The Language Learning Resource

Short answer: You can start learning Spanish for free. If you choose to pay, the main cost drivers are live lessons, the type and length of app subscription, and how often you practise. The cheapest plan is not necessarily the best value: choose based on the skill you’re missing.

Research checked 20 October 2026. Pricing and subscription rules may change. This article uses independently explained example budgets, not quotations or guaranteed prices from individual providers. This is not a hands-on product test.

Three practical ways to budget for Spanish

1. The £0 route: structured free learning

Start by combining one structured introductory course with regular listening and basic speaking tasks. The Open University’s Getting started with Spanish 1 provides beginner material, while Beginners’ Spanish: Getting around covers practical navigation and transport. These are genuine educational resources; you don’t need an affiliate purchase to benefit.

A free approach may suit a curious beginner testing their motivation. The limitation is feedback: a free course can explain a phrase, but it cannot always tell you whether a real listener understands your answer.

2. The subscription-app route

Self-paced apps can be convenient for short, frequent study sessions. But compare the actual upfront payment with the advertised monthly equivalent. Babbel explains that cost depends on country, subscription type and purchase channel, and that longer subscriptions are normally paid in full, in advance. A low monthly equivalent isn’t the same as a small monthly charge.

• Check the total charged today, not just the headline equivalent monthly price.
• Confirm how and when the subscription renews.
• Check whether you can try part of a course before paying.
• Decide whether the app practises the skills you actually need: listening, conversation, writing or exam preparation.

3. The one-to-one tutor route

Live tutoring adds scheduled speaking practice and tailored feedback but is typically more expensive than purely independent learning. Preply’s March 2026 overview of Spanish tutor fees describes a broad $15–$50 per-hour range for Spanish tutoring. This is a provider-published guide, not an independently sampled current market average. Individual profiles and other providers may differ considerably.

The following scenarios are illustrative dollar budgets for someone purchasing four lessons in a 28-day cycle:

• Four lessons at $15 each: $60 per 28 days.
• Four lessons at $25 each: $100 per 28 days.
• Four lessons at $40 each: $160 per 28 days.

As a rough annual planning exercise, thirteen 28-day cycles at $100 would cost approximately $1,300 if you maintained the same price and lesson frequency. This is not a quote from Preply and excludes any fees or changes in pricing; it simply makes the renewal schedule easier to understand.

Preply’s current help documentation says its tutoring subscriptions renew every 28 days, have a minimum of four 50-minute lesson equivalents per cycle, and are tied to one tutor. That matters if you want occasional ad-hoc lessons: Preply does not currently offer ordinary stand-alone lesson packs after the trial.

Which budget is actually sensible?

If you only have £0

Pick one free course, repeat its exercises, and dedicate a short weekly session to saying practical phrases aloud. Avoid collecting ten disconnected apps: the number of resources you install is not a measure of how much Spanish you can use.

If you have a modest monthly budget

Use a structured free course or reasonably priced app to prepare between lessons; reserve spending for the thing you cannot easily get alone, such as live feedback. One well-chosen conversation session can be more purposeful than a stack of unrelated subscriptions.

If you have a larger budget or a deadline

A tutor or organised class may help maintain consistency, especially if you need to communicate for travel, relocation or work. Set a clear measurable outcome for each four-week block. Buying more lessons only makes sense if you can attend and practise between them.

Don’t compare subscriptions using the wrong timeframe

Compare everything across the same period. One provider may bill every 28 days, another monthly, and a third annually. A 28-day cycle happens about thirteen times in a year. Monthly equivalents shown in advertisements may assume you’ve paid for many months upfront.

• Actual price today: How much leaves your account now?
• Renewal: Which date and amount will be charged next?
• Learning time: How many scheduled lessons or minutes of guided practice does that buy?
• Unused lessons: Will unused sessions expire?
• Cancellation: How soon before renewal must you act?

A free four-week test before you spend money

1. Week one: Choose one introductory OpenLearn unit. Record a 30-second self-introduction on your phone.
2. Week two: Build a travel or daily-life phrase list of about fifteen items. Practise asking and answering simple questions aloud.
3. Week three: Try a new listening or reading task, then retell its key meaning in simple Spanish rather than memorising each line.
4. Week four: Repeat your original self-introduction and compare the recordings. Which parts feel easier? Is speaking feedback now your main bottleneck?

If independent practice is working and money is tight, keep going. If pronunciation, confidence or unpredictable conversation is your blocker, compare a tutor or conversation group before buying more self-study products.

Questions to ask before booking Spanish tuition

• Does the tutor work with absolute beginners, travellers or professional learners like me?
• How much speaking will I do in a typical session?
• What feedback will I receive on pronunciation and errors?
• What happens between lessons? Is homework optional or required?
• What is the total cost over three months at my planned frequency?

Our conclusion

Learning Spanish need not begin with an expensive subscription. A sensible plan is to test a reputable free resource first, identify the specific skill you need to improve, then pay only for the support that addresses it. Where prices vary, look up live offers from the provider before purchasing.

Sources and further reading

• Preply guide to Spanish tutoring rates
• Preply subscription rules
• Babbel UK pricing explanation
• OpenLearn: Getting started with Spanish
• OpenLearn: Beginners’ Spanish — getting around

Editorial note: The operator of this website also teaches English via Preply. The presence of Preply in this comparison does not constitute a recommendation of one provider over another. No paid affiliate link has been used in this article.