Comparison

Bubblegum vs Norae

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Bubblegum

Learn languages with personalized lessons and AI-powered assistance. Read content you enjoy, get instant word definitions and grammar help, and listen to natural audio. Review saved vocabulary within new lessons for effective retention.

Highlights
  • Personalized AI-generated reading lessons
  • Instant word definitions and grammar help
  • Synchronized audio narration
  • AI tutor for explanations and practice
  • Regenerative Review™ for vocabulary retention
  • Progress tracking and study stats
Features
Read full description

Bubblegum makes learning languages feel clear and personal. Read lessons about what you love, tap any word for help without losing your place, hear natural audio, and see your saved words again right when you need them. Built by language learners for learners. Why learners choose Bubblegum: • Personal lessons: pick from thousands of ideas or write your own, and Poppy, your AI tutor, writes a reading at your level with natural audio in seconds. • Help on tap: see word meanings, grammar notes, and cultural context right inside the text. • Listen as you read: natural narration highlights each line in sync to train your ear. • Ask Poppy anything: get deeper explanations, extra practice, or answers about the language you are learning. • Keep words fresh: Regenerative Review™ brings the words you save back inside future lessons, so you never grind through endless flashcards. • Real momentum: friendly stats celebrate your study time and recent wins. No streaks, no guilt. Every language is taught in its own right: • English (American, British, Australian), Spanish (Spain, Latin America, Río de la Plata), French (France, Canada), and Portuguese (Brazil, Portugal). • Korean, with a course that teaches you to read Hangul. • Japanese, with hiragana, katakana, and kanji courses, plus furigana whenever you want it. • Chinese in Simplified or Traditional characters with Pinyin, and Cantonese with Jyutping and its six tones. • Vietnamese (Northern, Central, Southern) and Arabic (Modern Standard, Egyptian, Moroccan), in the variety you choose. • Indonesian, Malay, Filipino (Tagalog), Cebuano, and Thai, for warm everyday conversations. • Russian and Ukrainian, each with a course that teaches you to read Cyrillic. • German, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Finnish, Bulgarian, and Macedonian, with grammar explained inside real sentences. • Turkish and Azerbaijani, with vowel harmony and word endings explained as you read. • Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Hungarian, Croatian, Romanian, Albanian, Serbian, Belarusian, Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian, with endings explained where you meet them. • Welsh, Irish, Galician, Basque, Catalan, Swahili, Haitian Creole, Nigerian Pidgin, Javanese, Hausa, Ilocano, Maltese, Somali, Icelandic, Luxembourgish, Afrikaans, Uzbek, and Twi, each with natural audio and its own culture. • Greek, Hindi, Persian, Hebrew, and Urdu, with help for words and grammar as you read. • Toki Pona, a tiny language made for fun and simple ideas. Bubblegum stays proudly learner-first, learner-funded, and ad-free. Need a hand? Email support@bubblegum.la.

About

Norae

Learn Korean through real-life short videos with interactive captions. Tap any word to understand its meaning in context, save it for review, and revisit it within the original video clip. This app uses authentic content to make language learning engaging and effective.

Highlights
  • Real Korean short video feed
  • Interactive word-by-word captions
  • Contextual word definitions
  • Save words for spaced repetition
  • Review words with original video clips
  • Adjustable playback speed
  • Content curated by learning level
Features
Read full description

Norae is a feed of real Korean short videos: the vlogs, street interviews, food runs and drama recaps people actually watch, with captions that light up word by word as they're spoken. Tap any word you don't know. You get what it means in that sentence, not a dictionary dump. Save it, and it comes back later, attached to the clip you first heard it in. HOW IT WORKS • Korean and English captions running together, with each word lit the moment it is said • Tap a word for what it means in that line, its dictionary form, and how it is actually used • Words you keep come back as review cards that replay the clip you found them in • Roots: the words you save, grouped by the Chinese character they share, so 학교 brings 학생 and 과학 with it • 0.75x and 0.5x on any clip, for the lines that get away from you • A feed built from the level you pick, from your first day of Hangul onward MADE FOR PEOPLE WHO ALREADY WATCH If you're already spending an hour a day scrolling, Norae puts that hour to work. Ten minutes gets you a handful of words that stick, because you met them somewhere real. No streak guilt. No sentences about a bear drinking milk. Videos play in the official YouTube player and belong to the creators who made them. Every clip links back to its channel. SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED Norae is available through an annual subscription with a free trial, and a monthly subscription without a trial. Apple charges nothing until the trial ends. After that the plan renews at the same price until you cancel it, which you can do any time in your Apple ID settings. Cancel at least 24 hours before a period ends and Apple will not bill you for the next one. Prices are shown in app and vary by region. Privacy policy: https://noraeapp.com/norae/privacy.html Terms of use: https://noraeapp.com/norae/terms.html Contact the founder: trent@noraeapp.com

Screenshots

Bubblegum4 screens
Norae4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Bubblegum at freemium against Norae's subscription. Bubblegum also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.4) and review sentiment (80% vs 45%). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Bubblegum sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per 7 days and Norae sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Bubblegum holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bubblegum has 175 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 80% of Bubblegum's written reviews are positive against 45% of Norae's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Bubblegum versus Norae: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBubblegumNorae
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (175 ratings) — better4.4 (8 ratings)
Positive reviews80.0% of reviews — better45.5% of reviews
Number of ratings175 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 2 daysEvery 2 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size253 MB109 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperBubblegum LanguagesTC Fusion LLC

Customer experience

Bubblegum

All ratings175 ratings
Positive97.7%
Neutral0.6%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews20 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative10.0%

Norae

All ratings8 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive45.5%
Neutral9.1%
Negative45.5%

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Bubblegum

Subscriptions6
  • Bubblegum Pro Weekly Subscription7 Days trial$5.997 Days
  • Bubblegum Pro Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$13.991 Month
  • Bubblegum Pro Monthly Subscription$17.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • Bubblegum Pro Annual Subscription3 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • Bubblegum Pro Annual Subscription7 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • Bubblegum Pro Annual Subscription1 Year trial$99.991 Year
One-time1
  • Founding Member$899.99
8 purchases

Norae

Subscriptions7
  • Norae Weekly$7.997 Days
  • Norae Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Norae Monthly$12.991 Month
Show 4 more
  • Norae Yearly, half price7 Days trial$24.991 Year
  • Norae Yearly, half price7 Days trial$34.991 Year
  • Norae Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Norae Yearly7 Days trial$69.991 Year
One-time1
  • Norae Lifetime$79.99

Questions

Is Bubblegum free?
Bubblegum is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Norae free?
Norae is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bubblegum or Norae?
Bubblegum is rated higher. Bubblegum averages 4.9 out of 5 from 175 ratings, while Norae averages 4.4 from 8 ratings.
Do Bubblegum or Norae have ads?
Neither Bubblegum nor Norae shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bubblegum or Norae?
Bubblegum ships an update every 2 days, and Norae every 2 days. Most recently, Bubblegum was updated on October 30, 2026 and Norae on November 1, 2026.

Other comparisons