Yes, there is a pathway for you to teach English online without needing a degree!. Many online ESL companies will hire English teachers without a bachelor’s degree or prior experience. By getting a TEFL certification (often preferred), you’ll unlock many job opportunities, even if you’ve never been to college. Here’s an updated list of 18 companies hiring ESL teachers right now.
Can You Really Get an Online Teaching Job Without a Degree?
Yes! While your options may be fewer, it’s totally possible to get hired to teach ESL online without a degree. It’s important that, if you do not have a degree, that you meet other requirements listed by the company – which may or may not include a TEFL certification.
To be even more competitive, a TEFL certification can definitely help even for jobs where it’s not required – as many students have cited that what they learned in a TEFL helped them to ace their interview and demo class.
18 Companies to Teach English Online with No Degree
Preply
With Preply, you can create your own profile and set your own rates – ranging from $10 to $45 per hour. Different tutors specialize in different areas, but you will be able to teach English online with no degree and oftentimes with no experience. You can decide what students you want to teach, create your own lessons, and design curriculums.
We’ve had numerous TEFL Hero alumni land a job at Preply immediately following their TEFL certification!
Students come from a range of different backgrounds and ages. Whether you’re more comfortable teaching young children or adults, you can set up your profile to find them and students will contact you upon seeing your profile. If you are a popular tutor, you could earn several hundred dollars per week!
If you’re considering tutoring with Preply, you can see what the platform looks like for a tutor and the resources and lesson planning materials they offer in their platform in the below video:
Interested in teaching online with this company? Learn more about them in our in-depth Preply Review
- Requirements: TEFL certification required for English-language classes
- Rate: $10 to $45 hourly
- Class Times: 9 AM to 9 PM
- Minimum Hours Per Week: 8
Palfish
Palfish is a mobile app available for Android and iOS devices. The company offers two jobs. One is for regular teachers, which can be applied to by non-native speakers as well as native ones. The other is the Palfish Official Teacher position. While both pay well, becoming an official teacher will give you more consistent hours.
Payments are sent through Payoneer or a Chinese bank card. Lessons last about 25 minutes. There are also bonuses and rewards for doing certain things, like attending lessons on time and not cancelling any lessons for a month.
- Requirements: TEFL
- Rate: $10 to $30 hourly
- Class Times: 6 AM to 3 AM
- Minimum Hours Per Week: 4
Have a degree? See our full list of 14 Places to Teach English Online in 2025
Twenix
Twenix offers one-to-one classes to professional adults for a duration of 26 minutes per class. Students decide on the class topic and Twenix provides the content to teachers – often covering topics related to Business English.
Class preparation time is kept to a minimum. Their department of teachers is devoted to supporting and training teachers in addition to offering personal touch points to those who request them.
Twenix stands out for its flexibility. Teachers can open and close as many slots as they wish.
Once you become a Twenix teacher, you can start earning from day 1. You do not need to market yourself to students or drop prices to get their attention. It is as simple as teachers opening their availability and starting to teach on the same day!
The best part? Teachers do not need to be native English speakers – though proficiency is required.
- Requirements: Certification preferred but not required
- Rate: $12 to $15 hourly
- Class times: Anytime
- Minimum hours per week: 0
Amazing Talker
Amazing Talker is a company that gives students offline and online lessons in a variety of languages and lets you teach English online with no degree. In addition to teaching English, you can teach any other language of which you’re a native speaker. Though you don’t need a certification to teach English online at Amazing Talker, the company does prefer that you have experience with teaching (we still recommend applying to this job even if you have no experience).
Once you’re accepted to the service, you can work on your profile page. This is where you’ll customize courses, edit your personal information, share your techniques, and interact with your students. Just a quick word of warning – the application process will involve filming an intro video. This is pretty common among online English companies, but can be a bit unsettling for some.
- Requirements: Certification preferred but not required, some teaching experience
- Rate: $8 to $15 hourly
- Class Times: 6 AM to 12 AM
- Minimum Hours Per Week: 10
Skima Talk
Skima Talk hires native English speakers with no degree to teach English to adult students. The majority of students are Japanese businesspeople who want to learn Business English (see here for more tips on how to teach Business English. If you’ve taught Business English before, you will have an advantage. It’s also advantageous to be certified for helping people pass ESL tests.
Lessons are held in blocks of 25 minutes. Students pay in virtual coins. The trading system is set up through the company. Depending on your level of experience, you might make anywhere from $10 to $16 per hour as you work.
- Requirements: Certification preferred but not required
- Rate: $10 to $16
- Class Times: 6 AM to 3 AM
- Minimum Hours Per Week: 15
Related: No Degree? Consider Teaching English in Costa Rica
Verbling
Because Verbling has such a high rate of pay, they are also one of the most competitive platforms. You will need to prove that you’re an expert in your field and a skilled teacher. If you do pass the application process, though, the hourly rate begins at $18 and can go as high as $28.
It’s preferred that teachers come from North America with neutral accents. Once approved, you can set your own rates. Students come from around the world. Most are adults who need to learn business English, but you might also teach travel English and reading comprehension. At Verbling, it pays to be a great teacher, as teachers with good reviews tend to have a lot of students!
- Requirements: 2 years of experience, certification preferred
- Rate: $18 to $28 hourly
- Class Times: 6 AM to 3 AM
- Minimum Hours Per Week: 5
iTalki
iTalki is an online marketplace, rather than an online school. Freelance teachers sign up and then advertise their services (you can teach languages other than English), and it’s open to any freelancer regardless of qualifications. That said, having a teaching certification or past experience will get you more students.
The marketplace is one of the most popular places for students to find English teachers online. There are a lot of students, but there’s also a lot of competition. The best way to stand out from the crowd is by finding a niche or area of expertise that you can focus strongly on.
- Requirements: Certification preferred but not required
- Rate: $3 to $35 hourly
- Class Times: 6 AM to 3 AM
- Minimum Hours Per Week: 0
Lingoda
Lingoda is a company that hires native English speakers to teach English to small online classrooms. The average class size is about five students, so if you’re more comfortable teaching groups than one-on-one sessions, this might be a good option. Another plus for working for Lingoda is that all of the lesson materials are provided, so there’s no need to design your own curriculum. This is really nice for those who are like me and dislike lesson planning.
- Requirements: Certification and 2 years of experience
- Rate: $8 to $13 hourly
- Class Times: 6 AM to 3 AM
- Minimum Hours Per Week: 5
Open English
Open English is the largest ESL provider for students in countries in South America. There is a high demand for teachers, and reliable teachers are given full schedules. Pay raises are given over time, with pay being determined more by seniority than by qualifications. This is great for those looking to teach English online with no degree, as teaching qualification is less important in hiring and in pay determination.
You must commit to a minimum of 25 hours per week, though you can do more if you want. As such, this is a good job opportunity for people who want to teach English online full time. Students most commonly speak Spanish or Portuguese as their native languages.
- Requirements: Certification and 1 year of experience
- Rate: $13 to $15 hourly
- Class Times: 6 AM to 3 AM
- Minimum Hours Per Week: 25
Tutlo
Tutlo connects teachers to students all over the globe. You must have at least six months of prior teaching experience, but Tutlo allows you to teach English online with no degree or certification.
There are several different courses available through the company. These include adult language courses, courses for business executives, and courses for young people. Students will receive a quote for their studies based on the number of lessons they want, the type of lessons they need, and their overall language goals.
- Requirements: TEFL certification, 6 months of teaching-related experience
- Rate: $6 to $11 hourly
- Class Times: Anytime
- Minimum Hours Per Week: 10 hours
Cambly
Cambly allows English learners to talk to native speakers at any time. Rather than teaching a single class or curriculum, you will probably talk to many different students. If you use the service during peak traffic hours, you’re more likely to get clients.
You must be a native speaker to join the service. However, you don’t need to have a degree or certification. Lessons are taught through your computer. You’ll be connected to the smartphone of your student. The normal hourly rate is 10 dollars, but if you are approved for the kids program, which involves teaching children, you’ll make 12 dollars per hour.
Cambly also made our list of the Best Companies to Teach English to Chinese Students for 2025.
- Requirements: Certification preferred but not required
- Rate: $10 to $12 hourly
- Class Times: 6 AM to 3 AM
- Minimum Hours Per Week: 0
Outschool
Outschool is a company that offers online group classes to children. The company was first founded in 2015 with the goal is to allow children to use interactive video lessons to explore their interests. It is popularly used by homeschoolers, but has become increasingly popular with public schoolers as well since 2020.
There are almost one million students enrolled in Outschool across 174 countries and over 100,000 live classes are taught. This means big bucks for teachers, who have earned more than $97 million dollars collectively through the platform! You’ll interact with your students in real time, and they’ll also have the chance to interact with each other, making the class feel a bit more conversational in nature.
Teacher Alejandra breaks down the pros and cons from her experience teaching with Outschool. The top con is the amount of time it an take time to build your schedule and student base – especially during the first month. Although this is really common in building any online ESL business, this can still feel defeating when you’re ready to hit the ground running – just know that you’re not alone and it does work if you put in the time.
- Requirements: None
- Rate: Set by user
- Class Times: Flexible
- Minimum Hours Per Week: Flexible
Berlitz
Berlitz is one of the oldest ESL companies in the world, having been in operation since 1878. The company connects students to teachers and delivers cultural lessons. The company specializes in the Berlitz method, which is a system of complete language immersion that helps students begin speaking their target language immediately. Berlitz allows you to teach English online with no degree, though certification is still preferred.
There are more than 500 global locations for the company, and lessons can be taught online from anywhere. The company states that they are seeking motivated and people-oriented teachers who want to expand their social and cultural understandings, as the company focus is on building connections and fostering communication.
- Requirements: Certification preferred but not required
- Rate: $9 to $15 hourly
- Class Times: 9 AM to 3 AM
- Minimum Hours Per Week: 10
Classgap
Classgap is an online platform that allows teachers to meet with students over hundreds of different subjects. In addition to teaching languages, you can also teach math, science, history, and other important courses. Getting signed up as an instructor is free and from there you can set your own hourly rate.
With Classgap, you can teach from wherever you’re connected to the internet. As you do, you’ll receive reviews from students. The teachers who get good reviews will be prioritized in searches and gain new students. The hours to teach with them are flexible, and you can vary your availability from week to week if you want.
- Requirements: None
- Rate: Set by user
- Class Times: Anytime
- Minimum Hours Per Week: 0
Chatschool
Chatschool is an English language platform which connects tutors with students. Their main focus is on breaking language barriers in speech among students.
Most students are adults and come from Poland.
Chatschool is actively seeking English language tutor with a fondness for teaching and conversing. Tutors lead and organize courses on a 80/20 basis (80% of lesson’s time belongs to students; 20% of lesson’s time belongs to tutors). Chatschool offers onboarding, constant support from your Tutor Trainer, and original, easy-to-use teaching materials.
- Requirements: Certification preferred but not required
- Rate: $8 to $13 hourly
- Class times: Flexible
- Minimum Weekly Hours: 10
Eigox
Eigox hires native English speakers from New Zealand, Australia, the US, Canada, and the UK. In addition, they also hire English teachers from the Philippines. It is important to note that the pay rate is relatively low, especially when you’re first starting out. That said, the student provides their materials for you, or you can use the platform’s resources, so there is little prep work or time involved outside of class.
There isn’t a strict curriculum, so you can be flexible with your lessons. Teachers are reviewed, and if you consistently perform well, you can receive pay raises! All the payments are made on PayPal, which is also super convenient. The company asks that every teacher be available for at least 10 hours per week.
- Requirements: TEFL Certification
- Rate: $3 to $11 hourly
- Class Times: 9 AM to 3 AM
- Minimum Hours Per Week: 10
Latin Hire
Latin Hire is an agency rather than a school or online platform. This means they work with schools who need online tutors in a variety of subjects and place you there. If you want to teach English, they may match you with a school position that involves teaching English. This position may be ideal for teachers who know conversational Spanish or even some Portuguese, as the schools are located in South America.
Pay rates vary depending on the school. They tend to be relatively low, especially compared to Chinese companies, but you may be able to negotiate. Latin Hire has a pretty streamlined application and hiring process, so you don’t need to waste time waiting on their hiring team. You can apply both as a native speaker and a non-native speaker, but preference is given to people with neutral accents. You can teach English online with no degree, but certification is still preferred.
- Requirements: Certification preferred but not required
- Rate: $8 to $10 hourly
- Class Times: 9 AM to 6 PM
- Minimum Hours Per Week: 0
Learnlight
Learnlight connects European professionals to business English teachers. As such, you should have a TEFL and experience with Business English. This opportunity requires more fixed scheduling than most, since you must be available at certain times of the week.
You must commit to a one-year contract when you sign up with the service. The lower payments come from one-on-one classes, while you can be paid more for group lessons. Since the hours and pay rates are fixed, this job has a higher level of stability than many more flexible options in this list.
- Requirements: TEFL and 2 years of experience
- Rate: $12 to $14 hourly
- Class Times: 6 AM to 9 PM
- Minimum Hours Per Week: 10
General Requirements to Teach English Online
Get Certified to Teach Anywhere!
- 120hr Online Certificate with LIFETIME Access
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Tips on Teaching English Online
If you’ve never taught English online before, there are a variety of ways to make it easier. Even if you have prior teaching experience, it doesn’t hurt to consider how you’ll approach your students.
Some of the content depends on what and who you’re teaching. Your approach will be very different if your students are kindergarteners than it would be if you were teaching business English.
That said, there are still some general rules that you can adhere to in order to have an effective online teaching experience.
Set Up Your “Classroom”
Even though you’re teaching your students online, you should still be considering your “classroom” that the students will see you teaching from. Some more high-tech platforms will create your background for you, but the majority of the companies on this list don’t have these sort of bells-and-whistles.
If you create your own lessons, you can incorporate props or other visual aids that you can have on hand while teaching. You might also consider setting up decorations or a unique background for your virtual space. A simple Pinterest search will provide you with tons of inspiration for your next online classroom.
It’s also really important to consider the lighting. You want to make sure that your student can see your face, and that your classroom space is bright and inviting. Many online teachers swear by selfie LED ring lights, but you can also use lamps you may already own to help brighten up your face.
Keep a Positive Attitude
No matter who your students are, it’s vital that you keep a positive attitude; everyone wants learning to be an enjoyable experience. Make sure that you give your students constructive criticism, pointing out their strengths as well as areas of improvement.
The more positive and encouraging you are, the more students will want to work with you. Different teachers have different encouragement styles, so long as yours lets your student know that their effort is paying off, it’s worth it.
Collaborate with Other Teachers
You can collaborate with other teachers by using social media sites like Facebook and Linkedin. These are places that ESL teachers trade secrets, lessons, and thoughts.
This is especially helpful if you’re creating your own lesson plans for the first time. You can find resources and talk to people who have taught the same subject before. There may even be tips on how to structure lesson plans in general. If you are TEFL-certified, don’t forget to add this to your certifications so that employers know that you’re trained and ready to jump in the classroom.
Use Online Resources
Online resources like the ESL Cafe will help you find teaching opportunities all over the world. In addition to finding online teaching opportunities, you might also find opportunities to travel or live abroad.
It’s important to keep your options open. If you know what you want to teach, you can look for more specialized jobs. There’s a large market in today’s modern world for business English and ESL testing.
If you’re considering Business English, you may see CELTA certification floating around. This may be a good option for you if you plan to work in higher education. See our guide on the CELTA vs TEFL and explore which may be right for you.
FAQs About Teaching English Online
Can I teach English online without a TEFL?
Most online teaching jobs require at least a 120-hour TEFL certificate and prepare you for establishing a successful classroom.
Is getting a TEFL certificate worth it?
Yes! A TEFL prepares you for developing and delivering engaging classes. This is often a prerequisite of becoming a popular (and well-paid) online English teacher. You can often find free and cheap TEFL certification courses to keep the costs down.
How much can you make teaching English online?
Most teachers can expect to earn anywhere from $10-$25 an hour teaching English online. For advanced teachers, up to $40 an hour is achievable.
Is teaching English online worth it?
For individuals seeking flexibility and teaching hours outside of the usual 9-to-5, then yes, teaching English online is an awesome opportunity.
Conclusion
Anyone can teach. Regardless of your background, you can find options to teach online with no degree.
When choosing which company you want to work for, you can consider some of the items mentioned about like whether you will teach their curriculum or create your own. We wish you luck on your online ESL tutoring journey! Have you worked at any of these companies? Let us know your experience by commenting below.
