Last updated: August 2026. Written by Josh Hutcheson, OnlineCourseing editor. Prices, tutor counts and course availability verified directly against each provider’s own pages on 9 August 2026; study-time figures from the US Foreign Service Institute. See our review methodology.
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What is the best app to learn French? Babbel, at $8.95 a month on the 12-month plan ($107.40 billed once). It is the most complete self-study French course at that price. But budget from the start for the thing apps do worst: understanding spoken French.
- Best for listening: InnerFrench and slow-French podcasts — free, and the real bottleneck
- Best for structure: Lingoda’s live CEFR classes, French A1 to B2
- Best for speaking: a tutor. Preply lists 6,203 French tutors, averaging $21 a lesson
- Money-saver: a Belgian or Moroccan tutor averages $25–$28/hr against $35 for one in France
French has a specific, well-documented failure mode: people study it for years, read it comfortably, and then cannot follow two French people talking to each other. That is not a lack of vocabulary. It is the gap between French as it is written and French as it is spoken — words running together, half the sounds dropped, and a casual register that textbooks barely touch.
Almost every app is good at written French and weak at that gap. So the useful way to spend money on French is: one course app to build the foundation, and then deliberate listening and speaking work. This guide is ordered that way.
What each option costs, and what it fixes
Before you spend money on the wrong online course, read this.
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| Option | Cost | Fixes |
|---|---|---|
| Babbel | $8.95/mo on 12 months ($107.40 once) | Grammar, sentence patterns, foundation |
| InnerFrench & podcasts | Free | Understanding real spoken French |
| Lingoda | Monthly class packages | Structure, CEFR levels A1–B2, certificates |
| Preply / italki | From $3/hr; Preply averages $21/lesson | Speaking, correction, accountability |
| Pimsleur | Subscription, 7-day free trial | Pronunciation and hands-free practice |
| AI practice apps | Free tiers, paid upgrades | Cheap, low-stakes speaking reps |
| Duolingo | Free core app | Daily habit |
Babbel — the best foundation for French
French is one of Babbel’s flagship courses and it shows. Lessons are built around complete, usable sentences rather than isolated vocabulary, grammar is explained in context as it appears, and the review system brings material back before it decays. For getting from nothing to a solid A2 in French, it is the most efficient paid option on this list.
In the US it costs $8.95 per month on the 12-month plan, billed as $107.40 once a year. A single month is $17.95 and three months is $45.75, so the annual plan runs at roughly half the month-to-month rate. Students pay around $6.28 a month, and there are similar discounts for military, healthcare workers and teachers. Full breakdown in our Babbel cost guide.
Where it falls short: the audio is clear, careful and slower than real French. That is right for a beginner and it is exactly why Babbel alone leaves you unable to follow a French film. Treat it as the foundation, and start listening to unscripted French earlier than feels comfortable.
Free listening resources — the part that actually closes the gap
This is the highest-value thing on the page and it costs nothing. French learners consistently report that the jump came from listening to a lot of French pitched slightly above their level — not from another app.
InnerFrench is the standard recommendation for intermediates: a podcast delivered entirely in clear but natural French on genuinely interesting topics, which means you keep listening. Slow-news podcasts and graded French YouTube fill the same role at lower levels. The point is volume of real speech, not exercises.
Once you can follow those comfortably, move to unscripted French — interviews, podcasts made for French people, television without subtitles for stretches. This is where liaison and dropped syllables stop being an obstacle, and no paid app substitutes for the hours. We have no affiliate relationship with any of these and earn nothing from recommending them.
Lingoda — live French classes with real levels
Lingoda runs live small-group French classes with qualified teachers on a CEFR-aligned curriculum, currently covering French from A1 to B2, bookable around the clock. It is the right call if self-study keeps failing you and you need a scheduled class with other people in it, or if you need documented levels rather than a private sense of progress.
You buy monthly class packages, with the per-class cost falling as the package grows. Because the plans change regularly, current numbers live in our Lingoda cost guide, and our Lingoda French review covers the classes themselves.
Where it falls short: group classes move at the group’s pace and you speak far less than in a one-to-one lesson. It also stops at B2, so it will not carry you to advanced French.
Preply and italki — and a genuine way to pay less
Preply lists 6,203 French tutors — the deepest French bench of any platform we have checked — with lessons from $3 and averaging $21. italki covers the same need without a subscription, splitting teachers into qualified Professional Teachers and cheaper Community Tutors.
FRENCH IS NOT ONLY SPOKEN IN FRANCE
On Preply, tutors based in France average $35 an hour. Tutors in Canada average $30, Morocco $28 and Belgium $25 — all native or near-native francophones. If you are not specifically training for a Parisian accent, filtering by country is a ~29% saving for equivalent teaching. Native speakers overall average $35 against $25 for non-native tutors, the widest native premium of any language we have measured, so this filter is where the real money is.
Know Preply’s billing before committing: it is a subscription charged every 28 days, tied to one tutor, with a four-lesson minimum, and unscheduled lessons expire at renewal. Trial lessons are paid. See our Preply cost guide, or Preply vs italki to choose between them.
Pimsleur, AI practice and Duolingo
Pimsleur is audio-first with 30-minute hands-free lessons and a 7-day free trial. For French its value is pronunciation: nasal vowels and the French R are things you need to produce and have modelled, not read about. If you have a commute, it converts dead time into speaking practice. Our Pimsleur French review has the detail. It is narrow by design — little reading or writing.
AI practice apps are a reasonable bridge before you book a tutor. LingChat covers 60+ languages including French, with a free tier and paid upgrades; we are not quoting a price because its published plans currently disagree across sources, so check in-app. An AI will not reliably correct your accent or tell you that what you said was too formal for the situation.
Duolingo has a large free French course and is the best habit-builder here. It is also the weakest teacher: translating disconnected sentences will not prepare you for spoken French. Keep it for the streak. We earn nothing from Duolingo.
How long French actually takes
The US State Department’s Foreign Service Institute places French in Category I, its easiest group for English speakers, and allots 30 weeks, or 690 class hours, to reach professional speaking and listening proficiency.
Worth noting: 30 weeks is the top of the Category I range. Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and the Scandinavian languages are given 24 weeks; French and Spanish get 30. So French is among the most achievable languages for an English speaker, but it is not the very easiest, and the extra six weeks are largely the pronunciation and listening problem this page keeps returning to.
For scale, FSI gives Japanese and Korean 88 weeks. French is roughly a third of that. And remember this is full-time study — FSI describes about 23 class hours plus 17 self-study hours a week — so a part-time learner at fifteen minutes a day is on a very different timeline.
A realistic first 90 days of French
Days 1–30 — build the foundation. Babbel, 15 minutes a day, for sentence patterns and core vocabulary. Add Pimsleur if you have commuting time, because French pronunciation is easier to fix early than to unpick later.
Days 31–60 — start listening properly. Keep the daily app work and add slow-French podcasts or InnerFrench. Expect to understand very little at first; that is the process, not a verdict on you. Book your first tutor lesson at the end of this month.
Days 61–90 — speak weekly, listen daily. One tutor lesson a week, ideally filtering by country to keep the cost sensible, and unscripted French in your ears most days. The app becomes the least important part of your week, which is the sign it did its job.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free app to learn French?
Duolingo for building a daily habit, but free French podcasts will do more for you. Understanding spoken French is the main obstacle for most learners, and hours of listening fix it in a way that no free app does.
Why can I read French but not understand it when spoken?
Because spoken French runs words together through liaison and drops sounds that the written form keeps, and casual speech uses register that textbooks under-teach. It is the normal French experience and it is fixed by volume of listening, not by more grammar study.
How much does a French tutor cost?
On Preply, French lessons start from $3 and average $21, with native speakers averaging $35 an hour and non-native tutors $25. Tutors based in Belgium ($25), Morocco ($28) and Canada ($30) average less than tutors in France ($35) for equivalent teaching.
Is Babbel good for French?
Yes. French is one of its flagship courses and at $8.95 a month on the annual plan it is the best-value structured French course here. It will take you to a solid A2 and will not, on its own, make you able to follow natural conversation.
How long does it take to learn French?
The Foreign Service Institute allots 30 weeks, or 690 class hours, placing French in its easiest category alongside Spanish. That is full-time study with professional instructors, so part-time learners should plan for considerably longer.
The verdict
Start with Babbel at $8.95 a month on the annual plan — it is the best foundation at the price. Add free French listening from week five, because understanding spoken French is the obstacle that actually stops people, and it is the one apps are worst at. Then add a Preply or italki tutor, filtering by country to keep it affordable, or Lingoda if you need a fixed timetable and documented levels.
French rewards this order specifically. Foundation, then ears, then mouth — and the ears are the part most people skip.
GET STARTED WITH BABBEL FRENCH →
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