Online Arabic Courses Compared: Price per Live Hour, Dialect and Textbook

Arabic Learning Resources > Arabic Courses Online

Of the online Arabic courses below, our top pick is Qasid Online's Modern Standard Arabic program. It costs $495 per 10-week course, as listed on 5 October 2026, for recorded lessons plus one 50-minute private class a week. It uses Al-Kitaab and adds a teacher you can question every week, the help the owner's account says that textbook needed. Arab Academy is cheaper per live hour.

Every price on this page was read from the provider's own website on 5 October 2026. Course fees change, so check the current price before you enrol. Where a provider does not publish a price, we say so instead of guessing.

Eleven online Arabic courses at a glance

An hour with a live teacher cost anywhere from $8.50 at Firdaws Academy to $59.40 at Qasid Online on 5 October 2026, a factor of seven. That cost per live hour decides most of this table, because a teacher is the one thing a self-paced course cannot give you. The tutoring services quote an hourly rate; for the courses, we worked it out from the published price and class length.

Qasid's $495 also pays for a recorded curriculum, so its hourly figure overstates the gap. We left pounds in pounds, since a conversion would date quickly.

How we chose

A course made this list if it passed four tests. Two that failed are named further down.

• Does a person correct you? Reading and grammar can be learned alone. Speaking cannot, because nothing automated will tell you that your ع ayn came out as a plain vowel. Courses with a live teacher rank above courses without one.
• Is the price published? A fee you can only learn on a sales call is a fee you cannot compare. Every course here shows a price on its own site, except one NaTakallam course, which we mark.
• Does it say what it teaches? Modern Standard Arabic, a named dialect or Quranic Arabic.
• Is there a path past the beginner level? We preferred courses that publish their levels in advance, so you can see where they stop before you pay.

Free courses are not on this list. They have their own page, how to learn Arabic for free and where every free tier stops. Tutor marketplaces such as italki are not here either; they are compared on our list of Arabic tutors and services.

What one online certificate taught us about choosing a course

The textbook matters less than whether a teacher explains it. The owner of this site took a university Arabic certificate in which "the courses were entirely online and centered around the Al Kitaab series". The owner's verdict, in the owner's account of learning Arabic as an adult, was blunt: "I found the course quite lacking."

The reason given is the useful part. "The book definitely sacrificed grammar explanations and taught some bad habits in order to spend more attention on listening and speaking skills." And then: "I feel like the book series used would have been good if supplemental information was provided by the professor (not just skimming over material!)." The account also notes that "most students in my classes shared other grammar resources they used to supplement the AlKitaab books."

Set that beside what did work: "Every single weekday for over a year we would have lessons over Skype." So the question for any online course is not "which book?" but "who explains the book, and how often?"

That is why our top pick uses the very series the owner criticised. الكتاب al-kitab means "the book", and Qasid Online builds its MSA levels on it chapter by chapter. The difference is a private 50-minute class every week with a teacher, which is the "supplemental information" the owner's account wanted from the professor.

Qasid Online: our top pick for Modern Standard Arabic

Qasid Online is the best online Arabic course for a learner who wants Modern Standard Arabic and wants a teacher in the loop every week. Each 10-week course combines recorded video lessons, texts and quizzes with one private 50-minute class, and costs $495 per course, as listed on 5 October 2026. Tuition can be split into two monthly payments.

The MSA program runs in five levels. Qasid says each of the first three is equivalent to a full year of university Arabic, and maps them to Al-Kitaab: MSA 101 covers the alphabet to Book 1 chapter 2, MSA 102 chapters 3 to 7, and so on. A full level is three courses, $1,485 for 30 weeks and 25 hours with your teacher. Levels 4 and 5 move on to media Arabic and current affairs at $1,600 per 20-week course with two private classes a week. Qasid also teaches Classical Arabic and Levantine Ammiya, both at $495 per course in the lower levels. Its Gulf program was listed as still in development.

It suits adults who want MSA with a clear path from the alphabet to newspaper Arabic, and anyone who might later continue at a university that teaches from Al-Kitaab. Our verdict: the most expensive live hour on this list, and the best structured. One catch: courses start on set term dates, and the fall 2026 deadline was 5 September, so check when the next intake opens.

Arab Academy: the best value per live hour

Arab Academy, based in Cairo, gives the most teacher time for the money of any structured course here. Every plan includes its full self-paced library plus private 50-minute speaking classes. Its plans, as listed on 5 October 2026, are $99 a month with four classes, $79 a month on the quarterly plan with five, and $69 a month on the six-month plan with eight, plus 20 free hours in its immersion program on first renewal.

The library covers MSA from MSA 100 to MSA 602, Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, and Quranic Arabic. Its how-it-works page calls the live classes speaking classes. A free first lesson is offered.

It suits learners of Egyptian Arabic in particular, and anyone who wants frequent speaking practice at a lower price than Qasid. Our verdict: strong value, with one caution. The live classes are speaking practice and the grammar is taught in the self-paced lessons. If grammar is where you get stuck, use part of each speaking class to ask about it. Arab Academy is also listed among the courses on our Egyptian Arabic learning page.

SOAS Language Centre: the best group class

The SOAS Language Centre in London runs the widest set of online Arabic group classes on this list, at a fixed university price. A 10-week term gives 15 hours of live online lessons plus at least 5 hours of guided independent work. Its 2026/27 fees, as listed on 5 October 2026, are £299 a term for Beginners, £329 for Pre-Intermediate, £359 for Upper-Intermediate and £389 for Advanced.

SOAS lists eleven levels of Modern Standard Arabic up to Proficiency, seven of Levantine, and shorter tracks in Egyptian, Qur'anic and Maghrebi Arabic. Its course materials page names the books: Mastering Arabic 1 for MSA beginners, Syrian Colloquial Arabic for Levantine, and Kallimni 'Arabi for Egyptian above beginner level. Classes run on UK evenings and weekends, and each term runs only if enough students sign up.

It suits learners who want classmates and a fixed weekly slot, and whose evenings line up with UK time. Our verdict: the best group class here, and its MSA track runs eleven levels, up to Proficiency. Popular classes fill up: the October term's Levantine Beginners 1 was already fully booked.

Hills Learning: small live groups in several dialects

Hills Learning runs live online Arabic classes on Zoom in groups of up to seven, with recordings. A semester is 1.5 hours a week for 8 weeks, 12 hours in all, and its Arabic class page listed the semester price as $379 with no registration fee on 5 October 2026.

It teaches MSA and dialects including Egyptian, Levantine and Gulf, with its own curriculum which its class page describes as "over 40 levels" from beginner to advanced. The catch is the timetable. On 5 October its online schedule showed two open groups, both Levantine and both already running since September: Advanced Beginner 1 and Intermediate 4.

It suits someone in North America who wants a small evening class in a dialect. Our verdict: a good format at a fair price, but only if a group at your level and in your variety is actually open. If Levantine is your aim, our page on how to learn Levantine Arabic compares the other courses for it.

Qalam wa Lawh: the pick for Moroccan Arabic and intensive study

Qalam wa Lawh is an Arabic school in Rabat, Morocco, with a US office in Atlanta, and it teaches Moroccan Arabic online alongside MSA and Classical Arabic. Its program costs, as listed on 5 October 2026: $527 for a 16-week semester course, $143 a week for the intensive course, and $27 an hour for private lessons.

A semester course is 40 hours of live sessions plus 40 hours of teacher-led work, which makes it the cheapest live group hour on this list at about $13. The intensive runs four weeks at 20 hours a week, half of them live. Groups are capped at 10.

It suits learners of Moroccan Arabic, and anyone with a month to spare for an intensive. Our verdict: very good value per live hour. Ask which textbook your level uses before you pay, because the site does not say.

NaTakallam: MSA and Levantine in one course

NaTakallam is a social enterprise that hires refugees and conflict-affected people as online language tutors. Its Integrated Arabic Curriculum teaches spoken Levantine for conversation and MSA for reading and writing at the same time, using the textbook 'Arabiyyat al-Naas, bought separately. It is 25 hours of instruction with a tutor plus 25 of independent study, you can start any time, and you have six months to finish.

The course page did not show a price on 5 October 2026, so ask before you book. Its ordinary Arabic session bundles were listed at $75 for 3 sessions ($25 an hour) up to $480 for 30 ($16 an hour), in MSA, Levantine, Palestinian, Lebanese, Egyptian, Iraqi, Sudanese and Yemeni. A free trial and a free placement test are offered.

It suits learners who want to speak Levantine and read MSA without studying them one after the other. Our verdict: the best design here for learning a dialect and MSA together, held back only by a price you have to ask for.

Firdaws Academy: the cheapest live hour

Firdaws Academy gives private online Arabic lessons at the lowest hourly rate on this list. Its fees page, as listed on 5 October 2026, gives a regular rate of $8.50 a study hour, with plans from $17 a month for four 30-minute classes to $170 a month for twenty one-hour classes.

Its Arabic course page offers Modern Standard, Classical, Quranic and Egyptian Arabic for children and adults, from beginner to advanced, after a free trial class. Most of the academy's courses are Quran recitation, tajweed and memorisation, and its Arabic page says the tutor adapts the course content to your level, learning style and goals.

It suits learners heading for Quranic Arabic, and anyone who already has a book and wants cheap, frequent speaking time. Our verdict: the cheapest teacher time here. Bring your own structure: choose a grammar book and ask the tutor to teach from it. Our Quran learning resources cover the books that pair with it.

Madinah Arabic one-to-one: a teacher on top of a free course

Madinah Arabic publishes a free online reading and grammar course, and sells live private lessons with its teachers on top of it. Its pricing page, as listed on 5 October 2026, says one-to-one lessons start from $15 an hour, that each teacher sets their own rate, and that you pay per lesson with no subscription. Lessons run 30, 60 or 90 minutes, in Arabic language or Qur'an and tajweed, and the first lesson with any teacher is a trial at a reduced rate.

It suits self-studiers already working through the free Madinah course. Our verdict: the cheapest way to turn a free course into a taught one. It works like a tutor booking site, so compare rates with the marketplaces on our tutors page.

Talk In Arabic: dialect listening, not a course

Talk In Arabic is a library of natural video and audio recordings with transcripts, in eight dialects: Egyptian, Levantine, Saudi, Iraqi, Sudanese, Moroccan, Tunisian and Algerian. Its pricing page, as listed on 5 October 2026, offers $12.95 a month, $95.40 a year, or $197 for lifetime access, cancellable at any time.

It suits learners who can already read Arabic and want to hear a dialect the way people really speak it. Our verdict: good listening material and no teacher. Its home and pricing pages set out no levels, so a beginner has no obvious path through it. Use it next to a live course.

Arabic Online: a self-paced MSA course with certificates

Arabic Online is a self-paced Modern Standard Arabic course from Pendragon Education in Torquay, UK, built with European Union Lifelong Learning funding. Its core program, Hayya bina!, has 15 interactive units and over 100 hours of study. Its site listed the Beginners to Intermediate subscription at £99 for a year, not auto-renewing, and Premium at £169 for 12 months with tests and certificates for CEFR levels A1 to B2, on 5 October 2026.

It suits disciplined self-studiers who want a structured MSA course and a certificate, without live classes. Our verdict: solid, with one trap. The course lets you study "with Western script" instead of Arabic script. Do not. Arabic leaves out most short vowels, and a learner who never leaves transliteration cannot read a real sentence.

Bayyinah TV: Quranic Arabic on video

Bayyinah TV is a subscription video library from Nouman Ali Khan and other teachers, mostly Quran commentary, with a set of Arabic courses: Reading Basics, Reading Fluency, Arabic with Husna and Reading the Classics. Its home page listed $11 a month on 5 October 2026, with a saving of 15% on a year. Subscribers can join live video sessions to ask the instructors questions.

It suits Muslims whose goal is reading and understanding the Quran. Our verdict: good value for that goal and the wrong tool for any other. Nobody corrects your Arabic one to one.

Two popular courses we rejected

Both are easy to find, and both fail the tests above for reasons their own pages state.

Udemy's "Arabic Language | The Complete Course"

The featured course on Udemy's Arabic topic page on 5 October 2026 was a 235.5-hour bundle of recorded lectures rated 4.7 from 2,400 reviews, at $11.99 against a listed original price of $74.99. Its own description promises to take you "from ZERO to MASTERING the Arabic Language in 6 MONTHS".

That promise is the reason we reject it. The US Foreign Service Institute puts Arabic in its hardest group at 88 weeks, or 2,200 class hours, of full-time study for its own diplomats. A course that claims mastery in six months is selling the feeling of progress. The recordings may be fine, but nobody hears you speak, and a listed price of $74.99 sold at $11.99 tells you nothing about what the course is worth.

Pimsleur Arabic

Pimsleur's Modern Standard Arabic course is a listen-and-repeat audio course in 30-minute lessons, organised as Levels 1 to 3, with a 7-day free trial and then a subscription whose price the course page did not show. Its page says Dr. Pimsleur found that traditional methods like "memorizing vocabulary, conjugating verbs, and practicing grammar actually SLOW DOWN your ability to learn".

We draw the opposite lesson. Grammar explanation is exactly what the course our owner found "quite lacking" was missing. Pimsleur is good for an accent and for travel phrases. Three levels of audio will not get you reading Arabic, and we would not pay for it as a course.

Which course for which learner

Match the course to the Arabic you need first, then to your budget.

Still unsure between MSA and a dialect? Our six-stage roadmap for learning Arabic settles that question first and shows where a paid course fits. If you would rather study at a university or a school in the Arab world, our list of universities and Arabic institutes covers the full-time options.

Before you pay for any course

Three checks will save you money.

First, learn to read Arabic before you pay for a course. A paid teacher's hour is wasted on letters you can drill alone for free. When you think you know them, test yourself on the Arabic letters before you enrol.

Second, find your level before you enrol. Qasid, NaTakallam and SOAS all place you by level, and knowing yours stops you paying to redo the alphabet.

Third, ask what textbook the course uses and how much of each live hour goes to explaining it.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best online Arabic learning course?

For Modern Standard Arabic, Qasid Online. It pairs recorded lessons built on the Al-Kitaab textbook with one 50-minute private class a week, at $495 per 10-week course as listed on 5 October 2026. If cost per hour with a teacher matters most, Arab Academy's six-month plan works out at about $10 per live hour. Prices change, so check before you enrol.

Can Arabic be self-taught?

The reading and the grammar can, with a book that explains its rules, an answer key and daily flashcard review. Speaking cannot, because nothing self-paced will tell you that a sound or an ending is wrong. That is why every course we rank highest puts a live teacher in front of you at least once a week, and why the self-paced courses on our list are supplements rather than the plan.

What is the best way to learn Arabic?

Learn to read the script first, then work one structured course or grammar book from start to finish with a teacher who explains what the book leaves out, and review vocabulary every day. Choose Modern Standard Arabic or one dialect before you pay for anything, because most courses teach one or the other. Our six-stage roadmap sets out the order and the time each stage takes.

How long will it take to learn Arabic fluently?

The US Foreign Service Institute puts Arabic in its hardest group, Category IV, at 88 weeks or 2,200 class hours of full-time study. An online course with one or two live hours a week covers a small part of that, so judge a course by how far its levels go and how many hours with a teacher you actually get, not by its promises.

How much do online Arabic classes cost?

On 5 October 2026 the courses we compared ran from $8.50 an hour with a private tutor at Firdaws Academy to $59.40 per live hour at Qasid Online, where the fee also pays for a recorded curriculum. Group classes sat in between, at £19.93 an hour at SOAS and $31.58 at Hills Learning. Self-paced courses with no teacher cost from $11 a month to £169 a year.

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