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Best app to learn Arabic (2026): which ones teach MSA and dialects

Updated October 21, 2026

What we tested: Public course pages, App Store listings and teacher lists checked on the web (21 Oct 2026). No Arabic lesson was taken in any app, and no tutor was booked or paid.

For most people starting Arabic, Duolingo is the easiest free place to begin, but it teaches Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), the formal written language, not a spoken dialect. If you need Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf or Moroccan conversation, a tutor is the realistic route: italki and Preply both list Arabic teachers for those dialects. Babbel does not teach Arabic at all. Prices and course lists change, so check each vendor’s page before you pay.

Quick comparison

App or service	Arabic taught	Variety taught	Published price (October 2026)	Strengths	Limits
Duolingo	Yes, free course	MSA (Duolingo blog)	Free to start; Super optional	Short daily lessons, gradual course	Little spoken dialect
Mondly	Yes, “Learn Arabic” app	Standard Arabic per Mondly’s site (not confirmed on the page we could open)	US App Store: $9.99 a month or $47.99 a year	Speech recognition, useful phrases	Premium needed for the full course
Busuu	Yes, A1 to B2	Not stated on the course page	Premium price not verified	135+ lessons with clear levels	Variety unclear
Babbel	No	Not applicable	Not applicable	Structured courses in other languages	Does not teach Arabic
italki	Yes, 392 Arabic tutors	MSA, Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf, Maghrebi (teacher profiles)	Each teacher sets the rate; trial lessons from USD 5 on the cards we read	Choice of teacher, one lesson at a time	Quality varies by teacher
Preply	Yes, Arabic tutors	MSA, Levantine and Egyptian (tutor bios); Gulf and Moroccan in tutor listings	Each tutor sets the rate; no Arabic price range verified	Try another tutor if not satisfied	Price set per tutor

Sources: Duolingo’s Arabic course, Mondly’s Arabic app on the App Store, Busuu’s Arabic course, italki Arabic teachers, Preply on learning Arabic, Babbel’s course languages.

MSA or a dialect: which one do you need?

Modern Standard Arabic is the language of books, newspapers, news broadcasts and most schools. Spoken dialects are what people use at home and in the street, and they differ a lot from one country to the next. Duolingo’s own explanation is direct: MSA is “not a dialect that people learn at home”, and it is “typically acquired later through formal or religious education”. The same article compares Moroccan, Egyptian and Syrian Arabic as examples of the spoken varieties.

In practice, learners tend to do one of two things. If you want to read and write, or work with formal texts, start with MSA in an app. If you want to talk to people in Cairo, Beirut, Dubai or Casablanca, you need a dialect, and that usually means a tutor who speaks it. We did not find an app that offers a full spoken dialect course, so do not expect one from an app alone.

Who should pick which

Starting from zero, free: Duolingo is the simplest first step for MSA. It is a daily habit tool, not a conversation course.
Want short vocabulary and phrase practice: Mondly is worth a try, with a US App Store subscription of $9.99 a month or $47.99 a year for its Arabic course. Check the price in your own store before you subscribe.
Want a levelled course to A1 to B2: Busuu has a 135+ lesson Arabic course. It does not say which variety it teaches, so ask yourself whether that matters for your goal.
Want to speak Egyptian, Levantine or Gulf: italki or Preply. Pick a teacher whose profile lists your dialect.
Want English or French instead: Babbel is a strong app, but it is not an option for Arabic. Read our Babbel review or Babbel vs Duolingo instead.

Cambly teaches English only, so it is not a choice for Arabic.

Apps and services, one by one

Duolingo. Duolingo’s Arabic course is free to start and is built around reading, writing, listening and speaking in MSA. Its blog says Duolingo’s Arabic is a less formal, spoken version of MSA than the register used in poetry or formal news. We did not take a lesson in Arabic, so we cannot describe the exercises from our own use. Duolingo has no affiliate programme we could join, so there is no link here.

Mondly. Mondly publishes a separate “Learn Arabic” app on the App Store. Its listing describes short lessons, speech recognition, and a verb feature that shows conjugations when you tap a verb. Speech feedback is part of the subscription, so the free part is limited. Mondly’s Arabic app is listed as free to download with in-app purchases, and its US listing shows $9.99 a month or $47.99 a year. Mondly’s own site describes the course as Standard Arabic; we could not open that page to confirm it. A reviewer on the App Store also complained that the Arabic text has no vowel marks (tashkeel), which makes reading harder for beginners.

Try Mondly

Busuu. Busuu’s Complete Arabic course covers CEFR levels A1 to B2 across 135+ lessons. The course page does not say whether it teaches MSA or a dialect, so we have not listed it as a dialect option. Busuu’s affiliate terms are separate and are not relevant to this article.

Babbel. Babbel does not teach Arabic. Its course languages list has no Arabic, so an Arabic learner should skip it. Our hands-on Babbel tests were in Spanish, not Arabic.

italki. italki lists 392 Arabic tutors. Teacher profiles include MSA, Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf and Maghrebi Arabic. On the Arabic teacher page we read, prices were shown in US dollars: a teacher with $10 an hour, several trial lessons at $5 to $17.99, and a satisfaction guarantee on trial lessons. Plus is a separate learner subscription at $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year, with a 30-day trial, according to italki’s Plus page. Plus does not include lessons.

Try italki

Preply. Preply’s Arabic page names MSA, Levantine and Egyptian in tutor bios. Gulf and Moroccan tutors appear in tutor listings. Preply’s homepage says you can try another tutor for free if you are not satisfied. We did not find an Arabic price range on Preply’s pages, so check each tutor’s rate before you book. Preply also has an Arabic version of its site, if you prefer to read the interface in Arabic.

Try Preply

Pros and cons

Apps

Easy to start, and Duolingo is free to begin.
Good for MSA vocabulary, reading and grammar basics.
Little or no practice with a spoken dialect, and speech feedback often needs a paid plan.

Tutors

The only realistic way to learn a spoken dialect today.
You choose the dialect, the teacher and the level.
Costs add up, and quality varies by teacher.

A simple way to decide

Decide whether you need MSA or a dialect. Reading and formal Arabic point to an app. Conversation in a specific country points to a tutor.
Set a monthly budget before you start. For a tutor, multiply the lesson rate by the number of lessons.
Start free for a month, then decide whether a tutor is worth it.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free app to learn Arabic? Duolingo is the most accessible free start. It teaches MSA, so it suits reading and basic conversation rather than a specific dialect. Check what each app’s free version includes, because it changes.

Which app teaches Egyptian Arabic? We did not find a major app that offers a full Egyptian course. Tutors on italki and Preply list Egyptian Arabic in their profiles, so search by dialect and read each teacher’s profile.

Can I learn Arabic with Babbel? No. Babbel’s course languages do not include Arabic.

Should I learn MSA or a dialect first? If your goal is reading, writing or formal settings, start with MSA. If your goal is speaking with people in one country, start with that dialect with a tutor, and add MSA later for reading.

Sources

Prices and course lists were checked on 21 October 2026. Apps change their courses and prices often, so check the official page before you subscribe.