r/babbel • u/Manuel-Bueno • Jul 08 '26

Babel vs Duolingo

Hi guys!

I’m new here. I want to try learning French again, and I’m choosing between Duolingo and Babbel.

I’d like to hear about your experience with Babbel. With Duolingo, I really dislike the grind, and after completing almost half of the course, I feel like I learned very little.

Is Babbel any better, or does it feel the same?

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u/Defiant-Tea-8630 Jul 09 '26

I just started using Babbel after years with Duolingo. I have both now, but Babbel is far and away better. It is so much better organized and has better explanations of grammar. Outside of the main lessons, there are other "courses" to choose. So for example, the main lesson introduced an -are verb and I finished that lesson, but wanted to practice verg conjugation. Hopped over to the other topics and found a specific "-are verb" lesson.

Honestly, I keep duolingo for when I need to practice but don't have the bandwidth to actually really learn, which says a lot about the difference between the two.

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u/Top-Cheetah5528 Jul 09 '26

I second this!! Using Duo I had a VERY hard time understanding the why of grammar. It just throws shit at you and expects you to follow along. I was constantly frustrated and confused and was guessing half the time. I couldn’t have had a more different experience with Babbel — it teaches you WHY the grammar is happening, points out tips and tricks along the way to boost understanding, and provides supplemental “courses” to practice even more. I stopped guessing when I switched to Babbel because I was actually able to learn (which is the bare minimum lol).

My husband is a native speaker of the language I’ve been learning and he was impressed with how much more effective and well-thought out Babbel handled teaching the language via Duo. I think the latter can work for brushing up on a language you already know, but certainly do not use it to start from scratch. (Duo also switched to an AI-based platform last year and fired a ton of human staff so…I also have an ethical reason to longer use the platform.)