In this article we compare apps and learning software that you can use to learn Persian (also called Farsi). Duolingo and Babbel don't offer Persian courses, while Mondly and Rosetta Stone do.
Mondly Persian App
Best Alternative to Duolingo or Babbel
Systems: Android and iOS Apps, Online Version (PC and Mac)
Suitable for: Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced Learners, Students, Travel
Content: Persian vocabulary trainer (5000 words), playful exercises, grammar
Prices: Free (initial lessons), USD 9.99 (1 month and 1 language), USD 47.99 (12 months and access to all 41 languages)
Discount offer: USD 99 (Lifetime Access to all 41 Languages)
Overall Value:
The Mondly App lets you learn the Persian language in a playful way with a series of interactive exercises.
There are over 1000 lessons in total and 5000 Persian words spoken by native speakers in the vocabulary trainer.
You can freely choose which of the 40 topics you want to learn and in what order, including Persian grammar and verb conjugations.
In addition, there is a Persian conversation trainer (speech recognition) for the most common types of conversations in everyday life.
Mondly has around 45 million users worldwide. This language course has the advantage of having 41 source languages and 41 target languages.
Summary: Mondly is very similar to the Babbel and Duolingo apps and is just as good in terms of quality (Babbel does not have a Persian course).
Link:
Mondly Persian App and Online Course
Persian Basic Course
From 17 Minute Languages
Systems: Online Access (PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)
Suitable for: Beginners and Advanced Learners, Students, Professionals
Content: 1300 words (basic course), 5200 words (complete course), grammar, verb conjugations, exercises
Prices: USD 29,95 (Basic Course), USD 97 (Complete Course)
Overall Value: 
The Persian Basic Course consists of a vocabulary trainer for the Farsi basics (1300 words) with native-speaker audio, as well as Persian grammar explanations and various exercises.
The vocabulary trainer works with a long-term memory method, in which the new vocabulary is checked at increasing intervals.
You can choose between text input, multiple choice or simply confirming whether you knew a word or not.
The exercises include text comprehension questions, filling in word gaps or just vocabulary lists where the English or Persian side is covered.
The basic course corresponds to the official language levels A1 and A2 (explanation of CEFR language levels).
The Complete Course contains:
- Basic course for beginners (basic vocabulary with 1300 words)
- Intermediate course (1800 more words)
- Advanced course for experts (2100 words)
- Additional specialized vocabulary
- Covers the official CEFR language levels A1 to C2
Summary: Much cheaper and even better than the famous Rosetta Stone. There is a free demo version available and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Link: Persian Basic Course and Complete Course
Rosetta Stone: Persian
Most Famous Language Learning App
Systems: PC, Mac, Android, iOS Apps
Suitable for: Beginners, intermediate, experts, professionals, business
Content: Persian lessons with native speaker audio and speech recognition
Prices:
USD 36 (3 months)
USD 145 (12 months)
USD 299 (Lifetime access)
USD 349 (Lifetime access for 24 languages)
Overall Value:
How does Persian learning with Rosetta Stone work?
Rosetta Stone has a different approach to language learning than many other online courses or language apps such as Duolingo, Memrise and others.
The idea behind Rosetta Stone is to learn a language like you did as a child - by using pictures in combination with listening, speaking, and reading.
Each Rosetta Stone lesson includes the following exercises:
- Pronounce the words or phrases correctly (speech recognition)
-
When reading or hearing a word, click on the correct picture
-
When looking at a picture, click on the correct word
-
Type in a spoken word correctly, etc.
A possible disadvantage of Rosetta Stone is that there are no grammar explanations or translations of the Persian vocabulary.
Instead, you are supposed to learn the Farsi grammar and the meaning of words from the context or recognize the meaning from the pictures.
Rosetta Stone Apps and Online Version:
The Rosetta Stone Persian learning software can be used online with a subscription for 3 or 12 months or with a Lifetime Access.
In addition to the online version, there are now also Rosetta Stone apps for iPhones and Android smartphones.
Summary: Time-tested method, but the lack of grammar explanations and translations may make Rosetta Stone not suitable for everyone.
Link: Rosetta Stone App and Online Course
Memrise Persian App
App with User-Generated Lessons
Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online-Version (PC and Mac)
Content: Persian lessons and vocabulary trainer with native speaker audio, grammar
Prices: USD 8,99 (1 month), USD 60 (12 months), USD 110 (unlimited)
Overall Value:
With the Memrise App you can learn over 90 languages.
This includes even very small languages - however, in such cases the language courses are often limited to just a few lessons.
One special feature of the Memrise learning app is the large number of lessons created by users (native speakers).
However, the quality of these lessons varies greatly. For example, only the basic forms of verbs are usually taught, without the conjugations. Some languages also do not have an audio recording of the words at all.
Another good idea of the Memrise app are the user-generated tips and mnemonics for each word to help you memorize them.
Summary: User-generated lessons are a good idea. In practice, the quality of the lessons leaves a lot be desired.
Bluebird Persian App
Persian Lessons and Exercises
Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online-Version (PC and Mac)
Content: Persian lessons and exercises with voice output and speech recognition
Prices: USD 9.99 (1 month), USD 100 (12 months), USD 200 (unlimited), USD 400 (163 languages)
Overall Value:
The Bluebird App offers 146 source languages and 163 target languages and dialects, including Persian.
The Persian language course in this app includes the following:
-
Daily video lessons at three difficulty levels.
-
Basic Persian vocabulary on several dozen topics
-
Common Persian verbs with conjugations
-
Analysis of your pronunciation (with speech recognition)
-
Tests: listening comprehension, filling in word gaps, quizzes
For Persian, there are about 500 video lessons, each 5 to 60 minutes long. For languages with other scripts, the words can also be displayed transliterated in the Western script.
The Bluebird App does not have grammar lessons. Instead, you are supposed to understand the grammar "implicitly" from the examples, same as in Rosetta Stone.
Summary: The video lessons and the interface require some getting used to, but the exercises are quite varied. Especially for smaller languages, this app is an acceptable alternative.
Ling Persian App
Gamified Language Learning
Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online-Version (PC and Mac)
Content: Persian lessons and exercises
Prices: USD 8.99 (1 month), USD 42 (12 months),
USD 110 (unlimited)
Overall Value:
The Master Ling App offers language lessons for 52 languages and is quite similar to famous apps like Duolingo, Babbel or Mondly.
This Persian learning app is based on "gamified learning", which means learning a foreign language in a playful way. There are mini-games, experience points, levels, quizzes and exercises.
Grammar explanations are not included and the vocabulary is limited to only 1000 Persian words and phrases. Each Farsi word and phrase has recorded native speaker audio and pictures.
Unfortunately, the translations are also often inaccurate or wrong, for which the app even has an error reporting button.
This app also has an entry test to determine your Persian proficiency level.
Summary: Good ideas, but rather poor implementation and not enough vocabulary to justify this price.
Drops Persian App
Alternative to Babbel and Duolingo
Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online-Version (PC and Mac)
Content: Persian lessons and exercises with native-speaker audio
Prices: USD 13.30 (1 month), USD 72 (12 months), USD 164 (unlimited)
Overall Value:
The Language Drops App is most notable for having 47 target languages and 40 source languages, similar to Mondly.
You can learn about 3000 Persian words and phrases with this app. However, there are hardly any exercises, except for introducing a new word and matching the word to a picture.
You can choose from which topics you want to learn new Farsi words and at what skill level you want to learn (whether you know the language somewhat).
If you want to try the app for free for two weeks you have to provide your payment information and then cancel it.
The "deal" you get when you sign up for the free trial is more than 3 times as expensive as when you click "Get Premium" on the website (USD 38 per month instead of USD 13.30 per month).
Summary: No variety, no grammar and only 3000 words. Does not justify the higher price, even though you get access to all languages.
Simya Persian App
Not really recommended
Systems: Android App, iPhone App
Content: Vocabulary trainer for Persian learning
Prices: USD 9,99 (1000 words), USD 59 (1000 words in 50 languages)
Overall Value:
The Simya App for Android and iOS is purely a vocabulary trainer for 50 languages, including Persian.
The free version contains 300 words and has very frequent "ad breaks". The paid version (without ads) also contains only 1000 words and phrases.
All the words have native speaker audio and you can use the app offline too.
Persian/Farsi grammar and verb conjugations are not included in this app.
Summary: Not really worth it, as there are much better alternatives like Mondly, Rosetta Stone or even Duolingo.
Pimsleur Persian App
Beginner Course for a Premium Price
Systems: PC and Mac (incl. Mobile App)
Suitabe for: Beginners, students, travel vocabulary
Content: Persian vocabulary, lessons with native-speaker audio and voice recognition
Price: USD 120 (Beginner course download)
Overall Value: 
The Pimsleur App is very similar to Rosetta Stone (Rosetta Stone does not have a Persian course) in that it does not give grammar explanations, verb conjugation tables, etc.
Instead, the Pimsleur method is supposed to let you learn the Persian/Farsi language intuitively, just like your native language - by combining pictures, reading and speaking (speech recognition).
This Persian learning course for PCs and Macs also includes a mobile app for Android and iOS systems.
Summary: The most expensive Persian basics course, even though it is unlikely that learning with it is much better than with the cheaper apps.
Overview of the Persian/Farsi Learning Apps:
Learning App |
Subscrip- tion? |
Price |
Systems |
Value |
17 Minutes (Basics) |
No |
$29 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
17 Minutes (Complete) | No | $97 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Mondly | No | $99 | PC, Mac, Android, iOS |  |
Mondly |
Yes (1 month) |
$10 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Mondly | Yes (12 months) | $48 | PC, Mac, Android, iOS |  |
Rosetta Stone |
No |
$299 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Rosetta Stone | Yes (3 months) | $36 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Rosetta Stone | Yes (12 months) | $145 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Bluebird |
Yes (1 month) |
$10 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Bluebird |
Yes (12 months) |
$100 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Memrise |
Yes (1 month) |
$9 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Memrise |
Yes (12 months) |
$60 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Memrise |
No |
$110 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Master Ling |
No |
$110 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Master Ling |
Yes (1 month) |
$9 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Master Ling |
Yes (12 months) |
$42 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Drops |
No |
$164 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Drops |
Yes (1 month) |
$13 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Drops |
Yes (12 months) |
$72 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |
Simya (1 language) |
No |
$10 |
Android, iOS |
 |
Simya (50 languages) |
No |
$59 |
Android, iOS |
 |
Pimsleur (Basics) |
No |
$120 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
 |