Pimsleur vs Rosetta Stone at a glance
| Pimsleur | Rosetta Stone | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Premium $19.99/mo; All Access $20.99/mo or $164.99/yr; one-off levels $150 each, 5 levels $575; free first lessonchecked 2026-10-09 (pimsleur.com/learn-french; subscriptions from the US App Store, 2026-10-06) | €19.99/mo, or €13.25/mo billed €159/yr; lifetime plan priced on the buy pagechecked 2026-10-09 (rosettastone.com buy page, shown from Germany) |
| Levels | A1–B1 (beginner and intermediate) | A1–B1 (beginner and intermediate) |
| Free to use | No (trial or sample only) | No (trial or sample only) |
| Real-speed French | No | No |
| Transcripts or subtitles | Not a feature | Not a feature |
| Taught in | English, French | French |
| Platforms | iOS, Android, Web | iOS, Android, Web |
| Best for | Best for speaking from day one on a commute; thin on vocabulary. | Immersion-style basics; slow, and light on explanation. |
Prices as shown on the official site on the date given; they vary by country and change often.
Which is better for beginners?
It depends on how you learn. Pimsleur is audio-first: 30-minute lessons where you listen, repeat and answer out loud, explained in English, with a hands-free mode and offline listening. Rosetta Stone teaches by immersion from the first lesson, with pictures, words and speech recognition and very little English. If you learn by ear, choose Pimsleur; if you learn by seeing and matching, Rosetta Stone.
Which is cheaper?
Close on a yearly plan. Pimsleur All Access is $164.99 a year on the US App Store (or $150 per one-off level); Rosetta Stone was €159 a year, or €19.99 a month, when we checked from Germany. Pimsleur lets you try a lesson free; Rosetta Stone lets you try the app free.
Which gets you speaking sooner?
Pimsleur. Every lesson makes you answer out loud before you see any text, so you get used to producing whole sentences early. Rosetta Stone uses speech recognition on words and short sentences, and it is slow to reach anything conversational.
Which teaches more French?
Neither covers a lot of vocabulary. Pimsleur covers far less than most courses, and Rosetta Stone's immersion approach is slow. Both realistically take you from A1 to about B1.
Which teaches real spoken French?
Neither. Pimsleur's audio is slow, studio-clean and scripted, and Rosetta Stone's is built around short sentences for learners. Neither prepares you for French at normal speed.
What neither does
Neither course explains much grammar in depth, trains your ear for real-speed French, or gives you a person to talk to. Both stop around B1. Add a course with clear explanations if you want to understand the grammar, real listening for your ear, and a weekly conversation once you have the basics.
How it compares
| App | Price | Levels | Real-speed French | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pimsleur | Premium $19.99/mo; All Access $20.99/mo or $164.99/yr; one-off levels $150 each, 5 levels $575; free first lessonchecked 2026-10-09 (pimsleur.com/learn-french; subscriptions from the US App Store, 2026-10-06) | A1–B1 | No | Best for speaking from day one on a commute; thin on vocabulary. |
| Rosetta Stone | €19.99/mo, or €13.25/mo billed €159/yr; lifetime plan priced on the buy pagechecked 2026-10-09 (rosettastone.com buy page, shown from Germany) | A1–B1 | No | Immersion-style basics; slow, and light on explanation. |
| French with Amélie | Free weekly lesson; Premium $24/mo or $240/yr | B1–C1 | Yes, with a slow version and a transcript | Real-speed dialogues by email and a private podcast. Not an app. Visit |
Prices as shown on the official site on the date given; they vary by country and change often.
Read more
The full listings: Pimsleur (course) and Rosetta Stone (app). More like these: Online French courses.
Guides
- Rosetta Stone reviews, read for French learners
- Pimsleur French: the method, the levels, the price
- Does Rosetta Stone work? The speech-recognition problem
- The Pimsleur method explained (and where it stops)
- Rosetta Stone French: what you get and who it suits
- Is Pimsleur worth it?
- Rosetta Stone lifetime: is it worth it?
- Rosetta Stone vs Babbel vs Duolingo for French
- Pimsleur free: what you can get without paying
- How to cancel Pimsleur