Comparison

Duolingo vs Speekoo

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

Head to head
About

Duolingo

Learn languages, math, music, and chess through fun, bite-sized lessons. Build vocabulary, grammar, and real-world skills with a science-based methodology. Track progress and stay motivated with a global community.

Highlights
  • Bite-sized language lessons
  • Speaking, reading, listening, writing practice
  • Math skills development
  • Music reading and playing
  • Chess strategy and gameplay
  • Progress tracking and rewards
Features
Read full description

Learn a new language, chess & more with the world's most downloaded education app! Duolingo is the fun, free app for learning 40+ languages through quick, bite-sized lessons. Practice speaking, reading, listening & writing to build your vocabulary & grammar skills. Designed by learning experts & loved by hundreds of millions worldwide, our lessons make learning effective & fun and help you prepare for real conversations in Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian, German, English and more. And now, you can learn CHESS on Duolingo! Whether you're a total beginner or looking to level up your game, you'll love learning chess the Duolingo way. Play matches and fun chess lessons for all levels, no matter the language - chess, ajedrez, xadrez, schach, Шахматы, الشطرنج. • Chess: Learn the moves, level up your game & play matches in our Chess course. Learn the basics, solve fun chess puzzles & improve your strategy with guided lessons. Whether you're new to chess or already play, our course is designed to help you have fun and build real skills. Checkmate! • Math: Forget lectures and math worksheets! Built by learning experts, our Math course makes math feel like a game. Boost learning and fight the summer slide with standards-aligned math lessons for elementary school, middle school, and high school students. • Music: Learn how to read music & play songs in our Music course, no instrument needed! Using an on-screen keyboard, you'll learn bit-by-bit. Whether you're learning a language for travel, school, career or your brain health, you'll love learning with Duolingo. Why Duolingo? • Duolingo is fun & effective. Game-like language lessons & fun characters help you build speaking, reading, listening, & writing skills, plus enjoy fun chess & competitive online chess in one app. • Duolingo works. Designed by learning experts, Duolingo has a science-based teaching methodology proven to foster long-term knowledge retention across language lessons & chess lessons alike. • Track your progress. Work toward your learning goals with playful rewards & achievements when you make practicing language lessons or chess online part of your daily habit. • Join millions of learners. Stay motivated with competitive Leaderboards as you learn languages & play chess online alongside our global community. • Every course is free. Learn Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, Dutch, Irish, Danish, Swedish, Ukrainian, Esperanto, Polish, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian, Hebrew, Welsh, Arabic, Latin, Hawaiian, Scottish Gaelic, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, English, & even High Valyrian! And now, learn Math, Music & improve your Chess skills with fun, bite-sized lessons. What the world is saying about Duolingo: "Far & away the best language-learning app." - The Wall Street Journal "This free app & website is among the most effective language-learning methods I've tried… lessons come in the form of brief challenges, speaking, translating, answering multiple-choice questions, that keep me coming back for more." - The New York Times "Duolingo may hold the secret to the future of education." - TIME Magazine "Duolingo is cheerful, lighthearted & fun." - Forbes "I Can't Stop Playing Duolingo Chess." - Wired If you like Duolingo, try Super Duolingo for 14 days free! Learn a language fast with no ads & get fun perks like Unlimited Energy & Monthly Streak Repair. If you choose to purchase Super Duolingo, payment will be charged to your Apple account, and your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your settings in the App Store after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable. Privacy Policy: https://www.duolingo.com/privacy Terms of Service: https://www.duolingo.com/terms

About

Speekoo

This app offers a fun and motivating way to learn new languages like French, Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese, and Japanese. It claims to be significantly faster and more intuitive than other methods, incorporating articles and cultural anecdotes to enhance the learning experience.

Highlights
  • Learn 6 languages
  • 10X faster learning
  • Intuitive methodology
  • Motivating learning experience
  • Cultural articles and anecdotes
  • Regularly updated content
Features
Read full description

Speekoo is the new language learning app that challenges you to learn a NEW language! It is 10X faster, 10X more intuitive, 10X more motivating than anything else that exists today. Used by more than 1,500,000 people already 6 languages are offered: French, Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese and Japanese. All this while having fun and discovering articles and unusual anecdotes about the countries you will soon be able to visit! To top it all, we are regularly adding videos on all our social platforms to make it even more modern. Don't be afraid, go for it, learning a language has never been easier. To check our terms and conditions of use, go to the following address: https://speekoo.com/terms If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to send us an email at hello@speekoo.com. No one is bad at languages, it's just a question of methodology.

Screenshots

Duolingo4 screens
Speekoo4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Speekoo at none against Duolingo's shown. Speekoo also leads on review sentiment (86% vs 65%) and iOS requirement (12.1 vs 17.0). Duolingo's advantage is ratings volume (5.5M vs 614) and update cadence (weekly vs monthly). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Duolingo sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Speekoo sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.49 per month. 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 Duolingo against 4.8 for Speekoo. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Duolingo has 5.5M ratings behind it against 614, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 65% of Duolingo's written reviews are positive against 86% of Speekoo's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Duolingo ships an update weekly, Speekoo monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Duolingo versus Speekoo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDuolingoSpeekoo
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (5.5M ratings)4.8 (614 ratings) — better
Positive reviews64.7% of reviews85.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5.5M — better614
Update frequencyWeekly — betterMonthly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#1 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.012.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size489 MB57 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDuolingoLearnMyLanguage

Customer experience

Duolingo

All ratings5,464,639 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral2.4%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews29,503 reviews
Positive64.7%
Neutral9.6%
Negative25.7%

Speekoo

All ratings614 ratings
Positive96.3%
Neutral2.3%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews334 reviews
Positive85.9%
Neutral6.6%
Negative7.5%

User reviews

Duolingo

From 5.5M App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🤩 Fun and entertaining learning experience
  • 🎉 Motivating streak and league features
  • 🎨 Cute and engaging animations
  • 📚 Effective for learning vocabulary and basics
  • 🤖 Useful AI-powered features like voice lessons

Room to improve

  • 🤖 Issues with voice recognition and pronunciation feedback
  • 🤑 Aggressive monetization tactics and paywall for key features
  • 🤯 Frustrating heart/health system that penalizes mistakes
  • 🤔 Lack of grammar explanations and focus on just memorizing phrases
  • 🤷‍♀️ Inconsistent app experience across platforms

Speekoo

From 614 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Efficient learning method
  • 💡 Interesting cultural information
  • 🎓 Helpful for beginners
  • 🌍 Covers multiple languages

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Requires subscription for full access
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🤔 Lack of customization options
  • 📚 Limited content beyond beginner levels

Bugs and requests

Duolingo

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Freezing or crashing during lessons
  • Incorrect translations or answers marked wrong
  • Inconsistent behavior of certain features like leagues

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more languages, especially less common ones
  • Improve grammar lessons and explanations
  • Allow more flexibility in navigating the course content
  • Provide better feedback and corrections for mistakes
  • Sync progress and features consistently across app and web

Speekoo

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Disappearing submit buttons during lessons
  • Inconsistent recognition of user responses
  • Crashes and freezes on certain devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more language options
  • Implement user progress tracking and syncing
  • Improve speech recognition and feedback
  • Provide more advanced learning content

In-app purchases

16 purchases

Duolingo

Subscriptions10
  • Super Duolingo7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Super Duolingo7 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Super Duolingo14 Days trial$12.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • Super Duolingo2 variants$59.991 Year
  • Super Duolingo14 Days trial2 variants$79.991 Year
  • Super Duolingo14 Days trial4 variants$83.991 Year
  • Super Duolingo7 Days trial$83.991 Year
  • Super Duolingo7 Days trial4 variants$95.991 Year
  • Super Duolingo1 Month trial$119.991 Year
  • Super Duolingo7 Days trial$119.991 Year
One-time6
  • Chest of Gems$0.99
  • Barrel of Gems (1200)$4.99
  • Chest of Gems (1200)$4.99
Show 3 more
  • Cart of Gems (3000)$9.99
  • Barrel of Gems (3000)$9.99
  • Cart of Gems (6500)$19.99
4 purchases

Speekoo

Subscriptions4
  • Illimité mensuel7 Days trial$9.491 Month
  • 3 months Unlimited7 Days trial$30.993 Months
  • Illimité annuel$39.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • 12 months Unlimited7 Days trial$68.991 Year

Questions

Is Duolingo free?
Duolingo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Speekoo free?
Speekoo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Duolingo or Speekoo?
Speekoo is rated higher. Duolingo averages 4.7 out of 5 from 5.5M ratings, while Speekoo averages 4.8 from 614 ratings.
Do Duolingo or Speekoo have ads?
Duolingo shows ads; Speekoo does not.
Which is updated more often, Duolingo or Speekoo?
Duolingo ships an update weekly, and Speekoo monthly. Most recently, Duolingo was updated on September 27, 2026 and Speekoo on September 21, 2026.

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