Italian apps for intermediate learners: what still teaches you past A2

An intermediate Italian learner is someone between CEFR levels A2 and B2, who can manage daily exchanges but can't yet follow Italians at full speed.

At that stage, a beginner course teaches you little that's new. You know il conto, per favore.

Which Italian course should an intermediate learner pick?

For most learners between A2 and B1, my pick is Busuu's Complete Italian. Busuu's Italian page names B2 as the top level and lists 580+ lessons.

Busuu also has people correct your work. You send a written or spoken exercise to its Community, and "a fluent Italian speaker responds with corrections and tips". At B1, a correction from a person teaches more than another drill.

Pick Babbel if you want a placement quiz to choose your start. Babbel's Italian placement quiz recommends a starting course, and you can retake it. Babbel costs $17.95 a month, or about $9 a month if you pay for a year (5 Sep and 13 Oct 2026).

Stay on Duolingo if you already use it and don't want to pay. Duolingo says its Italian course has taught through B2 since 22 April 2026, and Energy caps its free tier.

My pick rests on each company's own published claims, dated in the table below.

Which Italian apps go past the beginner level?

These Italian apps still teach something past A2. Every fact comes from the company's own pages, and prices are US prices.

"Highest level it names" is each company's claim about its course content.

What do the courses teach at B1?

Here's what each company says its Italian course teaches past A2.

Babbel's Italian page lists B1 as "Past and future tenses", "Opinions and explanations" and "Longer conversations". Its B2 adds "Complex ideas and arguments".

Duolingo says its new advanced Italian content helps you "understand news, movies, and jokes". Duolingo also lists advanced Stories and DuoRadio episodes.

Busuu's Italian page promises "Beginner, intermediate and advanced lessons" and recommends about 10 minutes a day. I found no list of topics per level there.

Before you pay for a year, try a B1 lesson in the app if you can. You'll see at once whether it teaches you something new.

Is Duolingo Italian good for intermediate learners?

Duolingo Italian now has content past A2, so an intermediate learner can stay on it. Add a tutor for speaking.

On 22 April 2026, Duolingo said Italian is one of 9 courses that now teach "through B2 on the CEFR scale". Before that, most learners "could only complete content up to A2".

Energy has replaced hearts as the limit on the free tier. Super Duolingo gives unlimited Energy, and its US App Store prices run from $9.99 to $119.99 (12 Oct 2026).

One 1-star App Store review of Duolingo, from October 2026, says "after you are not a beginner you really don’t get much". That reviewer was mostly writing about the free tier. My full take is in the Duolingo Italian review.

Why do intermediate learners stall in Italian apps?

Intermediate learners stall when a course restarts at hello, or when the course ends.

The restart is the loud complaint. A 2023 1-star App Store review of Babbel says "I’m an intermediate speaker and I was defaulted to saying hello and goodbye".

That reviewer was learning Spanish. They took Babbel's placement quiz twice, and the app still offered beginner lessons.

The end of a course is the other problem. A 2025 1-star App Store review of Promova reads: "zipped through all of my Italian lessons to the advanced level". The reviewer says nothing was left to do except pay for more.

Vocabulary is the quieter problem. At B1, the words you need come from your tutor and the shows you watch. A course can't know them.

How do I skip the Italian basics I already know?

Skip the basics with a placement quiz, or with a tool where you choose the Italian.

1. Pick a course that names a level above yours.
2. Take its placement quiz before the first lesson.
3. Retake the quiz if the first 3 lessons feel too easy.
4. Add one tool where you choose the Italian.

Babbel offers its quiz for Spanish, French, Italian and German. Its help centre says the quiz recommends "the best course for you to start with", and that you can take it "again anytime".

A placement quiz can still place you too low, as the Babbel review above shows.

I couldn't confirm a placement quiz for Duolingo or Busuu from their own pages, so check in the app.

What should an intermediate learner add to a course?

Add real Italian and a person to speak with. Then keep the words you meet in a review tool.

Real Italian: LingQ or Lingopie

LingQ's Italian page says "Import your own content and convert it instantly into interactive Italian lessons". It names YouTube videos and books, and says it finds content "just above your level". I found no price on that page.

Lingopie has real shows with clickable subtitles. A clicked word saves to a word list for review. My Lingopie review has more.

Speaking: a tutor on italki

italki listed 822 Italian tutors on 23 August 2026.

The median trial lesson across 20 Italian tutors was $12 (23 Aug 2026). The median standing one-hour rate across the first 20 listed was $23.50 (21 Sep 2026). Budget for the second number, since the trial is a one-off.

Review: cards from your own Italian

Verbamor turns your own Italian into review cards (the Italian flashcards guide compares the Italian card apps). You can record a lesson, import an audio file, paste text or save a look-up from the Translate tab.

You can save single words or whole phrases, and FSRS-6 schedules every card.

Ask before you record anyone. Recording other people needs their permission, and that includes your tutor.

What should I pair at each level?

Here's what I'd pair at each level. Use Babbel or Duolingo in place of Busuu if you already pay for one.

At A2

1. Study Busuu's Complete Italian toward B1.
2. Read 1 LingQ lesson a day.
3. Save the new words from it to a review tool.

At B1

1. Send 1 Busuu exercise a week for correction.
2. Book 1 italki lesson a week.
3. Watch 1 Italian episode a week on Lingopie.
4. Save the words you missed as cards.

At B2

1. Keep the weekly tutor lesson for speaking.
2. Read Italian news or books written for Italians.
3. Paste the articles you read into your review tool.
4. Save the phrases you'd actually say.

Who should pick a course or a tutor instead?

Pick a course if you want a structured path to B2. Verbamor has no grammar lessons, no curriculum and no placement quiz.

Its starter deck, Essentials, is about 650 common words in a fixed order. That's basic for an A2 learner, and you can delete the deck.

Book a tutor if speaking is the goal. Verbamor has no AI conversation partner and no pronunciation scoring. Pimsleur's Italian course has "a Voice Coach with AI pronunciation feedback", and italki gives you a person.

Know who writes the cards. Verbamor's card text, sentences and pictures come from AI (Claude and OpenAI models), with automated checks and no human review. You can flag a word as wrong on lesson results.

Verbamor is an iPhone and iPad app, with no Android or web version. Explorer is $19.99 a month with no trial. Native is $129.99 a year, with a 7-day trial. Those are US prices, read off the app's own plan definitions on 21 September 2026.

Questions intermediate Italian learners ask

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