Busuu Review

Thursday, March 27th

2025 Russian Lesson Reviews

Busuu

• Plans from $0 to $14 per month
• Listening and visual approach
• 14-day money-back guarantee
• 7-day free trial for premium
• Free membership includes regular lessons in order
• Lessons at your own pace offered on Premium
• App on Android and iOS
• 4.7 star average rating

Busuu was founded by students just like you. Bernhard Niesner and Adrian Hilti, the co-founders, weren't satisfied with conventional and costly methods of language learning. As their final project at IE Business School in Spain, they created Busuu, an innovative online language learning platform.

Russian learning since 2008

After completing school, the pair introduced Busuu to the market in 2008. The platform adopts the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), a recognized approach to structuring language lessons. One of the top benefits of this program is that Busuu extensively covers writing in the Cyrillic alphabet used in Russian and the completion of the CEFR levels A1-B2.

First step: sign up

To begin your learning journey at Busuu, click on the "get started" button, which initiates the sign-up process using either your email or social media account. However, accessing sample lessons or videos without immediate sign-up is challenging. You have to sign up first, or else, you're a bit stuck. Upon creating an account, you'll be asked your reasons for learning Russian, your desired study frequency, and your current level of proficiency.

One trial lesson after signing up

Following this, you'll be finally taken to your trial lesson. The lesson includes brief video clips featuring Russian speakers, photos with vocab, and quick quiz questions about the vocabulary. Notably, the trial lesson doesn't introduce any of the Cyrillic alphabet. Some of the words are spelled out for you, but most of the lesson is taught in the Latin alphabet. On the bright side, you can move on to a few more lessons for free, but you have to keep dodging questions about free trials for premium.

Quizzes are built to target your weak areas

Busuu offers an array of tools featuring both audio and visual lessons. Its intelligent vocabulary and grammar review tools help you start recognizing learned words in Russian and identifying areas requiring further assistance. Tailored quizzes are provided to increase word retention. Busuu concentrates on areas where you have difficulty or previously made mistakes in lessons. Plus, if you feel that you're more advanced than a certain section, you can click on the final quiz at the end of "test out” of the material.

Annual, biannual, and monthly memberships

While much of its program is available at no cost (for example, we went through the first 2 chapters entirely free), you can also sign up for a premium membership with Busuu. This offers you access to extra features like specialized courses, increased grammar review, and the flexibility to navigate lessons in any sequence. The free membership only allows you to do lessons in order before the next one unlocks (unless you test out using the end quiz). You can choose from three different payment plans. The annual plan costs $168 for the entire year, the six-month plan costs $84 billed biannually, and the monthly plan costs $14 per month.

Vocab and alphabet taught together

Busuu's Russian language courses adhere to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), which is the backbone of its curriculum. Following the CEFR model's six-tier structure, Busuu divides its program into progressive stages, ranging from beginner to intermediate fluency levels. The company's approach to language instruction emphasizes vocabulary acquisition which introduces Russian words gradually, one at a time. Each word is accompanied by a corresponding image to aid in visual retention. In chapters 2 and 3 of Russian, you'll begin working through the Cyrillic alphabet along with Russian vocabulary words, so you're starting to build both concepts simultaneously.

3 full weeks to try premium

Busuu provides a 14-day money-back guarantee, so if you want to try out the premium features, you can feel secure that you can get your money back. This 14-day period is on top of the 7 days free you get before signing up for your premium membership. In other words, you have 3 full weeks to test out Busuu's premium content.

Impressive reputation for teaching

Busuu has a solid reputation as a language learning site. External review platforms like Trustpilot rate it at an average of 4.5 stars. The mobile app shows even better scores for Busuu, with an average rating of 4.7 stars on both the Apple Store and the Google Play Store. Students praise Busuu for its intuitive interface and clear-cut lessons, which provide attainable learning goals and skills, even for complex languages like Russian and its unique writing system.

Best option for quick fun lessons that include some advanced material

Busuu stands out as an outstanding language-learning platform, acknowledged for its complete coverage of the Russian writing system in its lessons. While it would be beneficial if Busuu provided more sample lessons or training videos directly accessible on the website rather than asking you to sign up first, the free content you can access once signing up is extensive. That plus an impressive 3-week premium trial (if you count the return period) makes Busuu a highly competitive site for Russian lessons. Considering its affordability, lesson quality, and ability to reach intermediate-level Russian through this course, Busuu earns a solid rating.