Teach english online for any of the 18 companies we’ve highlighted in this post. These are all home-based jobs, and the companies are almost always hiring.

When I research home-based jobs, I often come across a lot of companies that are looking for people to teach English online (English Second Language tutors).

If you want to work from home and are qualified to do this, it could be a great way to make some money! The requirements vary from company to company as does the pay (some pay $18 hourly and more!).

Some want a college degree, others don’t mind if you have don’t have one. You’ll also find that some want language teaching certifications, like TEFL or TESOL. You can get a TEFL online here or a TESOL online here.

Also, sometimes the work will be done online while other times it’s via phone and/or webcam.

Teach English Online – Companies To Consider

The following companies all offer legitimate online English teaching jobs you can do from the comfort of your own home. Certifications, educational requirements, and estimate pay vary. These are all independent contractor positions.

VIPKid – Earn between $14 and $18 hourly tutoring Chinese children in English. Read VIPKid review here.

EF – EF (Education First) — Read EF Education First Review – Now hiring online English teachers in the US and UK.

You can earn between $12 and $19 hourly for teaching Chinese children online. A bachelor’s degree along with teaching or some sort of related experience is required. It’s also preferred if you have a TEFL certificate or are committed to getting one.

Magic Ears – Read Magic Ears Review – Open to US and Canada. Bachelor’s degree or current university enrollment required. Pay is between $18 and $26 hourly with a flexible schedule offered.

Cambly – Webcam tutoring. You can teach English online without a degree, and you can work anytime! Currently they need English & Spanish language tutors. This is informal tutoring — you’re mostly doing social chatting. Also, check out my Cambly review if you need more info.

SayABC – Read SayABC Review – Open to US, Canada, and Australia. Must be a native English speaker with a bachelor’s degree or above. Earn up to $19 hourly.

QKIDS – Earn up to $20 hourly teaching English online to Chinese students. Must reside in the US or Canada and either have a degree or currently be enrolled in a university program. Read QKIDS Review here.

Gogokid – This site pays between $14 and $25 hourly for online ESL tutoring (you’d be tutoring Chinese, school-aged children).

HAWO/51 Talk – This company pays up to $22 hourly. Bachelor’s degree or currently enrolled as an education major is required. Teaching experience also preferred (US or Canadian education systems). Payments are made monthly via Paypal or bank transfer.

Berlitz – This company pays $13 an hour for ESL tutoring. You must be a native English or French speaker to be considered.

English Hunt – Often hires people to teach English online from home via video (independent contractors). Must have a four-year degree and have either teaching or substitute teaching certification. Regarding pay, compensation is determined on a case-by-case basis.

GoFLUENT – Hires tutors in the U.S. and Canada (certain areas only). This is a company I have reviewed. You can read the review of GoFLUENT here.

TutorABC (TutorGroup) – Must have a bachelor’s degree or higher. This can be in any field. You must also have one year of teaching experience. Read my review of TutorABC here.

Open English – Hires native English speakers to teach English online. Must be able to put in 15 hours per week. Read my review of Open English here.

iTalki – Work anywhere in the world teaching any language. You will qualify as long as you are a native fluency speaker for your lanuage.

SameSpeak – If your first language is English, you can apply. You will earn $10 for every half-hour tutor session you complete. Also, you can be as young as 16 to sign up.

Learnlight – This company hires online ESL telephone teachers. Pay is monthly. They were formerly known as ISUS.

TEFL and TESOL Certification – Where To Get It & What It Costs

Some (but not all) of the online English teaching jobs above will require or prefer that you are TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) or TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language) certified prior to hiring you.

And even if the certification isn’t needed, having it is more likely to help rather than hurt your acceptance chances.

For an affordable TESOL certificate, you can go through International Open Academy. It’s highly rated by students and only costs $19 if you go through Groupon to sign up (regular price $499).

Groupon also has a TEFL course for $39 you can go through to get certified for that.

The course you should take depends on which company you’re interested in and their requirements. It would certainly be beneficial to have both, however.

Online English Teaching Jobs Not Requiring College Or Certification

If you have no college degree and no certification but still want to teach English online, below are a couple of companies to consider (a few of these may also be listed above):

Want To Do Academic Tutoring Instead?

If you don’t think language tutoring is for you, we have a list of academic online tutoring jobs you might consider instead. Note that these also require college degrees for the most part.

We also post new ESL teaching jobs when we find them on our work at home job leads page.

Good luck!

Post originally published on May 1, 2012. Updated and republished on February 24, 2020.