Babbel

Babbel teaches 14 languages, among them Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish and Indonesian. Courses are built from short lessons that explain grammar in context, with spaced review, guided conversations, an AI conversation partner called Babbel Speak, and podcasts. It runs on iOS, Android and the web.

It is a subscription product. Signing up is free and the first lesson of every course can be tried at no cost, but full courses need a paid plan. That is the difference from Duolingo, where every course is free; what Babbel sells instead is a structured course that teaches the grammar behind each sentence.

Babbel GmbH is a Berlin company, registered at Amtsgericht Charlottenburg under HRB 110215 B, that sells the Babbel language-learning app by subscription. Its end-user terms name Babbel GmbH as the contracting party under German law; customers resident in the United States get a separate New York law clause, but the German company remains the seller. Babbel GmbH reported revenue of 285.7 million euro for 2024, up from 253.6 million the year before.

The group’s top company is Babbel Group GmbH, also in Berlin (HRB 267419 B), which converted from an AG in 2024. Its legal entity record reports no parent above it, and its filings list Babbel Inc. in Wilmington as a subsidiary rather than an owner. The Berlin state investment vehicles IBB Unternehmensverwaltung, VC Fonds Berlin and VC Fonds Technologie Berlin appear among its shareholders. Tim Allen has been managing director since June 2025.