🇫🇷 Best app to learn French
The best app to learn French, honestly compared
Updated:
Quick answer
For a free daily habit, Duolingo. For structured grammar, Babbel. To speak French out loud and get corrected in English as you go, SpeakBase: Kate holds a real spoken conversation with you, the first lesson is free and Premium is $11.99 a month. Combining one course app with daily conversation works better than any single app.
Many English speakers read French reasonably well after school and still cannot follow or answer a native speaker. That gap is listening and speaking, and course apps are weakest exactly there.
What makes French hard to speak
French spelling hides its sounds: many final letters are silent and words run together in speech. Grammatical gender, the passé composé with être or avoir, and where pronouns go before the verb trip English speakers up in conversation, where there is no time to think.
The options at a glance
| App | Best for | Speaking practice | Cost model |
|---|---|---|---|
| SpeakBase (Kate, AI tutor) | Actually speaking: real conversations out loud, corrected as you go | Yes, every lesson is spoken; mistakes are corrected and explained in English | First lesson free, no card; Premium $11.99 a month for 150 minutes of conversation |
| Duolingo | A free daily habit and first vocabulary | Short repeat-after-me exercises; little open conversation | Free core app, with an optional paid subscription |
| Babbel | Learners who want clear explanations and a course order | Speech exercises inside lessons; conversation is scripted | Paid subscription |
| Busuu | Getting written and spoken answers reviewed by native speakers | Recorded answers reviewed by the community, not live | Free tier, with a Premium subscription |
| Pimsleur | Learning by ear on a commute or a walk | You answer prompts out loud, but nobody hears or corrects you | Paid; the first 30-minute lesson is free |
| italki (human tutors) | Learners who want a real person and can schedule lessons | Yes, live with a person | Pay per lesson; each tutor sets their own price, in US dollars |
Competitor details were checked on 17 October 2026 and change often; prices are not listed where they could not be confirmed on the provider's own site.
Each option, in one paragraph
SpeakBase (Kate, AI tutor): live voice conversation with an ai tutor
Best for actually speaking: real conversations out loud, corrected as you go. First lesson free, no card; Premium $11.99 a month for 150 minutes of conversation. The catch: not a full grammar course and not a human; pair it with an app or a book for reading and writing.
Duolingo: gamified lessons
Best for a free daily habit and first vocabulary. Free core app, with an optional paid subscription. The catch: you can finish many units and still freeze in a real conversation.
Babbel: structured lessons with grammar explanations
Best for learners who want clear explanations and a course order. Paid subscription. The catch: scripted dialogues do not answer back the way a person does.
Busuu: course plus community feedback
Best for getting written and spoken answers reviewed by native speakers. Free tier, with a Premium subscription. The catch: feedback arrives later, not in the moment you speak.
Pimsleur: audio course
Best for learning by ear on a commute or a walk. Paid; the first 30-minute lesson is free. The catch: fixed recordings: no feedback on what you actually said.
italki (human tutors): marketplace of paid human tutors
Best for learners who want a real person and can schedule lessons. Pay per lesson; each tutor sets their own price, in US dollars. The catch: booking, time zones and cost per hour add up if you want daily practice.
Our pick for each goal
- Hold a real conversation in French: SpeakBase (Kate, AI tutor). The only option here that talks back, live, and corrects what you actually said, at any hour.
- A free daily habit: Duolingo. Free core app and a streak that gets you to open it every day.
- Clear grammar explanations: Babbel. Lessons in a set order with grammar explained.
- Learn by ear on a commute: Pimsleur. Audio lessons you can follow without looking at a screen.
- A human teacher on a schedule: italki (human tutors). Choose your own tutor and pay per lesson.
Where SpeakBase fits
SpeakBase is not trying to replace a course app. It does the one thing course apps cannot: a live spoken French conversation. Kate, the AI tutor, talks with you out loud about your day, your plans or a role-play, notices your mistakes, gives you the correct sentence, explains it in plain English and asks you to say it again. Your first lesson is free with no card; Premium is $11.99 a month for 150 minutes of conversation. Not sure where you stand? The free French level test gives you a CEFR level in about three minutes, and the AI French tutor page shows what a lesson looks like.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best app to learn French?
For a free daily habit, Duolingo. For structured grammar, Babbel. To speak French out loud and get corrected in English as you go, SpeakBase: Kate holds a real spoken conversation with you, the first lesson is free and Premium is $11.99 a month. Combining one course app with daily conversation works better than any single app.
Can you become conversational in French with Duolingo alone?
Duolingo is a good free way to build a habit and first vocabulary, but its speaking exercises are short and scripted. Most learners who only use it can recognise a lot of French and still freeze in a real conversation. Add regular spoken practice, with a person or with an AI tutor such as Kate on SpeakBase, to close that gap.
What is the best free way to start learning French?
Start with Duolingo's free core app for a daily habit or Busuu's free tier, and take SpeakBase's free first lesson to hear yourself speak French with a tutor who corrects you in English. No card is needed for either.
How much does SpeakBase cost for French?
The first lesson is free with no card. Premium is $11.99 a month, or $10 a month billed annually, and includes 150 minutes of French conversation with Kate every month, all role-plays and your personal review cards. Cancel any time.
Can SpeakBase help with French pronunciation?
Kate hears your spoken French and responds to it, and she corrects words that come out wrong. It does not give you a pronunciation score; the value is in using the language out loud every day.
More on French
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3 minutes · free · no card · then keep talking with Kate