Babbel vs ForeignLanguage Graded Readers
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.
ForeignLanguage Graded Readers
Learn languages through engaging short stories tailored to your proficiency level. Expand vocabulary and improve comprehension in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian, or English with controlled language and authentic dialogues. Designed for enjoyable self-study or classroom use.
- Eight short stories per collection
- Controlled language at your level
- Authentic spoken dialogues
- Vocabulary lists
- Chapter summaries and comprehension questions
- Variety of genres
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Read for pleasure at your level and learn a foreign language the fun way! Teach Yourself Short Stories by Olly Richards is a series of easy graded readers for adult and young adult language learners. Featuring eight unmissable short stories for beginners, high-beginners and intermediate learners, the series is available in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian and English. “Olly's top-notch language-learning insights are right in line with the best of what we know from neuroscience and cognitive psychology about how to learn effectively. I love his work - and you will too!” - Barbara Oakley, PhD, Author of New York Times bestseller A Mind for Numbers Expand your vocabulary and improve your comprehension in an enjoyable and natural way: Read in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian or English and improve your language learning skills! The Short Stories collection is designed to give you a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and most importantly - enjoyment! Each foreign language reader gives you: • Eight stories in a variety of exciting genres, from science fiction and crime to history and thriller - making learning fun, while you acquire a wide range of new vocabulary • Controlled language at your level, including the 1000 most frequent words, to help you progress confidently • Authentic spoken dialogues, to help you learn conversational expressions and improve your speaking ability • Accessible grammar so you learn new structures naturally, in a stress-free way • Vocabulary lists so you can quickly look up unfamiliar words without interrupting your flow. • Chapter summaries and comprehension questions to help you follow the plot and understand the story. • Enjoyment! It's much easier to learn a new language when you're having fun, and research shows that if you're enjoying reading or listening in a foreign language, you won't experience the usual feelings of frustration – “It's too hard!” “I don't understand!” The Beginners collection is for students from high-beginner to low-intermediate level (A2-B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference). Intermediate is for low-intermediate to intermediate learners (B1-B2)! You can also purchase a sample to read a story before you buy the full collection. Discover the joy of being entertained in a foreign language, while learning new skills at the same time – Short Stories for Beginners in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian or English! These stories are Ideal for self-study, as well as in the classroom as supplementary learning material. If you are interested in using this content with your students, contact learningsolutions@teachyourself.com What the experts say: “As researchers in language acquisition, we need to study people like [Olly Richards]”. -Stephen Krashen, Emeritus Professor, University of Southern California “Olly's advice on language learning is the real deal, and I recommend you pay attention to what he has to say!” - Benny Lewis, Fluent in 3 Months “When we wanted to create a free online course on how to learn a language we asked Olly to write it with us”. - Dr Tita Beaven, The Open University “Learning a language is challenging, but it's one of the best things you can do for your brain and your learning skill set... Olly Richards is doing some seriously incredible work to empower more and more people to rise to the challenge”. - Jonathan Levi “Olly bridges the gap between theory and practice by helping you to use scientific principles to get real results with your language learning”. - Anthony Metivier, Magnetic Memory Method
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Babbel at 4.7 against ForeignLanguage Graded Readers's 3.3. Babbel also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 6 months) and ratings volume (754K vs 27). ForeignLanguage Graded Readers's advantage is monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs subscription) and ads (none vs shown). On price, in-app purchases and device support 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 ForeignLanguage Graded Readers sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Babbel holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Babbel has 754K ratings behind it against 27, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 44% of Babbel's written reviews are positive against 35% of ForeignLanguage Graded Readers's.
Babbel ships an update every 4 days, ForeignLanguage Graded Readers every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Babbel | ForeignLanguage Graded Readers |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (754K ratings) — better | 3.3 (27 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 43.7% of reviews — better | 35.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 754K — better | 27 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #11 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 263 MB | 94 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | +4 |
| Developer | Babbel GmbH | Hachette UK (Holdings)Limited |
Customer experience
Babbel
ForeignLanguage Graded Readers
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
ForeignLanguage Graded Readers
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Babbel
- Mexican Spanish – 1-month plan$17.991 Month
- Spanish 1 month$17.991 Month
- French 1 month$17.991 Month
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- 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
ForeignLanguage Graded Readers
- Pack of 2 Credits$1.99
- Pack of 11 Credits$10.99
- Pack of 13 Credits$12.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Pack of 15 Credits$14.99
- Pack of 65 Credits$64.99
Questions
Is Babbel free?
Is ForeignLanguage Graded Readers free?
Which has better reviews, Babbel or ForeignLanguage Graded Readers?
Do Babbel or ForeignLanguage Graded Readers have ads?
Which is updated more often, Babbel or ForeignLanguage Graded Readers?
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