Visibility in this ranking can be paid for. Payment moves a vendor's position within the
shortlist; it never adds a vendor, and it never changes a word of the review. The largest vendors in language learning apps
cannot hold places 1 to 3. Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category,
wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. How it works: placement disclosure ·
editorial process.
The 12 tools, reviewed
#1 Lingoda
Live online language classes in small groups or one to one · Germany · lingoda.com
Live classes CEFR levels Class bundles
Lingoda is first because a buyer can see what it sells. The pricing page prints a price per class for each bundle size, states that credits roll over, explains that the plan renews every four weeks and offers a 14-day refund window minus classes taken.
- Pricing: Per class credit / 4 weeks. Class-credit plans in euros: per-class prices from €7.49 to €26.99 depending on bundle size and class type as listed on the page we fetched, renewing every four weeks with unused credits rolling over. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Learners with a deadline and a CEFR target
- Strengths: 60-minute live classes; Group and private formats; CEFR levels A1 to C1.
Where it falls short
The language list is narrow: German, French, English, Spanish, Italian and Business English, and Italian stops at A2 on the page we fetched.
Wrong for
Casual learners who want ten minutes a day on a phone, and anyone studying Japanese, Korean or another language outside its list. Duolingo or a tutor marketplace such as italki fits those buyers better.
Visit Lingoda →
#2 italki
Marketplace for one-to-one language lessons · Hong Kong · italki.com
Tutor marketplace 1-on-1 lessons 130+ languages
italki takes second place because it solves the thing apps handle worst: speaking with a person who adapts to you. Its about page claims more than 5 million students and 10,000 teachers across more than 130 languages, which means a learner of Dutch, Hindi or Korean will find someone where a course catalog would give out.
- Pricing: Per lesson. Pay per lesson at the teacher's own rate. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Learners who want a chosen teacher, any language
- Strengths: 1-on-1 lessons; Group classes; Community features.
Where it falls short
Quality varies by teacher, and the learner does the vetting, so the first booking can miss. There is no built-in curriculum, so a learner who needs structure must supply it or ask the teacher to.
Wrong for
Complete beginners who want an automated course, and managers who need dashboards and a single invoice for many staff.
Visit italki →
#3 Preply
Marketplace for private online language tutors · United States · preply.com
Tutor marketplace Private lessons Subscription
Preply sits third because it combines the marketplace model with products meant for steady use. Each tutor profile shows a price per lesson, a subscription page describes ongoing lessons with the same tutor, and the footer links corporate language training, so a company has somewhere to start. Currency options on the site (euro, pound, dollar and others) reduce surprises for non-US buyers.
- Pricing: Per lesson / subscription. Pay per lesson at the tutor's listed rate (profiles we read showed €34 and €53 per lesson), with a separate subscription page for steady ongoing lessons. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Learners who want a tutor and a subscription
- Strengths: Private tutor search; Trial lessons; Lesson subscription.
Where it falls short
Tutor prices vary widely, and the visible price is for a single lesson, so a monthly cost depends on how often you book. Listings come with promotional language that makes comparison harder.
Wrong for
A learner who wants a fixed curriculum with exercises between lessons, and buyers who need a flat per-seat price.
Visit Preply →
#4 Babbel
Subscription language courses built around real conversations · Germany · babbel.com
Courses Subscription Speaking practice
Babbel is the best-known course built for adults, and the page we read describes it as a guide toward real-life conversations in the target language, with about 60,000 lessons across 14 languages. The Berlin-based company says it has sold over 25 million subscriptions, cites studies by three universities and offers an AI feature, Babbel Speak, for scripted conversation scenarios.
- Pricing: Subscription. Subscription with price tiers. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Adults who want a guided course
- Strengths: Courses in 14 languages; 60,000 lessons; Babbel Speak AI conversation.
Where it falls short
The course is a fixed curriculum, so a learner with a specialist goal such as legal vocabulary must look elsewhere. The AI conversation is practice, not correction by a person.
Wrong for
Learners of a rare language, learners who need live correction, and anyone who wants a free tier to study for months.
Visit Babbel →
#5 Duolingo
Game-style language learning, free to start · United States · duolingo.com
Free to start Game-style Paid tiers
Duolingo is the entry point for most beginners. Its own site calls it free, fun and science-based, and its research page cites more than 500 million learners. A new learner can begin on the free version, and few products on this list match it at this scale.
- Pricing: Free + paid tiers. Free to start; paid tiers named Super Duolingo and Duolingo Max sit above the free version. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Casual learners who want a daily habit
- Strengths: Game-style lessons; Free tier; Super Duolingo tier.
Where it falls short
Short game-like exercises reward streaks more than comprehension, so many learners plateau at the basics. The pages we read describe no human tutoring.
Wrong for
Learners with a deadline, a job requirement or a goal beyond travel basics, and companies that need reporting.
Visit Duolingo →
#6 Pimsleur
Audio-first language courses with listen-and-respond lessons · United States · pimsleur.com
Audio courses 50+ languages Subscription
Pimsleur is the choice for a learner who has to fit study into a commute. Its lessons last about 30 minutes, make you respond aloud, and the site lists CarPlay and Android Auto support and offline use, so the car becomes the classroom. Courses exist in more than 50 languages for English speakers, which is a bigger catalog than most apps here.
- Pricing: Course purchase / subscription. Language programs shown as starting at $150, plus a single-language Premium subscription and an All Access subscription covering 50+ courses. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Commuters and drivers who learn by listening
- Strengths: 30-minute audio lessons; 50+ language courses; Voice Coach pronunciation feedback.
Where it falls short
The method is built around audio recall, so reading and writing get less attention than in a text-first course.
Wrong for
Visual learners, learners who need business vocabulary, and anyone who wants a live teacher.
Visit Pimsleur →
#7 Busuu
Courses with feedback from native speakers · United Kingdom · busuu.com
Courses Community feedback Premium tier
Busuu is seventh in the ranking because it offers something a self-study app seldom does: other people who answer back. Its home page says learners receive feedback from fluent speakers in the Busuu Community and reports more than 105 million community interactions in 2024, alongside 2,500+ hours of material from A1 to C1.
- Pricing: Free + Premium tier. Free to start with a Premium membership; Premium prices are not in the page text we could fetch, so no figure is quoted. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Learners who want a community and CEFR levels
- Strengths: Courses A1 to C1; 2,500+ hours of learning; Community feedback from native speakers.
Where it falls short
The page we could read gave no price for Premium, and a buyer must hunt for it. Feedback from volunteers is uneven in speed and depth, and not a substitute for a teacher.
Wrong for
Learners who want a certified teacher or a guaranteed answer within a day, and companies that need detailed reporting without a sales call.
Visit Busuu →
#8 Speak
AI tutor that makes you speak out loud · United States · speak.com
AI tutor Speaking practice Subscription
Speak earns the eighth place for doing one thing the courses above do rarely: it asks you to talk constantly, with no human watching. The method in its FAQ is a loop of learning phrases, practicing them and applying them in conversation with an AI tutor that gives feedback.
- Pricing: Subscription. 7-day free trial, then two paid plans, Speak Premium and Speak Premium Plus. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Shy learners who want speaking practice
- Strengths: AI conversation practice; Speak Tutor; Real-time feedback.
Where it falls short
Seven languages for English speakers is a small catalog, and the practice is with software, so cultural nuance and unusual errors go unnoticed. Prices are hidden inside the app and vary by region.
Wrong for
Learners of languages outside Korean, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian and Chinese, and anyone who needs a person to correct them. italki or Lingoda suits those buyers better.
Visit Speak →
#9 Rocket Languages
Online courses with lifetime access and voice recognition · New Zealand · rocketlanguages.com
Courses Lifetime access Voice recognition
Rocket Languages is the choice for a learner who would rather buy a course than rent it. Its home page promises lifetime access, with updates included, and says a month, a year or a decade later the course is still there.
- Pricing: Course purchase. Course purchase with lifetime access and free updates, per the home page. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Self-directed learners who dislike subscriptions
- Strengths: 14 languages; Lifetime access; Free updates.
Where it falls short
No human reviews your speaking, and voice recognition is a blunt tool. The price was hidden from our fetch, so cost comparison needs a visit to the site.
Wrong for
Buyers who need a certificate, a teacher, or team reporting, and learners of languages outside the 14.
Visit Rocket Languages →
#10 LingQ
Learn from real content you import · Canada · lingq.com
Content-based Reading and listening Vocabulary tracking
LingQ is tenth because it serves the stage at which most apps stop helping. The site's pitch is learning from podcasts, books and TV you actually enjoy, and its about page explains that it is built around comprehensible input, the method that co-founder Steve Kaufmann has used to learn more than twenty languages.
- Pricing: Subscription. Free sign-up with paid membership above it; the pricing page returned a not-found error in our fetch, so no figure is quoted here. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Intermediate learners who read and listen a lot
- Strengths: Imported text and audio; Podcasts, books and TV as lessons; Vocabulary saving.
Where it falls short
It assumes you can already follow simple text, so beginners feel lost. There is little speaking practice, and the interface is utilitarian. The paid tier details were not readable in our fetch.
Wrong for
Absolute beginners and anyone who wants a structured, teacher-led path with exercises set for them.
Visit LingQ →
#11 Memrise
Native-speaker video courses for specific goals · United Kingdom · memrise.com
Video courses Native speakers Many languages
Memrise is eleventh because its strengths are narrower than its reach. The company says 80 million learners use it and describes courses for people with a specific reason to learn: passing an exam, speaking at work, building relationships. Its pitch is real native-speaker video instead of synthesized voices, which helps with listening.
- Pricing: Subscription. Subscription; plans are reached through a payment page that renders only in a browser, so no figure is quoted here. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Learners who want real speech and rare languages
- Strengths: Native-speaker videos; Goal-based courses; Well over 100 languages listed.
Where it falls short
A language on the list may have one short course. Plan prices sat behind a page that did not render, so we cannot say what a subscription costs or whether a useful free tier exists.
Wrong for
Learners who need a full curriculum or live practice, and companies that need account management.
Visit Memrise →
Vocabulary Games 55+ languages
Drops closes the list because it covers one skill, vocabulary, and says so. Its home page promises word-by-word learning through fast games with simple images in five minutes a day, across more than 55 languages.
- Pricing: Monthly / yearly / one-time. Premium listed at $11 monthly, $69.99 yearly (with 7 days free) and $150 one-time; the free version is time-limited. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Travelers who want words fast
- Strengths: Five-minute sessions; 55+ languages; Visual mnemonic images.
Where it falls short
It does not teach grammar, sentence building or conversation, and its short sessions encourage recognition more than recall. The free version limits playing time.
Wrong for
Learners who need to hold a conversation, write or pass an exam.
Visit Drops →
What the data says about this market
The twelve products here split into three formats. Self-study apps, which teach through lessons on a phone, make up the largest group (Duolingo, Babbel, Busuu, Memrise, Pimsleur, Rocket Languages, Drops). Two sell live human teaching, in class credits (Lingoda) or by the lesson on a marketplace (italki, Preply). Two teach through AI or imported content (Speak, LingQ). Four vendors are US-based (Duolingo, Preply, Pimsleur, Speak), two are German (Babbel, Lingoda), two British (Busuu, Memrise), and one each is Canadian (LingQ), New Zealand (Rocket Languages), Estonian (Drops) and Hong Kong (italki).
More in our report The Global Shift to ICT Services, on market data and in all industry reports.
Questions and answers
What is the best language learning app in 2026?
Lingoda ranks first of 12, best for learners with a deadline and a CEFR target. italki is second (learners who want a chosen teacher, any language) and Preply third (learners who want a tutor and a subscription). Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands, wherever the category has them.
Is Duolingo really free?
Duolingo's own site description calls it 100% free, and its blog describes paid tiers above that, Super Duolingo and Duolingo Max. The free version is the entry route and paid tiers add features.
Which app is best for speaking practice?
Live teaching gives the most reliable speaking practice. Lingoda classes run 60 minutes with a teacher, italki is built around one-to-one lessons and Preply around tutor lessons.
Are tutor platforms cheaper than language apps?
Sometimes, per lesson, and not always per month. italki states English tutors cost from $4 to $60 an hour, and a 30-minute lesson from $4 to $10, while a Preply listing we read showed tutors at €34 and €53 per lesson.
Can I learn a language with an app alone?
You can learn a good deal of vocabulary, grammar and listening that way, and a few apps teach to a stated level. The weak point is production: writing and speaking under pressure rarely improve without someone responding.
Which app has the most languages?
Memrise's own navigation lists well over a hundred languages, including many that are rare, though a listing is not a full course.
Is there a lifetime option instead of a subscription?
A few products sell outright. Rocket Languages says its courses come with lifetime access and free updates, and Drops lists a $150 one-time purchase on its premium page.
What should a company check before buying language learning for staff?
Check four things: invoicing and VAT handling, whether managers can see progress, whether seats can be reassigned, and whether the vendor has a business plan at all.
How long before an app makes me conversational?
No vendor page we read gives an honest number, and we would distrust one. Time depends on the target language, your native language, daily minutes and how much you speak aloud.
Do I need a different app for each stage?
Often yes. Many learners begin with a self-study course for sounds and basic words, move to a tutor or class once they can form sentences, and add reading or listening in real content later.
What happens to my progress if I cancel?
Assume little transfers. Streaks, completion records and spaced-repetition schedules sit inside each vendor's system, and the pages we read do not describe an export route.
