such as the DELE, DELF or Goethe certificate, but the credential comes from that exam body, not from Preply. Lingoda, by contrast, issues its own certificate for each CEFR level you complete on its platform.