Language app comparisons almost always end in a score out of ten, which is useless: these are products with different goals, and "best" depends entirely on what you are trying to do. So let us go by goal instead.
Three models
| Duolingo | Babbel | Tokki | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Format | Gamified exercises | Structured lessons by theme | Messenger with word replacement |
| Curriculum | Fixed, by track | Fixed, by situation | None — comes from your chat |
| Needs another person | No | No | Yes (a friend or public group) |
| Separate study time | Yes | Yes | No |
| Model | Free with ads and an energy cap; subscription removes it | Subscription; lifetime deals run often | Free |
| Best for | Starting from zero | Grammar and practical situations | Daily contact with the language |
Duolingo: the best beginning
If you have never touched the language, Duolingo is the right answer and the rest of this page does not matter for a few weeks. It solves the hardest problem of all — getting you to show up on day one — better than anything else, and it does it free.
The ceiling comes later. The format trains recognition far more than production, the energy system cuts a free session at roughly 15 to 20 minutes a day, and the streak measures attendance rather than progress. You can hold 200 days and still not order a coffee.
Babbel: the most serious about structure
Short lessons built by linguists, organised around real situations instead of a game track. It explains grammar properly rather than hoping you infer it from repetition — which matters enormously in a language with cases, like German.
It is paid, with no free tier meaningful for continuous use. If you want to understand why a sentence takes the shape it does, it is the strongest of the three, and the gap is not small.
Tokki: no study time
Our bet is that the most common reason people quit is not difficulty but the absence of room in the day. So Tokki does not ask for room: it moves into the messages you already send. You add words to a conversation's vocabulary and they replace themselves inside everyone's messages, with a tap to see the original and hear it pronounced.
Because there is no curriculum, the vocabulary comes from what you actually talk about — and the quizzes are generated from those words rather than from a generic list.
Where Tokki is the wrong choice
The part usually left out of a comparison written by the product itself:
- You have nobody to talk to and do not want a public group. Without someone on the other end the model does not work, and both Duolingo and Babbel work alone.
- You are starting from absolute zero. Swapping words into messages assumes you can already write something. Spend a few weeks on Duolingo first; we are not going to pretend otherwise.
- You want grammar explained. We do not teach cases. Babbel does.
- You need an exam or certificate. Not our territory.
They are not mutually exclusive
The combination we most often see work is not picking one: it is Duolingo or Babbel to build the base, plus an ongoing daily conversation so that base does not rot. The reason so many people study for six months and forget everything is that the base was never used on anyone.
Features and billing models checked in August 2026. Prices change often and vary by region — confirm in the store.