SpeakBase vs Preply
SpeakBase vs Preply: a human tutor or an AI tutor for your spoken English?
Quick answer
Preply sells lessons with human tutors who set their own price, on average about $25 an hour for a native English speaker, as a per-tutor subscription of at least four lessons every 28 days. SpeakBase sells unlimited-availability practice with an AI tutor for $11.99 a month (39 NIS in Israel), which at the full allowance of 150 minutes comes to about $4.80 an hour of speaking, corrected live in your own language. Choose Preply for judgement, accountability and exam strategy from a person; choose SpeakBase for daily speaking volume at a fraction of the price. Many learners use both.
This is not a comparison between two apps. Preply is a marketplace: tens of thousands of English tutors who set their own hourly rate, booked by the week, taught over video. SpeakBase is a subscription to an AI tutor called Kate who is available at any hour, needs no booking and corrects every sentence as you say it. The honest question is not which is better in general but what each one is for, and what an hour of speaking actually costs on each. Every Preply fact here was read on preply.com on 14 September 2026.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | SpeakBase | Preply |
|---|---|---|
| Who you talk to | Kate, an AI speaking tutor, in a live voice conversation | A human tutor you choose from tens of thousands of profiles (preply.com lists 33,602 on its home page and 45,906 on its search page, the same day) |
| Price per lesson | No lessons to buy: Premium is 39 NIS/month or 390 NIS/year in Israel ($11.99 / $119.99 elsewhere) | Tutors set their own rate, from $3 to $50+ per 50-minute lesson; Preply's own averages are $25/hr for native speakers and $23/hr for non-native |
| Price per hour of speaking | About $4.80 (or 15.60 NIS) if you use the full 150 minutes a month; less than that raises it | About $25 at the published native-speaker average; the lesson is the hour |
| How you pay | Monthly or yearly subscription, cancel any time | A subscription per tutor, charged every 28 days for a fixed number of lessons, minimum 4; single lessons cannot be bought |
| Unused time | A daily allowance of 20 minutes; nothing to lose at month end | Unscheduled lessons expire at renewal and do not carry over (help centre, July 2026); extra top-up lessons carry over |
| When you can practise | Any hour, any day, no booking; a lesson can be five minutes long | When your tutor is available; lessons are booked, and cancelling under 12 hours before consumes the lesson |
| Corrections | Every mistake corrected as you speak and explained in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, Spanish or English; mistakes become review cards | As good as the tutor: a person hears nuance, tone and intent an AI does not; feedback style varies by tutor |
| Curriculum and judgement | Role-plays, graded news, your own words; no human judgement about your career or exam | A tutor can plan an exam strategy, mark your writing, and hold you accountable week to week |
| Hebrew interface | Yes, the whole product is in Hebrew (and English, Arabic, Russian, Spanish) | No; the site offers 19 languages and Hebrew is not among them, and prices are not shown in shekels |
| Trying it | The first lesson is free: five minutes with Kate, no card | A paid 25- or 50-minute trial; if the tutor is not a match you can try two more for free or get a refund |
What an hour of speaking English costs (USD, September 2026)
Where Preply is genuinely stronger
A human tutor does things Kate does not. They notice that you avoid the past tense and plan four weeks around it. They read your essay and tell you which paragraph to cut. They know what an IELTS examiner rewards. They remember your job interview is on Thursday and ask how it went. And a person you have paid for and booked is someone you show up for, which for many learners is the whole point. Preply's own 2025 study claims learners who took 24 or more lessons in 12 weeks progressed three times faster than typical timelines; that is their study, but the mechanism, consistent weekly speaking with feedback, is real. If you need a person's judgement, an exam plan, or feedback on writing, Preply is the right tool and we would not pretend otherwise.
The bottom line
Choose Preply if you want a human being: accountability, exam strategy, writing feedback and the kind of conversation only a person can hold, and you can pay about $25 an hour for it, booked a week at a time. Choose SpeakBase if what you lack is speaking volume: daily practice at any hour, corrected as you go and explained in your own language, for about $4.80 an hour of speaking at the full allowance. The two are not rivals for most people. A weekly human lesson plus daily AI practice is how you get both the judgement and the mileage.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Preply cost per hour?
Tutors set their own prices. On 14 September 2026 preply.com's English tutors page showed a filter from $3 to $50+ per 50-minute lesson and printed its own averages of $25 an hour for native English speakers and $23 for non-native tutors; the tutor recruiting page says English tutors charge $15 to $25 an hour on average. Lessons are sold as a subscription per tutor of at least four lessons every 28 days, so the cheapest realistic monthly bill at the average is about $100.
How much does SpeakBase cost per hour of speaking?
Premium is 39 NIS a month or 390 a year in Israel, $11.99 or $119.99 elsewhere, for up to 20 minutes a day and 150 minutes a month of live conversation with Kate. At the full allowance that is 15.60 NIS or $4.80 per hour of speaking; if you use less, the hourly figure is higher. The first lesson is free and needs no card.
Does Preply have a Hebrew interface or Israeli prices?
No. On 14 September 2026 preply.com offered 19 interface languages and Hebrew was not among them; the Hebrew address returned an empty page, and the currency selector listed BRL, GBP, EUR, PLN, UAH and USD with no shekels. You can search for English tutors who also speak Hebrew, but you will book and pay in English and in dollars or euros. SpeakBase is built in Hebrew, priced in shekels, and Kate explains every correction in Hebrew.
Can I try Preply for free?
Not quite. The trial is a paid 25- or 50-minute lesson at the tutor's rate. If the tutor is not a match, Preply lets you try up to two more tutors free or refunds the trial. SpeakBase's first lesson is free outright.
Should I use Preply or SpeakBase for IELTS or a job interview?
For the exam plan, the marking of your writing and the mock interview with a person, a Preply tutor. For the hundred short conversations you need between those lessons, at midnight or in a lunch break, SpeakBase. Kate has interview and IELTS-style role-plays, corrects you live and turns your mistakes into review cards, and costs less for a month than one Preply hour at the average rate.
Try a real conversation with KateFirst lesson free · works in your browser · corrections in your language