What German costs, A1 to B2

Most price lists answer “what does this course cost?” The learner’s question is different: what does it cost to get to B2? Every price below comes from a public page, with the city and the date it was read. Where we add up, the table shows the sum.

Hours first, then money

Every course price is a price per lesson. So the first number is how many lessons a level takes.

• B2: 600 to 800 lessons. Lessons of 45 minutes, “depending on previous knowledge and learning requirements”, says the Goethe-Institut. That is 450 to 600 clock hours.
• C1: 800 to 1,000 lessons. About 200 more than B2.
• Class time only. Homework and review come on top, and cost time, not fees.

What a lesson costs

Course prices in Germany, list price, one learner, read on 29 October 2026.

Munich VHS: 20 lessons a week from 16 November to 18 December 2026, so 5 × 20 = 100 lessons. did deutsch-institut: Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich; from week 9 a week costs €100. Preply: per 45 minutes, $38 × 0.75 = $28.50.

• The integration course is not for everyone. It is for people admitted by the BAMF, and its 700 lessons lead to B1, not B2.
• italki publishes no average. Its German teacher list, read the same day, ran from a USD 5 trial lesson to USD 50 an hour.

A1 to B2, added up

Course fees only, at the low and high end of the Goethe guideline.

did: 600 lessons are 30 weeks, 800 are 40; the €50 is its registration fee. The VHS rate is one A1 course, applied to every level.

The same 800 lessons cost about three times as much at the Goethe-Institut’s intensive rate as at the Munich VHS rate. The intensive course buys speed: 25 lessons a week instead of an evening.

Exams come on top

Goethe-Institut prices in Germany for 2026; telc prices at did deutsch-institut, as of July 2025.

Goethe A1 and A2 are the adult prices. A module is one of reading, listening, writing or speaking.

Apps, cards and books

Prices in the German App Store and at the publisher, read on 29 October 2026.

• Cheap per year, not per level. An app costs less than one week of a course. None of these price lists says which level a year of the app gets you to.

Where the money leaks

The list price is what a plan costs. The leaks are what a real learner pays on top.

• Tools that do not talk. Each app keeps its own word list and its own idea of your level. The course book knows nothing of either.
• A gap costs a term. After a long pause the next course starts where the last one ended, and you do not. So you book the same level twice.
• Booking the exam blind. Without a test of each skill beforehand, you learn at the exam which module was weak.

Cost your own path

1. Count the lessons 600 to 800 to B2, 800 to 1,000 to C1, minus what you already have.
2. Price one lesson Divide the course fee by its lessons, as in the table above.
3. Add the books One volume per half level, or the school’s monthly material fee.
4. Add one exam At the level you need, at the centre you will sit it.
5. Add one repeat One course and one module, in case. Then work to not need them.

On to C1

From B2 to C1 is about 200 lessons more. At the rates above:

Plus the exam: Goethe-Zertifikat C1 €349 in Germany, telc C1 €225 at did deutsch-institut.

The lessons cost what they cost. The leaks are the part you can cut.

What one path changes

In MeisterPath

• One place. Words, grammar, exercises, reading, listening and unit tests.
• Corrections on writing. What you write comes back corrected.
• Price not announced yet. Registration is open.
• No discount on hours. B2 still takes 600 to 800 lessons’ worth of work, and the exam fee still goes to Goethe or telc.

Sources

• Goethe-Institut, Goethe-Zertifikat B2 and Goethe-Zertifikat C1: lessons per level, read 29 October 2026.
• Goethe-Institut Germany, Course Calendar 2026: course and exam prices, as of October 2025.
• BAMF, Teilnahme und Kosten: €2.29 per lesson, 700 lessons, €1,603, read 29 October 2026.
• Münchner Volkshochschule, Deutsch A1.1 Intensivkurs, 16 November to 18 December 2026, read 29 October 2026.
• did deutsch-institut, Preise ’26 Erwachsene: course, material and telc prices, July 2025.
• Preply, German tutors; italki, German teachers; both read 29 October 2026.
• Apple App Store Germany: Duolingo, Babbel, Busuu; US store: AnkiMobile; Anki; all read 29 October 2026.
• Klett Sprachen, Aspekte neu B2 Teil 1, read 29 October 2026.