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How much do online language courses cost, and what does a price comparison look like? The market for language learning is now filled with many excellent solutions. Finding the best language course for your needs can be a challenge, and then there’s usually a wide range of purchasing options, from subscriptions to one-time payments.
Table of Contents
It’s easy to lose track of online language course costs – that’s why we’re here to help! Here you’ll find an overview of the best language courses in a price comparison, where there’s guaranteed to be an option for everyone.
Savings Tip! Many of the online language courses listed below are also available as smartphone apps. However, the prices there are often higher because providers add the 30% App Store fee to the prices. Therefore, always book through the website (that’s where our links lead) and save real money!
Language Course Subscription Price Comparison
Subscriptions remain the classic payment model and are especially advantageous if you want to try out a course first. A key benefit is that you can cancel the subscription at any time. The most common payment periods are plans for 1, 3, or 6 months, as well as annual subscriptions.
| 1-Month Plan | 3-Month Plan | 6-Month Plan | Annual Plan | ||
| Babbel | / | €18.00 | €14.00 | €9.00 | |
| Mondly | €12.99 | / | / | €4.99 | |
| Rosetta Stone | / | €19.95 | / | €19.95 | |
| Duolingo | €14.99 | / | / | €7.49 | |
| Busuu | €13.98 | / | €9.99 | €6.99 | |
| Yabla | €12.95 | / | €9.16 | €8.33 | |
| Jicki | / | €9.95 | €7.95 | €5.95 | |
| Langotalk | €19.99 | / | / | €5.83 | |
| LinguaTV | / | €29.90 | €24.90 | €19.90 | |
| Gymglish | / | / | from €24 | €20-€30 | |
| Birlingo | / | €12.99 | €6.99 | / | |
| FunEasyLearn | from €16.99 | / | from €11.50 | from €9.17 |
The prices in the table refer to the monthly cost. We’ve calculated this for you to make the differences clear at a glance. (Clicking on the respective name will take you to the provider’s site.)
Almost all providers also offer a free trial period, allowing you to extensively test all features. This period usually lasts between one week and one month. But be careful: make sure to cancel the trial subscription in time if you are not satisfied with the language course. Otherwise, a payment is typically charged automatically at the end of the trial period.
Language Course Pricing: What Else to Consider?
Although the overview provides a good orientation, there are a few other details to consider. Mainly, you should think about whether you want to learn just one foreign language (for now) or several. The latter is also particularly useful if you want to share an account with another person.
Some providers unlock only one pre-selected language with a premium subscription, while others grant access to all available learning languages. You have free choice with a subscription to Duolingo, LinguaTV, Langotalk, and Jicki: here, you can learn as many languages as you want. With Mondly, Babbel, Gymglish, and Yabla, you must choose one foreign language for your subscription.
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An exception is Busuu, as they offer two different types of subscriptions: Premium and Premium Plus. The latter is slightly more expensive, but unlike the standard Premium subscription which offers only one language, it gives you access to all their learning languages. The Premium Plus subscription also offers other useful features, which you can learn more about here.
Gymglish offers three subscription types: Basic, Premium, and Pro, each with more features, but of course, for more money. In addition to the 6-month and annual subscriptions listed above, there are also options for 2 years (€18-€43 monthly) or 3 years (€15-€38 monthly). You can find more information and all the details in our comprehensive review!
Rosetta Stone has another subscription option besides those listed above: a 2-year subscription, which you can get for €167.30, or the equivalent of €6.97 per month. For just a few euros more, however, you can get lifetime access to all languages, which is a much better deal. With Rosetta Stone’s 1- or 2-year subscriptions, you also get access to all languages; with smaller packages, you only get access to one.
And that brings us to the next point: many providers now have lifetime offers that are often very worthwhile for language enthusiasts. Let’s take a look!
Language Apps Price Comparison: One-Time Payments
Access with a one-time payment is becoming increasingly popular, and more providers in the language learning market are following this trend. But what’s it all about, and for whom is it actually worthwhile?
Why Should You Opt for a Lifetime Plan?
Subscriptions have particular advantages when you want to try out a language course beyond the (often unfortunately quite short) free trial period. They can be canceled at any time, so you only pay for the period you actually use the course.
Unfortunately, they also have some disadvantages: if you forget to cancel your subscription, it can quickly become expensive. And especially the shorter-term plans, like 1-month subscriptions, are often significantly higher in price than subscriptions over several months or even years.
Additionally, a subscription usually offers only a single learning language, making it difficult to share the account with other people.
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Lifetime access plans don’t have these problems! You might have to invest a bit more money upfront, but with a single payment, you’re set for life. Almost all providers unlock all available learning languages with lifetime access, so you can easily share the account (and of course, the costs) with friends or family. Sounds good, right?
And here, too, the prices often don’t skyrocket; on the contrary: at Rosetta Stone, for example, a 2-year subscription costs a total of €167.30, while a one-time payment of €174.50 gets you a lifetime subscription for all 24 learning languages (Go to offer). This is an almost unbeatable opportunity, and the situation is quite similar with other providers.
What Are the Options?
The following price comparison shows online language courses that offer lifetime access, requiring only a one-time payment:
| Cost | Available Languages | Permanent Offer? | ||
| Babbel | approx. €299.99 | 14 (all accessible) | No, not always available | |
| Mondly | from €89.99 | 41 (all accessible) | Yes, but price varies up to €189 | |
| Rosetta Stone | from €399 | 24 (all accessible) | Yes, sometimes on sale | |
| Jicki | €179 | 5 (all accessible) | No, not always available | |
| Sprachenlernen24 | from €24.99 | 83 (one accessible) | Yes, but price varies by language | |
| FunEasyLearn | from €159 | 34 (one to all accessible) | Yes | |
| Birlingo | €129 | 8 (all accessible) | Yes | |
| Langotalk | €139.99 | 22 (all accessible) | Yes |
You can see that, much like with subscriptions, the value for money varies greatly with lifetime access plans. What’s particularly striking is the wide difference in the number of learning languages you ultimately get for your money.
Besides a pure price comparison, there are many other factors to consider. These include your personal learning style and the learning goals you want to achieve. Each provider has a different approach, which will naturally be more or less suitable for different individuals. Furthermore, it doesn’t always have to be an online language course, which is our focus in this price comparison. KOSYS offers a great hybrid solution of a book and digital content that you can even hear through your skin thanks to the so-called neoos. No joke, it works, as our KOSYS review shows.
Fortunately, almost all language learning platforms here also offer a free trial period, which you should definitely take advantage of. Beyond that, we can strongly recommend lifetime offers to all language enthusiasts who are interested in continuously learning new foreign languages.
Conclusion: Language Apps Price Comparison
– Plenty of Great Deals, Especially the Lifetime Offers –
The price comparison clearly shows: online language courses differ not only didactically and in content but also significantly in price. With some providers, you get more for your money; with others, considerably less.
For those looking for a good language course with a subscription option, we especially recommend Mondly and Rosetta Stone, as they offer excellent value for money. This is particularly true for Mondly’s special offer.
The language selection with these two is also among the largest, so most learners will find what they’re looking for. Additionally, Rosetta Stone offers tutoring in a digital classroom, which provides a completely different kind of learning experience.
Nevertheless, we strongly encourage you to take advantage of an offer with lifetime access. In addition to our favorites mentioned above, Sprachenlernen24, Jicki, and FunEasyLearn are particularly good choices. With them, you get by far the most for your money and can usually even share the account and costs with others, thanks to the inclusion of multiple learning languages. Or who knows – you might just get inspired to learn several foreign languages yourself!