Comparison

Babbel vs Learn Russian

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

Head to head
About

Babbel

Master a new language with expert-designed, bite-sized lessons that fit your schedule. Build conversational confidence quickly through interactive practice and a smart review system. Learn Spanish, French, German, and more for travel, work, or fun.

Highlights
  • Bite-sized lessons
  • Expert-built courses
  • Interactive conversation practice
  • Smart review system
  • Grammar in context
  • Offline mode
  • Learn 14 languages
Features
Read full description

Speak a new language with real-life conversations. Babbel is the award-winning language learning app with courses tailored to your native language, built by 200+ language experts and trusted by millions worldwide. Because lessons are built for speakers of your language, an English speaker learning Spanish gets different lessons than a French speaker does. You learn to speak, listen, and understand grammar in context, then practice real conversations with Babbel Speak, an AI conversation partner that gives you personalized feedback. Learn a new language faster with bite-sized lessons designed to fit your everyday life. With Babbel’s proven method, you could start having real conversations in as little as 3 weeks. Your language learning adventure starts with a lesson. WHY BABBEL WORKS • Tailored to your native language: Courses are created by language experts and tailored to your native language, so you learn naturally and efficiently. • Real-life conversations: Learn the language people actually speak, for travel, work, and everyday life. • Speak with confidence: Practice out loud with speech recognition and Babbel Speak, an AI conversation partner to improve your pronunciation. • Research-proven results: Efficacy backed by researchers at Yale University: 100% improved their oral proficiency in 3 months.* TRUSTED BY MILLIONS • 25 million subscriptions sold • 1.5 million 5-star ratings (based on App store ratings) • After 10 hours with Babbel, 96% of learners saw better test scores on grammar and vocabulary** BUILT FOR REAL LIFE • Short, effective lessons: Learn in as little as 10 minutes a day • Lessons for every motivation: Learn for travel, work, or fun • Listen, speak, write: Options for every learning style • Stress-free conversation practice: Build confidence with Guided Conversations, then practice freely with Babbel Speak (Beta) • Smart review system: Boosts learning and retention • Grammar in context: Clear explanations exactly when you need them • Offline mode: Download lessons and learn anywhere, anytime • 5,000+ courses: Over 60,000 lessons across all languages LEARN 14 LANGUAGES Spanish (Latin American or Spain), French, Italian, German, Portuguese, English (American or British), Russian, Polish, Turkish, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, and Indonesian. TRY BABBEL TODAY Download Babbel now and take a free lesson. SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS A subscription is required to access full courses for one language. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Payment will be charged to your Apple account. Available plans: • 1 month • 3 months • 6 months • 12 months Privacy policy: https://about.babbel.com/en/privacy/ Terms of use: https://about.babbel.com/en/terms/ LEARN MORE Read Babbel Magazine for tips and insights: https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/babbelusa Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Babbel.usa CONTACT US Questions or feedback? Email: support-mobile@babbel.com *Based on a study conducted with Babbel users learning Spanish. Available at http://bit.ly/BabbelYale. **Based on a study conducted with Babbel users learning Spanish. Available: http://bit.ly/BabbelMSU.

About

Learn Russian

This app offers an engaging way to learn Russian through interactive lessons and games. It covers essential vocabulary, phrases, and grammar for various real-life situations. Features include native speaker audio, adaptive quizzes, and progress tracking.

Highlights
  • 45 real-life situation lessons
  • 2000+ vocabulary words and phrases
  • Hangman and Concentration games
  • Native speaker audio for pronunciation
  • Adaptive multiple-choice quizzes
  • Verb conjugation trainer
  • Alphabet course
Features
Read full description

Privyet ® is the award-winning app that makes learning Russian simple and fun! Quickly learn essential vocabulary, phrases, and grammar concepts. Designed especially for students and tourists as well as business and medical professionals. Vocabulary and Phrases ------------- • Contains 45 lessons based on REAL LIFE situations including flight and hotel reservations, dining out, shopping, exploring and meeting new friends. • Includes more than 2000 VOCABULARY words and phrases for both beginner and advanced learners. • Play while learning with Hangman and Concentration games. • Learn to PRONOUNCE correctly with high-quality audio by NATIVE SPEAKERS. • Addictive verb conjugation trainer • Complete alphabet course Quizzing Features ------------- • Multiple-choice quiz ADAPTS to your skill level. • Memorize words quickly with our DYNAMIC QUIZZING algorithm. • Track LESSON PROGRESS across devices with iCloud syncing. Please note that premium lessons within the app are available with a subscription. The options for a subscription are: Monthly subscription for $US3.99 (or the equivalent in local currency), and Annual subscription for $US9.99 (or the equivalent in local currency). Subscriptions automatically renew, unless auto-renew is turned off in your iTunes App Store preference at least 24-hours before the beginning of the next payment cycle. Upon cancellation of your subscription, access to the premium lessons will terminate at the end of the current payment cycle. ------------ Privacy Policy - https://pollylingu.al/ru/en/privacy Terms and Conditions - https://pollylingu.al/ru/en/terms_and_conditions

Screenshots

Babbel4 screens
Learn Russian4 screens

Verdict

The call

Babbel and Learn Russian both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 83% of Learn Russian's written reviews are positive against 44% of Babbel's. Learn Russian also leads on monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs subscription) and device support (4 vs 2). Babbel's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 5 months) and ratings volume (754K vs 309). On price, rating, 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. Babbel sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $17.99 per month and Learn Russian sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Babbel against 4.7 for Learn Russian. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Babbel has 754K ratings behind it against 309, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 44% of Babbel's written reviews are positive against 83% of Learn Russian's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Babbel ships an update every 4 days, Learn Russian every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Babbel versus Learn Russian: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBabbelLearn Russian
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (754K ratings)4.7 (309 ratings)
Positive reviews43.7% of reviews82.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings754K — better309
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 5 months
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#9 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size263 MB236 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperBabbel GmbHOnline Language Help

Customer experience

Babbel

All ratings753,872 ratings
Positive93.8%
Neutral3.8%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews2,638 reviews
Positive43.7%
Neutral13.9%
Negative42.3%

Learn Russian

All ratings309 ratings
Positive92.9%
Neutral3.6%
Negative3.6%
Written reviews46 reviews
Positive82.6%
Neutral6.5%
Negative10.9%

User reviews

Babbel

From 754K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent structured learning
  • 🚀 Effective vocabulary and grammar teaching
  • 👍 Helpful pronunciation guides
  • 👍 Engaging and practical lessons
  • 👍 Useful review and repetition features

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Inconsistent voice recognition
  • 🐛 Lack of flexibility in lesson progression
  • 🐛 Confusing user interface and navigation
  • 🐛 Overly strict scoring and lack of forgiveness for minor errors
  • 🔋 Drains battery quickly

Learn Russian

From 309 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for beginners
  • 👍 Effective for learning basics
  • 👍 Helps memorize Cyrillic
  • 👍 Good for brushing up
  • 👍 Free lessons are good

Room to improve

  • 💰 Too much paid content
  • 💰 Expensive for intermediate
  • 💰 Difficult for beginners
  • 💰 Disappointing, can't learn
  • 💰 Not enough content

Bugs and requests

Babbel

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Lessons sometimes freeze or crash the app
  • Subscription cancellation process is overly complicated
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between languages
  • Keyboard issues and inability to use system keyboard

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more language options, especially Asian languages like Japanese, Korean, and Chinese
  • Improve review and practice tools to better reinforce learned material
  • Provide more customization options for lesson pacing and content
  • Implement a more forgiving scoring system and allow users to revisit past lessons
  • Add a dark mode and optimize the app for better readability

Learn Russian

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Cannot recover accounts
  • Paid features not taking effect
  • Apple Watch glitch
  • Bar on top of screen hides accents/questions
  • Two dots on ё hidden by screen bar

Requested features

7 requests
  • More intermediate content
  • More advanced content
  • Small test for placement
  • More updates
  • More themes/topics
Show 2 more
  • Make app for Romanian/Moldavian
  • Apple Watch integration

In-app purchases

12 purchases

Babbel

Subscriptions12
  • Mexican Spanish – 1-month plan$17.991 Month
  • Spanish 1 month$17.991 Month
  • French 1 month$17.991 Month
Show 9 more
  • Italian 1 month$17.991 Month
  • Mexican Spanish - 1-month plan$19.991 Month
  • Mexican Spanish – 3-month plan$45.993 Months
  • Learn French – 3-month plan$45.993 Months
  • Learn Spanish – 3-month plan$45.993 Months
  • All Languages – 3-month plan$53.993 Months
  • Mexican Spanish – 1-year plan$89.991 Year
  • All Languages – 12-month plan$107.991 Year
  • All Languages – 12-month plan7 Days trial$107.991 Year
2 purchases

Learn Russian

Subscriptions2
  • Pangaea Passport$2.991 Month
  • Pangaea Passport$9.991 Year

Questions

Is Babbel free?
Babbel is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Learn Russian free?
Learn Russian is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Babbel or Learn Russian?
Babbel and Learn Russian are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 754K and 309 ratings respectively.
Do Babbel or Learn Russian have ads?
Both Babbel and Learn Russian show ads.
Which is updated more often, Babbel or Learn Russian?
Babbel ships an update every 4 days, and Learn Russian every 5 months. Most recently, Babbel was updated on September 24, 2026 and Learn Russian on September 18, 2026.

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