Cambly Reviews 

I made a tutor profile that has been under review for the longest time. What does one have to do to get their profile approved?!

They haven't increased their tutor wages in over 10 years

I tutored on Cambly from September 2022 until June 2026. While the platform advertises "highly trained IELTS teachers" and professional educators, the reality is dangerous. Cambly will hire absolutely anyone who holds a passport from an approved native-English-speaking country, completely bypassing meaningful qualifications, background checks, or criminal history verification.

While traveling in Thailand, I personally met two tutors working on the platform who had zero teaching qualifications whatsoever, and who openly admitted they pivoted to Cambly immediately after their employment ended at an illegal online scam call center. Over my years living and traveling in Southeast Asia, I have encountered numerous other Cambly tutors who lack basic professionalism—frankly, people I wouldn't trust to walk my dogs, let alone teach vulnerable students.

Over my four years on the platform, I spoke with hundreds of Chinese students who frequently expressed fear about the notorious scam operations running out of Southeast Asia. It is sickening to realize that these exact students—who are paying a premium and trusting this platform—could unknowingly be connected with the very individuals they are afraid of, all because Cambly's due diligence is non-existent.

Cambly does not care about student safety, quality assurance, or tutor standards; they only care about volume. Do not trust their marketing.

The platform is easy to use, and talking with tutors feels natural and comfortable.

I would give them zero stars if I could!!! I applied to be a tutor more than two years ago. I have sent follow-up email after follow-up email. They didn’t respond back until years later with this rather vague and patronizing email:

“Thanks for creating your Cambly tutor profile!”
It wasn’t just created.

“We’ve received a lot of interest from tutors and work hard to match tutors with student needs and demand. Unfortunately, we are unable to move forward with your profile at this time. Due to the large number of inquiries we receive, we’re unable to provide individual feedback regarding your profile.”

If that’s the case why is option to sign up to tutor still open? There should some sort of notice that they are on a hiring freeze. That’s what 90% of companies do. Very patronizing email, but I suspect the rejection might have to do more with my skin color than anything.
“Thank you for your understanding, and we wish you the best!

We will keep your information on file and may reach out if a future opportunity is a better fit.”

I am not holding my breath. It took this garbage company two years to finally do a follow-up with me. Avoid them at all costs!!!

⁸My experience with Cambly has significantly deteriorated over time.

The pay has always been unacceptably low — in many cases falling below minimum wage standards in numerous countries (around 10 USD per hour) This raises serious concerns about fair compensation, and whether Cambly are actually even operating legally.

Cambly also operate a late cancellations/no show policy that definitely does not work in favour of the tutors, only paying us around 1.70-2 USD in the event of this happening, with teachers typically losing 30 minutes of their time every time this occurs (and it's frequent). Students should pay the full lesson amount if they no show/late cancel, no question.

That being said students are generally pleasant and low-maintenance, and the work itself primarily involves casual conversation. However, this alone does not justify the poor pay structure.

In recent months, my once buoyant advance bookings from students have virtually disappeared, and the availability of priority hours (when teachers make themselves available to answer live calls from students) has declined sharply. This has made it far more difficult to secure consistent work.

Additionally, my own rating has dropped to 96% approval — still objectively high, yet noticeably lower than my previous consistent 99–100%. This decline has occurred without any change in my teaching method or approach.

Approximately a year ago, Cambly was a reasonable option for earning extra income despite its low pay. At present, however, it has become an unreliable and increasingly frustrating platform to work for, suggesting potential issues behind the scenes.

I have been a tutor on Cambly since 2020. I enjoy the flexibility, and I have had amazing students. I have read many reviews about teachers' and students' experiences. None of them have I personally seen. I really enjoy the easy lesson plans available for use and have seen that they do help my students, especially in workplace development.

My friend learning ESL recently signed up for Cambly, then found out he could get a local tutor and Cambly refused to refund him.
What a total scam of a company - stay away is my advice.

if u want to teach, forget it...i have 8 years experience teaching ESL at a univ in China, am an Ivy League graduate, got a score of 100 on the test Cambly gives you, and the response was that it would probably take months for them to have an opening lo...for 10 bucks an hour? Tell me that before I waste my time with your garbage...

I made a complaint about someone who works for Cambly making inappropriate (racist) comments online, Cambly simply never bothered to respond. The person still works for Cambly.

Unfortunately very bad! I am an English Instructor and I've taken quite a lot of time to create my profile, uploaded a video twice, got approved, and then not approved again, even though my qualifications are stronger than many tutors on Cambly. Their support team is rubbish, copy-paste emails, closing tickets without care. Save yourself the trouble — Preply or italki are way better!!!

They pay their tutors too little money. It was the case before Covid, and after a minimum 30% inflation in real cost of living in the majority of western countries - and 50%+ increase in other countries where their tutors live - they still haven't increased tutor pay.

The company is taking massive cut of student fees.

They pay per second of active tuition in front of a camera which records all the data at sub minimum wage levels.

They offer "priority hours" during busy times but require you to be available for a whole hour while only "guaranteeing 15 minutes", which is often filled by regular students who choose to book in that time - so it's the same as teaching your own regulars.

They also mis-sell their conversational tutors to students as professional tuition leading to upset students if you don't give top-tier tuition while being paid less than any other school out there.

That said, if you desperately need quick income, it is a relatively easy way to get started with earnings topping out at about $400 per 50 hours of work

I am writing to express my deep disappointment with the generic rejection I received regarding my tutor profile. I invested significant time and effort in creating a profile that highlights my skills, experience, and passion for teaching, and I find it unacceptable that such effort is dismissed without genuine review or constructive feedback.

I strongly believe that my profile demonstrates the qualities of a capable and committed tutor who can add real value to Cambly’s platform. For this reason, I am formally requesting that my profile be reviewed again, this time with the seriousness and attention it deserves.

As a company that connects people through communication and learning, Cambly should extend that same respect to its applicants. A fair and thorough review is the least that should be expected in this process.

I urge you to reconsider my application and provide me with the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to your platform.

Another terrible on so many levels:
1. They advertise around encouraging you to teach yet even more than 10 days later they do not come back with a response
2. Registering requires pics/video and they are so fussy about everything: when pointing out they have lots of tutors with filters on their pics or videos which are rubbish or description including things they did not allow me to say/write they replied 'these are old profiles'. Basically they do preferential treatment.
3. Customer service does not even bother in replying to you
4. The software itself is so rubbish on a tablet - you simply start kicking yourself over wasting so many days with this site achieving nothing - and yes, I am a very patient person. Really not worth it.

It's not all bad. I have been teaching on Cambly for at least four years and have had many interesting talks and met so many great students. Of course it would be great if they recognized the tutor's efforts and raised the hourly rate a little!

I heard this from a friend of another friend who was looking to learn conversational English. They searched online and were advised to sign up with Cambly to help them.
They paid for a full subscription, but when they met their tutor for a class, they realised the tutor had worse English than theirs.
They were very disappointed and when they kindly asked for a refund, Cambly refused and kept their money.
How awful was it to hear about their experience? I'm surprised this company hasn't been reported to authorities.
Just look at all the 1* ratings here; don't waste your money in the first place.

As a tutor I've been able to experience both sides of this platform through conversations with my students as well as my own personal experience. Cambly's system makes it difficult to make a decent amount of money due to the low pay and rules and regulations. The servers are horrible, resulting in technical issues that tutors are ultimately punished for as Cambly will claim you weren't online when you were. Students are also charged different prices depending on their region and most are paying way too much. The platform controls how many hours you receive and places tutor's profiles in a particular order. Regardless of your high rating it is nearly impossible to maintain a steady schedule. Definitely not worth the stress.

Cambly is disconnecting tutors while they sit in front of their screen waiting for a lesson to come and then falsely claiming that they could not detect their presence online. They are then penalised financially and in their ratings. It saves Cambly from paying the minimum fee of 2.25 USD for having them sit there for an hour with no lessons.