Superprof Review Summary

Superprof is a teacher marketplace offering online and in-person 1v1 tuition in over 1,000 subjects and 40+ countries. Requirements to join are minimal and the application process is simple, though there is a processing fee for platform payments and high competition for classes, with many more tutors than students.

Superprof Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Simple application process with few requirements to join
• Quick payments
• Tutors can arrange an external means of being paid by students, to avoid the platform’s processing fee
• Options for both online and in-person tutoring

Cons:

• 10% commission on payments through the platform (in most countries)
• No guarantee of Superprof classes, dependent on students applying to your ads
• Vastly more tutors than students on the platform
• Some tutors charge as little as $1 an hour!

What Is Superprof?

Superprof is one of the most popular teacher marketplaces in the world, with a presence in over 40 countries. It connects students with tutors from a range of backgrounds and experiences (e.g. teachers, coaches, tutors, artists, etc.) for in-person or Superprof online tutoring covering more than 1,000 subjects. Below is a video introduction from the company’s co-founder and CEO, Wilfried Granier:

Is Superprof Legit?

Superprof is a legitimate EdTech company that has a Crunchbase profile and has been operating from Paris, France, since August 2013. While the Superprof Trustpilot score is a respectable 4.1 out of 5 (from 1,550 reviews), negative reviews there and on other sites, such as Quora, Reviews.io and MouthShut, quite often accuse Superprof of being a ‘scam’. These complaints primarily come from students who were charged a subscription whilst under the impression they were signing up for a free lesson. Generally, the view from tutors is more favorable (see Superprof Tutor Reviews below).

How Does Superprof Work?

Superprof is essentially a teacher marketplace where tutors advertise their services to the company’s student base in exchange for a commission/processing fee on any payments facilitated through the platform (or a regular fee in the case of premium members). Tutors have a lot of autonomy over how much they charge, when they work, what they teach and how they teach it, but the compromise is stiff competition from rival tutors trying to attract the same students through their profile/advert, with no guarantee of bookings.

What Can I Teach on Superprof?

There are over 1,000 subjects available on Superprof, catering for both academic and skills-based tutors such as chefs, artists, life coaches, and athletes. If you are passionate about a subject and can demonstrate a good level of experience and expertise, then there is a good chance you will be able to teach it on Superprof.

How Do You Get Students on Superprof?

Being a teacher marketplace, it can be difficult to make your profile/advert stand out above a saturated crowd to secure student bookings. Superprof advises its tutors to:

• set your initial rates low in order to attract early positive reviews
• offer students their first tutoring session for free
• boost visibility by paying to become a ‘Premium Club’ member*

*Premium Club is not a cheap option, costing $9 a month (or $69 for an annual subscription), however, one Superprof Science and Math tutor reported seeing his earnings increase by $900 a month after trialing premium, though there is obviously no guarantee and there are a lot of factors that affect bookings, such as how many tutors offer that same subject with better qualifications and experience.

How Much Does Superprof Pay?

Tutors decide what to charge for their services on Superprof. However, there are a lot of variables to factor in which affect how much a student is willing to pay, such as the tutor’s experience and qualifications, the importance of the subject or level, type of tuition (Superprof online classes or in-person), location and how many tutors are offering a similar service on the platform.

While Superprof says that private tutors can expect to earn between $25-$80 an hour, the average rate reported on Indeed is $25.67, and when we did a search for online English teachers on Superprof, we found 25 people offering to do this for just $1 an hour!

How Much of a Cut Does Superprof Take?

Superprof currently operates in 42 countries, some of which (e.g. India) do not charge a commission. However, in most places, Superprof takes money from its tutors in one of two ways:

1. A 10% Superprof commission/processing fee charged on payments facilitated through the platform (you can avoid this by arranging an external payment method with the student, which is allowed).
2. A ‘Premium Club’, costing $9 a month (or $69 for an annual subscription), for tutors wanting more advert visibility, personalized statistics, lesson insurance and a dedicated support team. The commission/processing fee is waived for Premium Club members.

How Do You Get Paid on Superprof?

One advantage to Superprof, is that its tutors can arrange their own external means of getting paid by their students (and thus avoid the company’s 10% processing fee).

For Superprof teachers who decide to use the in-house payment system, then 24 hours after a lesson has taken place the student’s fee will be credited to the tutor’s earnings. So long as at least $30/£30 is available to withdraw, Superprof payments are made to the nominated bank or PayPal account within 3 working days.

Superprof Hours

You do not have to commit to any mandatory working hours on Superprof. Instead, lesson times are agreed between the tutor and student.

It is unclear how many other tutors actually use Superprof, as on this page the company provides three different figures, ranging from ‘1 million’ and ‘7 million’ all the way up to ’20 million’. The truth of the matter is confused even more by the same page stating that ‘over 35,000 students use our platform’ (a fraction of the number of Superprof tutors), while there are ‘over 35,000 daily requests for lessons’, which would require every single one of those students making a request each day (which seems unlikely).

It is not unusual for online teaching companies to make grandiose claims in their marketing that do not stand up to cross-examination. However, what is clear from this is that there are very many more tutors on the platform than there are Superprof students, making it even more of a challenge to stand out and attract bookings.

Superprof Requirements

There are very few requirements needed to apply for Superprof tutoring jobs:

• You must be 18 years or older
• You must have a valid right to work document
• You must provide a valid proof of identity
• You must have the tools and equipment necessary to teach online or in-person

While academic and professional qualifications can help to attract students, they are not an essential requirement to join the platform, and passion, teaching strategies and interpersonal skills are just as valuable.

How Do I Create a Superprof Profile?

The Superprof application process to become a tutor is fairly simple and just requires that you create a profile to advertise your expertise and service:

1. Visit the registration page and sign up with wither your Google account, Facebook account, or by providing your name, email address and password.
2. You will be asked ‘Which subjects do you teach?’
3. Write the Title of your ad. (12 words minimum), including the subject you are teaching, your qualifications and teaching approach, and what sets you apart. The example provided is: ‘Graduate from the Conservatory, teaches singing and guitar for all levels. Personalized method to met your individual needs!’
4. About your lessons (40 words minimum) – Convince students to take lessons with you by explaining your approach as a tutor and how you share your knowledge:
   • Your teaching method and techniques
   • A typical lesson plan
   • What sets you apart as a tutor
   • Who the lessons are for (degree, level, class, specificities, etc.)
5. About You (40 words minimum) – Use this section to inspire confidence, establish your legitimacy as a tutor, and reassure students of your professionalism.
6. Location of your lessons – Choose from the following:
   • At your house
   • You can travel
   • Online
7. Languages spoken/you are able to teach in (optional)
8. Rate per hour – An average rate based upon your location will be suggested, though you can adjust this
9. Telephone number
10. Profile photo – should be smiling, creative and alone

Once your profile/ad is validated, you can then start accepting Superprof jobs.

Superprof Tutor Reviews – What Is It Like Working for Superprof?

The Superprof Glassdoor page gives the company an overall rating of 4.3 out of 5, with 95% willing to recommend them (at the time of writing). More impressive is the fact that, as it currently stands, it has been well over a year since any negative Superprof teacher reviews with less than 3 stars were written, showing a high and consistent degree of employee satisfaction.

Here is the summary of these Superprof reviews on Glassdoor:

Superprof job reviews on Indeed also give the company a similar score of 4.4. out of 5. Here is the most-recent example in English:

Conclusion – Is Superprof a Good Job?

Superprof offers a simple application process, minimal requirements, and over 1,000 subjects to teach, so presents an available option for most people to consider. While reviews from students are a little more controversial, tutors generally see this as a good job, though there are the usual teacher marketplace caveats of commission fees and difficulties attracting bookings from a much smaller base of students amidst millions of rival tutors. There is still little to lose from creating a profile and giving Superprof a go, especially if you have a unique offering in an underserved and in-demand niche.

You can apply to Superprof here.

A full list of online teaching companies can be found here.