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Spanish Pod 101 Review

Tuesday, February 18th

2025 Spanish Lesson Reviews

Top Consumer Reviews Best-In-Class Blue Ribbon Award Spanish Pod 101 Review 5 Star Rating

Spanish Pod 101

5 Star Rating
  • Free, limited, lifetime membership
  • Premium: $6 per month (equalling $72 annually)
  • Premium Plus: $13.73 per month (equalling $164.76 annually)
  • Affordable lessons with 24-month commitment
  • Diversity in lessons, keeping you interested as your fluency progresses
  • Engaging lessons in podcast-type format
  • Several resources for grammar and word banks
  • Option to slow down the audio and video
Top Consumer Reviews Best-In-Class Blue Ribbon Award

SpanishPod101 has been around for more than a decade and more than 1 billion lessons have been downloaded, helping thousands of people learn to speak Spanish. They believe that having exposure to many different speakers with different accents and speaking styles will help you communicate with almost anyone in the Spanish-speaking world. Lessons have new content each week, including pop culture and celebrities, so you can feel more in touch with the world about which you're learning to speak.

It's fun!

The lessons here have a variety of teaching and assessment methods, and it's fun because the animation doesn't overpower the learning focus. SpanishPod101 uses a podcast format for teaching, which helps your proficiency while you learn your vocabulary, grammar.

It's not all fun and games: you get quality lessons, too

Yes, it's fun to learn here, and we do like fun. We also like that you'll have not only the audio, video, and games: SpanishPod101 still gives you grammar explanations and vocabulary lists to help you process the information and relate it to English, which you clearly already know. The audio and video will also slow down for you, so you can catch the nuances in pronunciation. This will help you be more than just understood, but actually sound more fluent.

Lessons don't have to go in order

The units aren't exactly linear. Within each SpanishPod101 level, you can choose your topic of study. Jump around if you like and choose lessons that are interesting to you and still stay at your level until you complete all lessons, or choose to move on when you wish.

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Lots of content in the beginning

For beginners, there's a ton of tools. You'll have so many audio, vocabulary, and English resources. But, just like most textbooks, once you become more advanced, the lessons aren't chock full of resources. We can't be too critical here, we realize, as SpanishPod101 actually does have authentic advanced courses, which most Spanish lessons on our list do not.

Gradually, they use less English

This is a wonderful feature. In the beginning, you want to rely on English for understanding. Once you become more advanced and are starting to think in Spanish and catch on to the nuances using your natural critical thinking, you won't need to heavily rely on English explanations. SpanishPod101 makes this transition quite well.

SpanishPod101 teaches advanced Spanish

Yes, this is a rarity. SpanishPod101 uses an internationally-recognized system for rating proficiency levels, CEFR, which does prove that when they say they give advanced courses, they do mean it. They teach up to C2, the most advanced level of proficiency, and that's unusual for an online Spanish program.

Limited feedback on your speaking

You are your own speech-recognition "technology” with SpanishPod101. You can record your voice and compare it to the fluent speaker, and that's that. It's extremely old technology and you do your own work. Especially when you're only starting to learn the language, it's not good that you yourself need to determine what you need to improve in order to be understood. SpanishPod101 would benefit from some upgraded technology in that regard.

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Lifetime, free access

All you need to do is give SpanishPod101 your email address and you'll have free access for life. You'll get limited-time access to a new audio and video lesson each week, plus the first three lessons of each series, the Spanish Word of the Day lesson, Throwback Thursday lessons, and more. You won't get full whole access like you would with the paid subscription, but what you can get for free is decent. What can hold you back is that you only get the first three lessons in each unit. It's not enough to really grasp the language, but you can try.

You get all you need with Premium membership

You'll have access to all the lessons in SpanishPod101's audio and video library, in-depth notes, vocab lists, HD video, Spanish Core 2,000 words and phrases, your personal word bank, spaced-repetition flashcards, pronunciation tools, grammar explanations, multiple-choice quizzes, and more.

You'll get a live tutor with Premium + membership

You'll get everything that SpanishPod101's Premium membership offers plus one-on-one access to a teacher, guidance and personalized assessment, hand-graded assessments, and writing and pronunciation practice.

Read the fine print on pricing

So, what does it cost? Premium is $6 per month (equalling $72 annually), and Premium+ is $13.73 per month (equalling $164.76 annually). Just be aware that you'll see different payment structures in various places on the SpanishPod101 website, and the lowest prices are usually based on a 24-month subscription.

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60-day refund policy

If you're not happy, for any reason, with either of the subscription plans that SpanishPod101 has to offer, email them within 60 days and you'll get your money back, no questions asked.

It's got something for everyone

SpanishPod101 has lessons for all levels of learners, they have a ton of material mostly at the lower levels, they reach even advanced learners, it's fun, the lessons vary in format keeping your attention and motivating you, and the audio/video will slow down to help you pronounce. There's limited lifetime free access, which is good, but not enough, and this might end up encouraging you to want to subscribe, and that's okay because the prices are fair. We would make one suggestion: they should upgrade the technology so you don't have to evaluate your own pronunciation. We'd also suggest they bring back a lifetime paid membership so you don't have to pay monthly for the rest of your life. In all other regards, though, SpanishPod101 earns our enthusiastic recommendation and the #1 spot on our list of Spanish lessons.

Who Offers the Best Spanish Lessons Online?

Have you ever wanted to learn Spanish? Maybe you would like to interact with native speakers while traveling. Or perhaps you would like to speak Spanish with your contractor or other people you do business with.

Here are some fun facts for you to consider. According to a recent US census, Spanish is the most common non-English language spoken in US homes, 12x greater than the next four most common languages. The US is the world's fourth-largest Spanish-speaking country. And, as such, jobs in the US are always looking for bilingual (English-Spanish) speakers.

The Best Spanish Lessons Compare Spanish Lessons Compare Spanish Lesson Reviews What are the best Spanish Lessons Best Spanish Lesson Reviews

Spanish Lesson FAQ

Spanish, like English, is one of the most commonly spoken language that is used throughout the world. Learning Spanish can help your travel experiences, allow the opportunity for work or study abroad in a Spanish speaking country, increase your chances of employment, and more.
On average a course has about 13 to 120 hours of lesson time per level of difficulty (depending on the company).
Of course, these courses are meant to teach you Spanish without requirement of previous knowledge. If you don't know any Spanish, we recommend starting your path on learning Spanish with a beginner (Level 1) course.
Depending on the company, there are typically 3 levels that include beginner, intermediate, and advanced. No matter how much Spanish you already know, be sure to check out the specifics of each program before making a selection.
Courses to learn Spanish are self-paced and allow the customer to take their time as they complete each assigned lesson. Self-paced allows the customer to go at their own rate. For most effective learning it is recommended to plan out the courses ahead of time, and to review course material, when available.
Depending on the company and type of course, the cost can range from $39 to $450. Some companies offer combination packages that include multiple levels within the plan, rather than purchasing each level separately.
Of course, when learning any language, it is important to be able to understand the language via reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Some companies may teach only speaking and listening in some of their courses. Be sure to identify what aspects of the language each program offers.
Yes, several companies offer a customer satisfaction. Companies offer customers friendly help and confidence of their products by giving, but not limited to, 30-day trials, demo lessons, and in some cases full refund if dissatisfied of service. Make sure to check on the companies' customer satisfaction policy before committing.
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Continued from above...

No matter why you want to learn Spanish, the real question is which online Spanish lessons are right for you. With so much of our life being digital and using apps regularly if not daily, it's only natural to want to explore apps or online methods for learning Spanish. There are many to choose from, and we can help you sift through the options.

The first thing to consider is how much Spanish you already know. If you're just getting started, your choices are almost endless, as many programs have an abundance of material for beginners. In fact, some of these programs focus so much on the beginners that they seem to run out of steam when creating material for the intermediate students, and then there's none if you want to hone your advanced Spanish with them. There are those who cater to all levels of proficiency, but it's certainly not all, and you have to know which is which. No worries - wherever you are on your Spanish-learning journey, we have excellent online programs and apps to recommend for your needs.

Another consideration is your learning style and preferences. Some learners need motivation through lessons with animation, gamification, and prizes. Others find animation and gamification overwhelming and would rather get straight to business, preferring the old-school grammar lessons and vocabulary flashcards. Consider if you want your Spanish curriculum to tell you where to start and then follow those lessons in a linear fashion. If you do, great. However, other people want to choose their own path and select lessons where the theme is of interest to them. Either way, there are plenty of online Spanish lessons that will suit you.

Once you're more aware of why you're learning Spanish and how you want to learn it, there are a few more aspects you should consider as you choose where to take lessons:

  • The right fit. Consider a trial period or the money-back guarantee period of time to try out the Spanish lessons to see if it delivers for you. Maybe you thought you were self-motivated, but instead you actually want animation and gamification to give you that little push. The trial period can shed some light on your fit with the program.
  • Live tutor. Some online Spanish-learning programs offer a live tutor so you can learn all on your own with the tutor, or at least can be in a small class setting of 6 students or fewer. Or you can get a tutor to help you when you're stuck with the material you're learning. Sometimes it's nice to have a live person to help out.
  • Value. Once you give a free trial a chance, believe it or not, sometimes the month-to-month price can be more expensive in a year's payments than the whole lifetime one-time-payment option.
  • Refund policy. Once you've committed to an online Spanish program, is there a money-back guarantee? If so, how long do you have to decide? Some offer 60 days, 30 days, and some offer only 7 days to try it out and get your money back.

The experts at Top Consumer Reviews have evaluated, rated, and ranked the best choices for online Spanish lessons. We're sure that with this information, you'll have what you need to make the right choice for your goals in learning and becoming fluent in Spanish. ¡Ya vamos!

Compare Spanish Lessons

Select any 2 Spanish Lessons to compare them head to head

best-spanish-lessons
  • Spanish Pod 101
  • Busuu
  • Rosetta Stone
  • Memrise
  • Fluenz
  • Mondly
  • Babbel
  • Duolingo
  • Ouino
  • Rocket Languages
  • StudySpanish
  • Preply
Spanish Pod 101 vs Busuu Spanish Pod 101 vs Rosetta Stone Spanish Pod 101 vs Memrise Spanish Pod 101 vs Fluenz Spanish Pod 101 vs Mondly Spanish Pod 101 vs Babbel Spanish Pod 101 vs Duolingo Spanish Pod 101 vs Ouino Spanish Pod 101 vs Rocket Languages Spanish Pod 101 vs StudySpanish Spanish Pod 101 vs Preply Busuu vs Rosetta Stone Busuu vs Memrise Busuu vs Fluenz Busuu vs Mondly Busuu vs Babbel Busuu vs Duolingo Busuu vs Ouino Busuu vs Rocket Languages Busuu vs StudySpanish Busuu vs Preply Rosetta Stone vs Memrise Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz Rosetta Stone vs Mondly Rosetta Stone vs Babbel Rosetta Stone vs Duolingo Rosetta Stone vs Ouino Rosetta Stone vs Rocket Languages Rosetta Stone vs StudySpanish Rosetta Stone vs Preply Memrise vs Fluenz Memrise vs Mondly Memrise vs Babbel Memrise vs Duolingo Memrise vs Ouino Memrise vs Rocket Languages Memrise vs StudySpanish Memrise vs Preply Fluenz vs Mondly Fluenz vs Babbel Fluenz vs Duolingo Fluenz vs Ouino Fluenz vs Rocket Languages Fluenz vs StudySpanish Fluenz vs Preply Mondly vs Babbel Mondly vs Duolingo Mondly vs Ouino Mondly vs Rocket Languages Mondly vs StudySpanish Mondly vs Preply Babbel vs Duolingo Babbel vs Ouino Babbel vs Rocket Languages Babbel vs StudySpanish Babbel vs Preply Duolingo vs Ouino Duolingo vs Rocket Languages Duolingo vs StudySpanish Duolingo vs Preply Ouino vs Rocket Languages Ouino vs StudySpanish Ouino vs Preply Rocket Languages vs StudySpanish Rocket Languages vs Preply StudySpanish vs Preply
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