Babbel vs Ling
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Bite-sized lessons
- Expert-built courses
- Interactive conversation practice
- Smart review system
- Grammar in context
- Offline mode
- Learn 14 languages
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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.
Ling
Master over 70 languages with fun, bite-sized lessons. Develop speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills with native speaker audio and cultural insights. Science-backed methods ensure retention, making even difficult languages accessible.
- 70+ languages available
- Bite-sized lessons
- Native speaker audio
- Cultural insights
- Speaking, reading, listening, writing skills
- Science-backed learning methodology
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Finally, a language-learning app that helps beginner to advanced learners speak, read, write, and listen in 70+ languages. Download Ling for FREE and start learning… Afrikaans • Albanian • Amharic • Arabic • Armenian • Azerbaijani • Bengali • Bosnian • Bulgarian • Burmese • Cantonese • Catalan • Cebuano • Chinese Simplified • Chinese Traditional • Croatian • Czech • Danish • Dutch • English • Estonian • Finnish • French • German • Georgian • Greek • Gujarati • Hebrew • Hindi • Hokkien • Hungarian • Icelandic • Ilocano • Indonesian • Irish • Italian • Japanese • Javanese • Kannada • Kazakh • Khmer • Korean • Lao • Latvian • Lithuanian • Macedonian • Malaysian • Malayalam • Maori • Marathi • Mongolian • Norwegian • Nepali • Polish • Portuguese • Pashto • Persian • Punjabi • Romanian • Russian • Serbian • Sinhala • Slovak • Slovenian • Somali • Sorbian • Spanish • Sundanese • Swahili • Swedish • Tagalog • Tamil • Telugu • Thai • Turkish • Ukrainian • Urdu • Uzbek • Vietnamese • Yoruba Build speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills all in one place, plus… - Hard languages made easy: Find languages not commonly featured in other apps and enjoy lessons that make learning simple - Cultural insights: Understand the beautiful cultures behind lesser-known languages with our Culture Notes feature - Native speaker guidance: Learn correct pronunciation with audio from native speakers - Science-backed learning: Our methodology ensures you retain what you learn, making even the most difficult languages stick - Motivating: Track your progress, set language goals, and earn rewards as you practice and grow - Daily practice: Turn language learning into a habit with daily lessons that fit into your routine Experience more of Ling... https://ling-app.com/ https://www.instagram.com/ling_app/ https://www.youtube.com/@LingLearnLanguages https://www.tiktok.com/@ling_app?lang=en https://www.facebook.com/Ling.learn.languages/ https://www.quora.com/Ling-Language-Lessons If you have any comments, suggestions, or concerns, please feel free to reach out at support@ling-app.com Terms of Use: https://ling-app.com/terms-of-use/ Privacy Policy: https://ling-app.com/privacy-policy/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Ling at free with in-app purchases against Babbel's subscription. Ling also leads on review sentiment (61% vs 44%) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). Babbel's advantage is ratings volume (754K vs 15K) and chart position (#9 vs #66). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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
Both are free to download. Babbel sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $17.99 per month and Ling sells 20 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Babbel against 4.6 for Ling. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Babbel has 754K ratings behind it against 15K, 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 61% of Ling's.
Babbel ships an update every 4 days, Ling weekly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Babbel | Ling |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (754K ratings) — better | 4.6 (15K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 43.7% of reviews | 60.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 754K — better | 15K |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Weekly |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #9 — better | #66 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 263 MB | 176 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Babbel GmbH | SIMYA LABS COMPANY LIMITED |
Customer experience
Babbel
Ling
User reviews
Babbel
From 754K App Store ratingsWhat 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
Ling
From 15K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Bite-sized lessons
- 🎮 Gamified learning
- 📚 Offers rare languages
- 🗣️ Good pronunciation
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy, glitchy
- 💰 Expensive, pay to learn
- 🤖 Robotic voices
- 🧠 Lessons not in logical order
- 🔍 Lack of basic vocabulary and grammar
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
Ling
Reported bugs
5 issues- Progress resets to zero
- Incorrect translations and pronunciations
- Lessons skipping ahead unexpectedly
- Microphone issues, can't record properly
- Sync issues across devices
Requested features
5 requests- Allow retry/go back in lessons
- Improve speech recognition
- Add grammar explanations
- Provide more review and practice options
- Introduce alphabet/writing system first
In-app purchases
Babbel
- Mexican Spanish – 1-month plan$17.991 Month
- Spanish 1 month$17.991 Month
- French 1 month$17.991 Month
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- 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
Ling
- Ling Monthly Subscription$7.991 Month
- Monthly Language Learning Plan$10.991 Month
- Ling Monthly Subscription2 variants$14.991 Month
Show 16 moreShow fewer
- Ling Pro 1 Month Subscription$16.991 Month
- Ling Half Yearly Subscription$39.996 Months
- Ling 3 Month Subscription$39.993 Months
- Learn Language Pro Yearly 77 Days trial$48.991 Year
- Ling Pro Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$54.991 Year
- Ling Yearly Subscription$59.991 Year
- Ling Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$59.991 Year
- Black Friday Offer7 Days trial$59.991 Year
- Ling Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$69.991 Year
- Ling Yearly Subscription7 Days trial2 variants$79.991 Year
- Ling Yearly Subscription$79.991 Year
- Ling Yearly Subscription3 Days trial$79.991 Year
- Ling Yearly Subscription14 Days trial$79.991 Year
- Ling Pro 12 Month Subscription7 Days trial$89.991 Year
- Ling Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$99.991 Year
- Ling Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$119.991 Year
- Ling Pro Lifetime Plan$199.99








