your search for a italki alternative ends here! 🚀

somos is a creator platform that helps language teachers build an online storefront in a matter of minutes! 🚀

host your community, 1:1 classes, digital products, group language clubs, and even external links - all in one place for one affordable fee.

we don't charge commission so you can launch & grow your business without giving away your earnings. 💚

our mantra at somos is to help you teach, earn & live well. this means:

• helping you keep your earnings: as a teacher-first platform, we don’t charge commission. your only charges are: payment processing fees to stripe + a 1% donation to our impact fund. somos charges 0% on transactions.
  
• giving you the tools to teach creatively: 
• online marketplaces have pushed 1:1 classes as the primary way of teaching. 
• we want you to have the ability to offer private coaching but as part of a rounded product suite that allows you to not only diversify your income streams but engage students creatively in a range of ways!
  
• treating you like co-owners, not customers: somos offers language teachers co-ownership opportunities and has a community ownership programme for grassroots organisations along with a unique entry-level hiring programme in place for refugees living in limbo .

if you prefer to focus solely on teaching without worrying about marketing, a marketplace model like italki, preply or verbling might suit you better.

• these platforms often promote teachers based on algorithms, which can mean less control over how you're discovered but also less effort required on your part to attract students.
• somos is not a traditional marketplace - we don't directly find students for you but do support your growth by providing strategies to effectively share your somos profile across various social media platforms.

if you're just starting out, a commission only model might work better than a pay monthly - but do get in touch when you find your feet!

generally, no. we aren't a marketplace (and aren't trying to be).

our goal is to give you the perfect toolkit for you to:

✅ teach your language(s) online
✅ market your own unique offering quickly and affordably!
✅ build long term relationships with repeat students
✅ offer a range of teaching products that align with your financial & wellbeing goals!

HOWEVER...(!) we'd encourage you to share your somos profile across diferent social media sites and will help provide you with strategies to do so effectively.

as we don't charge you anything per class or per student, a good first move would be to migrate existing students over to your somos community to help you get started. 

the set-up 🏗

as independent sellers on somos, teachers need to set up stripe connect accounts to receive payments.

whenever you make a sale via somos 📈

• 99% (less stripe’s payment processing fee) goes straight to you.
• 1% goes to our impact fund.

as a teacher, you're in control of: 🎮

• setting your prices.
• defining your own refund policy
• creating early bird promo codes and discounts.
• managing your payout schedule from your stripe dashboard.

keep in mind: 🧠

• you're responsible for collecting and/or paying any applicable taxes (e.g., income or sales tax/VAT) in your local jurisdiction.

why is somos structured like this? 🤔

we want you to get your money quickly and with minimal processing fees.

your share of any payments heads straight to your stripe account, and you can choose whether to set your payouts to daily, weekly, or monthly. 

at somos, we never hold your money.

we recommend keeping a balance in your stripe account until your course/class starts. this helps if you need to process any refunds for students.