Tooter teamFacts checked 4 min readThe short answer
- Choose an AI tutor like Tooter to practice speaking whenever you have 5 minutes, with no booking and no one to feel judged by.
- Choose a human tutor for a teacher who plans lessons around you and keeps you accountable. Preply is a subscription with one tutor; italki is pay as you go.
- Many learners combine them: a weekly lesson with a person, and daily speaking practice with AI in between.
At a glance
| App | Your tutor | Lesson length | Price | Booking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tooter | AI, you pick | 5 to 30 min | See current plans | Any time |
| Preply | Human | 25 or 50 min | Set by each tutor | Cancel 12h ahead |
| italki | Human | 30 to 90 min | Most $4 to $25 | Cancel 24h ahead |
Preply and italki tutors set their own prices; the figures are each company's own. Tooter's are its current website prices. Checked October 31, 2026.
How the lessons work
On Preply, you subscribe to one tutor and pay every 28 days for a set number of lessons, from 4 a cycle up to 5 hours a week. Lessons are live video calls in Preply's classroom, 50 minutes by default or 25, booked from your tutor's calendar, and lessons you haven't booked by renewal expire. On italki, there's no subscription: you pay per lesson or buy a teacher's package of 5, 10 or 20 lessons, valid for 6 months. Every teacher offers 60-minute lessons, and many offer 30, 45 or 90 minutes.
Tooter starts from the conversation. You pick a lifelike AI tutor by language, accent and coaching style, choose a session of 5, 10, 15, 20 or 30 minutes, and talk the whole time. Your tutor corrects pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and fluency as you go, at your level, and can explain in your native language when you're stuck. Guided lessons build the phrases you then use in conversation.
What each costs
Human tutors set their own prices. italki says most lessons cost $4 to $25, with community tutors around $4 to $20 and professional teachers $10 to $40. Preply's Spanish tutors page lists lessons from $3, averaging $17, and Preply adds a processing fee at checkout. Both have trial lessons: Preply's is paid, 25 or 50 minutes, with a free replacement if it doesn't suit you; italki gives you three discounted trials, usually 30 minutes, with different teachers.
- Tooter ProCurrent website plansSee current plans
- Spanish lessonsPreply's average$17
- BillingEvery 28 days
- Most lessons$4 to $25
- italki Plus (AI)optional$5.99/month
AI on Preply and italki
Both use AI around their human lessons. Preply offers AI lesson summaries and daily exercises, and a beta of 3-minute spoken roleplays for some English learners. italki's Smart Lessons summarize a recorded lesson with practice exercises, and italki Plus adds AI roleplay and flashcards for $5.99 a month, on top of the lessons themselves.
Can an AI tutor replace a human tutor?
Not entirely, and it doesn't have to. A good human tutor brings expertise, a plan built around you and someone to answer to. An AI tutor is there at 6 a.m. or midnight with no booking, and you can repeat the same sentence as often as you need, which makes it easier to speak every day. In Tooter's onboarding survey, 63% of learners said they're afraid to speak; practicing first with an AI tutor is a low-pressure way to get past that before a lesson with a person.
Which suits you?
Tooter
- 5 to 30 minute conversations, any time
- Pick an AI tutor by accent and style
- Corrections as you speak
Preply
- One human tutor, weekly lessons
- 25 or 50 minute video lessons
- 90+ languages
italki
- Pay per lesson or in packages
- Lessons from 30 to 90 minutes
- Three discounted trial lessons
