Babbel Revenue and Usage Statistics (2025)

David Curry

Updated: January 22, 2025

Babbel is a language learning platform which has slowly but steadily grown in popularity, to the point now it is one of the top-grossing apps of its kind in the world. It was originally launched as a web-app in Mitte, Berlin in 2008.

Babbel has garnered a studious reputation for its language learning system, called The Babbel Method, which uses real conversations by native speakers and retention techniques to quickly teach subscribers the language.

This method is a slight dig at some of Babbel’s competitors, which use text-to-speech artificial intelligence instead of importing actual voices.

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Babbel also differs from other language learning apps in its approach to paid content. While Duolingo offers its app for free with adverts and Memrise and Busuu both offer some free tiered services, Babbel is paid-for only.

That focus on paid-only has lowered the amount of users Babbel has obtained, it only reached 10 million total subscriptions purchased in October 2020. For reference, Duolingo has 42 million monthly active users.

Babbel and other premium language learning services have argued with the subscription comes more dedication to the platform and to learning, while freemium service are often forgotten about by users after a while.

We have collected data and statistics on Babbel. Read on below to find out more. Want expert insights on this app sector? Check out the education app report.

Babbel Key Statistics

Babbel generated €330 million revenue in 2023, a 20% year-on-year increase
It has operated at a loss since 2013 and reported a €15.5 million net loss in 2020
Over 16 million people have subscribed to Babbel since launch

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Babbel Overview

Title	Title 2
Launch date	January 2008
HQ	Berlin, Germany
People	Arne Schepker (CEO), Thomas Holl (CTO), Geoff Stead (CPO), Markus Witte (founder, Chairman)
Business type	Private
Industry	Language learning

Babbel Revenue

Babbel made an estimated €330 million revenue in 2023, 20% more than the previous year

Babbel revenue 2013 to 2022 (€mm)

Year	Revenue (€mm)
2013	13
2014	30
2015	50
2016	67
2017	97
2018	123
2019	143
2020	171
2021	232
2022	275
2023	330

Sources: Education App Report, Company data

Babbel Profit

Babbel has been unprofitable from the outset, but in 2019 it almost managed to break-even, followed by its largest annual loss in 2020 of €15.5 million. It has not reported net income since.

Babbel net income 2013 to 2020 (€mm)

Year	Net income (€mm)
2015	-10.3
2016	-8.4
2017	-9
2018	-12.4
2019	-3
2020	-15.5

Sources: Education App Report, Company data

Babbel Subscription Sales

Babbel reports total subscription sales instead of annual sales, this hit 16 million in 2023.

Babbel total subscription sales 2016 to 2023 (mm)

Year	Subscription sales (mm)
2016	1
2019	7
2021	10
2023	16

Source: Company data

Babbel vs Duolingo: Revenue

Duolingo surpassed Babbel in annual revenue in 2021 and has seen huge growth in 2022 and 2023, overshadowing Babbel’s double digit revenue growth over the past two years.

Babbel and Duolingo revenue 2017 to 2023 ($mm)

Want to learn more? Check out the Education App Report

Babbel FAQ

What is Babbel’s valuation?

Babbel has reportedly valued itself at $1.5 billion ahead of an IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Reuters)

How many languages are available on Babbel?

Babbel currently offers 14 language courses

Where is Babbel most popular?

According to SimilarWeb, Babbel gets most traffic from the US (21.5%), Germany (16%) and France (9.05%)