Comparison

Busuu vs Memrise

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Busuu

Learn new languages through bite-sized lessons and interactive exercises. Connect with native speakers for feedback and practice, and track your progress with personalized study plans and official certificates.

Highlights
  • Learn up to 14 languages
  • Connect with native speakers
  • Expert-designed courses
  • Personalized study plans
  • Smart review for vocabulary and grammar
  • Official language certificates
  • Specialized courses
Features
Read full description

Busuu helps you communicate with confidence from day one. Combine expertly designed language lessons with feedback and tips from our global community of native speakers and harness the power of learning together. Looking for the best way to learn a new language on your phone? You’ve just discovered it, with Busuu, a Chegg service – we’re the app that makes learning new languages easier, more fun and more effective for all. Whether you’re learning to get confident having new conversations, for a higher grade, a career boost, or for mind-blowing travel experiences, Busuu’s got your back. We’re already helping millions of people overcome their learning struggles, from lack of time and motivation to problems with grammar and vocab. We help our learners achieve their goals, one milestone at a time – and we want to do the same for you. DOWNLOAD THE APP NOW FOR FREE LANGUAGE LEARNING ================ How are we doing this? We’re glad you asked. Whether you’re learning on your iPad or iPhone, Busuu helps you… – Learn up to 14 languages That’s right, 14! We’ve got complete courses in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Polish, Russian, Arabic, Dutch or Turkish with Busuu. – Master languages with real people You want to learn the relevant language, right? You’re in luck: we’ll connect you with our community of native speakers so you can get localized language knowledge and support. Feel even better when you help other learners in return. – Learn from the experts Busuu’s online courses are created by our ingenious language experts. Learn step-by-step with bite-sized lessons, plenty of practice and lots of opportunities to test your progress. – Say hello to useful language skills Learn the language that will really take you places! With regularly updated content, video flashcards featuring real people and useful cultural tips, you’ll be fully immersed in no time. – Kiss goodbye to stressful timetabling We’re serious. We organize your learning time for you with a personalized Study Plan. Simply tell us when you want to study and for how long, and we’ll send you notifications to keep you on track. – Revise with ease There’ll be no forgetting on our watch. Smart Review cleverly saves all the grammar and vocab you learn in lessons and stores them in one handy place, so you can make those tricky words and rules stick. – Show off achievements with official certificates With our Busuu language certificates, you’ll have actual proof of your language capabilities. – Access specialized courses for language lovers You’ve learned the basics, and now you’re hungry for more. Learn about manga, advance your pronunciation or add travel-specific phrases to your skillset, plus much more. ================ DON’T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT. See what others have to say about Busuu: ● EDITOR RATING: EXCELLENT - PC MAG ● Named 'Best Buy' language learning app by the Independent in 2021 ● Language Learning App of the Year at the EdTech Breakthrough Awards 2020 ================ PLEASE NOTE A lot of the features are free, but you will need a subscription in order to get access to all features of this app. Your subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current payment period. Your iTunes account will be automatically charged at the same price for renewal within the 24-hour period prior to the end of the current payment period unless you change your subscription preferences in your Account Settings. You can manage your subscriptions through your Account Settings after purchase. Privacy policy: https://www.busuu.com/en/privacy/ Terms of Service: https://www.busuu.com/en/terms/

About

Memrise

Learn over 40 languages through immersive lessons that simulate real-life conversations and cultural experiences. Practice vocabulary, listening, and speaking with AI-powered bots and native speaker videos to build confidence and speak like a local.

Highlights
  • Real-life conversation simulation
  • Cultural insights
  • Vocabulary and listening practice
  • Speaking practice with AI
  • Native speaker videos
  • Learn over 40 languages
Features
Read full description

Memrise is a language learning app for people who have a specific reason to learn. Trusted by 80 million learners, Memrise offers specialised courses for your goals: passing an exam, speaking confidently at work, building relationships, or discovering cultures you love. Unlike gamified apps with robotic voices, it's built around real native-speaker videos - so you learn to speak like real people. Learn Spanish, Korean, Japanese or 136 other languages in lessons that teach you vocabulary, listening and speaking as if you were a local living in the country. 15 NEW languages to learn from: Afrikaans, Ancient Greek, Latin, Finnish, Irish, Czech, Hungarian, Cantonese, Romanian, Esperanto, Croatian, Kurdish, Serbian, Bulgarian, Azerbaijani * Showing you how to piece together natural sentences, preparing you for everyday conversation * Giving you a place to practice role-play and gain confidence * Teaching you the cultural nuances you need to feel like a local Memrise is the best language-learning app for beginners that are starting to learn a language from scratch, intermediate learners that want to build on their listening and speaking, and advanced learners who are looking to improve their conversational skills. Download Memrise so that you can confidently: * Connect with your partner and their family * Have a better time while travelling * Sharpen your mind if you’re learning a language for brain health * Prepare for a language exam * Connect with work colleagues * Better understand different cultures How do we help you have conversations in other languages? * Choose from hundreds of real-life scenarios * Practice listening to native speaker videos using what you’ve just learned * Then build confidence speaking with AI Buddies, your personalised language learning bots - Helping 80+ million learners speak confidently - Featured in BBC World Service, Forbes, The Verge, The Financial Times, and more What other learners are saying "I've been using Memrise for about two years, studying European Portuguese. I have the paid version - it's a solid learning tool, and it has been my primary resource ever since got it. I find the Learn with Locals feature to be especially useful, more so as my Portuguese improves. My wife and I spent a couple of weeks in Portugal a few months ago, and we were able to handle all of our transactions - stores, restaurants, markets, car rental, etc!" - Voloúre Need to speak a new language soon? Get the practice you need with Memrise Pro - Unlock all vocab lessons - Unlock all native speaker videos - Unlimited speaking practice - Ad free Compare with our Free Plan - Limited vocab lessons - Limited videos and conversations - Ads Download our app for free and start learning with Memrise today: Learn French, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Mexico), German, Korean, Japanese, Japanese (no script), Turkish, Italian, Chinese (simplified), Dutch, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Danish, Slovenian, Icelandic, Yoruba, Mongolian, English (UK) and English (US)! ------ *PLEASE READ: A Memrise Pro subscription are designed for Memrise-approved courses. A subscription is required in order to access all our learning features. These features may vary depending on your device's language and language pair. Once purchased, subscriptions will automatically renew unless cancelled before the end of the current payment period. Subscriptions can be managed or cancelled in your Apple App Store account. In-app Permissions – To enable some of the features of the Memrise app we may need to ask for your permission. For example, we'll ask to access your microphone if you'd like to practice your pronunciation skills. You can change permissions at any time in your settings. Privacy Policy: https://www.memrise.com/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://www.memrise.com/terms/

Screenshots

Busuu4 screens
Memrise4 screens

Verdict

The call

Busuu and Memrise both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 85% of Busuu's written reviews are positive against 68% of Memrise's. Memrise's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Busuu sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month and Memrise sells 14 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Busuu against 4.8 for Memrise. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 101K and 217K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of Busuu's written reviews are positive against 68% of Memrise's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Busuu ships an update weekly, Memrise fortnightly. Both last shipped on September 25, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
Busuu versus Memrise: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBusuuMemrise
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (101K ratings)4.8 (217K ratings) — better
Positive reviews85.4% of reviews — better68.0% of reviews
Number of ratings101K217K — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterFortnightly
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#90 — better#133
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size267 MB238 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperBusuu LimitedMemrise Limited

Customer experience

Busuu

All ratings100,718 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral3.6%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews5,376 reviews
Positive85.4%
Neutral5.8%
Negative8.8%

Memrise

All ratings216,707 ratings
Positive96.2%
Neutral2.4%
Negative1.4%
Written reviews2,890 reviews
Positive68.0%
Neutral8.8%
Negative23.2%

User reviews

Busuu

From 101K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💯 Best resource for learning
  • 🎓 Structured lessons and review
  • 👥 Helpful community feedback
  • 🎨 Engaging visuals and content
  • 🗣️ Realistic native speaker audio

Room to improve

  • 🤖 Inconsistent AI-generated corrections
  • 🔒 Limited access without premium
  • 🔀 Difficulty navigating between lessons
  • 📚 Lack of advanced content and review
  • 🔊 Issues with audio and pronunciation

Memrise

From 217K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great for learning basics
  • 👍 Engaging and fun learning experience
  • 👍 Effective memorization techniques
  • 👍 Useful for supplementing language learning
  • 👍 Variety of languages available

Room to improve

  • 💰 Subscription is too expensive
  • 🔒 Limited functionality without subscription
  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches in the app
  • 🤖 AI conversations are not very helpful
  • 🤔 Transition from basics to more advanced content is too abrupt

Bugs and requests

Busuu

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Incorrect or missing translations
  • Inconsistent lesson progress tracking
  • Bugs with voice recognition and feedback

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to learn multiple languages simultaneously
  • More detailed grammar explanations and practice
  • Customizable review and flashcard features
  • Improved community features and messaging
  • Offline access to downloaded lessons

Memrise

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes or freezes during lessons
  • Inconsistent performance across devices
  • Issues with syncing progress across devices
  • Incorrect translations or pronunciations in some courses

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more advanced content and courses
  • Improve AI conversation feature
  • Allow more control over review and repetition
  • Provide offline access to courses
  • Improve search and discovery of community courses
Show 1 more
  • Add support for writing practice and handwriting recognition

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Busuu

Subscriptions9
  • Monthly Subscription$6.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription$9.991 Month
  • Monthly Premium Plan$23.491 Month
Show 6 more
  • 12 Months Premium$70.001 Year
  • Annual Subscription7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • 14 Day Trial - Premium Plus14 Days trial$89.991 Year
  • 12 Months' Premium7 Days trial$138.991 Year
  • 12 Months Premium7 Days trial2 variants$138.991 Year
  • 12 Months Premium Plus7 Days trial2 variants$139.991 Year
14 purchases

Memrise

Subscriptions10
  • Weekly Language Learning Plan$2.997 Days
  • Monthly Language Learning Plan$24.991 Month
  • 3-Month Language Learning Plan$24.993 Months
Show 7 more
  • 30% off Annual Memrise Pro$42.991 Year
  • Memrise Subscription Offer$58.991 Year
  • Memrise Subscription Offer1 Month trial$59.991 Month
  • Annual Language Learning Plan$61.991 Year
  • Memrise Annual Pro$61.991 Year
  • Memrise Subscription Offer1 Year trial$61.991 Year
  • Memrise Subscription Offer$79.991 Year
One-time4
  • Lifetime Plan Offer$98.99
  • Lifetime Plan Offer$131.99
  • Lifetime Plan Offer$164.99
Show 1 more
  • Lifetime Plan$329.99

Questions

Is Busuu free?
Busuu is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Memrise free?
Memrise is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Busuu or Memrise?
Memrise is rated higher. Busuu averages 4.7 out of 5 from 101K ratings, while Memrise averages 4.8 from 217K ratings.
Do Busuu or Memrise have ads?
Both Busuu and Memrise show ads.
Which is updated more often, Busuu or Memrise?
Busuu ships an update weekly, and Memrise fortnightly. Most recently, Busuu was updated on September 25, 2026 and Memrise on September 25, 2026.
Which is more popular, Busuu or Memrise?
Busuu currently peaks at #90 in the App Store charts, and Memrise at #133. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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