The best app to learn German, judged on the hard parts

German has four jobs, and no app does all of them

Judge a German app on the parts of German that are actually hard, rather than on how many lessons it has.

The course. Something has to put the grammar in an order. The cases. Somebody has to explain why you said dem when it was den. Speaking. You need a person or a convincing stand-in to talk to. Keeping the words. Every noun has to come back with its article until you no longer think about it.

What I sell

I build Verbamor, an iPhone and iPad app that turns the German from your own lessons, conversations and reading into flashcards. It’s $19.99 a month or $129.99 a year, US prices from the app’s own plan definitions on 21 September 2026, and the App Store may show a different number where you are. It has no course and no grammar lessons, so it won’t take you from zero, and I’ll say below who should spend their money elsewhere.

The apps, one by one

Duolingo, for the free course

The best place to start for nothing. German is one of the nine Duolingo courses that now teach through CEFR B2, according to Duolingo’s post of 22 April 2026, and its own course page counts 15.9 million German learners. When you get an answer wrong, Explain My Answer tells you why, and Duolingo made it free for German learners on 1 January 2026. What no course can do is notice the case you get wrong when you speak. Super starts at $9.99 on the US App Store.

Babbel, for grammar along the way

Babbel promises “helpful grammar tips while reading, writing, listening” in its lessons, and German is one of the four languages with a placement quiz that recommends where to start. Twelve months cost $107.40 on its prices page on 13 October 2026. If you want a paid course with a clear starting point, this is the one I’d look at first.

Mango Languages, for free through a library

German is Mango’s largest course, 721 lessons on its own languages page in September 2026. Mango says many public libraries give their patrons access for free with a library card, so check whether yours subscribes before paying for anything on this page.

A tutor app, for the cases and for speaking

No app on this page fixes your own mistakes the way a person does. On italki, community tutors run $4 to $20 a lesson and professional teachers $10 to $40, on its price guide in October 2026. Two lessons a month is enough to turn the case tables into something you say.

Anki, for keeping words if you like building

Free on a computer, $24.99 on iPhone. You make the cards, so you decide that every noun carries its article on the front, and you can add a plural if you want one. Turn FSRS on in the deck options. If building cards is a hobby rather than a chore, Anki beats my app on price, and I’d tell you to use it.

Verbamor, for keeping the words you met

The narrow job. Verbamor takes German from your lessons, conversations and reading, records or pastes or translates it, and turns the words and phrases into cards: the word gapped out of its sentence, with audio, a picture and the article on every noun. It starts with a deck of about 650 common German words, FSRS schedules the reviews, and its Word patterns screen teaches the 26 rules that turn English you know into German.

Skip it if you’re starting from zero and want to be taught. It has no course and no grammar lessons, its cards don’t drill plurals yet, and it runs on iPhone and iPad only.

How to pick two

Pick one course and one way to keep the words. Duolingo or Babbel for the course; a tutor if you can afford one; Anki if you’ll build cards, Verbamor if you won’t. A third app only adds a streak to keep.

Before you start any of them, try the free der, die or das checker and the German word patterns. They’ll show you how much of German you can already predict.

Questions people actually ask

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