Best app to learn Italian 8 Italian apps compared by goal
For a free Italian course, pick Busuu: Complete Italian has 580+ lessons from A1 to B2, and native speakers correct your exercises. Pick Babbel for grammar explained in every lesson, and Duolingo for a free daily habit up to B2. Lingoda puts you in live classes with a teacher, but only at A1 and A2. Memrise and Lingvist train vocabulary, Pimsleur trains speaking by audio, and Tandem connects you with Italian speakers.
8 Italian apps at a glance
| Name | Best for | Price | Free plan | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Busuu | A free Italian course with corrections | Free; Premium €57.99/yr, Premium Plus €69.90/yr | Yes: the complete Italian course and community corrections, with an ad before each lesson | 4.7 on the App Store (101.1K) |
| Babbel | Grammar explained before the exercises | From €8.99/mo on the 12-month plan; Lifetime €299.99 | Partly: the first lesson of every course | 4.7 on the App Store (755.2K) |
| Duolingo | A free daily Italian habit | Free; Super from $83.99/yr in the US App Store | Yes: the whole Italian course with ads and limited energy | — |
| Lingoda | Beginners who want a live teacher | 5 group classes €69.99 or $89.99 per 4 weeks; private from €159.99 | No, 7-day trial with 3 group classes or 1 private class | 4.8 on the App Store (177) |
| Memrise | Italian words from native-speaker videos | Free; Pro €69.99/yr, US $61.99/yr | Partly: limited lessons and videos, one speaking session a day, with ads | 4.8 on the App Store (217.2K) |
| Pimsleur | Spoken Italian by audio on the go | $150 per level or $575 for Levels 1–5; sales cut these prices | Partly: a free first lesson | — |
| Tandem | Talking with Italian speakers for free | Free; Pro $69.99/yr (US App Store) | Yes: partner search, chats, voice notes and corrections, with ads | 4.6 on the App Store (38.3K) |
| Lingvist | The most frequent Italian words first | €9.99/mo or €79.99/yr; US App Store $9.99 and $79.99 | No, 14-day trial on the yearly plan | 4.6 on the App Store (3.7K) |
- A free Italian course with corrections
Busuu
🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom · founded 2008Busuu’s Complete Italian has more than 580 lessons from A1 to B2, next to short courses for travel and pronunciation. You send written and spoken answers to the community, and native Italian speakers correct them. The company started in Madrid in 2008 and now runs from London.
Pros
- Premium gives a Busuu certificate for each Italian level from A1 to B2
- Premium Plus adds AI Conversations in Italian
- A 5-minute placement test sets your starting level
Cons
- Italian stops at B2, while Busuu’s Spanish and French reach C1
- Busuu certificates do not replace CILS, CELI or PLIDA
- Price
- Free; Premium €57.99/yr, Premium Plus €69.90/yr
- Free plan
- Yes: the complete Italian course and community corrections, with an ad before each lesson
- Rating
- 4.7 on the App Store (101.1K)
- Grammar explained before the exercises
Babbel
🇩🇪 Berlin, Germany · founded 2007Babbel from Berlin teaches Italian in structured courses from A1 to B2, and extra content reaches into C1 topics. Each lesson explains a grammar point and checks your pronunciation with speech recognition. Babbel also publishes free Italian podcasts, such as Voices of Bell’Italia for A2 and Oggi nella storia for B1.
Pros
- Grammar notes in every Italian lesson
- Three free Italian podcasts from A2 to B1
- Lifetime access for €299.99 once
Cons
- Structured Italian courses stop at B2
- Everything after the first lesson needs a paid plan
- Price
- From €8.99/mo on the 12-month plan; Lifetime €299.99
- Free plan
- Partly: the first lesson of every course
- Rating
- 4.7 on the App Store (755.2K)
- A free daily Italian habit
Duolingo
🇺🇸 United StatesDuolingo is a US app with a free Italian course in short game-like lessons. In April 2026 Duolingo said its Italian course now teaches content up to B2, a Duolingo Score of 129. Duolingo Max adds Video Call, an AI conversation practice that works in Italian.
Pros
- The whole Italian course is free
- Italian content reaches B2
- AI Video Call in Italian with Duolingo Max
Cons
- No human teachers
- Duolingo does not publish the Max price on the web
- Price
- Free; Super from $83.99/yr in the US App Store
- Free plan
- Yes: the whole Italian course with ads and limited energy
- Beginners who want a live teacher
Lingoda
🇩🇪 Berlin, Germany · founded 2012Lingoda is an online school from Berlin that added Italian in 2024. Teachers run 60-minute classes on Zoom, in groups of 3 to 5 students or one to one. Italian covers only A1 and A2 so far, and each sub-level has about 50 classes.
Pros
- Live Italian classes with a teacher, A1 to A2
- A Lingoda certificate for each level you finish
- Unused class credits roll over to the next 4 weeks
Cons
- Italian stops at A2, and Lingoda has not said when B1 comes
- Italian costs more than English: 5 group classes cost €69.99 against €54.99
- Price
- 5 group classes €69.99 or $89.99 per 4 weeks; private from €159.99
- Free plan
- No, 7-day trial with 3 group classes or 1 private class
- Rating
- 4.8 on the App Store (177)
- Italian words from native-speaker videos
Memrise
🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom · founded 2010Memrise from London has an Italian course with more than 600 lessons, 5,000 words and 400 videos of native speakers. Lessons are grouped by topic, such as travel, work, food and health. MemBot, an AI partner, runs more than 75 Italian conversations.
Pros
- Native speakers say every Italian word on video
- Lifetime costs €254.99 once in the EU
Cons
- Memrise does not give a CEFR level for its Italian course
- Words and phrases come first, grammar gets less space
- Price
- Free; Pro €69.99/yr, US $61.99/yr
- Free plan
- Partly: limited lessons and videos, one speaking session a day, with ads
- Rating
- 4.8 on the App Store (217.2K)
- Spoken Italian by audio on the go
Pimsleur
🇺🇸 United StatesPimsleur is a US audio course published by Simon & Schuster. Its Italian course has 5 levels of 30 lessons. You listen, answer out loud and repeat, and Level 5 takes you to an intermediate level with a short story for reading.
Pros
- 150 Italian lessons in 5 levels
- Works without looking at the screen
Cons
- Pimsleur gives no CEFR level for Italian
- One Italian level costs more than a year of most apps here
- Price
- $150 per level or $575 for Levels 1–5; sales cut these prices
- Free plan
- Partly: a free first lesson
- Talking with Italian speakers for free
Tandem
🇩🇪 Berlin, Germany · founded 2015Tandem from Berlin pairs you with an Italian speaker who wants to learn your language. You chat, send voice notes and correct each other’s messages. Tandem’s Italian page counts 65 million native speakers of the language.
Pros
- Real conversations with native Italian speakers
- Corrections and translation inside the chat
Cons
- New members need Pro for audio and video calls
- No Italian course and no levels
- Price
- Free; Pro $69.99/yr (US App Store)
- Free plan
- Yes: partner search, chats, voice notes and corrections, with ads
- Rating
- 4.6 on the App Store (38.3K)
- The most frequent Italian words first
Lingvist
🇪🇪 Tallinn, Estonia · founded 2013Lingvist from Tallinn ranks Italian words by how often they appear in real texts and teaches the most common ones first. Each card shows a sentence with one word missing. Custom Decks turns any Italian text you upload into cards.
Pros
- One subscription opens Italian and the other 14 languages
- No ads
Cons
- No free plan
- Lingvist gives no CEFR level for Italian, and grammar comes only as notes on cards
- Price
- €9.99/mo or €79.99/yr; US App Store $9.99 and $79.99
- Free plan
- No, 14-day trial on the yearly plan
- Rating
- 4.6 on the App Store (3.7K)
How to choose an Italian app, by goal
For a course with levels, Busuu, Babbel and Duolingo reach B2. Busuu and Duolingo open the whole Italian course for free. Babbel explains grammar in every lesson and adds C1 topics on top of the B2 course.
For speaking, Lingoda gives you a live teacher at A1 and A2, Tandem connects you with Italian speakers, and Pimsleur trains you to answer out loud by audio. Duolingo Max and Busuu Premium Plus run AI conversations in Italian.
For vocabulary, Memrise plays every word in a native-speaker video, and Lingvist sorts words by frequency.
Italian certificates: CILS, CELI, PLIDA and CERT.IT
Four bodies issue the official Italian certificates and form the CLIQ quality system: the University for Foreigners of Siena (CILS), the University for Foreigners of Perugia (CELI), the Società Dante Alighieri (PLIDA) and Roma Tre University (CERT.IT). Their exams cover the CEFR levels from A1 to C2.
Since 4 December 2018, Law 132/2018 requires Italian at B1 or higher for citizenship by marriage or residence. An application needs a school diploma from Italy or a certificate from a recognised body, for example CILS UNO-B1, CELI 2 or PLIDA B1. CILS DUE-B2 exempts students from the language test of Italian universities.
None of the eight apps lists a CILS, CELI or PLIDA preparation course on its Italian pages. Busuu and Lingoda give their own level certificates, and these do not count for citizenship or university entry. Busuu’s, Babbel’s and Duolingo’s courses go past B1, the level required for citizenship.
How we picked
Six apps come from companies founded in Europe. Duolingo and Pimsleur are US products, and we include them because many Italian learners start with them. For each app we checked on official pages and the App Store in October 2026 whether it teaches Italian, the highest CEFR level, the lesson count and the prices, and we used the profiles in this catalog. Mondly and Rosetta Stone also teach Italian, but their Italian pages give no level or lesson count, so we left them out.
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Comparisons
- Busuu vs Duolingo
- Babbel vs Busuu
- Babbel vs Duolingo
- Babbel vs Rosetta Stone
- Babbel vs Pimsleur
- Memrise vs Duolingo
- Tandem vs HelloTalk
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Categories
Sources, checked on 7 October 2026
- Busuu Italian course
- Busuu Premium plans
- Busuu help center: certificates
- Babbel: Italian language levels
- Babbel: learn Italian
- babbel.com/prices
- Duolingo blog: courses teach advanced content
- Duolingo blog: Video Call
- Duolingo App Store lookup, US
- Lingoda Italian
- Lingoda pricing, Italian
- Memrise Italian course
- Memrise plans
- Pimsleur Italian products
- Tandem: learn Italian
- Tandem on the US App Store
- lingvist.com/pricing
- Lingvist Italian course
- Italian Cultural Institute Dublin: Italian certifications and citizenship
- CILS, University for Foreigners of Siena
- Ca’ Foscari University of Venice: CILS
- CVCL, University for Foreigners of Perugia: CELI
- PLIDA, Società Dante Alighieri
Best app to learn Italian: FAQ
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