Disclosure: We may earn a commission if you sign up to Babbel through the link below, at no extra cost to you. We earn nothing from Anki, which has not changed how they are ranked.
Babbel vs Anki
Babbel decides what you learn and when you review it. Anki does neither, is free, and beats Babbel at the one thing it does.
Side by side
| Babbel | Anki | |
|---|---|---|
| How you study | App only | Structured self-study course, App only |
| Supports up to | B1 | C2 |
| Typical cost | about $14/month | Free |
| Last checked | 2026-08-07 | 2026-08-07 |
Pick Babbel if
You want a path laid out and will not build one yourself. That is worth paying for, and it is the honest case for any app subscription.
Pick Anki if
You already know what you need to memorise — a textbook, a class, a word list — and want retention rather than curriculum. Anki is free, and its spaced repetition is better than anything bundled into a paid app.
Pick neither if
Most people who get somewhere use both: a course for structure, Anki for the vocabulary that course throws at you. They are not really competitors.
The same target, both ways
Hours to B1 at an hour a day, five days a week — the highest level both of these support, so the only one they can honestly be compared at. Method multipliers are 1.3×–3.5× for Babbel and 1.25×–1.7× for Anki, rising with the level in both cases.
What each costs over that project
Spanish to B1 at that pace runs about 33 months. Over that stretch:
- Babbel — about $14/month, about $462 across 33 months — and it keeps charging after that if you keep going.
- Anki — Free, nothing at all over the whole project.
Prices were checked on 2026-08-07 and 2026-08-07 and go stale; confirm on each merchant's own site before paying. A one-off and a subscription are also not comparable as headline prices — the break-even is about nineteen months, and most real projects run longer than that.
They do not stop in the same place
Anki supports up to C2 and Babbel up to B1. Above B1 the comparison stops being between these two and becomes a question about method — the levels past B1 are made of producing sentences you have not seen and finding out which were wrong.
Who each one is wrong for
Babbel
- Anyone targeting B2 or above — app-only study stalls well below it
- Learners who need a language outside Babbel’s 14
- People who want grammar explained in depth rather than absorbed
Anki
- People who want a curriculum — Anki is a tool, not a course
- Anyone unwilling to spend an evening on setup
- Learners who need speaking practice, which this does not provide at all
What this comparison is not
We have not run these two side by side for a month and scored them. Everything above is either documented fact — price, method, the level each product covers — or the same matching logic the calculator uses. You will not find a star rating here, because we have not earned the right to give one.
Work out what your target actually takes first — it changes which of these two is even a candidate.