Babbel vs Lingvist
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.
Lingvist
This app uses AI and scientific methods to teach vocabulary efficiently for faster language acquisition. It offers personalized learning plans, speech recognition, and spaced repetition to help users remember words long-term. Learn 16 languages with a focus on practical, high-frequency vocabulary.
- AI-powered vocabulary learning
- Spaced repetition for long-term memory
- Speech recognition for pronunciation
- Learn grammar in context
- Personalized learning plans
- Customizable vocabulary lists
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Lingvist is the language learning app built by scientists and language experts that teaches vocabulary better than anyone else in the world. The depth of our AI-powered courses combined with the latest research in machine learning gets you using a language with high proficiency, fast. GET LEVEL PLACED FOR FREE - TRY LINGVIST LEARN 16 LANGUAGES: English, Spanish, German, French, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Norwegian, Latin American Spanish, Estonian, Polish, Japanese, Korean and Russian. ===== WHY LINGVIST? FOLLOW CONVERSATIONS QUICKLY Learn the vocabulary that appears most often in a language first, allowing you to accelerate your learning. READ, WRITE, SPEAK, AND LISTEN Perfect your pronunciation using sophisticated speech recognition technology or type your answers. Every sentence has audio to ensure you hone your listening skills. FOR SERIOUS LEARNERS Your learning efficiency is our focus. Enjoy a clean UI with no advertising, no unnecessary clicks, and no distractions. REMEMBER A LANGUAGE FOREVER Using scientifically proven spaced repetition methodology, the vocabulary gets fixed in your long-term memory over time. LEARN GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT OR AS A FOCUS Acquire grammar passively like a native with our bite-sized sentences, or practice conjugating French verbs in our French course. SPECIALIST VOCABULARY FOR YOU Submit your own words, images, or text and Lingvist will automatically gather vocabulary related to the theme for you to learn. Whether it’s Harry Potter in German or Spanish colors, you can learn the words most important to you. Our AI works intelligently to provide appropriate context for vocabulary. MOTIVATIONAL STATISTICS Packed with data on your learning progress, you’ll be able to chart your path to success. A MUST-HAVE TOOL IN YOUR BAG Do you live in your target country, use a tutor or language school, or even read books, listen to podcasts, or watch content in your target language? Lingvist works best when used in parallel with other learning methods. It’s the difference between passing your test or acing it. Lingvist is the perfect complement to learn faster and boost your vocabulary. LEARN BY DOING Getting it wrong is one of the fastest ways to learn, and your brain will start to remember very quickly. PERSONALIZED SETTINGS Every learner is different. Personalize your learning to suit you, with various settings allowing you to learn with extra slow speech, strict diacritics, and even grammar tables. PERSONALIZED LEARNING PLAN We'll serve you new words that are most relevant to you. As we measure your memory curves, we ask you to repeat words at the optimal time – just before you forget them. This way, you'll always know what to learn next. LANGUAGE LEARNING MADE EASY Whether you are planning on spending this summer in Italy and need to learn Italian, or your next adventure is taking up a course in Germany and you need an app to learn German, or you're heading to Korea and you need to learn Korean, we have you covered. Our language learning techniques will help you to get fluent in over 16 languages. ===== SUBSCRIPTION You will need a subscription in order to get access to the full learning materials for all languages we offer. Each subscription will be automatically renewed unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current payment period. When a subscription is canceled, access to the app's courses and features will expire at the end of the current payment period. Visit our blog to get tips, tricks, and interesting facts on how to learn languages: ▸▸ Lingvist blog: https://lingvist.com/blog/ Follow us to get interesting facts on how to learn languages: ▸▸ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theLingvist ▸▸ Instagram: instagram.com/thelingvist/ ▸▸ Twitter: https://twitter.com/lingvist ▸▸ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lingvist Privacy Policy: https://lingvist.com/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://lingvist.com/tos/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Lingvist at free with in-app purchases against Babbel's subscription. Lingvist also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (59% vs 44%). Babbel's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs monthly) and ratings volume (754K vs 3.7K). On price, rating, 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 Lingvist sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 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 Lingvist. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Babbel has 754K ratings behind it against 3.7K, 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 59% of Lingvist's.
Babbel ships an update every 4 days, Lingvist monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Babbel | Lingvist |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (754K ratings) — better | 4.6 (3.7K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 43.7% of reviews | 59.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 754K — better | 3.7K |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Monthly |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #7 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 263 MB | 92 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Babbel GmbH | Lingvist Technologies OU |
Customer experience
Babbel
Lingvist
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
Lingvist
From 3.7K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Efficient vocabulary learning
- 👍 Useful sentence-based learning
- 📚 Comprehensive vocabulary coverage
- 📊 Helpful progress tracking
- 🔊 Good pronunciation examples
Room to improve
- 💰 Expensive subscription
- 🔒 Limited free version
- 🐛 Bugs and glitches
- 🤔 Inconsistent word acceptance
- 🤖 Robotic voice quality
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
Lingvist
Reported bugs
4 issues- Progress reset issues
- Keyboard blocking UI elements
- Inconsistent audio playback
- Placement test bugs
Requested features
5 requests- Add more language options
- Improve grammar explanations
- Allow custom word lists
- Provide more context-based learning
- Add speech recognition practice
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
Lingvist
- Learn languages: 1-month plan2 variants$9.991 Month
- Learn languages: 1-month plan7 Days trial$19.991 Month
- Learn languages: 1-month plan7 Days trial$49.991 Month
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Learn languages: 1-month plan$49.991 Month
- Learn languages: 1-month plan3 Days trial$49.991 Month
- Learn languages: 12-month plan14 Days trial$55.991 Year
- Learn languages: 12-month plan14 Days trial2 variants$79.991 Year
- Learn languages: 12-month plan$79.991 Year
- Learn languages: 12-month plan7 Days trial$79.991 Year
- Learn languages: 12-month plan14 Days trial$199.991 Year








