Welcome to Cambly! We’re excited to have you join a global community of tutors helping learners build confidence in English through real conversation. This guide will help you set up your profile so students can easily discover, connect with, and rebook lessons with you. By the end, you’ll be ready to start growing your own book of business on Cambly.
Here you'll find information on:
- What is Cambly
- Earning on Cambly
- Technical Requirements
- Complete Your Tutor Profile
- Setting Your Availability
- What to Expect in Lessons
- Cambly Policies
By the end of this section, you'll know why students come to Cambly, how payments work, what technical setup works best, how to set up a profile that attracts students, the different ways to make yourself available, what to expect in lessons, and what to avoid to retain full access.
What is Cambly
Cambly connects English learners with native English speakers for one-on-one conversation practice. Learners come to Cambly for many reasons:
- Casual learners who want regular conversation practice to maintain or improve their English
- Travelers building confidence before trips to English-speaking countries
- Professionals preparing for job interviews, presentations, or international work
- Test takers getting ready for IELTS, TOEFL, or other English proficiency exams
Most students value flexibility and natural conversation and want to practice English in a low-pressure environment with a supportive tutor.
Earning on Cambly
Tutors earn $0.17 per minute of completed lesson time in USD ($10.20/hour) for 1:1 sessions with adults on Cambly Private+ (formerly known to tutors as Cambly Classic). We also offer compensation for events out of your control such as late students, students who experience connection issues that disconnect them from the classroom, and students who cancel reservations on short notice.
Cambly has two payment options available to both US and non-US tutors:
- Direct deposit via Stripe
- PayPal
Tutor payments are processed every Tuesday (UTC) for the previous payment period, which is a 7-day window that runs from Tuesday through Monday UTC (23:59:59).
Tutors can choose to be paid every 1 week, every 2 weeks, or every 4 weeks, regardless of their payment method selection.
Want to learn more? Follow this link to find a guide on payments.
Technical Requirements
Before you start tutoring, make sure you have:
- A computer (Windows, Mac, or Chromebook)
- Google Chrome browser (latest version)
- High-speed, stable internet connection
- Webcam and microphone (built-in or external)
- Quiet environment with good lighting
Pro Tip: We provide a connection test you can run before your first lesson to check if you meet the minimum download (10 Mbps) and upload (3Mbps) requirements. Use the Practice Classroom to test your setup and familiarize yourself with the interface.
Complete Your Tutor Profile
Your profile is how students discover and choose you. A complete, well-crafted profile is essential for getting bookings and making it easier for the right students to find you. To help you craft a profile that lets your strengths shine, we recommend paying close attention to these 3 aspects of your profile.
Profile Photos - Use a clear, high-quality headshot where you smile directly at the camera:
- Frame the photo to show your full face and top of shoulders only
- Ensure good lighting (avoid backlighting from windows)
- Use a professional, tidy background
- High-resolution image (avoid blurry or pixelated photos)
Introduction Video - Students watch these videos when choosing tutors, so we suggest taking 1-2 minutes to show your personality:
- Detail your tutoring experience and teaching style
- Speak clearly and enthusiastically to the camera
- Record from a sturdy surface to avoid camera shake
- Use good lighting and ensure shoulders are covered
- Remove logos for other companies from your background
- Be natural rather than overly scripted
Pro Tip: The most successful tutors maintain a well-groomed and professional appearance with their computers / camera resting on a desk and a headset with a mic as this creates a professional environment that is conducive to learning.
Profile Content
- Display name: Balance professional and approachable (e.g., "Sarah - English Tutor")
- Introduction: Your "elevator pitch" aka what makes lessons with you valuable
- About me: Share interests, hobbies, and what motivates you to teach
- Teaching style: Describe what students can expect in your lessons
- Student level preferences: Select levels you're most effective teaching (beginner through advanced)
- Languages spoken: Include any languages beyond English
- Interests: Add hobbies and topics you enjoy discussing
- Expertise: Highlight up to 3 areas where you're strongest (business English, test prep, conversation practice, etc.)
- Test familiarity: Select any English proficiency tests you can help with (IELTS, TOEFL, etc.)
- Industry familiarity: Add any professional industries you have experience in
- Education & work experience: Include relevant background (no degree required)
To learn more about how to set up a profile that gives you the best chances of being discovered, check out our guide on Tutor Profiles here.
Setting Your Availability
There are 3 different ways to have a chat, depending on what best fits your schedule:
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Reservations - Opening up reservation availability allows students who view your tutor profile to request a lesson during your available time.
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Set your Status to Online - If you cannot commit to a schedule in advance, setting your status on your dashboard to “Online” allows you to go online and receive calls without the commitment of needing to be online at a specific time or for a specific duration.
- Priority Hours (optional) - For tutors seeking more consistent bookings, Priority Hours are one-hour blocks where you commit to remaining online and available for the full hour. In exchange for this reliability commitment, you’ll receive priority placement in student search results during your scheduled time.
Pro Tip: Many tutors start with Priority Hours to quickly meet students and build relationships. Once they have students who book regularly, they transition to Reservations for more scheduling control. Others prefer setting their status to online for maximum flexibility. Experiment to find what works best.
For more information on setting availability, follow this link.
What to Expect in Lessons
Once you've changed your status to online or have open reservation slots, students will connect with you for one of three types of lessons:
- Call with Curriculum - Students enrolled in a Cambly Course will have their lesson slides automatically pop up when you answer the call. These courses are created for tutors to complete them without preparation and can be previewed in the Cambly library.
- Student Requests - Students with a specific request, such as reading and discussing a news article or focusing on a specific part of grammar, might bring their own materials. If not, you can utilize material from Cambly's Library or any outside resources that you think might be a good fit.
- Free Talk - Many students prefer a free-flowing conversation with their tutor. If this is a first-time student, you can utilize the time to get to know the student a little more or help identify their English goals.
You'll learn more about handling each type in Part 2.
Cambly Policies
Your Status as an Independent Contractor
Cambly tutors are independent contractors, not employees. This means:
- You control your own schedule and can set availability when it works for you
- There are no minimum hours or quotas required
- Cambly provides the platform and technology while you provide the teaching expertise
- You're responsible for your own taxes and expenses
Your Responsibilities
To ensure the safety of tutors and learners, all users are expected to follow our trust and safety policies, which include refraining from smoking, vaping, or drinking alcoholic beverages as well as any culturally insensitive, derogatory, or racist remarks towards an individual or group.
In addition, while we understand that emergencies can happen, we encourage tutors to honor any scheduling commitments they have made with learners. If such events occur, we encourage tutors to reschedule their classes and to write in to Tutor Support, when you are safely able to, so that we can log such emergencies in our system.
Reservation Reliability - Tutors who frequently miss student reservations may have their platform access restricted. Frequent issues include:
- No Shows - reservations you confirmed but did not attend
- Late Cancels - reservations canceled within 12 hours of the start time
Cambly suggests tutors no-show or late cancel no more than 5% of their reservations to maintain platform access.
For Tutors Who Use Priority Hours - Priority Hours are an optional scheduling tool that provides benefits in exchange for reliability. When you schedule a Priority Hour, you're committing to be available for that full hour. Frequently missing Priority Hours may result in reduced Priority Hour privileges. This includes events such as:
- Late Priority Hour Cancels - Priority Hours canceled within 12 hours
- Dropped Priority Hours - being unavailable during scheduled Priority Hours, either by going offline or declining calls
Note: This does not affect your ability to use Reservations or Set your Status to Online.
For more information on our cancellation policies, follow this link.
If you're at risk of losing access due to policy violations, our Quality and Guidance team will reach out to understand the situation and offer guidance on maintaining access.
For a full list of actions that could jeopardize your access to the Cambly platform, please follow this link.
Ready to Start Earning?
You now know:
- ✅ Why students come to Cambly
- ✅ What technical setup you need
- ✅ How to set up a profile that attracts students
- ✅ How you get paid and when
- ✅ The different ways to make yourself available
- ✅ Cambly policies and what to avoid to retain full access
Next steps:
- Run the connection test to verify your setup
- Start completing your profile (you can finish it over time)
- Move on to Part 2 to learn how the classroom works