Duolingo vs Talkmate
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Bite-sized language lessons
- Speaking, reading, listening, writing practice
- Math skills development
- Music reading and playing
- Chess strategy and gameplay
- Progress tracking and rewards
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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
Talkmate
This app offers a unique approach to language learning, simulating natural immersion through AI-powered interactions and native speaker content. It boasts an extensive library of over 80 languages, with plans to expand to all official global languages.
- AI-powered natural immersion learning
- Extensive library of 80+ languages
- Native speaker curriculum and pronunciation correction
- Simulates mother tongue learning process
- Real-time AI interaction for speaking practice
- Includes endangered and official languages
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Official Joint Partner of UNESCO Best Partner of Ministry of Education of PRC Global Strategic Partner of Tencent AI Strategic Partner of Tiktok Pte. Ltd Recommended APP by Apple Store 【about Talkmate】 Talkmate is an innovative language technology company with a global vision. As so far, Talkmate owns more than 300 patents and intellectual property rights in technology and curriculum design and offers the most languages in the world. In 2016, it was selected by UNESCO to become to the partnership platform of World Atlas of Languages to promote the multilingualism and linguistic diversity worldwide! 【about the curriculum】 The world’s first multilingual online platform, in partnership with UNESCO’s project of World Atlas of Languages to promote the multilingualism and linguistic diversity via cyberspace. ICOC Natural Immersion learning methodology All curriculum are constructed and recorded by more than thousands of native-language editors and experts at Talkmate spent three years in developing the state-of–art ICOC Natural Immersion Learning Method, which has successfully constructed and simulated the mother tongue learning process and maximized the guarantee for authenticity and practicality of the learning language. Artificial intelligence algorithm interaction Combining big data algorithm and artificial intelligence model to build immersive learning scene for learners. Make language interaction reach the extreme and use AI language recognition technology, scientific score correct training to correct pronunciation. Quickly improve learners' listening and speaking skills and make language learning not difficult any more. Multilingual learning and interaction platform with more than 80 languages curriculum. More than that, Talkmate is going to include all 240 official languages in its curriculum in four year,including both security level and endangered level languages, which can fully meet the needs of language learners, researchers or other institutions. There is always a language that you need! 【There is always a language to attract you】 English, Chinese, Cantonese, French, Japanese, Korean, Russian, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, Thai, Vietnamese, Uighur, Tibetan, Hindi, Arabic, Turkish, Urdu, Sinhalese, Kazakh, Ukrainian, Danish, Hindi, Swedish, Icelandic, Polish, Malay, Indonesian, Romanian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Albanian, Persian, Lao, Czech, Latvian, Telugu, Punjabi, Malayalam, Sindhi, Somali, Pashto, Sun, Turkmen, Tajik , Esperanto, Cantonese, Uighur, Tibetan, Nvshu (the only existing female text recognized by UNESCO), we will include more and more languages to build the multilingual world! “Talkmate” records languages all over the world and includes your story; join “Talkmate” to meet a better self! Our team is here to listen carefully to your feedback and solve your confusion. - Service e-mail: service@talkmate.com -Business Cooperation: bd@talkmate.com -official facebook:talkmate
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Talkmate at none against Duolingo's shown. Talkmate also leads on review sentiment (93% vs 65%) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). Duolingo's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 6 weeks) and ratings volume (5.5M vs 55). 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
Both are free to download. Duolingo sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Talkmate sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Duolingo against 4.6 for Talkmate. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Duolingo has 5.5M ratings behind it against 55, 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 93% of Talkmate's.
Duolingo ships an update weekly, Talkmate every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and July 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Duolingo | Talkmate |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (5.5M ratings) — better | 4.6 (55 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 64.7% of reviews | 93.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 5.5M — better | 55 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #1 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 489 MB | 353 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Duolingo, Inc | Beijing CooLanguage Times Education Science and Technology Co., Ltd. |
Customer experience
Duolingo
Talkmate
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
Talkmate
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Duolingo
- Super Duolingo7 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Super Duolingo7 Days trial$12.991 Month
- Super Duolingo14 Days trial$12.991 Month
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- 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
- Chest of Gems$0.99
- Barrel of Gems (1200)$4.99
- Chest of Gems (1200)$4.99
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Cart of Gems (3000)$9.99
- Barrel of Gems (3000)$9.99
- Cart of Gems (6500)$19.99
Talkmate
- 14.99 USD/Month$14.99
- 3 months PLUS$14.99
- 1个月VIP会员$14.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- 3个月VIP会员$29.99
- 12 months PLUS$74.99
- 12个月VIP会员$99.99
- Life member$109.99
- Life member$124.99
- Life member$139.99
- 149.99 USD/Year$149.99









