Babbel expert review + alternatives to master Italian

First Impressions

From the outset, Babbel Italian boasts a clean, elegant design that’s well-organized. The main page allows users to find their level, track their progress, and access various features easily. However, overall during the exploration of the app, I encountered very limiting speaking activities which is the main focus of this review.

Navigating Babbel Italian

The home page offers several sections, including a lesson plan, which allows users to choose courses by level or topic.

For Italian, Babbel covers levels,  A1, A2, B1, and B2, but it doesn’t seem to offer more advanced levels at the moment.

Filtering by Level

When navigating by level, you start with basic lessons. The design here is straightforward and organized, which can be particularly helpful for beginners.

Filtering by Topic

Choosing your lessons by topic allows you to focus on specific skills like grammar, listening, and, most importantly, speaking. This section promises to help with pronunciation and communication skills.

Live Classes

The user has immediate access to a couple of live classes, although you need a lifetime subscription to access more than the two free classes provided.

Live classes come with PDF materials. However, in my opinion, these classes act more like a supplement rather than a primary learning tool because of the way they are structured, almost totally independent from the main learning path.

Update, September 2026: Babbel now says on its own site that Babbel Live is no longer available to individual consumers, so the live classes described here may not be offered to you.

Lesson Structure and Content

The first section of the lesson focuses on speaking, requiring users to pronounce individual words — a good start for beginners. This is followed by sections where you choose translations and correct answers based on images and sentences. The exercises include:

Speaking Exercises: Users are prompted to say specific words.

Translation Tasks: Involves translating Italian words to English.

Grammar Lessons: Detailed explanations integrated with exercises.

These formats ensure a variety of learning methods, though I found that the speaking exercises could be more extensive and challenging.

Review Features

Babbel also features a review section where you can practice vocabulary through flashcards, writing, and speaking exercises.

This compartmentalizes previous lessons for targeted review, making it a nice tool for reinforcing learning.

Prices and Plans (September 2026)

Babbel is subscription-based. Its own review page lists $8.95 a month on the annual plan (billed as $107.40 for the year), $13.45 a month on the six-month plan (billed as $80.70 every six months) and a one-time $299.99 for lifetime access. One- and three-month plans exist and cost more per month. Babbel offers discounts to new users, with 50% off the twelve-month plan on its coupon page, and a 14-day money-back guarantee. Prices change often, so check the current numbers before you buy. You can try a free lesson at every level first.

Babbel Speak

Babbel has added Babbel Speak, an AI-powered feature in beta for practicing pronunciation and conversation with instant feedback. Babbel says it is free to use. Babbel itself calls it a beta, so if speaking is your priority, test how well it handles your Italian before you rely on it.

Babbel Compared with Other Options for Italian

Babbel is less gamified than Duolingo and more structured, with grammar built into the lessons. Read my Duolingo review if you want to compare them. For free audio-based foundations, see my Language Transfer review. For speaking practice with a real person, my italki review explains how to find a tutor.

Overall Assessment

Babbel Italian’s lessons are longer and more comprehensive compared to other language apps. The app includes tracking systems similar to other apps like Duolingo.

Despite the good design and variety of exercises, the app’s speaking practice seems limited. For a more well-rounded approach, I would recommend users to use supplementary methods beyond what Babbel offers.