The Best Apps to Learn French, and Where Each One Stops
French has the opposite problem to a language like Japanese: everyone teaches it. Every major app and school in this category offers French, so "who teaches French" tells you nothing. The useful question is where each one stops, and that is a question most roundups never ask.
Start free, then buy a human, and know the ceiling before you buy. Duolingo is the sensible free start. italki has no ceiling: teachers work at any level, with community tutors from 5 dollars a lesson. Lingoda teaches French in scheduled live classes but stops at B2, while its English and German courses run to C1, which matters if you are aiming higher.
Mondly teaches French from your own native language if English is not your first. Prices and course details verified August 7, 2026.
The thing to check before you pay: where French stops
Because every provider teaches French, the differences are not about availability. They are about how far the product is built to go, and one of them varies in a way that is easy to miss.
B2 is not a bad place to arrive. It is generally enough to work and study in French, and Lingoda gives you a certificate at each level completed, which it says is accepted by many institutions worldwide. But if your target is C1 or near-native French, the scheduled-class route runs out and you move to a teacher. It is worth knowing this is a French-specific limit rather than a fact about live classes in general: our best apps to learn German covers the language where the same school runs all the way to C1.
Duolingo, the free starting point
French is one of Duolingo's longest-established courses and a sensible free start. Every Duolingo course is free with ads, and the paid Super and Max tiers add an ad-free experience and AI features. Used honestly, it builds a daily habit, a few hundred words and the basic patterns, which is exactly what the beginning needs.
Its limit is the same in French as everywhere else: it cannot hear you speak and correct you, and it cannot hold an unscripted conversation. In French specifically that matters more than in Spanish or Italian, because French spelling and pronunciation diverge sharply. A learner can read French confidently and still be unintelligible out loud, and no app catches that. Duolingo is named here as a benchmark; we do not link to it.
italki, the option with no ceiling
A marketplace where you book one-to-one video lessons with individual French teachers who set their own prices, with no subscription and no imposed schedule. italki splits teachers into professional teachers, who must upload documents showing training and teaching experience, and community tutors, who provide conversation practice. Its published bands are 10 to 120 dollars per lesson for professional teachers and 5 to 120 dollars for community tutors, verified August 18, 2026.
For French this is the step that fixes the pronunciation problem an app cannot touch, and it is also the only route on this page with no upper limit: a teacher can work at C1, prepare you for the DELF or DALF, or drill a specific regional accent.
The money mechanic, stated on every italki page we publish. You buy italki Credits rather than lessons, and italki's payment terms state that no refunds are given for credits purchased. Credits are removed after twelve months of account inactivity, and lesson packages must be used within six months. Top up for the lessons you have actually scheduled. The real protection is the trial-lesson satisfaction guarantee, which can be claimed twice within 48 hours.
Our italki review covers the tiers and the dispute process, and how much italki costs works through the monthly arithmetic.
See French teachers and their rates
Lingoda, scheduled classes to B2
A live online school rather than an app: real teachers, small group classes on a fixed schedule, a curriculum, and a certificate for each CEFR level completed, which Lingoda says is accepted by many institutions worldwide. Class materials can be downloaded free and there is a quiz after each class. For a learner who does not self-start, having a class in the calendar is the whole value.
What it costs, as Lingoda published it on August 18, 2026: group-class plans at 44.99 euros for 4 classes, 71.99 euros for 8, 116.99 euros for 16 and 161.99 euros for 32, which works out from about 11.49 euros per class down to about 4.99 euros as the plan grows. Prices are shown in euros by default with a currency switcher, so what you see may differ.
A note on why we re-read this: when we checked again on August 7, 2026, four days after first publishing these figures, three of the four had risen, the 32-class plan by 62 euros. Lingoda moves its prices faster than most products we cover, so treat any price you read anywhere, including here, as a figure with a date on it rather than a fact.
The honest limits. The French curriculum stops at B2, as above. Credits are tied to the subscription rather than owned outright, so they do not outlive it. Cancellation rules differ by situation: seven days before the class is the standard rule to cancel and keep the credit, three days applies only on the monthly plan, and a booking cancelled within thirty minutes returns the credit regardless.
And a trial converts into a paying subscription unless you act, which is the single most common complaint about this kind of product. Our Lingoda review goes through all of it, and Lingoda vs Babbel compares the live-class model with a self-study course.
See Lingoda French class options
Mondly, if English is not your first language
A self-study app covering 41 languages whose genuine differentiator is that it teaches from your own native language rather than routing every course through English. If your household speaks Turkish, Polish, Spanish or Portuguese, that removes a translation step. Mondly's own French page describes five-minute lessons built around practical topics and real-life conversations, designed by its linguists. The free tier covers daily lessons, challenges and vocabulary review; Premium adds conversation practice, pronunciation lessons, grammar guides, conjugation tables, kids content and augmented-reality lessons.
Two honest limits. The conversation feature is scripted practice rather than an open-ended tutor, so treat it as speaking drills rather than a substitute for a teacher. And the refund position is regional: Mondly's terms state amounts are non-refundable unless stated otherwise, with a 14-day cooling-off right only for UK and EU subscribers. Ratings differ sharply by platform and we attribute both: the US App Store listing showed 4.7 out of 5 from 33,000 ratings, while Trustpilot showed 2.6 out of 5 from 779 reviews, with the low scores driven by billing rather than teaching. Our Mondly review works through it.
See what Mondly Premium includes
Babbel, named benchmark
Babbel does teach French, and it is a well-regarded structured self-study course, so it belongs in an honest list. We name it as a benchmark and do not link to it. Two practical notes: Babbel publishes no single price because it varies by plan and promotion, and like every self-study product it cannot correct your spoken French. For a direct comparison of the self-study course model against live classes, see Lingoda vs Babbel, and our Babbel review covers the product itself.
The options side by side
| Option | What it is | Where it stops | Price as published |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duolingo | Free self-study app | Cannot hear or correct your speech | Free with ads; paid tiers add ad-free and AI |
| italki | One-to-one teacher marketplace | No ceiling; any level, DELF and DALF prep | 5 to 120 dollars per lesson depending on teacher type |
| Lingoda | Live scheduled group classes | B2 in French (C1 in English and German) | 44.99 to 161.99 euros per group plan |
| Mondly | Self-study app, 41 languages | Scripted conversation, not a tutor | No public price; free tier plus Premium |
| Babbel | Structured self-study course | Cannot correct spoken French | No single published price |
Prices and course details verified on each company's own pages on August 7, 2026.
What we would do
Start with the free app and give it a month, because in French the free stage genuinely works and there is no reason to pay before you know the habit will stick. The moment you can read simple French but cannot say it, buy a human: that is the specific failure French produces, and it is the one thing no app on this page solves.
If you need someone else to impose the schedule, Lingoda's classes do that well up to B2. If you already know you want to go past upper intermediate, start with a teacher and skip the ceiling question entirely.
If you are still choosing a language or comparing the apps in general, our roundup of the best language learning apps covers the category, and the genuinely free options covers what you can do without paying at all.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best app to learn French?
It depends which stage you are at, and French is unusual in that every major provider teaches it, so the question is not who offers French but how far each one takes you. To build a free daily habit and your first few hundred words, Duolingo is the obvious start. To actually speak, and to keep going past intermediate, a native teacher on italki has no ceiling, with community tutors from 5 dollars a lesson. For scheduled live classes with a certificate, Lingoda teaches French from A1 to B2. To learn from your own native language rather than through English, Mondly is the better fit.
How far can Lingoda take you in French?
To B2, which is upper intermediate, and no further. This is worth knowing because Lingoda's ceiling is not the same in every language: its English and German courses run all the way to C1, French, Spanish and Business English stop at B2, and Italian stops at A2. B2 is a genuinely useful place to arrive, enough for work and study in most settings, but if your target is C1 or near-native French, the structured-school route runs out and you would move to a teacher who can work at any level.
Is Duolingo good for learning French?
For the early stage, yes. French is one of Duolingo's longest-established courses, every Duolingo course is free with ads, and the paid Super and Max tiers add an ad-free experience and AI features. It builds vocabulary and a daily habit, which is exactly what the beginning needs. What it cannot do is hear you speak French and correct you, or hold an unscripted conversation. Treat it as the free layer that gets you ready for a real conversation rather than the thing that makes you conversational.
How much does it cost to learn French properly?
The free stage takes you further in French than people expect. Speaking is where money starts. Using italki's typical per-lesson figures, a weekly lesson with a community tutor works out around 16 to 80 dollars a month and with a professional teacher around 40 to 160 dollars a month, which is our arithmetic from their bands rather than a quote. Lingoda publishes group-class plans from 44.99 to 161.99 euros, which is about 11.49 euros per class down to about 4.99. Prices verified August 18, 2026.
Which option is best for a child learning French?
For younger children, a parent-run setup works best. italki states that most of its users are adults, asks parents to create and manage the account and communicate with teachers, tells parents to supervise lessons, and provides a Kids lesson category filter. Mondly includes kids content in Premium and teaches from your household's own language, which helps when French is a third language at home. A scheduled beginner class such as Lingoda's suits a teenager who can hold their own in a small group.
Every price, level range and product detail here was read from the companies' own pages and verified on August 7, 2026; Lingoda's CEFR ranges come from its own FAQ. Ratings are attributed to the platforms they came from and are never presented as our own score. How we work is on our methodology page.