Language course and app reviews

Updated July 2026 · 11 reviews · rated on method, depth, price and value

Every review here answers the same four questions in the same order: what the course actually does in a lesson, how far it can realistically take you, what it costs once the trial ends, and who should skip it. Ratings are out of 5 and are not graded on a curve — a course that does one thing brilliantly and everything else poorly gets marked down for the everything else.

Start here: our full Pimsleur review →

★★★★4.1/5

Pimsleur review

The complete method, reviewed — how it works, the real cost and who it's for.

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★★★★4.4/5

Pimsleur French

from $19.95/mo · 5 levels · 150 lessons

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★★★★4.3/5

Pimsleur Italian

from $19.95/mo · 5 levels · 150 lessons

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★★★★4/5

Pimsleur Japanese

from $19.95/mo · 5 levels · 150 lessons

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★★★★4.2/5

Pimsleur Korean

from $19.95/mo · 3 levels · 90 lessons

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★★★★4.1/5

Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese

from $19.95/mo · 5 levels · 150 lessons

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★★★★4/5

Pimsleur Russian

from $19.95/mo · 5 levels · 150 lessons

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★★★★4.4/5

Pimsleur Spanish

from $19.95/mo · 5 levels · 150 lessons

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★★★★4.1/5

Is Pimsleur worth it?

The honest cost-benefit verdict before you pay.

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★★★½3.8/5

Rosetta Stone review

How the immersion method and TruAccent actually work, lesson by lesson.

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★★★½3.8/5

Is Rosetta Stone worth it?

The money decision: where it stops being worth paying for, and which plan to buy.

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Pricing

How much does Rosetta Stone cost?

Every plan broken down: $19.99 monthly, $159 a year, and the all-languages lifetime deal.

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Pricing

Rosetta Stone lifetime

All 25 languages for one payment — and the break-even maths vs monthly.

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★★★★4/5

Babbel review

Honest verdict on Babbel — grammar, pricing, speaking limits, and how it compares.

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Pricing

How much does Babbel cost?

Every plan: $8.97/mo annual, $15.25/mo quarterly, and the $299 lifetime.

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★★★★4/5

Is Babbel worth it?

What you're really paying for, where it runs out of road, and which plan.

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Round-up

Best language learning apps

Our overall round-up of the best language apps, ranked by goal.

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How we rate a language course

The same five criteria apply to every product, so the scores mean the same thing across the site. The full method is on our about page; the short version is:

• Method — what a lesson actually asks you to do, and which skill that builds. Speaking out loud, choosing from four tiles and matching a picture to a word are not the same activity, and they do not produce the same learner.
• Depth — how many levels and lessons exist, and what CEFR level the course can plausibly leave you at. Many apps run out of road at A2.
• Price and value — the current real price, including what happens after the introductory year, and whether a lifetime plan pays for itself.
• Language coverage — how many languages are offered and, more importantly, whether the smaller ones get the same depth as Spanish and French. They usually do not.
• Who it suits — every review names the learner it is wrong for. A course with no honest “skip it if” is a sales page, not a review.

Where to start if you have not chosen yet

If you are at the very beginning of this, three pages will save you the most time. The best language learning apps round-up ranks all six main options at once. The comparisons hub settles a specific two-way decision. And the learning guides tell you how many hours your target language actually takes before you spend money on any of them.