Rosetta Stone vs. Duolingo vs. Babbel: In-depth Comparison and Reviews 2025

What is Rosetta Stone?

Created in 1992,Rosetta Stone is one of the original language learning resources, aims to teach you like you learned your native language.Rosetta Stone established offices in major markets around the world, and in 2006, the company was officially renamed after its signature product.2021 marked a year of transformation for the company as it joined the IXL Learning family of brands, along with IXL, Vocabulary.com, Education.com, and Wyzant.Today, Rosetta Stone continues to serve clients worldwide, with offices in six countries.

Rosetta Stone is the choice for many individuals and institutions when it comes to language-learning. It’s the platform recommended by the U.S. military, colleges and universities, companies, and the medical community.It excels at introducing new words and basic grammar (such as conjugation and agreement) at just the right time and in a compelling way. It also does an excellent job of getting you to commit to learning and studying for about 30 minutes per day with its wonderfully clear and structured lessons.

Rosetta Stone offers immersive courses in multiple languages. It uses a unique immersion method, teaching language through images, audio, and text without translation, to mimic the experience of learning a first language. The lessons cover a broad range of language skills including speaking, listening, reading, and writing, with a focus on pronunciation through its TruAccent speech-recognition engine.

What You'll Learn with Rosetta Stone?

• Speaking and Pronunciation

With Rosetta Stone lessons, you start speaking your new language instantly. Each lesson starts with key vocabulary, which you'll be asked to speak aloud. As you practice, TruAccent, their proprietary speech recognition software, compares your pronunciation to native speakers and offers immediate feedback. This means you'll learn how well you're saying each word, in addition to learning the word itself. At the end of each unit, you will complete a Milestone. In this speaking activity, you will have a two-way conversation with a pre-recorded native speaker, giving you the chance to practice a real-world conversation in a supportive environment.

• Listening Comprehension

As you work through lessons, you will hear words and phrases spoken aloud by native speakers and be asked to choose the image that corresponds. This immersive learning experience will help you to learn the language intuitively through imagery and reasoning instead of rote memorization as you build your listening skills.

• Reading and Writing

Rosetta Stone lessons take a scaffolded approach so that as you progress through content, the vocabulary and grammar you are learning increases in complexity. You will start by learning common words, then move gradually through simple phrases, and finally to complete sentences and ideas. Since all of this happens in your new language, there is no need for translation or memorization—instead you'll be reading in the language right away. And with Stories and writing prompts, you are able to apply what you've learned through structured immersion, building ever-increasing reading and writing abilities in your new language.

Languages Available on Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone for Schools offers a comprehensive curriculum for 25 languages to support language programs for K-12 and higher education students. With a Rosetta Stone for Schools license, you’ll receive access to all of these languages, giving you the flexibility to support both English language learner programs and world language classes.

Here's a more detailed list of the languages available on Rosetta Stone:

Rosetta Stone Pricing

Rosetta Stone has three plans to choose from.First, there is a 3-month subscription plan which costs $14.95 per month. Then, there's a 12-month plan which also retails for $10.95 per month. Lastly, there’s a lifetime plan, which costs $399 and gets you access for life to all of Rosetta Stone’s languages.

If you want to test either out, you’ll have to subscribe. Luckily, you can request your money back if you aren’t happy.Rosetta Stone offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

• 3-month subscription – $14.95/mo

• 12-month subscription – $10.95/mo

• Lifetime subscription – $399 once-off (undiscounted)

Live classes and one-on-one coaching are extra, but Rosetta Stone isn’t upfront about the costs for these.

Rosetta Stone Pros and Cons

Saving Tip:

If you subscribe and make a purchase at Rosetta Stone, don't forget to sign up at Extrabux！(What is Extrabux) , then you can enjoy up to 7% super cashback on your purchase from Extrabux! Sign-Up Bonus: Free to join it & get $20 welcome bonus! Student Benefits：As long as you are a student at school, you can get a free whole year long VIP Card worth $199.

Extrabux.com cooperates with many merchants, such as: Walmart (Up to 4% cashback), Sephora（4% -5% cash back)，Dior (Up to 6% cash back), Moosejaw (5% -6% cash back), LOOKFANTASTIC (Up to 10% cash back), Microsoft (Up to 7% cash back) and so on. You can save on buying daily necessities, fashion, beauty, electronic products, broadband installation, mobile communication, air tickets, hotels and other aspects of life!

What is Duolingo?

Duolingo is by far the best free language-learning app and platform that uses gamified, bite-sized lessons to teach over 40 languages, focusing on making language learning fun and accessible to users of all ages and backgrounds.Practice speaking, reading, listening, and writing to build your vocabulary and grammar skills.

The platform is notable for its bite-sized lessons and its visually appealing style. It makes learning a language into a simple game that requires daily practice. It also offers courses on music and math.The learning method incorporates gamification to motivate users with points, rewards and interactive lessons featuring spaced repetition.For example, you earn points and virtual coins for completing lessons, and you can use these to unlock new levels and features. The app also includes a social aspect, allowing you to connect with friends and compete with them for high scores.Duolingo also offers the Duolingo English Test, an online language assessment, and Duolingo ABC, a literacy app designed for children. Additionally, Duolingo runs Duo's Taqueria, a Mexican taco restaurant in Pittsburgh.

What You'll Learn with Duolingo?

Duolingo stands out for its lesson variety and interactive approach, presenting content in multiple ways within a short timeframe.These exercises include:

• Listening drills

• Fill-in-the-blanks

• Matching pairs

• Verbal practice

• Writing full sentences

• Completing mock conversations

They are very diverse, quick moving lessons.In addition, as you complete each lesson, you earn experience points (“XP Points”), as well as Duolingo currency known as lingots. The XP points relate to your daily goals and allow you to track your progress, while the lingots can be used to “purchase” additional features from the Duolingo store.

Duolingo lessons are designed to be quick and get users in the habit of practicing their language daily. Because of this, they do not have grammar lessons. Rather, they use implicit learning. This is when language learners discover grammatical patterns on their own. This learning style helps build foundational language-learning skills. Don’t worry – they also offer separate explanations and tips on grammatical structures.

The platform also has other services such as Duolingo for Schools, Duolingo English Test, and Duolingo ABC. Duolingo for Schools is a free tool that can be adapted to teachers’ curriculum for teaching languages in school. Duolingo English Test is an hour-long exam that shows a student’s proficiency in English. Over 5,000 institutions recognize the results of this exam. The test is $59, but students can practice for free. Duolingo ABC is designed for children. Subjects include the alphabet, handwriting, and vocabulary in simple and engaging lessons. Duolingo ABC is free to use. 

Languages Available on Duolingo

Duolingo offers courses on 40 languages,ranging from English, French, and Spanish to less commonly studied languages such as Welsh, Irish, and Navajo, and even constructed languages such as Klingon.

Here's a more detailed list of the languages available on Duolingo:

Duolingo Pricing

Duolingo aims to create a learning platform that is free and accessible. The site is completely free to use, with ads and some limitations. If you want an ad-free experience with some additional perks, there is Super Duolingo. Super Duolingo(which costs around $13/mo,FREE trail for 2 weeks) is a premium addition to the Duolingo experience. With Super Duolingo, your benefits include:

• No ads: Learn without interruptions

• Unlimited Hearts: Enable Unlimited Hearts so mistakes won’t slow you down

• Personalized Practice. Make a mistake? No problem, you’ll receive a personalized lesson to practice your mistakes.

• Unlimited attempts at Legendary challenges. Master each of your units by reaching Legendary status!

Duolingo Pros and Cons

What is Babbel?

Babbel is a popular online subscription-based language learning app and platform.It’s a German company based in Berlin and has been around since 2007.

Babbel is an immersive learning platform where you can learn via interactive lessons, Toucan, Babbel Magazine, live classes, podcasts, and videos.It covers reading, listening, speaking, and writing thoroughly enough that you will need to take notes and reference them as you go. The lessons might feel dull, but they are among the most rigorous I've come across and really push your comprehension. Its lessons are interactive and designed to be compact, typically lasting about 10-15 minutes, to facilitate consistent, daily practice. Babbel emphasizes practical language skills, teaching vocabulary and grammar in the context of everyday situations.

The focus of Babbel is on simulating real-life conversations to get you speaking a new language in as little as three weeks.Choose Babbel if you are looking for a challenge. It won't hold your hand or even let you progress until you get an exercise correct. Its live classes are also an exceptional value.

What You'll Learn with Babbel?

Babbel offers a fantastic combination of advanced learning activities-from listening, speaking (they have responsive technology which will correct your pronunciation), reading, and writing to section review sessions. 

For the first couple minutes, you might be tasked with listening to new words or phrases and then repeating them. Then the lesson will quickly transition into a digital flashcards drill for a few minutes, before shifting gears again into a short grammatical or conjugation lesson.

From there, you might be asked to type in words or phrases on your keyboard or complete a fill-in-the-blank exercise by following a mock conversation. The drills and practice exercises are similar for all Babbel language courses, including French and Italian.

They also have a podcast that you can download to work more language learning into your day.

Languages Available on Babbel

Babbel offers 13 languages for English speakers, each with courses available up to specific levels of proficiency.

• Spanish (European and Mexican) courses and content in the self-study platform and in Babbel Live online classes up to level C1

• French courses and content available in the self-study platform up to level B2 and in Babbel Live online classes up to level C1

• German courses and content available in the self-study platform up to level B2 and in Babbel Live online classes up to level C1

• Italian courses and content available in the self-study platform up to level B2 and in Babbel Live online classes up to level C1

• Portuguese (Brazil) courses and content available up to level B1

• Polish courses and content available up to level A2

• Russian courses available up to level A1 with additional content up to level A2

• Dutch courses available up to level B1 with additional content up to level B2

• Turkish courses and content available up to level A2

• Danish courses available up to level A2  with extra content  up to level B1 

• Norwegian courses and content available up to level A2

• Swedish courses available up to level B1 with extra content up to level B2 

• Indonesian courses and content available up to level A2

Babbel Pricing

Like most other language learning app and platform, you have to pay for a subscription in order to use Babbel. The cost of a Babbel subscription can vary depending on several factors, including your location, the duration and type of your subscription, and whether you purchase directly through Babbel, partner website, Google, or Apple. Here is the price on the official website:

• 1 month: $17.95/mo to access to all languages
  

• 3 months: $15.25/mo to access to all languages

• 6 months: $13.45/mo to access to all language

• 12 months: $8.95/mo to access to all language
  

• Lifetime: $299 to access to all language

Registering with Babbel is completely free, and the first lesson of every course is free to try. Depending on the language you choose, that's 30-80 free lessons!This allows you to interact with their product, see how their lessons are structured, and view our course topics before deciding to subscribe. 

You can try out Babbel subscriptions without any worries thanks to our 20-day money-back guarantee. If you are not satisfied with our product, you can cancel your subscription and request your money back.

Babbel Pros and Cons

If you subscribe and make a purchase at Babbel, don't forget to sign up at Extrabux！(What is Extrabux) , then you can enjoy up to 12% super cashback on your purchase from Extrabux! 

Rosetta Stone vs. Duolingo vs. Babbel: Comparison Table

Conclusion: Which One Should You Choose?

Summing up, we can say that it's hard to determine which platform is best. Each is great in its niche.Choosing the platform that's the best for you is not as hard if you know what you're looking for. In the end, the only person who can tell which program would be better for you is you. It all depends on your learning style and preferences. 

Rosetta Stone is known for its immersive approach and comprehensive lessons.It’ll get you to basic conversations pretty quickly, and will drill you again and again until the lessons truly sink into your long-term memory. And even if you want to eventually go into more intermediate content, Rosetta Stone is still a high quality start.However,with no free trial on Rosetta Stone, it isn’t as accessible. It could benefit some, but could just as easily confuse and frustrate others. If you are looking for a comprehensive app that can start you with the basics and develop your skills from the ground, there are better options out there.

Duolingo is praised for its gamified learning experience and accessibility. It works best for the hobbyist, the language-dabbler who is interested in a new language but not gung-ho about their studies. Because of its highly casual and somewhat minimalist approach to language teaching, Duolingo can make a new language approachable and introduce foundational vocabulary.

Babbel works best for more avid language learners who’d like to get a more applicable education. While there isn’t as much gamification in its format, Babbel’s lessons have more structure and instruction, organized so that you can speak and understand a number of basic phrases.It has many additional resources that can develop your skills, and you can jump around and choose what you want to study and which tools you want to use in whichever order you like.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you really become fluent with Rosetta Stone?

Although Rosetta Stone will help you build a solid foundation, it won't make you fluent. When you feel like you've maxed out on learning with Rosetta Stone, you might need to push yourself into situations in which you're actively using the language instead of reacting to an app.

Can you become fluent on Duolingo?

While Duolingo can be a helpful tool for language learning, it's unlikely to make you fluent on its own. Fluency requires immersion and practice beyond what Duolingo offers, such as conversations with native speakers and engaging with real-world content. 

Is Babbel no longer free?

No, Babbel is not free, but you can try it for free with its introductory lessons. 

What's the  difference between Duolingo and Babbel?

The main difference between Duolingo and Babbel is that while Babbel focuses on a more robust and traditional form of teaching a foreign language through comprehensive lessons, Duolingo tries to gamify your learning and offer a modern experience.

Is Babbel enough to be fluent?

Babbel has comprehensive language lessons that can improve your language skills, but it probably won’t be enough to become fluent. If you want to reach fluency quickly, you can mix and match multiple resources to make sure that you are improving all language skills. You can also practice listening and speaking with native speakers to learn to apply your target language in the real world.

Is Babbel better than Rosetta Stone?

While both Babbel and Rosetta Stone are reputable language learning platforms, Babbel's more balanced approach with grammar instruction and engaging lessons, coupled with its focus on real-world communication, generally makes it a better overall choice for many learners, especially those who prefer a structured, interactive, and communicative method. 

Can two people use one Babbel account?

No, Babbel does not allow two people to share one account; each user needs their own individual subscription and account. 

How much is Duolingo per month?

As of March 2025, Duolingo's Super plan costs $12.99 per month, or $59.99 per year. The Super Family plan costs $9.99 per month, or $119.99 per year. 

How to get Babbel for free without paying?

Registering with Babbel is completely free, and the first lesson of every course is free to try. Depending on the language you choose, that's 30-80 free lessons! 

Is Babbel actually worth it?

Ideal for those who are adept at learning languages (or already speak a few), Babbel teaches phrases and vocabulary you'll actually use and offers excellent online classes.

Extrabux is an international cashback shopping site, offering up to 30% cashback from 10,000+ Stores!

Squarespace, SkinStore, MATCHESFASHION, The Wall Street Journal, NordVPN, Visible, Armani Exchange, Sam's Club, PUMA, AliExpress, Card Cash, NET-A-PORTER, Udacity, Udemy, Selfridges, LOOKFANTASTIC, Vimeo, Coach Outlet, lululemon, PrettyLittleThing, Booking.com, Ripley's Aquarium, iHerb, Groupon, etc.

Join to get $20 welcome bonus now! (How does Welcome Bonus work?)