Buying guide
How to choose a language app
You are picking one subscription from a shelf of 24 apps that all promise the same thing. The useful questions are narrower: which of them teach your language, what each costs per month once you commit for a year, what is free, whether it makes you speak, and whether a person is involved. This guide walks those questions in the order that eliminates apps fastest, with the dataset's figures beside each step.
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.
1. Start from the job, not the app
Language apps are not one category of product. The 24 apps in this dataset are 7 kinds of thing:course app, tutor marketplace, vocabulary and flashcards, immersion (video, reading), audio course, language exchange and ai conversation practice. A course app moves you through grammar and vocabulary in order. A vocabulary app drills words and sentences, usually with spaced repetition. An audio course has you listen and respond, and is built for a commute. An immersion app hands you real video or text with clickable words. A tutor marketplace sells lessons with a person. An exchange app connects you with native speakers who are learning your language. An AI conversation app has you talk to a model that corrects you.
The job you have decides which kinds are even relevant:
- A trip in a few months. Phrases, listening, and a little speaking. Audio courses and short course apps fit; a tutor is a luxury here, not a need.
- Holding a conversation. Nothing replaces producing sentences out loud and being corrected. A course app with speech recognition gets you started; a tutor marketplace or an exchange app is where the practice happens.
- A named level, for an exam or a job. You need a course that states which CEFR level it reaches and, ideally, a placement test so you do not start at the wrong point.
- Reading and listening for pleasure. Immersion apps built around real content beat lesson apps once you are past the basics.
- Keeping a habit alive. The app you open is the one that works; the free tier of a game-shaped app may be all you need.
Pick the job first. It removes half the table before you have looked at a price. The picker on the homepage does exactly this: the goal you choose decides which apps qualify and which facts are shown as the reason, and it never scores them.
2. Check the language before anything else
The number of languages an app advertises runs from 1 (Cambly) to 300(Tandem), and a big number does not mean your language is well served: an app can offer sixty languages and keep most of its depth in five. The per-language pages on this site list only the apps whose own pages name the language, sorted by price, so the shortlist on best app to learn Japaneseis the real field, not the marketing count.
If your language is not one of the six with a page, the language index shows every language in the dataset and which apps list it. Where a vendor publishes only a count and not the list, this site does not assume; the app appears on a language page only once its list has been read from the vendor's page.
3. Price: the per-month figure at annual, then the monthly plan
Vendors print their prices per month, and the number printed biggest is almost always the annual plan divided by twelve. That figure is the right one to compare, because it is what most people end up paying, but only if you know two things about it: the whole year is charged up front, and the monthly plan, the one you would buy to try the app for a month, is a different and higher number.
The table has every app in the dataset that publishes both. The saving column is how much less the annual plan costs per month than the monthly plan.
| App | Type | Monthly plan | Per month, annual | Annual total | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| uTalk | Vocabulary and flashcards | $4.99 | $2.50 | per-month figure only | 50% |
| Mondly | Course app | $9.99 | $4 | $47.99 | 60% |
| Memrise | Vocabulary and flashcards | $24.99 | $5.17 | $61.99 | 79% |
| Drops | Vocabulary and flashcards | $12.99 | $5.83 | $69.99 | 55% |
| Clozemaster | Vocabulary and flashcards | $12.99 | $6.67 | $79.99 | 49% |
| HelloTalk | Language exchange | $12.99 | $6.67 | $79.99 | 49% |
| Lingvist | Vocabulary and flashcards | $9.99 | $6.67 | $79.99 | 33% |
| Speak | AI conversation practice | $17.99 | $7 | $83.99 | 61% |
| Babbel | Course app | $17.99 | $8.95 | $107.40 | 50% |
| LingQ | Immersion (video, reading) | $14.99 | $10 | $119.99 | 33% |
| Mango Languages | Course app | $13.99 | $10 | per-month figure only | 29% |
| Cambly | Tutor marketplace | $24 | $12 | $144 | 50% |
| Ling | Course app | $16.99 | $12.50 | $149.99 | 26% |
| Rosetta Stone | Course app | $19.99 | $13.25 | $159 | 34% |
| Pimsleur | Audio course | $19.95 | $13.75 | $164.95 | 31% |
| Glossika | Audio course | $19.99 | $16.58 | per-month figure only | 17% |
| FluentU | Immersion (video, reading) | $29.99 | $20 | $239.99 | 33% |
Two readings of that table. First, the spread of the saving column, 17% to 79%, is each vendor telling you how much it wants the year-long commitment; where the saving is large, the monthly plan is priced as a trial, not as a way to subscribe. Second, the cheapest per-month figures belong to vocabulary and exchange apps, not to full courses: a low number is not a bargain when the product is a different kind of thing.
If you are not sure you will stick with an app, price the first month at the monthly rate and the rest at the annual rate. One month of Babbel at $17.99 and then a year at $8.95 a month is a reasonable path, and it costs less than abandoning an annual plan in week three.
4. Lifetime plans, and when they pay off
5 apps in the dataset sell a lifetime plan. Divide the lifetime price by the per-month annual figure and you get the number of months of annual subscription the lifetime plan equals. That is the break-even, and it assumes the app still exists and still suits you that far out.
| App | Lifetime, one-time | Per month, annual | Break-even |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pimsleur | $150 | $13.75 | 11 months |
| Drops | $159.99 | $5.83 | 28 months |
| Babbel | $299.99 | $8.95 | 34 months |
| Memrise | $329.99 | $5.17 | 64 months |
| Lingopie | $763 | $13.98 | 55 months |
A lifetime plan makes sense for an app you have already used on a paid plan and expect to keep using past the break-even. Promotional lifetime prices appear often; the notes on each app's page record what was showing on the read date, and the table uses the regular price so that a sale does not decide the comparison.
5. Free tier: read what "free" means
17 of the 24 apps have something free, and the word covers four different things: a complete product with ads and limits, the first lesson or two of every course, a few minutes of play per day, or a trial that ends. The free vs paid guide quotes each vendor's own wording. For choosing, the rule is short: if ads or a daily cap would put you off, count the free tier as a trial and price the app at its paid rate.
6. Speech practice: machine, model or person
9 apps state that they have speech recognition, meaning the app listens and scores your pronunciation; for 11 the vendor's pages do not say either way, which is recorded as "not stated", not as "no". Speech recognition is a pronunciation check. It is not a conversation.
2 apps in the dataset sell an AI conversation partner: Duolingo (Video Call with Lily (AI, not a human tutor)) and Speak (Speak Tutor (AI, not a human tutor)). They are recorded as "no live tutoring" because there is no person on the other end, which is a statement of what you are paying for, not a verdict on whether it helps.
Human tutoring comes in three shapes: a marketplace where you pick a teacher and pay per lesson, a class subscription with a fixed number of lessons per week, and tutoring sold beside a course app. The 8 apps that state a human tutoring product:
| App | What is sold | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Cambly | Cambly (the whole product is live 1-on-1 or small-group tutoring)included in the subscription; see plans | $12 per month at annual |
| FluentU | Group classes (select languages)Included with the subscription and described as free for a limited time; no separate price is published, and these are group classes rather than 1-to-1 tutoring. | $20 per month at annual |
| italki | italki (the whole product is 1-on-1 lessons; Group Class also sold)priced per lesson by each teacher; see plans | not published per lesson |
| Ling | Ling Live Online Tutorsold separately on live.ling-app.com; no price published on the pages read | $12.50 per month at annual |
| Lingoda | Group classes and Private classesLive classes are the product; the class packages listed above are the prices. | €54.99, Group classes, 4 classes |
| Lingopie | Lingopie Lessonsno price published on the pages read | $13.98 per month at annual |
| Preply | Preply (the whole product is 1-to-1 tutoring)priced per lesson; see plans | $3 to $50 per lesson |
| Rosetta Stone | Tutoring | $13.25 per month at annual |
On a marketplace the per-lesson range is wide because each teacher sets a price; the low end is usually community tutors and short lessons, the high end certified teachers. Book the trial lesson before buying a package, and read the replacement terms on the app's page: the marketplaces publish what happens when a trial goes wrong.
7. Levels and placement tests
The CEFR scale, A1 for a beginner through C2 for mastery, is the only common yardstick, and most vendors avoid it. 2 apps state the range its courses reach: Babbel (A1 to C1) and Duolingo (A1 to B2). The rest say "beginner to advanced" or nothing, which this site records as "not stated" because it does not map to a level. If you need a level for an exam, that single fact narrows the field more than any price does.
A placement test matters when you are not a beginner: 4 apps state that they offer one (Glossika, italki, Lingvist and Mango Languages). Without one you start at lesson one and either skip ahead by hand or lose weeks.
8. Offline use and platforms
11 apps state an offline mode; the rest do not say. If you learn on a commute or a flight, that is a hard filter, and the "Works offline" box on the full table applies it. Nearly every app runs on iOS, Android and the web; Speak has no web version, so a laptop-only learner should look elsewhere.
9. The exit terms
Before paying for a year, read the refund line. The dataset records each vendor's published trial and refund wording, and they differ more than the prices do: some offer a free trial and then no refund; some a money-back window on annual plans only; some route refunds through Apple or Google, which have their own rules. The free vs paid guide has the table of trial and refund terms.
10. A decision list
- Name the job and the language.
- Open the language page, or the picker, and read the shortlist.
- Remove the kinds of app that do not fit the job.
- Compare the per-month figure at annual, then check the monthly plan.
- Decide whether the free tier is a product or a trial for you.
- Decide whether you need speech scoring, an AI partner, or a person.
- If you are past beginner, prefer an app with a placement test or a stated CEFR range.
- Read the refund line.
- Open the vendor's pricing page from the app's entry and confirm the price today.
Questions people ask
Is the most expensive app the best one?
Price tracks the kind of product, not its quality. Tutor marketplaces and class subscriptions cost the most because a person is paid; vocabulary apps cost the least because they do one narrow thing. Compare apps of the same kind on price, and compare kinds on what your job needs.
Should I use two apps at once?
Often, yes: a course app for structure and an exchange app or tutor for speaking is the usual pairing. Price the pair together at the annual per-month figures before deciding; two cheap subscriptions can cost more than one mid-priced one with tutoring included.
Do the prices differ by country?
Yes. Every price here is what the vendor's page showed to a visitor in the United States on the read date. Several vendors price by region; open the vendor's page from the app's entry to see yours.
Why does a well-known app show "not published" for its paid price?
Because on the read date its public web page did not print a figure, or printed one only after sign-in. This site records exactly that and never fills the gap from memory or from another article. The reason is written on the app's page beside the row.
How old are these prices?
Every row carries its read date; the newest in the dataset is 2026-09-06. The header of every page shows the same date, and the health endpoint reports when the dataset is more than ninety days old.