Head to head
Babbel vs Duolingo: which one fits you
These two are compared more than any other pair because they sit at opposite ends of the same shelf. Duolingo is a free, game-shaped app that earns its money from ads and a paid tier whose price it does not publish on the web. Babbel is a paid course with short lessons, grammar notes and a published price list. The table shows exactly what each one states about itself; the verdicts below say which learner is better off with which.
Links to apps on this page are plain, untracked links to the vendor. This site is funded by affiliate links: if an app's programme is joined, its link will earn a commission at no cost to you and will be listed on the affiliate disclosure page. Commercial relationships never affect order or inclusion; tables sort by price. Affiliate disclosure and how the data is collected.
Side by side
| As published | Babbel | Duolingo |
|---|---|---|
| CEFR levels stated | A1 to C1 | A1 to B2 |
| What it is | Course app: Short structured lessons with grammar notes and review sessions | Course app: Gamified free lessons; paid tiers remove ads and add practice features |
| Per month at annual billing | $8.95/mo ($107.40 a year) | not published |
| Monthly plan | $17.99 | not published |
| Lifetime plan | $299.99 one-time | none |
| Free tier | Free account; the first lesson of every course is free, and up to 80 free lessons depending on the language. | Full free tier with ads and limits; paid tiers remove ads and limits. |
| Languages offered | 14 | 40 |
| Speech recognition | Yes | Not stated |
| Live tutoring | Not stated | No |
| Offline mode | Not stated | Not stated |
| Placement test | Not stated | Not stated |
| Refund or trial | not stated | 1 week free trial on Super |
| Platforms | iOS, Android, Web | iOS, Android, Web |
| Company | Babbel GmbH (Lesson Nine GmbH), Germany | Duolingo, Inc |
Which one, for whom
You want a habit, not a syllabus
Duolingo, and keep it free
If the job is ten minutes a day that you will actually do, Duolingo's free tier is the whole product: every course, with ads and daily limits. Its paid tiers remove the ads and lift the limits; their prices are not published on duolingo.com, and the in-app figures on Apple's store are not labelled by term, so this site cannot put a per-month number on them. Start free and decide later whether the ads bother you enough to pay.
What you give up is structure. Duolingo does not state a CEFR range for its courses and does not state whether it uses speech recognition, so if you need to know what level you will reach, the vendor is not telling you.
You want to reach a level, with grammar explained
Babbel, on the 12-month plan
Babbel publishes its price list and its structure. The 12-month plan on babbel.com was $107.40 on the read date, which works out to $8.95 a month for all 14 languages; the one-month plan is $17.99 for a single language on Apple's US store. Lessons include grammar notes and speech recognition for pronunciation, and Babbel states which lesson counts are free: the first lesson of every course, and up to 80 free lessons depending on the language.
The gap to notice is refund policy: no money-back guarantee was stated on any Babbel page read, so the free first lessons are the trial. Babbel Live, its class product, returned a 404 on the read date and is recorded as not established.
You are choosing on price alone
Duolingo free, then Babbel annual
At zero, Duolingo wins by definition. The moment you decide to pay, the comparison flips: Babbel's annual plan has a published price that lands under nine dollars a month, while Duolingo's Super price is only visible inside the app. A published price you can check beats an in-app price you have to sign up to see, and that is the whole reason this site sorts by published price per month.
You have a trip in three months
Babbel for phrases you will say, Duolingo for the daily nudge
Babbel's lessons are built around dialogues you would have, and its speech recognition lets you say them back. Duolingo's daily streak is better at making you open the app. If you can only have one, take Babbel's monthly plan for the language you need and cancel after the trip; if you can have both, run Duolingo's free tier as the reminder.
Every published plan
Babbel
| Plan | Billing | Price | Per month | Covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 monthsMarked 'Save 50%'. The struck-through $215.40 is a reference price the page defines as the total cost of a recurring 1-month subscription over the same period, not a regular annual price. Apple's US listing shows a matching in-app purchase, All Languages - 12-month plan $107.99. | Annual | $107.40 | $8.95/mo | all languages |
| 3-month plan (iOS in-app purchase)In-app purchase price from Apple's US App Store listing; the per-language SKU was read for Spanish. | Every 3 months | $45.99 | $15.33/mo | one language |
| 1-month plan (iOS in-app purchase)babbel.com/prices shows only the 12-month and Lifetime plans; the other durations sit behind a 'Show all plans' control and their prices are not present in the served page, so this figure comes from Apple's US App Store in-app purchase list. | Monthly | $17.99 | $17.99/mo | one language |
| LifetimeA banner on the same page offered Lifetime at a promotional $199 today: 'Labor Day Sale! Get Lifetime for $199'. | Lifetime | $299.99 | one-time | all languages |
Duolingo
| Plan | Billing | Price | Per month | Covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FreeThe comparison table lists the free tier alongside Super and Super Family; the row markers for which features each tier includes are images, not text. | Other | $0 | $0/mo | all languages |
| Super DuolingoSuperApple's US App Store listing shows Super Duolingo in-app purchases at $9.99, $12.99, $79.99, $83.99, $95.99 and $119.99, but does not say which figure is monthly, annual or Family, so no price is recorded here. | Other | not published | not published | all languagesDuolingo publishes no price on its website; the Super page shows only a 'Start my 1 week free' call to action and prices appear at checkout or in the app |
| Super FamilyTier and seat count are published; the price is not. | Family | not published | not published | family up to 6no price for the Family plan is shown anywhere on duolingo.com; the plan page shows only a free-trial call to action |
| Duolingo MaxMaxMax is sold only inside the iOS and Android apps, so no web price exists to read; Apple's US listing did not show a Max in-app purchase in the ten entries it displays. | Other | not published | not published | all languagesDuolingo Max is only purchasable in the mobile apps and no price is published on duolingo.com |
Questions people ask
Is Babbel better than Duolingo?
Neither is better overall. Babbel publishes a price list, grammar notes and speech recognition and suits a learner working toward a level. Duolingo's free tier suits a learner who wants a daily habit and does not need structure. The side-by-side table above shows what each vendor states.
How much does Babbel cost compared with Duolingo?
On the read date Babbel's 12-month plan was $107.40, or $8.95 a month, and its one-month plan $17.99 for one language on Apple's US store. Duolingo is free with ads; its Super and Max prices are not published on duolingo.com, so no per-month figure can be stated for them here.
Can I use Duolingo and Babbel together?
Yes, and many people do: Duolingo's free tier for the daily streak, Babbel's course for grammar and dialogue. Nothing in either app's published terms prevents it.
Which has more languages?
Babbel states 14. Duolingo's list is on its site and on Duolingo's page here; it is the longer list, but the depth of each course differs and neither vendor states a CEFR range for every language.