Babbel at 13.95 dollars a month or 89 annual. The structured drill app for the first 200 hours of a new language, then graduate to live tutoring.
The structural use case for Babbel is the 200 hour starter platform. Babbel takes a complete beginner from no language to CEFR A2 in 150 to 200 hours of structured drill. That covers the bakery, the rental viewing, the doctor's office. It does not get you to conversational fluency; layer in live tutoring (italki, Preply) starting around hour 80.
14 languages from English: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Indonesian, Turkish. Weak spots: no Greek, no Arabic, Japanese in beta, no Mandarin. For Greek try Pimsleur. For Arabic try Mango or live tutoring. For Japanese try Wanikani plus Genki.
May 2026: 13.95 monthly, 89.40 annual (7.45 a month). The Live tier at 89 a month is not worth the price; italki at 16 dollars an hour is better. Complete relocation plan: Babbel annual for 4 months (37 dollars), then italki for 2 sessions a week.