No money, ever
Credits stay inside SwapHours. No payment data to breach, no commissions to pay.
The platform's rule
Fair-value skill exchange · Privacy-first
Trade an hour of Spanishfor an hour of plumbing.
Match a neighbor or swap remotely. Teach what you know, learn what you want — always money-free, never any fees.
Free foreverNo credit cardOpen worldwide
Worldwide · in-person or remoteReviews only from completed swaps
Real swaps · nearby or remote
An hour you teach. An hour you learn. In person or on video — always without money.
PlumbingPortuguese
GuitarGardening
Thai cookingPython
YogaPhotography
PianoUI design
CarpentrySpanish
SalsaMath tutoring
SewingEnglish
PlumbingPortuguese
GuitarGardening
Thai cookingPython
YogaPhotography
PianoUI design
CarpentrySpanish
SalsaMath tutoring
SewingEnglish
PianoUI design
CarpentrySpanish
SalsaMath tutoring
SewingEnglish
PlumbingPortuguese
GuitarGardening
Thai cookingPython
YogaPhotography
PianoUI design
CarpentrySpanish
SalsaMath tutoring
SewingEnglish
PlumbingPortuguese
GuitarGardening
Thai cookingPython
YogaPhotography
SwapHours at a glance
300cr
Welcome credits
Yours the moment you sign up
30min
Minimum session
Book in 30-min blocks, up to 4 hours
100%
Authentic reviews
Only completed-session peers can review
Credits, not cash
Fair credits for every skill
You earn credits by giving time. You spend them by receiving time. No euros, ever.
∞
Every skill, its fair rate
Different skills need different training — so they earn different credits. The algorithm uses training, local scarcity and certifications to give each skill a transparent rate.
0
No cash, ever
Credits stay inside SwapHours. No withdrawals, no off-platform trades. This is the rule that keeps us a community.
Want to see how your own skill is priced? The calculator shows it in one tap.
Try the calculatorWhy SwapHours
Same outcome, no money.
A side-by-side with two platforms you've already used. We're not faster, more polished, or more famous. We just don't take your money or rank you by ad-spend.
SwapHours Credits, not cash | iTalki Pay-per-lesson | TaskRabbit Pay-per-hour | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1h Spanish lesson | 1h yours | €18 avg | — |
| 1h home repair | 1h yours | — | €60+ /h |
| Platform fee on each swap | 0% | 15% | 15-30% |
| You earn back what you spend | — | — | |
| Pay upfront? | Never · credits only | Yes, lesson by lesson | Yes, on completion |
Comparison data: iTalki public pricing (avg per-hour rate across 1,000+ tutors as of 2026-Q1), TaskRabbit public posted rates (major EU metros). Refreshed quarterly.
Get 300 free creditsFree forever · No card · 300 welcome credits
See it in action
Marco's faucet is leaking. Here's what he does.
A real walk-through of finding a plumber in your neighborhood — without spending a cent, without a marketplace commission.
- 1
Searches for a plumber
Marco opens SwapHours in Alfama, Lisbon. Types 'plumbing' in the skills he needs.
What do you want to learn or get done?plumbing|🔧 Plumbing🪛 Home repair🚿 Faucet fix - 2
AI matches 3 neighbors
Within seconds, our AI suggests 3 people nearby who offer plumbing skills and want something Marco offers in exchange.
Paulo M.Plumbing · 12 y0.4 km★ 4.9wants Python tutoring ← you offer itRita F.Plumbing & home repair0.8 km★ 4.7wants guitar lessonsTiago S.Plumbing · 6 y1.1 km★ 4.8wants Portuguese history - 3
Reads the grounded 'why'
Every match comes with a citation-checked explanation. No hallucinations — every fact links to a data source.
Paulo M.Paulo lives 0.4 km from you, has 12 years of plumbing experience, and is rated 4.9 over 23 reviews. He wants Python tutoring — which you offer.
✓ Verified member🏆 Top neighbor - 4
Requests 1 hour
Marco hits 'Request an hour'. Paulo gets a push. They schedule Saturday morning in Marco's kitchen.
Session proposalwith Paulo M. · Plumbing · 12 y · 1 hourSat 27 Apr · 10:00●Sat 27 Apr · 14:00○Sun 28 Apr · 11:00○ - 5
They meet · faucet fixed
Paulo fixes the faucet in 50 minutes. Both confirm completion in-app. 174 credits move from Marco to Paulo — the fair rate for a Tier 3 verified plumber.
Session completedDuration50 minBoth confirmed✓ ✓Credits · Marco− 174 crCredits · Paulo+ 174 cr1h plumbing · Tier 3 × scarcity 1.029 + license
- 6
The loop continues
Paulo spends his 174 credits learning Python with a 22-year-old dev two streets away — a Tier 4 skill at 207 cr/h, so he books 50 min. The whole neighborhood gets more capable.
Paulo's next matchDiana V.Python · data science0.3 km★ 4.8wants basic plumbing → you offer itZero money moved. Fair credits exchanged. Three neighbors met. Two skills taught.
Examples of a swap
What a swap looks like on SwapHours
Four concrete examples of how a skill swap works.
← scroll →
Mobility & repairsBike ↔ Python“Marco fixed my bike in 40 minutes. I taught him Python for an hour. Zero euros, two skills changed hands. The neighborhood is more capable.”
Marco T.· Bike mechanic · Berlin
Languages & studyItalian ↔ Gardening“I've taught Italian for 12 years. On SwapHours I learned vegetable gardening from a 70-year-old neighbor — and meanwhile taught her how to use WhatsApp with her grandchildren.”
Sofia R.· Teacher · Madrid
Cooking & recipesCooking ↔ English“Grandma's pasta in exchange for an hour of conversational English. We meet every two weeks: he won't stop cooking, I won't stop speaking better.”
Carla B.· Cook · Milan
GardeningGardening ↔ Data science“I needed help with my balcony. Found Diana 300m from home wanting to learn data science. Three sessions, zero money, one new friend.”
Diana V.· Data scientist · Amsterdam
Why we built it
A note from the team.
One of us has been spending €60 a week on yoga while the downstairs neighbor — a yoga instructor — has been spending equivalent money on plumbing for problems we could fix in an afternoon. Same building for four years, never once a swap.
That's the gap SwapHours fills. Not a marketplace where money flows faster. The opposite — a place where money doesn't need to flow at all because the value already exists, sitting an apartment away.
The mechanics are deliberately spare: no fees, no algorithmic ranking that promotes whoever pays us most, and no "creator economy" theatre where one side hustles and the other pays. Just your time, fairly valued, with credits doing the arithmetic so you don't have to.
We want SwapHours to feel like the tool your neighborhood already had but never built. If we ever drift toward the usual platform shape — extracting fees, gating features, optimising for engagement — call us out. Several of the commitments below the fold are written specifically to make that easier.
The team behind SwapHours
A small independent crew · 100% remote
Get 300 free creditsTakes ~30 seconds. 100 credits now, +200 once your profile is live.
Your guarantees
Serious safety, from the first swap
Real profiles, not anonymous
Sign up with Google, LinkedIn or email and reviews only from completed swaps — no anonymous profiles, no bots.
Google, LinkedIn or email
Your data stays yours
Never sold, never shared with advertisers. No cash means no payment data to leak.
GDPR compliant
Certified skills
Every skill is classified against the EU's official taxonomy — no made-up labels, no inflated titles.
EU ESCO standard
Questions, answered
Common questions
Everything you've been wondering about — in plain language.
Is this really free?
Yes. The Neighbor tier is free forever — weekly AI matches, chat, reviews and a verified profile. Premium tiers (€9 / €19 a month) add more welcome credits and a profile badge, with priority matches coming soon; skill exchanges themselves never cost money. Your euros pay the platform, never your neighbor.
How are skill values calculated?
Every skill has a public value per hour. The formula is base × scarcity + cert bonus, where base reflects how much training the skill needed (5 tiers), scarcity nudges prices where supply and demand disagree in your city, and the cert bonus rewards licensed pros. You can see every number on the credits page.
What if someone tries to scam me?
We run four layers of defense: prevention (profile verification, trust seeding), detection (scope-match reviews, behavioral flags), remediation (escrow freeze, admin review, full or partial refund), and legal (public Terms, ambassador mediators). Credits sit in escrow until both sides confirm — nobody gets paid for a no-show. Full protection details.
Do I need to meet in person?
No. Each skill can be marked remote, in-person or both. Language lessons, coding help and coaching work beautifully over video. Plumbing and cooking generally don't.
Where are you available?
Everywhere. SwapHours is open globally from day one — sign up, set your city, and our AI matches you with real neighbors wherever you are. Liquidity grows city by city, so invite your friends if you want first matches in your neighborhood.
How do I know the other person is real?
You sign up with Google, LinkedIn or email, so there are no anonymous profiles. Reviews are written only after a completed session, so they can't be faked. Your neighbor's trust score, session history and public review feed are visible on their profile.
Can I use credits for anything other than skills?
No. Credits only buy sessions with other members — they're not a currency. You can't withdraw them, sell them, or use them off-platform. That's what keeps SwapHours a skills community instead of a gig marketplace.
Who built this?
A solo community project currently in pre-launch. We publish every design decision, every impact metric and every Terms change in the open. Questions? hello@swaphours.com — a human reads every message.
Get 300 free credits
Free foreverNo credit cardOpen worldwide
Pricing
Simple pricing
Credits stay free — always. You pay for more welcome credits, a badge that tells your story, and — over time — priority matches and host perks. Every plan starts with a gift of credits to break the ice.
Neighbor
Freeforever
300 cr welcome bonus · expire in 90 days
- Verified member badge (Google, LinkedIn or email)
- Browse & message neighbors by skill and area
- Direct chat · up to 3 reviews per profile
- Credit balance
- Impact dashboard
Most popular
Citizen
€9per month
Includes 300 credits/month · never expire
A more trusted, more visible profile in the community — so you swap more often.
- Everything in the Neighbor plan
- Citizen profile badge
- Full reviews on every profile
- The AI finds your matches — up to 10/week
- Priority visibility in neighbors' matches
Host
Your neighborhood's go-to.
€19per month
Includes 600 credits/month · never expire
A more trusted, more visible profile in the community — so you swap more often.
- Everything in the Citizen plan
- Trusted Host badge
- Featured in Discover — seen across your area
- Matches up to 30 km — reach more neighbors
Your first trade is 300 credits away
Your neighborhood. Hour by hour.
100 credits the moment you join, +200 once your profile is complete. Valid 90 days — no euros required, just your skills and a few hours a month.
Get 300 free credits
Free foreverNo credit cardOpen worldwide
Building community in your city? Talk to us about the Ambassador program →