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 a fun and effective way to learn Russian through interactive lessons and AI-powered conversations. It focuses on real-life situations and provides tools for understanding and speaking, with customizable learning paths.

Highlights
  • AI Virtual Tutor for conversations
  • 101 real-life situation lessons
  • 1,190 useful phrases
  • 5,277 interactive exercises
  • Advanced speech recognition
  • Customizable study lists
  • Offline functionality
Features
Read full description

Do you want to learn Russian quickly and have fun doing it? Learn Russian + by Vidalingua is the first language app of its kind with a Virtual Tutor you can chat with on any topic, using advanced AI with ChatGPT. The New York Times says “Apps from Vidalingua are hugely popular... they're free and they work offline, handy when you're actually abroad." Immerse yourself in real-life situations that you can use in the classroom or on a trip. Learn Russian + includes 101 lessons, 1,190 phrases and 5,277 exercises to help you become proficient in Russian in record time. Vidalingua is a leading developer of language apps with over 15 million users. See what others have to say. "Great for students! I teach at a bilingual school and it’s challenging to keep the students' attention. Apps are the best way to go and this offline app is one of my favorites." "I downloaded several free apps. Some are like games but I’m not sure I’m learning things I can use. This app has lessons that are immediately useful for talking to real people in real situations.” "Lingidy is a super fun way to learn Russian. It steps you through lessons you will need for a trip then throws in a few unexpected ones. Fun app. Bravo!" The Vidalingua Method Real-life Learning Other apps waste time on vocabulary and grammar you’ll rarely ever use. Learn Russian + jumps right to lessons that you can use immediately. Start by learning Greetings, Essentials and Questions to get a conversation started. Progress to helpful lessons such as Airports, Hotels and Directions. Make the most of your travels with lessons such as Museums, Movies and Making Friends. Understanding & Speaking Understanding Russian is a good start but speaking is critical. Learn Russian + provides advanced speech recognition to help you master pronunciation. Practice speaking at your own pace until you build the confidence to talk to others. Engaging Experience Some of the lessons in Learn Russian + teach the basics such as telling Time, using the Subway or Eating Out. Others are unique and amusing such as Limousines, Hot Tubs, Pick-up Lines and Rejections. Interactive exercises keep your attention and improve retention. Meerling the meerkat provides help and encouragement. Learn as you Like Other apps force you to learn in a specific order. Lingidy allows you to move through lessons, phrases and exercises freely. Features • 101 lessons for real-life situations like taking Taxis, arriving at a Hostel or asking about the Weather. Fun lessons such as Flirting and Swearing. • 1,190 useful phrases such as “Can you speak slowly?” and “Where is the closest cash machine?”. • 5,277 exercises to master vocabulary, pronunciation and comprehension. • Vocabulary exercises to help you master Numbers, Menus, even Cocktails. • Audio pronunciations. Choose accents and speed. • Select favorites to create your own study list. • Word Jumble Exercises challenges you to order words in a phrase correctly. • Pronunciation Exercises with advanced speech recognition to know if you say a phrase correctly. • Picture Exercises to choose the image that matches a word. • Write Exercises teaches you to understand spoken words & write them correctly. • Multiple Choice Exercises to recognize the correct translations of a phrase. • Set goals for yourself and track your learning progress. • Notifications for Daily Phrases & Streaks. Learn Russian fast and have fun doing it. Download Learn Russian + today! Terms & Conditions • Learn Russian + includes 12 free lessons and 101 lessons with a subscription. • Payment charged to iTunes Account at the end of the trial period. • Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off 24-hours before expiring. • Subscriptions may be managed by the user by going to the Account Settings. • Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited. Terms of Service https://vidalingua.com/terms-of-service

Screenshots

Babbel4 screens
Learn Russian +4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Learn Russian + at 100% against Babbel's 44%. Learn Russian + also leads on monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs subscription) and ads (none vs shown). Babbel's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 5 weeks) and ratings volume (754K vs 5). 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

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 $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Babbel holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Babbel has 754K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 44% of Babbel's written reviews are positive against 100% of Learn Russian +'s, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Babbel ships an update every 4 days, Learn Russian + every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Babbel versus Learn Russian +: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBabbelLearn Russian +
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (754K ratings) — better4.4 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews43.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings754K — better5
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#7 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size263 MB72 MB
Age rating12+9+
DeveloperBabbel GmbHAscendo Inc.

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 ratings5 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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 +

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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
  • Learn Russian 1-month$9.991 Month
  • Learn Russian 1-year$49.991 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 is rated higher. Babbel averages 4.7 out of 5 from 754K ratings, while Learn Russian + averages 4.4 from 5 ratings.
Do Babbel or Learn Russian + have ads?
Babbel shows ads; Learn Russian + does not.
Which is updated more often, Babbel or Learn Russian +?
Babbel ships an update every 4 days, and Learn Russian + every 5 weeks. Most recently, Babbel was updated on September 24, 2026 and Learn Russian + on September 3, 2026.

Other comparisons