Busuu French Review 2026

Bonjour, Amélie here. 👋

Busuu sits in an interesting spot among French apps. It has a proper course structure like Babbel, a generous free plan like Duolingo, and one thing neither of them has: corrections from real French speakers in its community. This Busuu French review looks at what that adds up to, and whether it gets you closer to understanding real spoken French.

The short answer: Busuu is worth it for beginners to lower-intermediate learners who want a structured A1-B2 course and real human feedback on what they write and say. The free plan is unusually generous. Like every app, it is weaker on the thing that frustrates most learners later: understanding fast, informal French between native speakers. Use it for structure and feedback, and add real listening.

Plans, prices and course facts checked 6 October 2026 on busuu.com (the Learn French page, its FAQ and the Premium plans page). Prices below are what the plans page showed to a visitor in France, in euros; Busuu localises prices, so yours may differ.

What Busuu French includes in 2026

From Busuu’s own French course page:

• The Complete French course, with 330+ lessons covering A1 to B2.
• 60+ hours of additional, focused learning, through specialty courses such as French Pronunciation, French for Travel and Life in France.
• Feedback from a community of French speakers on your exercises.
• AI review tools for grammar and vocabulary.
• About 5 million learners studying French on Busuu, according to the same page.

The FAQ on that page explains what each plan unlocks:

• Free: you can work through the complete French course in order, use the community, and try some Premium features up to three times.
• Premium: removes adverts, unlocks all lessons from day one (so you can skip around), and gives full access to Grammar Review, Vocabulary Review and Busuu Certificates. Offline mode is included.
• Premium Plus: adds Mistake Repair, AI Conversations, speaking practice, pronunciation practice and the specialty courses.

Busuu prices

Here is what the plans page showed on 6 October 2026, in euros, to a visitor in France:

Plan	1 month	12 months
Premium	€9.69/month	€57.99 (shown as €4.83/month)
Premium Plus	€11.90/month	€69.90 (shown as €5.83/month)

The 12-month prices were displayed with “Save 50%” and “Save 51%” labels against crossed-out prices (€116.28 and €142.80), so treat them as the current offer rather than a permanent rate. Annual Premium Plus at under €6 a month is good value for an app this complete, if you use it.

What Busuu does well

A real course with a real end point. 330+ lessons from A1 to B2 is a structure you can follow without deciding what to do every day. For many learners, that alone is worth paying for.

Human feedback. This is Busuu’s best feature. You write or record an answer, and people in the community who speak French correct it. Corrections from humans catch the things an algorithm misses: the sentence that is grammatical but nobody would say. Quality varies, because volunteers vary, but the principle is excellent.

The free plan is genuinely usable. You can work through the whole course in order without paying. That is rare.

Specialty courses. French Pronunciation and Life in France are the sort of focused extras learners actually need.

Certificates. Premium includes Busuu Certificates, which some learners find motivating. (They are Busuu’s own certificates, not official exams like the DELF.)

Where Busuu falls short for real spoken French

The listening is lesson audio. Busuu’s dialogues are recorded to teach the lesson’s structure. They are clear, paced for learners and short. That is perfect for A1 and frustrating at B1, when the real challenge is French at full speed with all its contractions. The jump is explained in why you can read French but can’t hear it.

Informal French is underrepresented. Apps teach the French you can safely use anywhere. That is sensible, but it means you rarely hear chais pas, y a, ben or du coup in the wild state they live in. You will hear them constantly in France.

B2 in an app is not B2 in life. Completing a B2-labelled course and understanding a B2-level conversation between two French people are different achievements. Most learners need many hours of real listening between the two.

Best features cost extra. AI Conversations, speaking practice and pronunciation practice sit in Premium Plus, not Premium.

Community feedback depends on the community. Sometimes you get a careful correction with an explanation. Sometimes you get a thumbs up for a sentence that needed help.

Is Busuu worth it?

Learner	Is Busuu worth it?	Why
A1 beginner on a budget	Yes, start free	The full course is available in order on the free plan
A2 learner who wants structure	Yes, Premium	Skip around, review grammar and vocab, no ads
Learner who wants to speak	Premium Plus	AI conversations and speaking practice live there
B1 learner stuck on listening	Only alongside real audio	Lesson audio is clear and short by design
Learner who wants a teacher	Add a tutor	Community feedback is useful, not a substitute for lessons

How to get more listening out of Busuu

1. Play every dialogue before you read it. Guess first, check after.
2. Record your answers out loud and ask for community feedback on pronunciation, not just grammar.
3. Treat the Pronunciation course as listening practice too. If you can produce a sound, you hear it more easily.
4. Add one real listening source. A podcast at your level with transcripts is the perfect partner. Start with French podcasts with transcripts.

What we do differently

At French with Amélie the focus is the part apps find hardest: a new dialogue every week, written the way French people really talk, with native audio, 🐢 Slow Audio and notes on the expressions you would never meet in a course. It is aimed at B1+, so it is a natural next step after an A1-B2 app course. If you want to check where you are first, 🧭 The Placement Test at frenchwithamelie.com/test takes a few minutes.

Alternatives

Busuu’s closest rival is Babbel: read the Babbel French review for clearer grammar explanations, or Babbel vs Duolingo for French for the free-versus-paid question. The Duolingo French review covers the free giant. The Pimsleur French review is for audio learners, the Rosetta Stone French review for immersion, and italki for French for a real teacher. For the whole field, see 7 best Duolingo alternatives for French, and for listening, our French listening practice guide.

FAQ

Is Busuu good for learning French?

Yes, for beginners to lower-intermediate learners. It has a structured A1-B2 course with 330+ lessons, and community feedback from French speakers is a real advantage over other apps. It is weaker at preparing you for fast, informal spoken French.

Is Busuu free for French?

Partly. The free plan lets you work through the complete French course in order and use the community, and you can try some Premium features up to three times. Premium removes ads, unlocks all lessons from day one and adds grammar and vocabulary review.

How much is Busuu Premium for French?

On 6 October 2026, the plans page showed (in euros, to a visitor in France) Premium at €9.69/month or €57.99 for 12 months, and Premium Plus at €11.90/month or €69.90 for 12 months. The annual prices were marked as discounted. Prices vary by country.

What level does Busuu French go up to?

Busuu’s Complete French course covers A1 to B2. Finishing a B2-labelled app course is not the same as understanding B2-level conversations, so add real listening as you approach the end.

Are Busuu certificates official?

They are Busuu’s own certificates, included with Premium. They are not official French exams such as the DELF or DALF.

What is the difference between Busuu Premium and Premium Plus?

Premium removes ads, unlocks every lesson and adds grammar and vocabulary review, certificates and offline mode. Premium Plus adds Mistake Repair, AI Conversations, speaking and pronunciation practice and the specialty courses.

Final verdict

Busuu is the most balanced French app for a structured learner on a budget: a complete A1-B2 path, a usable free plan and human corrections. It will not, by itself, teach your ear to cope with a fast conversation in a Paris kitchen. Let Busuu build the frame, then fill it with real French.