If you tutor on Cambly and still get paid through PayPal, your pay schedule already changed. Starting November 11, 2026, tutors paid weekly through PayPal are now paid every two weeks instead, and PayPal is being phased out as a payout option entirely. The fix is simple: switch to Stripe Connect or Stripe Global Payouts inside your Cambly account settings, and you keep weekly pay. This guide walks through exactly what changed, what each option costs you on a real weekly payout, and how to make the switch in about ten minutes.
What exactly changed on November 11, 2026
Cambly’s own help center states it plainly: “PayPal is being phased out. Starting November 11, 2026, tutors paid weekly through PayPal will be paid every 2 weeks instead. Switch to Stripe to keep getting paid weekly.”
Three things matter. First, the change already happened — if your last PayPal payout arrived on a Tuesday, the next one is now coming a week later than expected. Second, PayPal has not disappeared yet: it is still listed as one of Cambly’s three payout options, and no final removal date has been published, so treat this as a phased exit, not an overnight cutoff. Third, the biweekly change only hits PayPal. With Stripe, you can still choose weekly, biweekly, or every-four-weeks pay.
The timing stings a little because PayPal already got more expensive for Cambly tutors this year. Since July 14, 2026, a 2% processing fee applies to PayPal payouts, capped at $1 for US accounts and $20 for non-US accounts. Cambly used to cover that fee itself; since July, it passes it straight through to tutors. So PayPal tutors have now been hit twice in four months: first a fee, then a slower schedule.
Cambly’s stated reason is cost and reliability: its help center says Stripe is more cost-effective than PayPal for most tutors, and fee-free via Stripe Connect for US tutors. Check that claim against your own numbers — “cheaper for most” is not “cheaper for you.”
The fee math: PayPal vs Stripe Connect vs Stripe Global Payouts
Cambly offers three payout options, and the fees depend on where your bank account is. Here is the full table, taken from Cambly’s help center on November 13, 2026:
| Payout method | US bank account | Non-US bank account |
|---|---|---|
| PayPal | 2% fee, capped at $1 | 2% fee, capped at $20 |
| Stripe Connect | No fee | 1% foreign exchange fee + a processing fee that varies by country |
| Stripe Global Payouts | $1 processing fee | $1 + a small percentage that varies by location + 1% foreign exchange fee |
A few details hide in that table. With Stripe Connect, a US bank account means no fee at all — including a USD account through Wise, Payoneer, or Revolut, as long as you have a US account number and routing number and select United States as your bank account country. With Stripe Global Payouts, there is no Stripe dashboard; your pay history simply shows “Sent to linked bank account.” And with PayPal, the 2% fee is capped: on a big payout the cap is your friend; on a small one, the percentage is what you feel.
Now the worked examples. Cambly pays $0.17 per minute on the main platform ($10.20 an hour) and $0.20 per minute on Cambly Kids ($12 an hour), and tutors cannot set their own rate. Payments are processed every Tuesday (UTC) for the previous seven-day period, and Cambly only pays out balances with a net total above $20 after fees.
If you earn $200 a week and your bank is in the US:
| Method | Fee on $200 | You keep |
|---|---|---|
| PayPal | $1 (2% would be $4, but the cap is $1) | $199 |
| Stripe Connect | $0 | $200 |
| Stripe Global Payouts | $1 | $199 |
The difference looks trivial at $200 a week — one dollar. Over a year, though, a tutor earning $200 a week takes home $10,400. PayPal’s $1-a-week cap adds up to $52 a year. Stripe Connect costs $0. That is a free week of coffee money, or, more honestly, the price of doing nothing: switching once saves $52 a year for a US tutor at this level.
If you earn $200 a week and your bank is outside the US:
| Method | Fee on $200 | You keep |
|---|---|---|
| PayPal | $4 (2%, under the $20 cap) | $196 |
| Stripe Connect | $2 (1% FX) + country processing fee | About $198, minus the country fee |
| Stripe Global Payouts | $1 + 1% FX ($2) + small percentage | About $197, minus the percentage |
For a non-US tutor, PayPal is now the most expensive option of the three on a $200 payout, and the gap grows with your earnings. At $500 a week, PayPal takes $10 (2%, still under the $20 cap), while Stripe Connect takes $5 in FX plus the country fee. A non-US tutor earning $500 a week loses roughly $520 a year to PayPal fees versus about $260 plus country fees on Stripe Connect. For a US tutor at $500 a week, the picture is simpler: PayPal’s $1 cap leaves you $499, Connect leaves you the full $500, and Global Payouts leaves $499.
The honest summary: for US tutors, Stripe Connect wins on fees every single time, because it is free. For non-US tutors, Stripe Connect usually wins too, because 1% FX beats PayPal’s flat 2%, though the country-specific processing fee can narrow the gap — which is exactly why Cambly built a comparison tool into the setup screen (more on that below). The one case where PayPal still competes is a non-US tutor in a country where Stripe’s processing fee is steep; run your own numbers before you switch, and do it on the setup screen, where Cambly shows you the estimated take-home for each option based on your expected weekly earnings.
Which Stripe option should you pick?
Stripe Connect and Stripe Global Payouts both end in the same place — a direct deposit into your bank account — but they get there differently, and the right choice depends on your situation.
Stripe Connect is the option Cambly tutors have used for years. You set up an actual Stripe account, pick “Individual” as your business type, and get a Stripe dashboard where your payments appear. For US bank accounts, including USD accounts through Wise, Payoneer, or Revolut, it costs nothing. For non-US accounts, it costs 1% in foreign exchange plus a processing fee that varies by country. One quirk: if your Connect account goes inactive — no payment in 30 days and not your current method — it may be deleted, and you would need to set it up again.
Stripe Global Payouts is the newer option. You do not create a Stripe account at all. You enter your bank details on screen inside Cambly, click confirm, and you are done. Cambly sends the payment directly to your bank, and your pay history shows “Sent to linked bank account.” The fee is $1 for a US bank account, or $1 plus a small percentage plus 1% FX for a non-US account. The tradeoff is simplicity versus cost: Global Payouts is the easiest setup Cambly offers, but a US tutor pays $1 per payout that Stripe Connect would charge $0 for. At weekly payouts, that is $52 a year for convenience.
My recommendation, based purely on the fee tables: if you have a US bank account (or a USD account with a US routing number through Wise, Payoneer, or Revolut), pick Stripe Connect — it is free, and the setup takes a few extra minutes once. If you are outside the US and Stripe Connect’s processing fee is high in your country, use Cambly’s built-in comparison screen and let the side-by-side numbers decide. If you just want the switch done with the least friction and do not mind $1 a payout, Global Payouts is the path of least resistance. You are not locked in, either: Cambly lets you switch payment methods at any time, so the cost of choosing wrong is a dollar or two.
How to switch in about ten minutes
Cambly’s help center includes a step-by-step guide and a three-minute video walkthrough. Here is the whole process:
- Log into your Cambly tutor account.
- Go to your account settings and scroll down to the Payments section.
- Click the edit icon on the right. A “Setup payment method” window appears. If you have never set up payments before, you will first be asked to select your bank account country.
- You will see a side-by-side comparison of the available payment methods. Enter your expected weekly earnings to see an estimated take-home amount for each option, and click “Show processor fees” for the detailed view. This is the step most tutors skip — do not skip it, because it is where you find out whether Connect or Global Payouts is cheaper for your country.
- Select the payment method that works for you and follow the setup screens.
If you pick Stripe Global Payouts, click “Connect with Stripe,” enter your personal details and bank account information, click confirm, and you are done. No separate Stripe account, no extra tabs.
If you pick Stripe Connect, clicking “Connect with Stripe” opens Stripe’s own setup in a new tab. Select “Individual” as your business type, then fill in your name and bank account details. If Stripe asks for a website URL, paste your Cambly profile URL. You can use any email address — it does not need to match your Cambly email. Stripe may ask for extra identification; non-US tutors without a Social Security number or ITIN can use the last four digits of a photo ID such as a passport, plus a photo upload.
Two warnings from Cambly’s help center are worth repeating. First, double-check your banking details before saving them — incorrect details are the most common reason a payout gets delayed. Second, whenever your payment method is updated, Cambly emails you. If you get that email and you changed nothing, contact Tutor Support immediately.
One practical tip: do the switch before your next Tuesday processing day. Cambly processes payments every Tuesday (UTC) for the previous seven-day period, and your payment goes to whatever method is on file. Switch on a Wednesday and you have a full week of buffer; switch on a Monday night and you are trusting the timing.
The catch nobody mentions: Stripe is slower than PayPal
Here is the part of this change that costs tutors more than the fees do, and it barely gets mentioned: Stripe is not instant the way PayPal was.
Cambly is upfront about it in the help center: “Stripe payouts aren’t instant like PayPal. Payments take up to 3 business days (US bank account) or up to 7 business days (non-US) to arrive in your bank account after being sent, though many tutors report much faster times.”
Work out what that means for a real week. Cambly processes your pay on Tuesday. On PayPal, that money was typically in your account the same day or close to it. On Stripe with a US bank, it can take until Friday. With a non-US bank, it can take until the following Wednesday — eight days after the lessons you taught. Public holidays in the US or in your banking country can stretch it further.
For a tutor who treats Cambly as side income, that is a minor annoyance. For one who counts on Tuesday’s payout to cover a bill due Thursday, it is a real cash-flow change. If you can afford it, switch your pay frequency to every two weeks on Stripe: you build a one-week buffer in, and the slower transfer stops mattering. The money is not lost, just slower — Cambly emails you when the payment is sent, so you can track it. One more timing trap: because Stripe takes up to seven business days for non-US accounts, give your first Stripe payout a full ten days before worrying. If it still has not arrived, check your pay history first (it will show the payment as sent), then contact Tutor Support.
What if Stripe is not supported where you live?
This is the honest gap in Cambly’s plan, and it affects a real minority of tutors. Stripe does not operate everywhere. Cambly’s help center says that if Stripe is not supported in your location, you will see a message to that effect when you select your banking country, and you should contact Tutor Support for help finding an alternative.
The workaround Cambly itself documents is the most useful line in its help center article: receive payments into a USD account through Wise, Payoneer, or Revolut. If the platform gives you a US account number and routing number, select United States as your bank account country, and with Stripe Connect the payout is fee-free. The catch: Stripe cannot send USD to a non-US bank account, even one holding dollars. The exception only works with actual US account details, so check that your Wise, Payoneer, or Revolut account provides US routing details before relying on it.
If neither Stripe option works for you and no workaround applies, you are in the group that stays on PayPal by necessity — and that group should know two things. First, your payouts are now biweekly, so plan around a two-week cycle. Second, keep an eye on your inbox for any further phase-out notice, because “being phased out” eventually ends in removal, and Cambly has not said when.
The bigger pattern: platforms are quietly dropping PayPal payouts
Cambly is not acting alone: the shift from PayPal to Stripe as gig platforms’ default payout route has been running all year.
Outschool, the online teaching marketplace, is moving teacher payouts from PayPal to Stripe right now. Its support pages say the change will not affect how much teachers earn or how they price classes, but payouts will follow a new schedule and take a short processing period between Outschool sending the money and it reaching the teacher’s bank — the same tradeoff Cambly tutors are facing.
Upside, the cashback app, dropped ongoing PayPal support for most accounts in late 2025, and removed PayPal from all remaining accounts on August 14, 2026. Users there can still withdraw to a bank account or a gift card, but PayPal as a cash-out route is gone.
The pattern is consistent: platforms are moving payouts to direct bank transfer through Stripe, and PayPal is becoming a legacy option that costs the platform more to maintain and costs the worker more in fees. For tutors and gig workers, the practical lesson is to stop treating PayPal as the default place your earnings land. A USD account through Wise, Payoneer, or Revolut, paired with Stripe Connect, is becoming the standard plumbing for getting paid online — and it is usually cheaper than PayPal once it is set up.
What this means for your Cambly income
Strip away the payout mechanics and the underlying job has not changed. Cambly still pays $0.17 a minute ($10.20 an hour) for adult lessons and $0.20 a minute ($12 an hour) for Cambly Kids, and you still cannot set your own rate. At those rates, earning $200 a week means roughly 19 to 20 hours of talk time on the main platform, or about 17 hours on Cambly Kids. A tutor doing 10 hours a week on the main platform earns about $102 a week, or roughly $442 a month.
The payout change does not reduce what you earn per minute. It changes when the money reaches you and how much of it arrives. A US tutor earning $200 a week who stays on PayPal loses $52 a year to the capped fee and waits two weeks between payouts; on Stripe Connect the same tutor loses $0 and gets paid weekly, but waits up to three business days per transfer. A non-US tutor earning $500 a week loses about $520 a year on PayPal; on Stripe Connect the FX cost is roughly half that, before the country fee.
Two notes tutors often miss. First, Cambly only pays out balances above $20 net of fees, so a very light week can roll into the next cycle. Second, your payment method does not change how income is reported for tax — that follows the tax information in your tutor profile, not where the money is sent. Cambly tutoring income is self-employment income, and US tutors should be aware of the 1099 reporting rules; our guide to the 2026 1099-NEC threshold for freelancers explains when platforms report your earnings. This article is not tax advice — if your situation is complicated, a tax professional is worth the fee.
One note for anyone thinking of applying now: Cambly says it is temporarily limiting new tutor sign-ups to protect current tutors’ schedules, and profile reviews may take longer than usual — a point confirmed in an independent Cambly tutor guide updated November 1, 2026. If you are already tutoring, the payout switch is the thing to do this week.
How the switch fits into your wider freelancer money setup
Cambly is one payout among many for most freelancers, and the same logic applies across your freelance income: every platform takes its cut somewhere, and the cheapest route is almost never the default one. Our breakdown of freelancer payment rails compares what you actually keep across Stripe, PayPal, Upwork, and Fiverr — and the fee you can see is rarely the one that costs you the most. The hidden one is usually the currency conversion or the payout delay. The same goes for where the money lands: our guide to the best business checking accounts for freelancers covers accounts that pair well with the USD accounts that make Stripe Connect free. The boring truth of freelance money management is that the wins are small and repeatable — a dollar a week here, a conversion fee avoided there. This switch is one of them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cambly getting rid of PayPal completely?
Not yet. Cambly’s help center says PayPal “is being phased out as a payout option.” Starting November 11, 2026, weekly PayPal payouts moved to every two weeks, and no final removal date has been published. PayPal still works for now — just slower and with a 2% fee. Treat the biweekly change as the warning.
How do I keep getting paid weekly on Cambly?
Switch to Stripe Connect or Stripe Global Payouts in your account settings under Payments. With either Stripe option you can choose weekly, biweekly, or every-four-weeks payouts. With PayPal, weekly is no longer available — it is every two weeks from November 11, 2026 onward.
Which is cheaper: Stripe Connect or Stripe Global Payouts?
For a US bank account, Stripe Connect is free and Global Payouts costs $1 per payout, so Connect wins. For a non-US bank account, Connect charges 1% foreign exchange plus a country processing fee, while Global Payouts charges $1 plus a small percentage plus 1% FX. Use the comparison tool on Cambly’s payment setup screen — enter your expected weekly earnings and click “Show processor fees” — to see the exact numbers for your country before you choose.
How long do Stripe payouts from Cambly take?
Up to 3 business days for a US bank account and up to 7 business days for a non-US bank account after Cambly sends the payment, which happens on Tuesdays. Many tutors report faster times, but public holidays in the US or your banking country can add delays. PayPal was effectively faster; Stripe is cheaper but slower, so plan your cash flow around the longer wait.
Can I get paid through Wise, Payoneer, or Revolut?
Yes. Cambly confirms you can receive payments into a USD account through Wise, Payoneer, or Revolut with both Stripe options. You need a US account number and routing number from the platform, and you must select United States as your bank account country. With Stripe Connect, that payout is fee-free — but Stripe cannot send USD to a non-US bank account, even one holding dollars, so the US routing details are the key part.
What happens if I do nothing?
Nothing breaks immediately. You stay on PayPal, your payouts arrive every two weeks instead of weekly, and the 2% PayPal fee (capped at $1 for US accounts, $20 for non-US) keeps coming out of each payout. The risk of doing nothing is that PayPal is being phased out, so a future announcement could remove it entirely — and tutors who switch late tend to discover the change the week their payout does not arrive.