Comparison

Babbel vs The Great Courses

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

The Great Courses

Access thousands of educational videos from world-renowned professors and experts. Explore a vast range of subjects, from history and science to personal development, with flexible learning options available online and offline. Start your learning journey with a free trial.

Highlights
  • Thousands of educational videos
  • Courses by world-class professors
  • Diverse subject matter
  • Online and offline access
  • Flexible learning pace
  • Free trial available
Features
Read full description

Unlock your potential with The Great Courses, the premier platform for online courses that offers a wealth of educational videos to help you explore, learn, and grow in a wide variety of subjects. The Great Courses specializes in courses taught by the world’s greatest professors and experts covering diverse topics such as history, science, math, philosophy, religion, literature, health, travel, personal & professional development, and more. It’s the place to experience the pure joy of learning—anytime, anywhere. The Great Courses ensures an engaging and enriching learning experience for all. Catering to learners of all skill levels and interests, our platform provides the flexibility to deep-dive into specific topics or explore a variety of subjects at your leisure. The Great Courses grants seamless online and offline access to our extensive library of online courses, empowering you to learn and grow at your own pace. Existing users can sign in to access their purchases and subscription content, while new users can register and subscribe directly within the app to access thousands of educational videos online and offline for one low price. Optimized for iOS 15 and higher, The Great Courses offers a variety of subscription plans, along with a Free Trial to start your educational journey. Payment Details: - Payment will be charged to your Apple account at confirmation of purchase - Subscription automatically renews unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period - Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period - Subscriptions may be managed or canceled by accessing your Apple account - If you cancel during a Free Trial period, you will have access until the end of the trial period Privacy Policy: https://www.TheGreatCourses.com/Privacy Terms of Service: https://www.TheGreatCourses.com/TOS

Screenshots

Babbel4 screens
The Great Courses4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: The Great Courses at free with in-app purchases against Babbel's subscription. The Great Courses also leads on ads (none vs shown) and device support (4 vs 2). Babbel's advantage is ratings volume (754K vs 17K) and update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly). On price, rating, review sentiment 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 The Great Courses sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 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 4.8 for The Great Courses. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Babbel has 754K ratings behind it against 17K, 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 40% of The Great Courses's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Babbel ships an update every 4 days, The Great Courses fortnightly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Babbel versus The Great Courses: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBabbelThe Great Courses
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (754K ratings)4.8 (17K ratings) — better
Positive reviews43.7% of reviews — better39.9% of reviews
Number of ratings754K — better17K
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterFortnightly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#7 — better#104
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size263 MB120 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperBabbel GmbHThe Great Courses

Customer experience

Babbel

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

The Great Courses

All ratings17,169 ratings
Positive95.8%
Neutral1.5%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews311 reviews
Positive39.9%
Neutral13.8%
Negative46.3%

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

The Great Courses

From 17K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fantastic, use it all the time
  • 👍 Excellent content and Outstanding Educators
  • 👍 best app you'll ever subscribe to
  • 👍 Math courses are phenomenal!
  • 👍 Loving the content in the app!

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Ok content, weak app
  • 🐛 Broken
  • 🐛 Technical problems trying to cast
  • 🐛 Great content, poor streaming
  • 🐛 Far fewer courses than before? App VERY buggy

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

The Great Courses

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatible with older devices
  • Audio goes out of sync with video
  • App constantly logs users out
  • Downloading content doesn't work offline
Show 3 more
  • Playback issues when switching between audio and video
  • Inconsistent behavior when pausing/resuming playback
  • Poor navigation and course tracking

Requested features

8 requests
  • Can we get a ton of courses on AI please, it's a mite urgent
  • Dark mode option
  • Advanced analytics dashboard
  • Allow audio-only downloads
  • Ability to download an entire course in one go
Show 3 more
  • Ability to browse other content while playing a lecture
  • Note-taking during content and live closed captioning
  • Ratings and reviews for content

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
3 purchases

The Great Courses

Subscriptions3
  • TGCPlus Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$19.991 Month
  • Quarterly Subscription7 Days trial$44.993 Months
  • TGCPlus Annual Subscription7 Days trial$149.991 Year

Questions

Is Babbel free?
Babbel is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is The Great Courses free?
The Great Courses is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Babbel or The Great Courses?
The Great Courses is rated higher. Babbel averages 4.7 out of 5 from 754K ratings, while The Great Courses averages 4.8 from 17K ratings.
Do Babbel or The Great Courses have ads?
Babbel shows ads; The Great Courses does not.
Which is updated more often, Babbel or The Great Courses?
Babbel ships an update every 4 days, and The Great Courses fortnightly. Most recently, Babbel was updated on September 24, 2026 and The Great Courses on September 24, 2026.
Which is more popular, Babbel or The Great Courses?
Babbel currently peaks at #7 in the App Store charts, and The Great Courses at #104. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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