Best App to Learn Spanish in 2024: 7 Fast, Fun and Effective Apps for All Levels

 

The best app to learn Spanish in 2024 is not the most expensive one – that’s the good news – but choosing the Spanish learning app that’s right for you depends on several factors.

Spoken in more than 20 countries by 500 million people, learning Spanish unlocks a world of options for aspiring travelers, business people and anyone looking to take on a new challenge.

Technology has made Spanish learning apps more effective than ever, with a plethora of e-learning platforms all catering to the challenge in innovative ways. But no matter how advanced the platform, effective learning can be best achieved only by putting in the time to learn and practice.

With a diverse array of online services, how can you identify the best Spanish learning app? Look no further – here, you’ll find the best Spanish learning program for your needs.

The 7 Best Spanish Learning Apps

Based on our in-depth reviews, the best apps to learn Spanish are Pimsleur, Babbel, Busuu, Duolingo, Rocket Languages, Memrise and Rosetta Stone. 

Check out our product reviews below to find out why.

1. Pimsleur – Best Spanish Language App for Oral Communication

Launched in 1963, Pimsleur is one of the world’s oldest and most popular language learning programs. 

Courses are organized into 5 levels, each containing hour-long audio lessons on a variety of subjects. The idea is to learn new words and phrases by using them in context.

General Information

Pros of Pimsleur

• Context is central to Pimsleur’s course structure, encouraging you to build new vocabulary in a natural, memorable way.
• Conversations are interactive, allowing you to build confidence and intuition as you learn.
• A 7-day trial period means you can try out the program before committing.

Cons of Pimsleur

• Lessons are comprehensive – but long. Finding an hour to commit to a full lesson might not be easy.
• The user experience of Pimsleur is less visually engaging than other apps, favoring learning methods based on text and audio.
• Pimsleur focuses more on spoken Spanish than on Spanish grammar rules. If you’re looking to improve your written Spanish, it may not be for you.

Pimsleur’s Positioning

Pimsleur claims to be a “shortcut to mastery”, leveraging academic theory to structure your learning experience.

With the Pimsleur Method as its basis, it offers an audio-based program with a focus on learning in context. Every lesson is essentially a conversation in Spanish, followed by a set of pronunciation drills. 

You’ll begin by listening to a few sentences in Spanish, and the tutor will guide your responses, with this guidance decreasing as you become more competent. 

At the end of each conversation, you’ll be tested on the new words you learned, testing recognition and pronunciation. 

Top Feature of Pimsleur

Interactive conversations help you build real context; beyond learning vocabulary, you’ll learn how to communicate.

2. Babbel – Best Spanish Language App for Price

Berlin-based language learning app Babbel is a sleek, mobile-friendly interface that’s known for its ease of use.

Babbel comprises courses and individual lessons organized into knowledge levels. There are around a dozen lessons in each course, covering a variety of vocabulary themes. Each lesson is 10-15 minutes long and features listen-and-repeat exercises, flashcards, grammar tips and text conversations.

Babbel makes clever use of gamification. The platform has two custom games: Word Trax and Phrase Maze. These aim to increase user engagement and make learning faster.

General Information

Pros of Babbel

• Babbel offers multi-disciplinary drills covering word recognition, vocabulary building and grammar. This makes for a comprehensive Spanish-learning experience.
• Lessons are 10-15 minutes long, making them accessible and flexible enough for busy learners.
• You can have a 7-day free trial period, plus two free lessons before committing.

Cons of Babbel

• Babbel focuses on all-round modular learning, so it may not be suited to users looking to become conversational fast.
• Unless you’re an absolute beginner, Babbel does not feature any audio lessons. As an essential part of language-learning, lack of audio classes is one big disadvantage.

Babbel’s Positioning

Babbel is one of the few Spanish language learning apps that offers live classes – a great option for users seeking conversational experience.

Top Feature of Babbel

Babbel uses a basics-first approach. By learning grammar, you’ll build a deep understanding of Spanish, helping you to become fluent faster.

3. Busuu – Best Spanish Language App for Beginners

Busuu is a language learning app that makes its community part of the learning process. 

Catering to kids, beginners and intermediates, the Busuu app presents your classes as a clear, linear journey. Lessons are short and sharp, lasting 5 minutes or less. Each one includes a variety of drills, including word recognition, multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks and videos.

Busuu cleverly leverages its community to keep you engaged. Lessons often comprise speaking drills, which you can record and submit to other users for review. It also gamifies the learning journey, assigning you to different leagues. You’ll compete for points against your peers, harnessing the power of social learning to drive your progress.

Pros of Busuu

• Busuu lessons are a succinct 5-minutes-long, meaning the program will fit just about anyone’s schedule.
• The Review tab is a mainstay on the Busuu app, enabling you to quickly and easily review your learned vocabulary and grammar whenever you want.
• Users can have fun engaging with other Busuu community members, and even find a study-friend.

Cons of Busuu

• Busuu’s courses cater well to beginners and intermediate learners, but have limited content for advanced students.
• Unlike Babbel and other apps, Busuu doesn’t feature any “extras” such as a blog, digital meet-up or podcast.

Busuu’s Positioning

Busuu’s interface is not just a navigation panel, but also as a community hub where its users can connect with other learners.

Top Feature of Busuu

Busuu’s Review tab makes it easy to gauge your progress, go back over old material and analyze your learning journey.

4. Duolingo – Best Spanish Language App for Intermediates

Launched in 2012, Duolingo is one of the world’s best-known language apps. With a market cap of $9.7 billion and 37 million active Duolingo users per month, it’s also one of the most successful.

Duolingo structures its course as a linear path, with users completing a set itinerary for each level. Lessons last around two minutes, featuring speaking, writing and word-match drills. 

The user interface is accessible via both mobile and desktop, and uses a points system and league tables to keep learners engaged.

General Information

Pros of Duolingo

• Duolingo gamifies the learning process, assigning points as courses are completed to help keep users engaged.
• Lessons are short at just a few minutes each, meaning nearly anyone can take part.
• Course material is diverse, incorporating elements of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.

Cons of Duolingo

• Duolingo’s recent update has made the program’s free version inflexible. Some users find it hard to navigate the classes and legacy content they want.
• Duolingo learning material can feel brief. With no real immersion or conversation practice, even dedicated learners report struggling to feel confident speaking their new language.

Duolingo’s Positioning

Duolingo offers a diverse array of extra resources, including a translation dictionary, podcasts, and online meet-ups where you can practice speaking.

Top Feature of Duolingo

By incentivizing your journey, Duolingo’s games will keep you engaged and excited to keep learning.

5. Memrise – Best Spanish Language App for Vocabulary Building

Launched in 2010, Memrise is a language-learning app that doubles down on learning in context.

With a focus on video clips featuring native speakers, you’ll build real experience deciphering and constructing sentences for yourself. And with an AI-driven interface that indentifies your weaknesses, Memrise tailors your learning experience to help you progress faster.

General Information

Pros of Memrise

• Videos are a central feature of the Memrise learning program, providing a more immersive experience where users can watch native speakers using the language.
• Memrise uses AI and adaptive technology to identify areas where you need practice, and tailors the course to your needs.
• Lesson length is customizable – you decide how many words per session are covered. This means learners from all backgrounds can get value from the program.

Cons of Memrise

• Memrise places its focus on vocabulary-building, so won’t necessarily be the best option for learners trying to become conversational.
• There is no way for advanced learners to practice their speaking skills.
• Not all features are available across devices – some are mobile only.

Memrise’s Positioning

Memrise has implemented an AI-driven language assistant enabling users to practice their conversational skills on tap.

Top Feature of Memrise 

Memrise’s native speaker videos let you see and hear the language in real context. This enables you to deeply understand the language, rather than simply imitate.

6. Rocket Spanish – Best Spanish Language App for Immersion

Launched in 2004, Rocket Spanish is a language-learning app where immersive listening and speaking drills take center stage. The program combines interactive audio lessons with written language and culture ones. 

Each 30-minute audio lesson takes the form of a guided conversation, with a moderator pausing to explain the vocabulary or ask you questions. At the end of this exercise, you’ll be tested on speaking, vocabulary recognition as well as reading and writing.

Meanwhile, the language and culture tutorials focus on grammar skills, illustrating rules with written examples. 

As a grammar and speaking-focused app, the Rocket Spanish interface is light on visual elements, with a simple, text-based design. 

General Information

Pros of Rocket

• The interactive audio lessons force listeners to internalize Spanish and think about how to construct their own Spanish responses. In short, it teaches your brain to “think” as a Spanish speaker.
• Rocket Spanish has speech recognition software to enable you to practice your pronunciation and get real-time feedback.

Cons of Rocket

• As a text-led program, Rocket Spanish is not the most aesthetically engaging interface. This might not appeal to visual learners.
• The length of lessons (around one hour) is prohibitive to learners with limited time to spare.

Rocket Positioning

The Rocket Spanish learning app does something none of its competitors do – it incorporates cultural elements into its lessons.

Top Feature of Rocket

Interactive speaking lessons force learners to proactively think about how to construct a sentence. This will get your speaking up to speed quickly!

7. Rosetta Stone – Best Spanish Language App for Visual Learners

We’d be remiss to publish a language app review without mentioning the OG. Founded in 1992, Rosetta Stone is the world’s best-known language learning app, with more than 500,000 users worldwide.

Rosetta Stone uses the immersion technique, displaying everything – including the course navigation – in your target language. The exercises are predominantly visual, using images as prompts for speaking, writing and vocabulary-recognition drills. 

General Information

Pros of Rosetta Stone

• It’s a great program for visual learners, leveraging imagery for nearly every exercise.
• The immersive approach to learning forces you to become intuitive about applying the language you’re learning.
• Rosetta Stone offers a comprehensive bundle of extra tools, such as podcasts and live lessons, to help users engage and learn.

Cons of Rosetta Stone

• Rosetta Stone focuses on vocabulary building, but it doesn’t explain grammar rules in depth. So learning can feel superficial.
• It has no community elements and doesn’t enable you to reach out to fellow learners like other apps.

Rosetta Stone’s Positioning

RS leverages “True Accent Speech Recognition” technology, enabling you to practice your pronunciation and receive feedback in real time.

Top Feature of Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone makes careful use of images for all lessons, allowing you to build word associations quickly and easily.

How We Reviewed Spanish Learning Apps

Reviews aim to bring objectivity to decision making, but ultimately, there’s no substitute for doing your own research. Although every user has unique needs, there are some key questions you should consider before choosing a language app.  

Here’s what we think you should consider – the key variables – and how we treated each one in our reviews.

1. Value for money

Price is an issue nearly all of us will consider when choosing a new product – but value is relative, and we factored that into our review process.

In terms of all-round value, we considered the average monthly price of each app against the depth of its course materials. For example, a freemium app with only basic features might score lower than a very comprehensive though expensive app.

We assumed most users want to learn Spanish comprehensively, and used this as a basis for our price review.

2. Transparency

Being able to try before you buy is always an advantage. Naturally, you need a chance to play with the interface, test out the lessons and generally understand whether the learning app you’ve chosen meets your needs. 

Consequently, our reviews considered whether individual language apps offered a free trial period, favoring those that did.

3. Comprehensiveness

“Learning Spanish” means different things to different people. For some, it’s the ability to hold basic conversations on holiday; for others, it means a fluent exchange of ideas and advanced grammar knowledge.

In our review, apps that enabled deep and comprehensive Spanish learning – incorporating immersion, grammar mechanics or interactive video lessons – scored better in terms of depth. 

Everyone has different objectives and perhaps yours are straightforward. But having the option to learn more deeply as you advance is always an advantage.

4. User experience

Learning a second language is a commitment, but for most of us, time is a precious commodity.

Programs with an easy-to-navigate interface and succinct lessons tended to score higher for flexibility because they enable users to personalize the learning experience. 

Our reviews also considered the functionality of each app, taking account of glitches and technical issues to identify the best Spanish learning program.

5. Gamification

People love incentives – and that’s what gamification is all about. Gamified-learning programs increase user engagement by incorporating incentives into lessons and promoting faster learning. 

These might include:

• Points;
• Certificates;
• Leaderboards;
• Access to hidden features.

And more.

Gamification makes for a better user experience, more engagement and ultimately, more effective learning. So our reviews took incentives and gamification features into account when assessing every app.

6. Device compatibility

Your connected device is your gateway to learning, and increasingly, users want to learn on the move. The most useful apps can be accessed from both your computer and mobile phone. 

We took this into account in our reviews. Language apps compatible with multiple devices scored higher, since they enable more people to tailor the experience to their needs.

To assess this yourself, consider what kind of lessons you’ll be taking, and how you want to access them. If your lessons are short, bitesize modules, a mobile-compatible course might be ideal. But if you’re taking longer lessons or group classes, mobile compatibility may be less important.

7. User reviews

User feedback gives valuable insight when you’re considering a product. Google reviews assemble thousands of opinions in one place, making it a goldmine of information for anyone mulling a new purchase.

Our analysis took account of user reviews for each product. We considered two separate factors: the scores and the number of reviews. This allowed realistic insight into the quality of the product and the trustworthiness of the reviews themselves.

8. Written, aural or spoken

Learning a language means different things to different people. If you want to learn a few words for an upcoming holiday, vocabulary drills and listening exercises are exactly what you need. But if you’re trying to achieve fluency, comprehensive grammar lessons need to be the foundation of your learning. 

As such, our review considered what style of learning materials each app provided and the learning objectives these corresponded to.

9. Number of languages available

So you’re learning Spanish – but maybe that’s not the only language you want to master. Language apps cater to a multitude of languages. The more they include, the more likely you are to be able to personalize your learning path. As a result, our review considered whether apps offered a broad range of options.

Can I Effectively Learn Spanish with an App?

While there’s no substitute for real experience, language apps equip you with essential skills to begin your learning journey.

From the comfort of your smartphone or laptop, they make detailed educational resources available with just a few clicks. And with the right app, you can even personalize your learning experience, choosing strategies and lesson structures that suit your lifestyle.

Can you learn Spanish with just an app? Probably not if the goal is perfect fluency. 

Can you build essential foundations that will enable you to become fluent with some experience? Absolutely.

So do your own research, take advantage of free-trial periods and make sure you have a clear idea of what you need. Language apps are the secret weapon in your smartphone.

Spanish Language Apps: It’s Easier than Ever to Learn

Technology has made Spanish learning apps more effective than ever. In the 1990s, Rosetta Stone paved the way with its remote learning using CD ROMs. Today, the internet has streamlined that process, with language learning apps offering educational resources on tap. 

With the power to learn a foreign language like Spanish at your fingertips, it’s no surprise the language app industry is booming. The global e-learning market was valued at $19.5bn in 2022, and with new language app options emerging regularly as technology develops, it shows no signs of slowing.

It’s time for you to mount a new challenge. Learning a language has never been more achievable, with dozens of tools at your fingertips that leverage technology to deliver the very best educational experience. Your dream of speaking Spanish is about to become a reality – all you need to do is click.