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

Master new languages, chess, and math with fun, bite-sized lessons. This popular education app uses game-like challenges and expert-designed methods to build vocabulary, grammar, and strategic skills. Track your progress and compete with a global community.

Highlights
  • Bite-sized language lessons
  • Learn chess strategy and play matches
  • Interactive math courses
  • Music reading and playing
  • Progress tracking and achievements
  • Competitive leaderboards
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

This app offers a comprehensive approach to learning Spanish, featuring structured lessons for beginners, vocabulary building, and grammar explanations. Practice listening skills and learn in short, manageable 3-minute segments, all developed by a qualified instructor.

Highlights
  • Beginner Spanish lessons
  • Spanish vocabulary and words
  • Spanish listening practice
  • 3-minute learning chunks
  • Spanish grammar lessons
  • Qualified instructor-taught content
Features
Read full description

Spanish Language Lessons Learn Spanish Online Anywhere LESSONS: • Beginner Spanish Lessons • Spanish Words • Spanish Vocabulary • Spanish Listening Practise • Spanish Holidays • 3 Minute Spanish: Learn Spanish in 3 minute chunks • Spanish Grammer Lessons • Spanish Lessons For Beginners MORE • Optimized for iPhone, iPad • Developed, performed and taught by a qualified instructor Get it! Become Spanish Expert!

Screenshots

Duolingo4 screens
Learn Spanish4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Duolingo at every 5 days against Learn Spanish's every 12 months. Duolingo also leads on ratings volume (5.6M vs 155) and chart position (#1 vs unranked). Learn Spanish's advantage is review sentiment (89% vs 65%) and iOS requirement (15 vs 17.0). On price, rating, 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 10 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Learn Spanish sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. 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 4.6 for Learn Spanish. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Duolingo has 5.6M ratings behind it against 155, 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 89% of Learn Spanish's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Duolingo ships an update every 5 days, Learn Spanish every 12 months. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Duolingo versus Learn Spanish: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDuolingoLearn Spanish
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (5.6M ratings) — better4.6 (155 ratings)
Positive reviews64.8% of reviews89.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5.6M — better155
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 12 months
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#1 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015 — better
Further details — not scored
Size499 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDuolingo, Inc叶 李

Customer experience

Duolingo

All ratings5,576,946 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral2.5%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews31,155 reviews
Positive64.8%
Neutral9.6%
Negative25.5%

Learn Spanish

All ratings154 ratings
Positive90.3%
Neutral4.5%
Negative5.2%
Written reviews46 reviews
Positive89.1%
Neutral4.3%
Negative6.5%

User reviews

Duolingo

From 5.6M 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 155 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great pace for lessons
  • 👍 Helps speak Spanish to others
  • 👍 Explains formal/informal language
  • 👍 Direct and understandable teaching
  • 👍 Makes learning interesting

Room to improve

  • ❌ Cannot access content without rating
  • ❌ Forced to rate to unlock videos
  • ❌ App not working for some

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

2 issues
  • Not letting me in
  • App not working

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Duolingo

Subscriptions6
  • Super Duolingo7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Super Duolingo14 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Super Duolingo14 Days trial$79.991 Year
Show 3 more
  • Super Duolingo14 Days trial$83.991 Year
  • Super Duolingo7 Days trial$95.991 Year
  • Super Duolingo1 Month trial$119.991 Year
One-time4
  • Chest of Gems$0.99
  • Barrel of Gems (1200)$4.99
  • Cart of Gems (3000)$9.99
Show 1 more
  • Cart of Gems (6500)$19.99
1 purchases

Learn Spanish

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$4.99

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 5.6M ratings, while Learn Spanish averages 4.6 from 155 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 every 5 days, and Learn Spanish every 12 months. Most recently, Duolingo was updated on November 12, 2026 and Learn Spanish on November 3, 2026.

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