Comparison

Duolingo vs Learn Spanish

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

Learn Spanish

Embark on an exciting language learning journey through Spanish-speaking countries. This app uses a unique game-based approach, combining educational principles with engaging mechanics to help you absorb words and grammar effectively. Practice listening, translation, and grammar skills in just a few minutes a day.

Highlights
  • Learn Spanish through a world trip game
  • Absorb words and grammar with language immersion
  • Improve listening comprehension and translation
  • Smart algorithm based on forgetting curve
  • Unlock new game modes and mechanics
  • Play anytime, anywhere with no restrictions
Features
Read full description

WordsApp is the game for learning Spanish! We’ve combined the best from games and educational apps and added a pinch of imagination! WordsApp is an exciting journey to Spanish-speaking countries and cities with language immersion during which your brain will absorb words and grammar! 1. A unique way to learn the language — a trip around the world where your knowledge of Spanish is your currency. 2. Just a few minutes a day, and over the course of a year you’ll learn more words than a native speaker uses in their daily life. 3. Train your Spanish listening comprehension, translation skills, and grammar, and just have fun. 4. A smart algorithm based on the forgetting curve lies at the very core of the game! WordsApp will proactively toss in words you otherwise would have forgotten. 5. Unlock new modes and mechanics! The more you play, the more exciting ways to learn you’ll find along the way. 6. Play anywhere—take a breather at work, entertain yourself on the daily commute, learn something useful before bed, or play through a couple of levels when there’s nothing to read on Facebook and every post is already liked on Instagram. No restrictions. 7. An exceptional and gorgeous app that will make you better every single day! 8. You play the game, and your brain absorbs words and grammar. WordsApp—play and learn! Terms of Service: https://cognitico.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://cognitico.com/privacy

Screenshots

Duolingo4 screens
Learn Spanish4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Duolingo at 5.5M against Learn Spanish's 1.6K. Duolingo also leads on review sentiment (65% vs 48%) and rating (4.7 vs 4.5). Learn Spanish's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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 Learn Spanish sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Duolingo holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Duolingo has 5.5M ratings behind it against 1.6K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 65% of Duolingo's written reviews are positive against 48% of Learn Spanish's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Duolingo ships an update weekly, Learn Spanish every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Duolingo versus Learn Spanish: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDuolingoLearn Spanish
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (5.5M ratings) — better4.5 (1.6K ratings)
Positive reviews64.6% of reviews — better48.1% of reviews
Number of ratings5.5M — better1.6K
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 9 days
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#1 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size489 MB223 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDuolingoCognitico Inc.

Customer experience

Duolingo

All ratings5,464,639 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral2.4%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews29,453 reviews
Positive64.6%
Neutral9.6%
Negative25.7%

Learn Spanish

All ratings1,612 ratings
Positive87.6%
Neutral4.8%
Negative7.6%
Written reviews135 reviews
Positive48.1%
Neutral13.3%
Negative38.5%

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

Learn Spanish

From 1.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎮 Fun and engaging game
  • 📚 Helpful for learning vocabulary
  • 🤩 Addictive and enjoyable

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • 💰 Aggressive monetization tactics
  • 🔇 Sound issues and lack of audio
  • 🤖 Robotic and unnatural voice

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

Learn Spanish

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inability to restore purchases and lost progress
  • Inconsistent word translations and matching
  • Freezing and crashing issues, especially at higher levels

Requested features

3 requests
  • More levels and content updates
  • Better progress tracking and review options
  • Improved customer support and communication

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
12 purchases

Learn Spanish

Subscriptions6
  • PREMIUM access$6.991 Month
  • PREMIUM access, 3 days free3 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • PREMIUM access, 7 days free7 Days trial$7.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • PREMIUM access$18.991 Year
  • PREMIUM access, 3 days free3 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • PREMIUM access, 85% off1 Year trial$19.991 Year
One-time6
  • Handful of Coins$0.99
  • Special offer$0.99
  • Resume saving$0.99
Show 3 more
  • Learner Pack$1.99
  • Wallet of Coins$4.99
  • Backpack of Coins$9.99

Questions

Is Duolingo free?
Duolingo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Learn Spanish free?
Learn Spanish is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Duolingo or Learn Spanish?
Duolingo is rated higher. Duolingo averages 4.7 out of 5 from 5.5M ratings, while Learn Spanish averages 4.5 from 1.6K ratings.
Do Duolingo or Learn Spanish have ads?
Both Duolingo and Learn Spanish show ads.
Which is updated more often, Duolingo or Learn Spanish?
Duolingo ships an update weekly, and Learn Spanish every 9 days. Most recently, Duolingo was updated on September 24, 2026 and Learn Spanish on September 23, 2026.

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