LingwellThe best app to learn French is the one that matches the skill you need next, not the one at the top of a ranking. This page reads Duolingo, Babbel, Busuu, Memrise and Pimsleur from their own pages, and sets them beside what peer-reviewed research found about how words stick. For free ways to study, see Learn French for free. To leave Duolingo, see Duolingo alternatives. For more tools, see French learning resources.
What is the best app to learn French?
No page on this list can honestly name one, because the apps are built for different jobs. Each one below describes itself, so use the descriptions to match a job to an app.
| If you want | Look at |
|---|---|
| Lessons with your eyes off the screen | Pimsleur: 30-minute audio lessons, hands-free in the car [5] |
| Grammar tips while you read and write | Babbel: grammar tips, dialogues, speech recognition [2] |
| Feedback on how you sound | Busuu: personalised pronunciation feedback [3] |
| To hear how people really talk | Memrise: native-speaker video clips [4] |
| A daily game habit | Duolingo: points, levels and a mascot [1] |
What makes a good app for learning French?
A good French learning app asks you to recall words and brings them back over several days. Research gives the reasons, and each study reports its own figures.
| What the study found | What to look for in an app |
|---|---|
| After 2 days or 1 week, prior testing gave “substantially greater retention” than restudying [6] | You answer from memory, not only read |
| Repeated studying raised confidence, yet on delayed tests prior testing gave greater retention [6] | Do not trust the feeling of having “gone over it” |
| A review of 317 experiments found the best gap between sessions grew with the delay [7] | Words come back after days, with widening gaps |
| In two 3-session studies on foreign vocabulary, an optimal gap improved final recall by up to 150% [8] | Review is built in, not left to you |
These were lab studies on prose passages, word lists and foreign vocabulary. None tested a phone app, so treat them as reasons to look, not as a promise.
Which French learning apps cover speaking, listening and grammar?
This table records only what each app’s own page says it has. A blank-looking cell means the page did not mention it, not that the app lacks it.
| App | Speaking | Listening or audio | Reading, writing or grammar | Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duolingo | Teaches speaking [1] | Teaches listening [1] | Teaches reading and writing [1] | Not mentioned on the page |
| Babbel | Speech recognition for pronunciation [2] | Dialogues, podcasts [2] | Grammar tips, reading and writing [2] | Not mentioned on the page |
| Busuu | Personalised pronunciation feedback [3] | Videos with native speakers [3] | Speaking, listening, reading, writing [3] | Not mentioned on the page |
| Memrise | Pronunciation and speaking practice [4] | Native-speaker video, listening practice [4] | Verb conjugation, sentence building [4] | “Smart review” [4] |
| Pimsleur | Voice Coach pronunciation feedback [5] | 30-minute audio lessons [5] | Reading Lessons, Flash Cards [5] | Says it uses spaced repetition [5] |
Are the good apps to learn French free?
Partly. Every app below lets you start without paying, on the conditions its own page gives.
- Duolingo headlines “Learn a language for free” [1].
- Babbel says signing up is free, you can try the first lesson of every course, and you get “up to 80 free lessons” depending on the language, before a subscription [2].
- Busuu says “Learn for free” [3].
- Memrise says you can start free, and a paid plan unlocks extra features [4].
- Pimsleur lists a free lesson and sells subscriptions [5].
Read the conditions before you rely on “free”. They differ, and they change.
How many French words do you already know?
An app works best when it starts where you are. The free 3-minute word test shows 24 French words, from the most used to the rare ones, and gives you a number out of the 4,000 most used. It needs no account, and the number is an estimate for practice, not an official level [9].
Try three words first. Tap to hear the first one, then answer.
Quick check
Question 1 of 3
What does toujours mean?
Question 2 of 3
What does enfin mean?
Question 3 of 3
What does pourtant mean?
Say them aloud once: , , .
What is Lingwell?
Lingwell is a French app for iPhone, in early access through a waitlist. It opens with a three-minute check of how many French words you know, then brings a few new words at a time, each in a short sentence [10]. It is not in the App Store yet. You can take the word test or join the Lingwell waitlist.
Common mistakes
- Choosing by a ranking. Lists put different apps first for different reasons, often including the publisher’s own product. Choose by the job you need done.
- Picking an app for features you will not use. If you need to speak, check what the page offers for speaking first.
- Counting minutes, not recall. In the study above, re-reading raised confidence, but testing gave greater retention after 2 days and 1 week [6].
- Treating an app’s own awards and learner counts as a comparison. They are claims on its page, not a shared measure.
- Assuming “free” means the same everywhere. Each app limits free use in its own way [1][2][3][4][5].
- Relying on this page without checking the dates. App pages change. Compare each app’s own page with the date at the top of this one.
See also: Duolingo French review and best language learning apps.
See also: Babbel vs Duolingo for French.
See also: the Lingwell learn French app.
Sources
- Duolingo, “Learn a language for free” (homepage; no page date shown; opened 22 October 2026). https://www.duolingo.com/
- Babbel, “Learn a Language Online - Fast & Effective” (no page date shown; opened 22 October 2026). https://www.babbel.com/en
- Busuu, “Busuu - Learn Languages Online: Start for Free” (no page date shown; opened 22 October 2026). https://www.busuu.com/ ; French course page: https://www.busuu.com/en/course/best-way-to-learn-french
- Memrise, “Learn a language. Memrise is authentic, useful & personalised.” (no page date shown; opened 22 October 2026). https://www.memrise.com/
- Pimsleur, “Learn New Languages Online: Effective Programs for Beginners” (no page date shown; opened 22 October 2026). https://www.pimsleur.com/
- Roediger HL, Karpicke JD, “Test-enhanced learning: taking memory tests improves long-term retention”, Psychological Science 17(3):249-55 (March 2006; PubMed record opened 22 October 2026). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16507066
- Cepeda NJ, Pashler H, Vul E, Wixted JT, Rohrer D, “Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis”, Psychological Bulletin 132(3):354-80 (May 2006; PubMed record opened 22 October 2026). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16719566
- Cepeda NJ, Coburn N, Rohrer D, Wixted JT, Mozer MC, Pashler H, “Optimizing distributed practice: theoretical analysis and practical implications”, Experimental Psychology 56(4):236-46 (2009; PubMed record opened 22 October 2026). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19439395
- Lingwell, “How many French words do you know? Free 3-minute test” (no page date shown; opened 22 October 2026). https://lingwell.ca/word-test/
- Lingwell, “Lingwell: the French learning app for adults in Canada” (homepage; no page date shown; opened 22 October 2026). https://lingwell.ca/