Compare two apps before you download one

Here's how to compare two apps with ChatGPT or Claude: App Store ratings, review counts and the most common complaints, side by side.

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   @Firecrawl Use Alexandria to compare Duolingo and Babbel on the App Store: ratings, number of reviews, and what people complain about most.

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   Duolingo and Babbel have the same rating, 4.7★, but Duolingo has about 7× more ratings and draws far more 1-star reviews. The data comes from Firecrawl Alexandria's App Store provider (apps-apple-com), US storefront, pulled today.

   Ratings and number of ratings

   	Duolingo	Babbel
   Rating	4.7★ (4.72 computed from the star breakdown)	4.7★ (4.72 computed from the star breakdown)
   Number of ratings	5,517,415	756,516
   5★ share	84.0%	82.4%
   1–2★ share	3.4% (186,881)	2.5% (18,777)
   Education chart rank	#1 top free	#54 top free
   Price	Free with ads. Super Duolingo is $9.99–12.99/mo or $83.99–119.99/yr	One free lesson, then $17.99/mo, $45.99 for 3 months, or $107.99/yr for all languages

   Babbel has a slightly smaller share of 1–2★ ratings. Duolingo has a slightly larger share of 5★ ratings. Overall the two are almost tied.

   What people complain about most

   I read the 40 most recent 1★ reviews for each app and grouped them by theme. One sign of how much they differ: Duolingo's 40 were all posted in about 1.5 days (Oct 18–19). Babbel's 40 took about 7 weeks (Sep 2 – Oct 19).

   Duolingo

   1. Energy system, paywall and ads (~10 of 40). People call the new "energy" system greedy. They say it runs out even when they answer correctly, that ads play after each lesson, and that they're pushed to upgrade, including to the family plan.
   2. Doesn't actually teach (~8). Reviewers say lessons are too basic and explain little, and that the speaking exercises are rushed. Some complain about mistakes in AI-written content and about practice words that were never taught.
   3. Free-trial charges (~6). Several people were charged $120–150 for a year with no reminder that the trial was ending. They say there's no support contact for refunds.
   4. Bugs (~7). Reports include streaks lost when the user did practise, quest chests not paying out, a missing leaderboard, errors in the "phone call" feature, audio-routing problems, and crashes when a call comes in.
   5. Manipulative gamification (~6). People mention guilt-tripping about streaks and pressure from the gems/combo mechanics. One parent called it "emotional manipulation." There are also some complaints about the new Chess course.

   Babbel

   1. Billing, cancelling and support (~11). People say it auto-renews with no notice, keeps charging after they cancel, is hard to cancel inside the app, and has no human support (an AI chatbot comes first). Refunds are refused after 14 days, and some App Store purchases didn't link to their account.
   2. Paywall after one lesson (~8). "Free" on the App Store, then $18/mo or $100+, felt like a bait-and-switch to these reviewers. Several said Duolingo's free tier is better.
   3. Confusing lessons (~8). Reviewers say words appear before they're introduced and there's too little explanation. Others mention word-scramble exercises, poor pacing for beginners and unreliable speech recognition.
   4. Level problems (~4). Some advanced learners find it too easy. The placement step doesn't test you, so people get put at the wrong level.
   5. Few languages (~3). It offers 14 languages, with no Korean, and nothing for Russian native speakers.

   In short: Duolingo's critics mostly object to the monetization and game mechanics around the lessons. Babbel's critics mostly object to paying up front and how hard it is to cancel. Both get complaints about surprise renewals and being unable to reach a human.

   The theme counts are my own manual tally from 40 reviews per app, so they're rough. Apple's 1★ sort shows the newest 1★ reviews, not a random sample of all reviews.

   Sources usedApp StoreOct 20, 2026