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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Duolingo vs Babbel

Duolingo 4.7★ · Free + IAP 75
Winner Duolingo
Babbel 4.7★ · Free + IAP 65

Duolingo is better for casual, gamified learning with a wider range of languages, while Babbel offers a more structured, classroom-like approach, though both apps face challenges with advanced learning and technical issues.

Full reviews: Duolingo · Babbel

Duolingo excels in making language learning fun and accessible with a broad language selection, but its free tier is hampered by ads and an 'energy' system. Babbel provides a more formal learning experience, but users report technical glitches and a limited selection of non-European languages.

Head to head

Features & Content edge: DuolingoR5R6R13R17
Duolingo Duolingo offers a wide variety of languages, including less common ones, and has expanded to include subjects like math, music, and chess, making it a versatile learning platform R5R17. Users appreciate the fun and engaging lessons, and the ability to learn at their own pace . However, some users find the content repetitive and question its effectiveness for achieving conversational fluency R6R46. There are also complaints about new words being introduced without prior explanation and course changes with updates R13.
Babbel Babbel's lessons are structured like traditional classes, focusing on grammar and sentence structure, which some users find more effective for learning . It offers different speaking, listening, and writing options . However, Babbel has a limited selection of languages, primarily focusing on European languages and lacking many Asian languages R73R102R109. Some users desire more AI integration and open dialogue features .
Ease of Use & User Experience tieR3R4R7R9
Duolingo Duolingo is generally considered user-friendly and fun, with many users enjoying its gamified approach and streak features . However, the app has been criticized for excessive tapping after lessons R3, intrusive notifications , and frustrating speech recognition issues R4R9. Recent updates have led to issues like deleted progress and changes to course content R7R13.
Babbel Babbel is praised for its intuitive layout and direct teaching methods . However, users report frequent app glitches, crashes, and difficulty viewing progress . Speech recognition is a common issue, with the app failing to understand pronounced words . Some users find the pace too fast for beginners and struggle to review older lessons .
Reliability & Performance tieR1R4R7R9
Duolingo Duolingo users report issues with app updates deleting progress and using streak freezes incorrectly R7. Speech detection is often inaccurate, leading to frustration R4R9. Some users also experience problems with billing and customer service after trials R1.
Babbel Babbel users frequently encounter glitches, app crashes, and problems with speech recognition . There are reports of the app not syncing between devices and not working in iPhone lockdown mode . Some users also mention issues with their streaks not continuing .
Price & Value tieR12R15R16R25
Duolingo Duolingo offers a free tier, but it is heavily criticized for excessive ads, an 'energy' system that limits learning, and constant prompts to upgrade to Super Duolingo R12R15R16R25. Many users feel the free version is no longer effective due to these limitations R25. The paid subscription is seen as expensive by some .
Babbel Babbel is primarily a paid app, with a significant paywall after initial use . Some users purchased lifetime passes and appreciate continued updates . However, some feel the lifetime pass was not worth it, and that the app is an expensive version of Duolingo without significant improvement in learning outcomes R78R112.
Customer Support tieR1R61
Duolingo Duolingo receives negative feedback regarding its customer service, with one user reporting being told to 'pound sand' after a billing discrepancy R1.
Babbel Babbel users report difficulty reaching customer support, with one user having no luck after the app stopped linking to their iPhone R61.
Pick Duolingo if

you want a gamified, fun learning experience with a wide variety of languages and other subjects, and are willing to tolerate ads or pay for a subscription for an uninterrupted experience R5R17.

Pick Babbel if

you prefer a more structured, classroom-like approach to language learning with a focus on grammar and sentence structure, and are learning a European language .

Evidence note: Both apps have a significant number of negative reviews related to technical issues and the effectiveness of their free/paid models. Duolingo's free vs. paid asymmetry is notable, with many negative reviews stemming from the limitations and ads in the free tier.

Frequently asked

Is Duolingo truly free?
Duolingo offers a free tier, but it is heavily monetized with frequent ads, an 'energy' system that limits daily lessons, and constant prompts to upgrade to 'Super Duolingo' for an ad-free experience and unlimited learning R12R15R16R25.
Does Babbel offer Asian languages?
No, Babbel does not offer Asian languages like Japanese, Chinese, or Korean; its language selection is primarily focused on European languages, which is a significant disappointment for many users R73R102R109.
Which app is better for conversational fluency?
Reviews suggest neither app consistently leads to conversational fluency, with Duolingo users feeling they advance too quickly without enough reinforcement for conversation R6R46 and Babbel users also stating they are still far from speaking well despite learning many words R78R112.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R5] Duolingo 5/5 · US Probably the best: Look at the title just learn chess or Spanish , french, Chinese and Japanese and all of the things .That owl does not understand how to be passionate he be yelling at you. I still love it you can have friends and family. You can’t have Infnady charge so sorry but you can with super Duolingo and the super super stuff is definitely Duolingo. You can get it free on the App Store.
  2. [R6] Duolingo 3/5 · US Advances Too Fast: I have been using the app for over two years. Honestly, I have learned some Spanish for sure. However while I can understand some written Spanish here and there and a bit of conversational, I am far from being able to converse in Spanish. For me the big major issue is the app puts an emphasis on advancing you with words and grammar too quickly rather than reinforcing what on
  3. [R13] Duolingo 1/5 · US The last update was terrible.: The latest update is a disaster. They've added a ton of words to the course that I've never practiced and don't even know. I'm fed up with them changing the whole course with every update, but this one is especially bad.
  4. [R17] Duolingo 4/5 · US Download NOW!💎💎😁🩷: I know if you clicked on this your problem trying to learn a language, well you came to the right app! Duolingo is very fun and exciting. You can learn basically any languages you want! You also can learn math, piano, and chess!♟️ I love this app for a lot of reasons, and one is because it’s kind of silly. And after completing a lesson it rewards you. And to have no ads and unli
  5. [R3] Duolingo 3/5 · US So much tapping: The amount of tapping on this app after a lesson is so annoying.
  6. [R4] Duolingo 1/5 · US App doesn’t listen well: I will say the word and the app gives me a blue word saying it right. Then I say the next word and it removes the word before it. Very frustrating. I might quit this app for another method
  7. [R7] Duolingo 1/5 · US deleted progress: my app updated automatically and deleted so much of my progress (said i hadn't done 15 units legendary) and made me use a streak freeze even tho i did my lesson to continue my streak yesterday. this is probably the third or fourth time this app has done this, and it is so frustrating to have to redo a ton of stuff because the app can't ever work normally. ever since they started
  8. [R9] Duolingo 3/5 · US Bad Spelling detection: Need to improve the spelling detection, I said the same thing yet the app got it wrong
  9. [R1] Duolingo 1/5 · US Bad Integration w/ App Store and horrible customer service: The app pushes “super” which is fine. It works well enough to teach you a sufficient amount of a language to get around. However, when the trial ended I got billed for the family plan yearly but the app never updated and would only show that I had an individual plan. Sent screenshots to customer service showing the discrepancy and was
  10. [R12] Duolingo 3/5 · US Learning part is good BUT: The learning part of the program is good but even paying for this app, be prepared for CONSTANT annoying ads. Paying for an app used to mean not being constant pestered by ads. We’re looking for an alternative so we can cancel Duolingo. In addition, the insanely loud ding when you get the correct answers make it impossible to do it without disturbing everyone around - i
  11. [R15] Duolingo 3/5 · US Energy is bad: Energy is annoying because you only have 25 chances to answer questions. Even if you do all perfect lessons.
  12. [R16] Duolingo 1/5 · US Too many ads not enough learning: After every lesson there is an ad and the whole battery thing makes no sense. Why is there a limit to learning?
  13. [R25] Duolingo 2/5 · US Unfair: I don’t think it’s fair that you have to pay to get more energy to learn. Each day I do like 1 lesson and half of the time it takes is to watch ads and then I can’t do anymore because I ran out of energy so I either have to watch like 10 more ads, buy more energy, or use my money to buy super Duolingo.
  14. [R61] Babbel 1/5 · US No longer works: I’ve been using the babel italian app for more than 4 years… suddenly it won’t link to my iPhone. I still have 6 months of my paid subscription remaining.. I’ve had no luck reaching out to them. When my subscription is up in December I’ll likely look for a different service.
  15. [R73] Babbel 2/5 · US No Asian languages: If all you want to learn are European languages, it’s fine. But they offer no Asian languages at all. No Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Thai, Malaysian, etc. Very disappointing
  16. [R102] Babbel 3/5 · GB Limited options: I’ve heard great things from mates hence the 3 star review. Although the language options are very limited 13 , ES, PT, FR, DE, IT, SE, TR, NL, PL, NO, DK, IDN & RU. Happily use the app for these but not helpful if you’re planning on learning a language outside Europe or Indonesia / it’s 700+ other languages. It’s got a good platform and learning model but yes it’s limited to Euro
  17. [R109] Babbel 2/5 · US Why cant i learn japanese??: I used to learn on duolingo but that was teaching me wrong so i wanted to restart and use a different app and i heard about this one so i look at the list of languages to pick Japanese and its not there
  18. [R46] Duolingo 2/5 · US Don’t Get Duolingo.: I’ve had the Duolingo app since December of 2023 and although I liked it at first it’s just gone downhill since then. 1st of all it isn’t actually a good way to learn a new language. Although I did like that they offer a variety of languages, it was just repetitive learning and I never saw any real improvement in any of the ones I tried. Instead I just started to watch kids sh
  19. [R78] Babbel 3/5 · US Just like the others: I spent several years on Duolingo and learned thousands of words but couldn’t speak very well or understand what was being said on television or radio. I decided to give Babbel a try and have been on it now for about six months. Although I continue to learn more words, I feel that I am just as far away from speaking it as I was before I started. At this point, it seems benefi
  20. [R112] Babbel 1/5 · US Worst app ever: This app is basically an extremely expensive version of Duolingo. I have been using the app for several years and spend many hours per week using it. I can barely order a meal at Taco Bell. Never mind travel abroad. I do get some style points for my family because it appears that I am studying another language. But that's really all this is good for if you actually want to learn a

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store