Comparison

Duolingo vs Буквонавты

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 educational app uses a game-like approach to build vocabulary, grammar, and strategic skills. Track your progress and compete with a global community.

Highlights
  • Bite-sized language lessons
  • Chess learning and play
  • 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

Буквонавты

This app helps young children aged 4-7 learn to read Russian letters, words, and stories through engaging mini-games. Developed by experts, it offers a fun and intuitive way to build reading fluency with interactive activities and illustrated stories.

Highlights
  • Learn Russian letters and words
  • Interactive mini-games
  • Build reading fluency
  • Illustrated short stories
  • Phonics-based learning
  • Developed by linguists and teachers
Features
Read full description

Encourage young learners (4-7 y.o.) to read their first Russian letters, words, and stories with this engaging early literacy and phonics app that helps to build up reading fluency using fun educational mini-games in Russian language.  The app guides the child gently from reading single letters to whole words to stories. A diverse array of engaging, highly interactive games with sleek design and intuitive interface make sure that learning is easy and fun.  Developed by linguists and teachers, our games were tested in classroom and rely on our hands-on expertise in early language acquisition and latest research. Cute mascots, engaging topics, multiple diverse activities ranging from memory-match games to word search make learning fun. The app has a constantly growing library of lovingly illustrated short stories. No ads. Subscription-based. Each subscription provides full access to all games and books. Subscriptions renew automatically. Your App Store account will be charged unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Cancel any time in your App store account settings. Terms and Conditions: https://www.privacypolicies.com/live/3a1ae054-732e-49e3-b534-98bb3f3fe6a0 Privacy Policy https://www.privacypolicies.com/live/5bf738dc-9039-4e2b-9882-f6b440d87aa6

Screenshots

Duolingo4 screens
Буквонавты4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Duolingo at free with in-app purchases against Буквонавты's subscription. Duolingo also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks) and chart position (#1 vs unranked). Буквонавты's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (83% vs 65%). On price, in-app purchases and device support 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 Буквонавты sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Duolingo ships an update every 5 days, Буквонавты every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Duolingo versus Буквонавты: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDuolingoБуквонавты
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (5.6M ratings) — better—
Positive reviews64.8% of reviews83.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5.6M — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
Best chart rank#1 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size499 MB96 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDuolingo, IncConsultant Application Engineering Ltd

Customer experience

Duolingo

All ratings5,559,528 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral2.5%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews30,951 reviews
Positive64.8%
Neutral9.6%
Negative25.6%

Буквонавты

Written reviews6 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%

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

Буквонавты

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Duolingo

Subscriptions5
  • Super Duolingo7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Super Duolingo14 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Super Duolingo14 Days trial$83.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • Super Duolingo7 Days trial$95.991 Year
  • Super Duolingo1 Month trial$119.991 Year
One-time5
  • Chest of Gems$0.99
  • Barrel of Gems (1200)$4.99
  • Chest of Gems (1200)$4.99
Show 2 more
  • Cart of Gems (3000)$9.99
  • Cart of Gems (6500)$19.99
6 purchases

Буквонавты

Subscriptions6
  • 1 месяц7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • 1 месяц$4.991 Month
  • 3 месяца7 Days trial$7.993 Months
Show 3 more
  • 3 месяца$7.993 Months
  • 12 месяцев7 Days trial$17.991 Year
  • 12 месяцев$17.991 Year

Questions

Is Duolingo free?
Duolingo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Буквонавты free?
Буквонавты is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Duolingo or Буквонавты have ads?
Duolingo shows ads; Буквонавты does not.
Which is updated more often, Duolingo or Буквонавты?
Duolingo ships an update every 5 days, and Буквонавты every 2 weeks. Most recently, Duolingo was updated on November 7, 2026 and Буквонавты on November 4, 2026.

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