The Best Apps to Learn Italian, and How Far Each One Takes You
Italian is one of the friendlier languages to start. It uses the Roman alphabet and is spelled largely as it sounds, so the free stage takes you further than it would in a language with a new script. That makes the real question not which app to start with, but how you get past the beginner plateau, because no app can hear you speak and correct you.
Start free, then buy a human. Every Duolingo course is free, which makes it the sensible place to build your first few hundred Italian words. When you are ready to speak, a native teacher on italki works at any level, with community tutors from 5 dollars a lesson. Lingoda teaches Italian in scheduled live classes, but only to A1 to A2, so it fits a beginner and stops there. And Mondly teaches Italian from your own native language if English is not your first. Prices and course details verified July 23, 2026.
The order that works
Italian is well served by apps, so the choice looks harder than it is. Rank the options by what they physically do rather than by their marketing and the sequence falls out:
- Free app for vocabulary and habit. Italian spelling is regular, so this stage is quick and genuinely useful. Paying for it is optional.
- A human as soon as you can form sentences. This is the step people delay for years, and it is the one that turns app knowledge into speaking.
- Keep the app underneath for daily reps between lessons, which is the job it is genuinely good at.
Everything below is sorted into that order rather than by which company we can earn from.
Duolingo, the free starting point
Duolingo states plainly that everyone can access its courses without spending anything, whether you enrol in one course or forty, and that free learners see advertising while paid subscribers get an ad-free experience and extra features. Its paid tiers are Super, described as an ad-free experience with gamification perks, and Max, which adds AI-powered features including roleplay and tailored grammar explanations. Italian is one of its long-established courses.
Why it is first: for the vocabulary-and-habit stage, a free product you will actually open every day beats a paid one you will not, and Italian's regular spelling means the early wins come fast.
Where it stops, honestly: it cannot hear your Italian and correct it, and it cannot hold an unscripted conversation. Learners who stay in the app for a year and expect to speak are usually disappointed, and that is a design boundary rather than a failure. Use it to reach the point where a beginner conversation is possible, then add a teacher.
We do not publish a Super or Max price here. The pricing page did not return a readable figure when we checked on July 23, 2026, and prices in this category vary by region and channel. Check the figure shown in your own app. There is no commercial relationship between Fawnio and Duolingo and no link to it here.
italki, the cheapest way to actually speak Italian
A marketplace where you book one-to-one video lessons with individual Italian teachers who set their own prices, with no subscription and no schedule imposed on you. italki lists native Italian teachers and runs two profile types: professional teachers, who must upload documents showing training and teaching experience, and community tutors, who provide conversation practice. Its published price bands are 10 to 120 dollars per lesson for professional teachers and 5 to 120 dollars for community tutors, and its own pages put tutors at 4 to 60 dollars an hour with professionals commonly at 18 to 32.
For Italian this is the option that has no level ceiling. A native tutor can take you from your first conversation to C1 and beyond, work on a specific regional accent, or prepare you for a citizenship or university exam, none of which a fixed course can promise. Conversation practice with a community tutor starts at 5 dollars a lesson.
The trade-off is the money mechanic, and we say it on every italki page: you buy italki Credits rather than lessons, the payment terms state that no refunds are given for credits purchased, credits expire after twelve months of account inactivity, and lesson packages must be used within six months. Top up for the lessons you have scheduled. There is a real protection worth knowing: the satisfaction guarantee covers trial lessons, twice, claimed within 48 hours.
Our italki review covers the tiers and the guarantee in detail, and how much italki costs turns the ranges into monthly budgets.
Browse Italian teachers on italki
Lingoda, scheduled classes, but only to A2
An online school rather than a marketplace: 60-minute live classes available around the clock, taught to small groups the company describes as three to five students, following a CEFR-aligned curriculum with downloadable materials and a certificate for each level completed. Here is the fact that decides it for Italian: Lingoda's Italian runs only from A1 to A2, the two elementary CEFR levels, while its English and German courses go all the way to C1. If your goal is real fluency in Italian, Lingoda cannot take you there; if you are a beginner who wants the discipline of scheduled classes and a certificate to mark early progress, it fits well.
Published plan totals ran from €44.99 to €290.99 depending on bundle size and class type when we checked, shown in euros with a currency switcher on the site. Plans renew every four weeks and unused credits roll over while the subscription is active.
Two rules to diary before subscribing: the seven-day trial begins when you create the account and converts to a payment automatically, and unused credits stop being usable once your last payment cycle ends. Full detail is in our Lingoda review.
See Lingoda Italian class plans
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 that quietly slows Italian down. Mondly's own Italian pages describe short daily lessons, conversation exercises and grammar sections. 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. And the refund position is regional: Mondly's terms state that amounts are non-refundable unless stated otherwise and grant a 14-day cooling-off right only to subscribers in the UK and EU. On the US App Store the listing showed 4.7 out of 5 from 33,000 ratings, while Trustpilot showed 2.6 out of 5 from 779 reviews, both checked July 23, 2026, with the low scores driven by billing rather than teaching. Our Mondly review works through all of it.
See what Mondly Premium includes
Babbel, the named benchmark
Unlike some languages, Babbel does teach Italian, so it comes up fairly in any Italian comparison. Its help centre states that the cost "can vary depending on several factors, including your location, the duration and type of your subscription, and whether you purchase directly through Babbel, partner websites, Google, or Apple", that each subscription is paid in full in advance for the renewal period, that subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled, and that only the Lifetime subscription and the gift option are one-time payments.
We are not printing a Babbel price, because the company itself says the number depends on where and how you buy, and its price page did not return a readable figure when we checked. Babbel is a well-regarded structured self-study course for Italian; the warning is only about articles that quote you one Babbel price as though it were universal. We have no commercial relationship with Babbel and do not link to it.
The five side by side
| What it is | Level ceiling in Italian | Corrects your speaking | Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duolingo | Free gamified course | Beginner practice, no formal level | No | Courses free, ads for free users; paid tiers add ad-free and AI features |
| italki | Marketplace of individual teachers | Any level, up to C1 and beyond | Yes, one to one | Teacher-set: 5 to 120 dollars per lesson within italki's bands |
| Lingoda | Live classes on a schedule | A1 to A2 only | Yes, in a small group | Plan totals published €44.99 to €290.99 |
| Mondly | Self-study app, 41 languages | Beginner to intermediate self-study | No, software feedback only | Free tier; App Store showed 15.90 dollars monthly, 74.90 dollars yearly |
| Babbel | Structured self-study course | Structured self-study levels | No | Company states price varies by location, duration and channel |
If the learner is a child
The same sequence holds with one addition: an adult stays in the loop. italki states that most of its users are adults, asks parents to create and manage the account and to communicate with teachers themselves, warns that not all teachers are prepared to teach kids and points to its Kids category filter, and tells parents to supervise lessons. Mondly includes kids content in Premium and, because it teaches from your own language, suits a household where Italian is a third language. A scheduled beginner class works better for a teenager who can hold their own in a small group than for a six year old.
What we would do
Spend nothing for the first month and build vocabulary daily on a free tier, which goes quickly in Italian. Then book two or three trial lessons with different native teachers, one community tutor and one professional, and keep the one you would happily meet again. If you want the structure of scheduled classes and you are a genuine beginner, Lingoda's A1 to A2 Italian is a fair fit, as long as you know it stops at A2. Keep the free app running underneath the whole time. The full comparison of the three shapes, including the credit and renewal mechanics behind each, is on our language learning hub.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best app to learn Italian?
It depends on the stage you are at, and Italian is friendlier than most because it uses the Roman alphabet and is spelled largely as it sounds. To build a free daily habit and your first few hundred words, Duolingo is the obvious start. To actually speak and to get past the beginner plateau, a native teacher on italki is the strongest option, with community tutors from 5 dollars a lesson. For scheduled live classes, Lingoda teaches Italian, but only to A1 to A2, so it suits a beginner rather than anyone aiming higher. To learn from your own native language rather than through English, Mondly is the better fit.
Is Duolingo good for learning Italian?
For the early stage, yes. Every Duolingo course is free, with ads for free users and paid tiers that add an ad-free experience and AI features, and Italian is one of its long-established courses. It is good at building vocabulary and a daily habit, which is exactly what the beginning needs. What it cannot do is hear you speak Italian and correct you, or hold an unscripted conversation, so treat it as the free layer that gets you ready for a real conversation rather than the thing that makes you conversational on its own.
How far can Lingoda take you in Italian?
To A2, and no further. Lingoda runs live Italian classes on a schedule, but its Italian curriculum covers only the A1 and A2 levels, the two elementary stages of the CEFR scale, whereas its English and German courses go up to C1. That makes Lingoda a strong choice for a beginner who wants the structure of scheduled classes and a certificate at each level, and the wrong choice if you are already past elementary Italian or aiming for B1, B2 or beyond. For higher levels in Italian, an italki teacher who can work at any level is the better route.
How much does it cost to learn Italian properly?
Free takes you further in Italian than people expect, because the spelling and sounds are approachable. Speaking is where money starts. Using italki's published ranges, a weekly hour with a community tutor works out around 20 to 60 dollars a month and with a professional teacher around 72 to 128 dollars a month, which is our arithmetic rather than a quote. Lingoda publishes plan totals from 44.99 to 290.99 euros depending on bundle size and class type, for its A1 to A2 Italian classes. Verified July 23, 2026.
Which option is best for a child learning Italian?
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, and tells parents to supervise lessons, and it has a Kids lesson category filter. Mondly includes kids content in Premium and teaches from your household's own language, which helps when Italian is a third language at home. A scheduled beginner class such as Lingoda's A1 to A2 Italian suits a teenager who can hold their own in a small group.
How we reach these verdicts, and the sources behind them, is on our methodology page. italki's price bands and credit rules, Lingoda's class structure, Italian CEFR range and plan totals, and Mondly's free and Premium contents and refund terms were read from each company's own pages and verified July 23, 2026; the Duolingo statements come from Duolingo's own blog and the Babbel statements from Babbel's help centre. We publish no Duolingo or Babbel price because neither returned a readable public figure and Babbel states its price varies by location, duration and purchase channel. App store and Trustpilot ratings are attributed to their platforms. We earn a commission if you sign up to italki, Lingoda or Mondly through our links; Duolingo and Babbel are named for comparison only and are not linked.