Pick Babbel for bite-sized lessons with grammar in context, built for your native language, or to pay once for Lifetime. Pick Smort for Japanese or Mandarin, to talk about any topic you choose, or to keep the words from each chat as flashcards.
Publisher disclosure: Smort publishes this page and is one of the two apps in it. We say where Babbel is the better pick. Smort’s status: Private beta. It requires an iPhone with iOS 26 or later.
Smort vs Babbel, side by side
How each app gets you talking, what you keep, and how you review it.
| Topic | Babbel | Smort |
|---|---|---|
| How you talk | Short lessons with Guided Conversations, then free practice with Babbel Speak (Beta), an AI conversation partner. | Live Voice Chat on a topic you pick or type, with captions and translations. Tap Help me or ask Smort to slow down. Up to 100 minutes a month. |
| Languages for English speakers | Babbel’s catalog has 14 languages in all: Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, English, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, and Indonesian. Each course is tailored to your native language. | Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, French, German, and more. |
| Feedback when you speak | Speech recognition in lessons. Babbel Speak gives instant feedback to improve your pronunciation. | Checks what you said, not your accent. Kana or kanji both count in Japanese. Simplified and traditional characters count as the same word in Mandarin. |
| What you keep after a chat | Each Babbel Speak session ends with the phrases you need for that conversation. | Pick up to 10 words. Smort drafts the flashcards, and you edit them before you save. |
| How you review | A personalized review system uses spaced repetition to bring back what you learned in lessons. | Say or type each card from memory before you see the answer. Spaced repetition brings it back when it’s due. |
| Your own material | Lessons come from Babbel’s courses, tailored to your native language. | Make cards from a topic, your notes, or a screenshot. Import Anki .apkg decks. |
| Price | Free lessons at every level. Babbel’s review page lists 12 months at $107.40, 6 months at $80.70, and Lifetime at $299.99. Each language needs its own subscription, except Lifetime. | Subscription required: $7.99/month or $79.99/year (USD). One plan, with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers. |
| Devices | iPhone and iPad with iOS 17 or later, and Android. Lessons download for offline use. | iPhone with iOS 26 or later. |
When Babbel is the better pick
- You want grammar explained
- Babbel teaches grammar in context, with clear explanations when you need them.
- You want lessons built for your native language
- An English speaker learning Spanish gets different Babbel lessons than a French speaker does.
- You want to pay once
- Babbel Lifetime is a one-time payment and covers every Babbel language.
- You use Android or learn offline
- Babbel runs on Android and iOS 17, and lessons download for offline use. Smort needs an iPhone with iOS 26.
When Smort is the better pick
- You learn Japanese or Mandarin
- Babbel’s 14 languages don’t include them. Smort’s Voice Chat does. In flashcard answers, kana or kanji, simplified or traditional, all count.
- You want to talk about your own topics
- Pick or type any topic in Voice Chat, for up to 100 minutes a month.
- You forget words after the chat
- Keep up to 10 words from each Voice Chat as flashcards, then say them from memory until they stick.
- You have Anki decks or your own notes
- Import an .apkg, or make cards from a topic, your notes, or a screenshot. Babbel’s lessons come from its own courses.
Methodology and sources
Criteria: How each app gets you talking, what you keep afterward, how you review, your own material, price, and devices. Babbel facts come from its own pages, and Smort facts from its App Store description.
What we did not do: We didn’t score either app. Babbel changes often, so check its own pages for the latest.
Primary sources: Babbel review pageBabbel on the US App StoreBabbel on Google Play