• Many free features
• 40+ languages available
• Streaks feature encourages consistency

• Unhelpful FAQ pages

As a regularDuolingo user, I enjoy the app's colorful interface and short, game-like exercises. The app doesn't restrict how many languages you can try to learn at the same time (personally, I think two is a good maximum if you want to retain anything). I use Duolingo to practice Spanish and German, but it offers lessons in over 40 languages. Most new learners use Duolingo to support their education, according toits 2024 report.

Duolingo offers more than just language lessons -- you can also learn math, music and soon,even chess.

To keep your basics sharp, even a "mastered" skill can crack if you don’t review it regularly. Practice it again to repair the crack -- a great way to reinforce your foundation.

I like Duolingo's user-friendly layout and the "streak" feature, which motivates you to keep going by tracking the number of days you've reached your point goal. In the app, you can access resources such as Duolingo Stories, which are short audio stories that allow you to check your comprehension skills as you go. 

While the functionality of Duolingo is great, the service could be more transparent with prices and improve its FAQ help pages to more accurately reflect all the service's costs and features. Super Duolingo, the ad-free premium version of the app, costs $13 a month (or $60 annually) and includes progress quizzes, monthly streak repairs and more. If your love of languages is a family trait, you can link up to six accounts under a Super Family Duolingo account for $120 a year. Duolingo also offers a premium tier subscription plan called Duolingo Max, which is exclusively available in the iOS or Android mobile app -- you can't sign up on the web. This tier includes everything in Super Duolingo, as well as AI-powered features, like Explain My Answer, Roleplay andVideo Call with Lily. But this tier costs $30 per month, or $168 annually, which might price some people out. 

• Minimalist and user-friendly layout
• Thorough lessons
• Paid option for more traditional online school classes

• Have to pay for access to full course
• Only 14 languages available

Babbel is like a foreign language course you'd see in an online school curriculum. The app's minimalist layout helps prevent a new language (French for me) from becoming overwhelming, without making it boring. Each lesson takes you through translations, including variations of the word or phrase, pictures and whether it's formal or informal, something that's important in many languages. If it asks you to spell a phrase, it provides you with the letters to use.

You’ll see new words used in everyday conversations, hear them (if audio is on), repeat phrases, and explore verb groups. The 15-minute lessons are easy to fit into your day, whether during your commute, before bed or on a lunch break. The My Activity module lets you track your progress.

Babbel currently offers 14 languages and is free to sign up; the first lesson of every course is free. A monthly subscription costs$18. You can also choose to renew every three months ($45.75 total), every six months ($80.70 total), annually ($107.40 total) or make a one-time payment of $299 for lifetime access. There are often sales at the beginning and end of the year that can help ease price tag pain. You can also subscribe toBabbel Live, which is an additional paid upgrade with a more traditional language learning experience with virtual classes led by an instructor with other students.

• Lots of images
• 50 languages available
• Can access most features with free version

• Have to wait 10 hours between lessons with free version

I tried my hand at Greek on the Drops app. The app's fun, colorful layout definitely made the language (which has its own alphabet) less intimidating. The app shows users each word in the Greek alphabet and the English alphabet, says the word and shows an image of it. Drops is owned by the popular game-learning platform Kahoot and is constantly offering new languages. The company has added many new courses in the past year and now offers lessons in 50 languages.

You can subscribe toDrops Premium for $13 per month, $70 annually or $160 for lifetime access. If you stick with the free version, you have to wait 10 hours to access another lesson, but you can check out your statistics after completing the lesson (correct answers, wrong answers and words learned) and tap on the words you've learned to hear them pronounced again (and see them written in the Greek alphabet). This can give you a leg up when your next lesson starts.

• Many free features
• VR/AR integration available
• 41 languages available

• Hard to find information about Premium and lifetime subscriptions on website

Like Drops, Mondly is a fun, colorful app with multiple features you can take advantage of, even if you don't subscribe to premium. I tried beginner Hungarian on this app, and I liked how it offered different conjugations if you tapped on verbs. The app packs images, translations and auditory aids to accommodate your learning style. The instructor also speaks the words and phrases in a rather melodic way, which made it easier for me to recall them (even after trying different languages on different apps). 

Mondly currently offers lessons in 41 different languages and dialects. It also offers VR and AR products that let you integrate its language lessons, chatbots and games into virtual and augmented reality tools, like theMeta Quest 3 or otherVR headsets.

Mondly is free to use, but you can subscribe to the Premium tier to unlock all content. You cansubscribe for access to lessons in one language for $12 per month or $57.55 per year. You can also get lifetime access to the app for $120. Discounts are often available.

• Includes videos from native speakers
• Can skip phrases you already know

• More expensive premium subscriptions

One of my favorite parts of Memrise is the app's use of short videos to show how real locals express different phrases in conversation. I tried the French course, and the first lesson alone let me listen to the tone of voice and casual pronunciation, as well as showing me the phrase's literal translation and explaining its gendered usage. The app also helps you spot language patterns to easily improve your skills. If you're brushing up on a language you're familiar with, you have the option to skip phrases you already know.

Memrise currently offers lessons in 34 languages. A few lessons are free daily, or you can upgrade to aPro membership for $25 per month, $75 per year or $290 for lifetime access. The Pro membership removes ads, gives you access to all languages and lets you incorporate the 48,000-plus native speaker videos it has into your lessons.

• Set your own study goals
• Helpful vocabulary tips

• Need paid premium subscription to unlock all lessons

When you sign up for Busuu, you select the language you want to learn. The app asks how advanced you are with the language, why you want to learn it and how advanced you want to become. From there, you set a daily study goal, and if you subscribe to the premium plan, it creates a study plan, so you'll reach your goal by a set date. For example, Busuu says if I study three times a week for 10 minutes daily, I'll be pretty fluent in my chosen language in about eight months.  

Busuu's Basic plan is free, but you can subscribe toPremium for $13.90 per month, $50.70 for six months and $83.40 annually. With Premium, you get access to all 14 language courses and can switch between them if you want to try and learn multiple languages.

I tried Italian with Busuu and liked the app's clean, bright layout. Busuu also offers helpful reminders. The second time I logged in, it reminded me about "weak words" I needed to review to improve my vocabulary. In addition to listening to a phrase paired with a photo of the corresponding action, Busuu included helpful vocabulary tips (like that "ciao" can mean "hello" or "goodbye").

• Free Chrome extension
• Immersion-focused learning
• Closed captions available in 52 languages

• Must have Netflix subscription
• Not as comprehensive as other language learning apps

While not technically an app, the free Language Reactor Chrome extension, formerly called Language Learning with Netflix, can be helpful on your journey to becoming multilingual. Install the extension and click the icon to launch the catalog of movie and TV show options. You can use it with aNetflix subscription, which you can grab for as low as $7 per month, or you can learn for free with YouTube videos, podcasts and books on theLanguage Reactor website. 

Once you launch the catalog, you can pick from hundreds of titles that use movies on Netflix to help teach different languages. For example, if you want to work on your Spanish, select the language in the dropdown menu, along with the country where you're using Netflix. Then, the extension will generate a list of titles to which it can add Spanish closed captions. To watch one of the films, just click the red "Watch on Netflix" button. Depending on the language you want to learn or what country you're watching from, you might have fewer titles to pick from.

As the series or movie plays, two sets of subtitles display at the bottom of the screen. One set is your native language and the other is the one you want to learn. The words highlight as they're spoken, like a karaoke sing-a-long. You can listen to the dialogue phrase by phrase, pause and replay as needed, access a built-in dictionary, and more. Depending on the show or movie you're watching, you'll be able to translate your closed captions into more than 50 languages.

If you want to use Language Reactor for more active learning, it also has a chatbot, fun videos and a digital phrase book on its website.

• Audio-focused lessons
• Lessons are downloadable and Alexa-compatible
• 51 languages available

• Short free trial period before payments kick in

Pimsleur is an app that offers 51 languages to learn but delivers the information in what is basically the form of a podcast. Essentially, you'll choose the language you want to learn and begin a 30-minute auditory lesson (which are downloadable and Alexa-compatible). The app also has a driving mode, so you can improve your language skills during long commutes without looking at a screen. 

You get a seven-day free trial. Afterwards, you can continue with one language for $20, upgrade to All Access to switch between the different languages for $21 per month or subscribe to the annual plan for $165 per year.  With either premium subscription, you get access to the AI voice coach, bonus content and digital flashcards. You can also purchase lessons outright. Individual levels for a language cost $150, complete courses for a language cost $460 and access to all lessons for Pimsleur language costs $638.40.

• Can customize to your learning preferences
• AR features

• More expensive subscriptions
• Longer lessons (30 minutes minimum)

Perhaps the best-known language learning service, Rosetta Stone has come a long way since it started in the '90s. My parents still have a box set of discs for learning Spanish somewhere in their house. It's a lot easier now with the Rosetta Stone app, but you still need at least 30 minutes to complete a Core Lesson. 

I tried Rosetta Stone's first Irish lesson, which was primarily auditory with images, though there are ways to customize the app to your learning preferences. The lesson started out fairly challenging, especially since I was completely new to the Irish language. But it did get easier as I went along. 

The app also uses augmented reality in a feature called Seek and Speak. This is a scavenger-hunt-style challenge where you point your phone's camera at an object and get a translation in the language you're learning. 

Rosetta Stone currently offers lessons in 25 languages.Subscription options include $44.85 total for three months, $131.40 annually or lifetime access to every language lesson for $219. There's also an option for lifetime access to every lesson for asingle language for $150.