Language learning: cost, teaching, and who gets paid
Learning a language mostly costs time, and what you buy decides how that time is spent: drilling alone on a phone, repeating after recorded lessons, or talking with a person. Each suits different learners and budgets, and none is best for everyone.
The short answer. Start free. Your library may offer a full course, the US government's diplomat courses are public domain, and Anki is free on computers. Add a person, a tutor or an exchange partner, when you want speaking practice. Before paying for an app, read its refund terms: several give 14 or 30 days, and some exclude purchases made through an app store.
Start with what is free
- Your library card. The Los Angeles Public Library offers Mango Languages as free online language learning with an LAPL card, covering Spanish, French, Arabic, Korean, Tagalog and more, plus English courses for speakers of 19 languages. Ask your own library what it pays for.
- The diplomat courses. US law says copyright protection is not available for works of the US Government. Live Lingua hosts the Foreign Service Institute's courses at no cost and with no ads: 127 courses in over 40 languages, with 4,169 audio files. It warns that some are over 30 years old and a little dated.
- Anki. The flashcard program schedules each review for when you are most likely to forget. The computer version is free on all major platforms and AnkiDroid is free on Android; the official iPhone app is paid, and that money funds development. You make your own deck or start from shared ones.
- Language exchange. HelloTalk describes exchange as two speakers taking turns in each other's language, roughly half and half, with no payment changing hands. Its core features are free.
- Free app tiers. Duolingo's App Store listing is free to download, with Super Duolingo sold as an in-app purchase.
What the paid routes teach
Apps drill vocabulary and grammar on your own schedule. Audio courses take a different line: Pimsleur's FAQ describes 30-minute lessons built on listening and recalling from memory, with no transcripts, because learners who wrote during lessons recalled less. Live classes put a teacher in the room: Lingoda's FAQ describes 60-minute classes of two to four students with certified teachers.
Tutors vary most. italki's price guide says Professional Teachers, with formal qualifications or structured lesson plans, typically charge $10 to $40 a lesson, and Community Tutors, fluent speakers without formal teacher training, $4 to $20 for conversation practice.
Read the refund terms before you pay
| Provider | What its own terms say |
|---|---|
| Babbel | 14 days to withdraw without a reason; no refund if you cancel to join a Group Plan |
| Busuu | 14 days to cancel for any reason, but you pay for any Premium use before cancelling |
| Rosetta Stone | 30-day money-back guarantee on purchases from its own sites; App Store purchases follow Apple's policy |
| Pimsleur | 30 days, only for direct purchases; gifts, in-app purchases and subscriptions with a free trial of 7 days or more are excluded |
| LingQ | Full refund if you are not satisfied in your first 30 days of Premium; after that, no refunds for partial or unused months |
| Lingoda | Monthly plans can be cancelled any time; a Sprint down payment is refundable only within 14 days |
The pattern: where you pay matters. Buying through an app store can move you onto the store's refund rules instead of the company's guarantee.
Who gets paid when you book a tutor
italki says it takes its commission from the teacher's side and adds no booking fee for students. Preply's commission page says it keeps 100% of every trial lesson with a new student, then 33% for new tutors, falling as hours build. Its own example: at a $10 hourly rate, a new tutor receives $6.70 a lesson and a tutor with 400 or more hours receives $8.20. So on Preply, each new trial lesson pays the tutor nothing, and an experienced tutor keeps more of every lesson after it.
If you care most about...
There is no single best way to learn. Match the route to what you weigh most.
| If you care most about | Look at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Spending nothing | Library course, FSI courses, Anki, language exchange | All free to use |
| Speaking with real people | A tutor, a small live class, or an exchange partner | A person responds to what you actually say |
| Learning while commuting | An audio course | Designed for listening, no screen needed |
| Fair pay for teachers | A long-term tutor, and the platform's commission terms | Commission falls as a tutor's hours grow on Preply |
| Getting money back if it does not suit you | A direct purchase with a stated guarantee | App-store purchases may be excluded |
What we are not telling you
We do not measure how quickly anyone learns. Our teaching score reflects format, a person teaching versus solo drilling, and says nothing about a given app's results. Several platforms have no score in our data because their own pages could not be read directly. Language learning for young children is outside what we compare.
How we made this
Nobody paid to appear here. The facts come from this site's language learning data and the pages below, each opened for this guide in September 2026. Found something wrong? Corrections are welcome and get applied with their source.
Sources
- Los Angeles Public Library, Mango Languages (checked 2026-09)
- 17 U.S.C. 105, works of the US Government (checked 2026-09)
- Live Lingua, FSI language courses (checked 2026-09)
- Anki (checked 2026-09)
- HelloTalk, language exchange (checked 2026-09)
- Duolingo on the App Store (checked 2026-09)
- Pimsleur FAQ (checked 2026-09)
- Pimsleur satisfaction guarantee (checked 2026-09)
- Lingoda FAQ (checked 2026-09)
- italki, how much lessons cost (checked 2026-09)
- Babbel terms (checked 2026-09)
- Busuu terms of service (checked 2026-09)
- Rosetta Stone, returns and money-back guarantee (checked 2026-09)
- LingQ terms of service (checked 2026-09)
- Preply commission model (checked 2026-09)