What Lingoda actually does
Lingoda isn't an app in the flashcard sense — it's a subscription to live, teacher-led video classes, and that changes how you should think about its price and its fit compared to something like Babbel or Memrise.
The core product
Lingoda is an online language school run by Lingoda GmbH, founded in Berlin in 2012 (originally under the name Easy Languages, rebranded to Lingoda in 2013). Rather than self-paced lessons, it runs live, 60-minute video classes taught by native-level teachers, bookable 24 hours a day through the web or the iOS and Android apps, in small groups of up to five students or one-on-one.
It teaches five languages built around a CEFR-aligned curriculum that maps to recognised proficiency levels rather than an in-house-only scale:
- English (including a Business English track)
- German
- French
- Spanish
- Italian
Classes can be booked, rescheduled or cancelled through the platform, and the whole model is designed around fitting live conversation practice into a real, busy schedule rather than asking you to show up at fixed weekly times.
What's new or notable
Lingoda's subscriptions are sold as monthly class-credit plans: pick a class volume, and the per-class price drops as that volume rises. Alongside live classes, subscribers get access to more than 100 hours of AI-powered self-study material for practice between sessions. Unused class credits roll over rather than being forfeited at the end of a cycle, subscriptions can be paused for up to four weeks per cycle, and Lingoda offers a 14-day money-back guarantee, minus the cost of any classes already completed.
Every plan also starts with a genuine 7-day free trial covering either three group classes or one private class, which is a real sample of the actual teaching rather than a locked-down demo.
Who should use Lingoda
Great fit if…
- You want live correction, not just drilling — a native-level teacher correcting you in real time is a fundamentally different learning experience than a self-paced app, and Lingoda is built entirely around that.
- Your schedule is unpredictable — with classes bookable any hour of the day, Lingoda fits around shift work, time zones, and irregular free time better than a fixed weekly class slot would.
- You're targeting one of its five languages — English, German, French, Spanish or Italian learners get a proper CEFR-mapped curriculum rather than an ad hoc set of lessons.
- You'll actually use a higher class volume — the pricing structure specifically rewards learners who commit to more classes a month with a substantially lower per-class rate.
Skip it if…
- You want to learn a language outside the five offered — there's no workaround here; if it isn't English, German, French, Spanish or Italian, Lingoda simply doesn't teach it.
- You want an indefinite free option — the 7-day trial is real, but it's a trial; every plan after that is a paid monthly subscription with no free ceiling.
- You can't commit to a live schedule — because classes are live and booked in advance, Lingoda demands more calendar management than opening a self-paced app for five minutes between meetings.
Pricing in detail
Lingoda sells separate group-class and private-class subscription tracks, each priced in monthly class-credit tiers, with the per-class rate falling as the tier size increases; the numbers below are from Lingoda's own pricing page, checked in September 2026.
| Plan | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Group Sprint (5 classes/month) | €169.99/month (€33.99 per class) | Five 60-minute live group classes (up to 5 students) plus AI-powered self-study material. |
| Group Marathon (12 classes/month) | €287.99/month (€23.99 per class) | Twelve group classes monthly at roughly 10% off the entry per-class rate. |
| Group Extended (20 classes/month) | €371.99/month (€18.49 per class) | Twenty group classes monthly at roughly 20% off the entry per-class rate. |
| Group Absolute (40 classes/month) | €584.99/month (€14.49 per class) | Forty group classes monthly at roughly 30% off the entry per-class rate, Lingoda's lowest group price point. |
| Private class plans (5–40 classes/month) | €34.99–€174.99/month (€6.99 down to €4.49 per class) | One-on-one classes with a private teacher, priced on a separate track from group classes, with the same roll-over and pause rules. |
Where it falls short
- No lasting free tier — once the 7-day trial ends, every class costs money, and the smallest group plan carries the highest per-class rate on the price list.
- Bigger discounts mean bigger bills — the cheapest per-class rate requires committing to the largest monthly plan, which also means the largest recurring charge, not just a smaller one with a better unit price.
- Live scheduling is a real commitment — booking, attending, and rescheduling live classes takes more ongoing effort than opening a self-paced app, and missed classes still consume credits unless rescheduled in time.
- Only five languages — anyone wanting Portuguese, Dutch, or a non-European language is outside Lingoda's scope entirely.
Privacy & data
Lingoda is a German company, which puts it squarely under GDPR for how it handles learner data — enrolment details, payment information, and the video and audio from live classes themselves. Live classes involve a genuine video connection with a teacher and, in group classes, other students, which is a different privacy consideration than a purely self-paced app where no other user ever sees or hears you.
Beyond the general EU regulatory backdrop, we don't have verified specifics on Lingoda's internal data retention for class recordings or teacher notes, so anyone with particular concerns should check Lingoda's own privacy policy before enrolling.
How we checked this
This entry was checked on 2026-09-04 against Lingoda's own pricing page to confirm current group and private class-credit tiers, per-class pricing, and trial terms. We did not personally enrol in or attend a live class for this review, so observations about teaching quality reflect Lingoda's own stated model — native-level teachers, small group sizes, CEFR alignment — rather than direct classroom observation. Anyone weighing Lingoda against a competitor should treat the free trial as the most reliable way to judge teacher quality and class format for themselves before subscribing to a paid plan.