Babbel vs Rosetta Stone

Babbel and Rosetta Stone are arguably the two most popular language learning apps in the entire world (apart from maybe Duolingo). So how do you know which one will actually work for you? In this comparison, we cover pricing, program structure, and features so you can decide which one is the better fit for your learning style.

Video: Which Language Learning Program Wins?

In the video above, team member Bianca describes the major similarities and differences between the Babbel and Rosetta Stone apps.

How The Babbel & Rosetta Stone Programs Differ

To compare these two language learning apps side-by-side, let’s start with a brief overview of each, beginning with Rosetta Stone.

There are 20 units in the Rosetta Stone program to complete. These units cover major theme-based topics, such as Home & Health, Everyday Things, and Work & School. Then within each unit, there are four main lessons.

This means that there are 80 lessons in the entire program, which at first doesn’t sound like a lot. However, each lesson is pretty comprehensive.

Each Rosetta Stone lesson is built around a core 30-minute learning module, with an additional mixture of supplemental drills around that.

These reinforcement drills cover pronunciation, grammar, reading, vocab, writing, and listening. Those supplemental drills usually each take 5-10 minutes.

As for what each core 30-minute lesson is actually like, the thing to know about Rosetta Stone is that the program is largely built around images. Almost every single exercise consists of a series of pictures, which you use in some way or another.

Sometimes the program will play some audio aloud, and you match what was said to the right picture. In some instances, you’re matching written phrases to the images. Sometimes you’re verbalizing what you see in the image and having the speech software grade you. And other times, the pictures are used to teach grammar.

Regardless of which specific activity you’re doing, the point is that Rosetta Stone mainly uses pictures to teach the language. The program is built to have you create mental associations between what you’re learning and imagery. This forces you to rely more on intuition rather than memorization while picking up new words and phrases.

The Babbel program takes a different approach. Taking a top-down look at Babbel, there are different learning levels within the program: newcomer, beginner, intermediate, advanced, etc.

Then within each level, there are typically somewhere between two and eight courses that cover different real-life topics, much like how Rosetta Stone does it. Think sports, health, travel, etc.

Drilling down further, within each course, there are anywhere from 5 to 15 lessons to complete. This means the Babbel overarching program is organized like a pyramid: Levels 👉 Courses 👉 Lessons.

Assuming you have no working knowledge of the language you’re learning, you’ll start with the newcomer level and shoot to complete a lesson per day (or at the very least, a few lessons per week).

As for what the Babbel lessons themselves are like, each one is pretty short. On average, they generally take about 15 minutes to complete.

In other words, they go by pretty fast and are shorter than doing an entire Rosetta Stone lesson, which take about an hour to complete when you do the core learning module plus all the supplemental drills.

The Babbel lessons are shorter because each one is comprised of a series of several quick-hit, hands-on exercises. There are listen-and-repeat exercises, digital flashcards, fill-in-the-blanks, matching pairs, matching phrases to images, and completing mock conversations, with short grammar tips mixed in.

It’s a very diverse approach to learning that moves quickly. Babbel basically presents the same content in a variety ways and forces you to interact with the material.

Outside of the lessons, Babbel gives you daily review sessions. This is where you get spaced repetition on vocabulary you’ve already learned in older lessons.

The big takeaway: the Rosetta Stone lessons are very image heavy, and each lesson is a little longer, while the Babbel lessons are broken up into more bite-sized chunks and contain more variety.

Cost Comparison

Before discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each program, let’s quickly touch on cost.

Rosetta Stone has two plans to choose from. First, there is a 12-month plan, which costs about $10 per month. They also a lifetime plan, which costs about $400 upfront and gets you access for life to all 25 of their languages. Thankfully, you can almost always find a coupon to bring the lifetime plan down to about $180 total.

Babbel offers plans ranging from monthly subscriptions to a 12-month plan. Those subscription plans cost anywhere from about $8 to $15 per month after discounts. Similar to Rosetta Stone, Babbel also has a lifetime plan, which includes access to all Babbel languages for about $300.

These two apps are very close in price, with Babbel’s subscription options perhaps being a dollar or two cheaper per month depending on sales.

Why Babbel Is Better Than Rosetta Stone

Let’s next discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each program. We’ll focus on the features that make each best for different types of learners. Let’s start with Babbel.

Diversity of Practice Drills

What I like most about Babbel’s program is the variety of drills and exercises.

One thing you will notice with Rosetta Stone is that the drills can become a little monotonous. They’re all essentially derivative of one flashcard-style drill. You mostly match pictures to either written phrases or audio.

In contrast, the Babbel lessons have you constantly doing something different. This balanced approach is much more engaging. I was never zoning out or bored while working through Babbel’s material. I can’t say the same for Rosetta Stone.

Streamlined Grammar Instruction

Another bright spot for Babbel is their grammar instruction.

First, here’s what you need to know about Rosetta Stone. They do things a little differently than most language apps when it comes to grammar. Rather than offering more direct instruction, they allow you to discover grammar intuitively. They basically expose you to verb conjugations and tenses through the image exercises and expect your brain to pick up on the pattern.

That way, as you see the different sentence structures and verb forms multiple times in the drills, you start to intuitively pick up how the language works.

In contrast, Babbel takes a more direct approach. They work grammar into every lesson with straightforward instruction.

There are exercises that teach grammar directly, plus tips and callout boxes that frequently appear to work in teaching points. With Babbel, you’re constantly getting grammar tips.

Regular Review Sessions

Another highlight of Babbel is their usage of daily review sessions.

Rosetta Stone has a review function too, but you see it just once every few days, and only as you get deeper into lessons. In contrast, Babbel leverages reviews much more heavily.

Every day when you log in to the Babbel app, you’re prompted to do a short review. Babbel takes vocab from old lessons you’ve completed previously and pulls them back in for a spaced review.

Over the course of the Babbel program, you see every word or phrase at least a half dozen times.

Plus, you can choose how you want to review: flashcards, listening, speaking, or writing. Listening is my personal favorite, but I like that they give you lots of options.

Overall, the Babbel review system is really strong for helping you internalize new words and phrases.

Better Speech Recognition Technology

The last strength that I will note for Babbel is their speech recognition software. In short, I think Babbel’s speech tech is better than Rosetta Stone’s.

Although the Rosetta Stone speech software gets a ton of hype because they have a patent on it, I actually found it to be a little over-sensitive at times. There were some instances when I knew I was saying a phrase correctly, but it would say I was wrong and make me repeat it. The sensitivity could be a bit frustrating.

The Babbel speech tech isn’t perfect; it doesn’t give you detailed feedback like the software from Rocket Languages or Pimsleur, but it was at least less sensitive (in a good way). The Babbel tech will only make you repeat phrases when you truly butcher a phrase.

And their AI-driven conversation tool, Babbel Speak, is fairly limited. You’re mostly talking through pre-scripted dialogues with lots of pointers and tips so you never feel overwhelmed. It’s great if this is your first time putting together sentences out loud, but it doesn’t provide advanced speaking practice for anyone who’s ready to try out freestyle conversations.

Babbel’s software isn’t over-the-moon amazing, but I did prefer it to Rosetta Stone’s.

Why Rosetta Stone Is Better Than Babbel

Now that I’ve laid out the areas where I see Babbel being superior to Rosetta Stone, let me break down the strengths of the Rosetta Stone language learning framework.

Great Option For Visual Learners

The first advantage for Rosetta Stone has to be all of the visuals and graphics that permeate their program. If you’re a visual learner, I think there is no doubt that you have to go with Rosetta Stone.

Some people are pure visual learners. They associate the new phrases they learn with imagery so that when they hear that phrase again, the image comes straight to mind.

In this way, it sort of cuts English out as a go-between. You’re not learning English translations for every word; you’re just learning the language itself.

If you’re someone that learns visually by making mental associations between words and images, Rosetta Stone will be a great fit.

Lessons Force Immersion

Within the Rosetta Stone program, there is very little use of English. They don’t directly tell you what to do in each exercise in English or translate words and sentences for you.

This goes back to the point I noted above about learning intuitively. Rosetta Stone wants you to be immersed in the language you’re learning for the period of time that you’re sitting there working exercises, learning by somewhat struggling your way through the material.

To be fair, they do occasionally give you translations, but they are generally turned off by default within the settings.

The positive spin here is that the fastest way of learning a language is being thrown into the culture and hearing the language day in and day out. It’s just the truth of the matter.

Rosetta Stone tries to give you just a little of that experience every day. For some people, this can be a little frustrating and discouraging because you will get hung up at times, but if you don’t mind struggling at certain points, it can be highly effective.

Extra Learning Resources

The final advantage of the Rosetta Stone program is the bundle of cool, extra resources that they provide.

Babbel has a decent slate of its own extras, like games and podcasts, but Rosetta Stone offers more supplemental tools than just about every other language learning app.

You get phrasebooks, short on-demand video lessons, stories, audio companion lessons, and even some free live lessons.

Rosetta offers an incredibly comprehensive suite of tools for you to use outside of the main lessons, which is a nice bonus (similar to Mango Languages).

If you’re very serious about learning your new language and want to do some homework outside of your daily lessons, Rosetta Stone will give you more opportunity to do so than Babbel (and just about every other language learning company).

Verdict: Which Language App Is Better?

Let’s be clear: these are both really strong programs. If I had to pick one, however, I have to go with Babbel, especially for anyone who doesn’t have much free time for language learning or who needs a little motivation boost.

Rosetta Stone is good for visual learners, and their immersive approach definitely works for some people. But for most learners, I’d recommend Babbel’s fun, varied lessons and effective approach. The daily review sessions make sure everything sticks, the direct grammar instruction brings helpful clarity to unfamiliar sentence patterns, and the quick lessons are achievable for anyone. If you want to make real progress with an app that feels doable, choose Babbel.