Comparison

Duolingo vs Learn German

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 German

This app offers interactive games and activities designed to teach children German through virtual language immersion. It focuses on everyday language, speaking challenges, and pronunciation, with lessons developed by early-education experts. The app is safe for kids, ad-free, and supports offline learning.

Highlights
  • Virtual language immersion
  • Interactive games and activities
  • Everyday language lessons
  • Speaking challenges
  • Ad-free and safe for kids
  • Offline learning support
Features
Read full description

From the award-winning creators of Studycat for Schools, comes Learn German! The #1 way for kids to learn Deutsch! From preschool and beyond, Learn German by Studycat inspires children's innate love of learning with interactive games and activities. Our bite-sized lessons will keep your child motivated while they discover a new language and build bilingual skills for a lifetime! WHY STUDYCAT? • Learn German, in German. All our activities focus on virtual language immersion, which means your child won't be hearing any English, only German! This might be confusing at first, but trust us, it's the best way to learn. • Everyday Language. Our lessons teach words and expressions that kids can apply in their everyday lives, so they can get a head start developing their bilingual abilities. • Get Talking Fast. With our interactive speaking challenges, kids will be encouraged to speak entire words and phrases on their own! The earlier kids start their language-learning journey, the more likely they are to reach proficiency quickly. • Vocal Variety. Our characters' voices use different tones, expressions, and accents so that kids can pick up on the subtleties of pronunciation from different speakers. • Designed by Experts. All our activities are designed by language and early-education experts. Thoughtfully developed lessons will build your child's confidence with every step. • Learner Profiles (coming soon). Create up to four personalized profiles for different family members, allowing tailored learning paths and individual progress tracking. • Safe for Kids & Ad-Free. Parents can rest easy knowing that there are no pesky ads to distract children from their learning. All content is appropriate for ages 3 and up. • Offline Learning. On a plane, at a restaurant, or in a park? No problem! Learn German by Studycat is available for both online and offline use. WHAT ARE PARENTS SAYING? “As a parent trying to raise bilingual children at home, Studycat is a helpful app to start them off and create excitement about the language.” — Fluent in 3 Months “Everything has been thought out carefully and the games and activities are really engaging.” — Bilingual Kidspot “The concept is so simple but extremely effective. I even found myself learning at the same time.” — Bump, Baby & You -- If you like Learn German by Studycat, try it out for 7 days free! Empower your child to learn like never before, and get extras like printable worksheets. If you choose to subscribe, 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://studycat.com/about/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://studycat.com/about/terms-of-use/

Screenshots

Duolingo4 screens
Learn German4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Learn German at none against Duolingo's shown. Learn German also leads on review sentiment (80% vs 65%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). Duolingo's advantage is ratings volume (5.5M vs 539) and rating (4.7 vs 4.5). On price, update cadence, 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 Learn German sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 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 539, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 65% of Duolingo's written reviews are positive against 80% of Learn German's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Duolingo ships an update weekly, Learn German every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Duolingo versus Learn German: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDuolingoLearn German
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (5.5M ratings) — better4.5 (539 ratings)
Positive reviews64.6% of reviews79.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5.5M — better539
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 weeks
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 iOS17.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size489 MB232 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDuolingo, IncStudycat Limited

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 German

All ratings533 ratings
Positive87.1%
Neutral5.6%
Negative7.3%
Written reviews129 reviews
Positive79.8%
Neutral9.3%
Negative10.9%

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 German

From 539 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎮 Engaging and fun game-based learning format
  • 👶 Excellent for young children (ages 3-8)
  • 🎯 Effective vocabulary retention through repetition
  • 🗣️ Clear pronunciation with human voices
  • 🎨 Well-designed graphics and user-friendly interface

Room to improve

  • 💰 Expensive subscription pricing ($24.49/month mentioned)
  • 📚 Limited content - runs out quickly (1 month for young learners)
  • 🔊 Pronunciation sometimes sounds computer-generated
  • ⚠️ Allows progression without mastery
  • 😴 Too simplistic for older children (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

Learn German

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • App glitches preventing progression in certain exercises
  • Gender errors in vocabulary (e.g., 'der Hase' marked as 'die Hase')
  • Microphone/voice recognition issues
  • Spelling exercise instructions unclear or missing
  • Unresponsive developer support for reported issues

Requested features

9 requests
  • More lessons and content to extend learning duration
  • Italian language version
  • Verb and sentence structure lessons
  • Lower subscription pricing or bundle with other Studycat languages
  • More challenging difficulty levels for older children
Show 4 more
  • Additional free levels beyond daily game
  • Native speaker voices instead of computer-generated
  • Require correct answers before earning stars
  • More comprehensive vocabulary coverage

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
8 purchases

Learn German

Subscriptions6
  • Monthly Subscription1 Month trial$14.991 Month
  • Unlimited Access7 Days trial$14.991 Month
  • Learn German7 Days trial3 variants$14.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • Annual Subscription1 Month trial$59.991 Year
  • Unlimited Access7 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Learn German7 Days trial3 variants$59.991 Year
One-time2
  • Numbers Lesson$2.99
  • Eight Lesson Pack$12.99

Questions

Is Duolingo free?
Duolingo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Learn German free?
Learn German is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Duolingo or Learn German?
Duolingo is rated higher. Duolingo averages 4.7 out of 5 from 5.5M ratings, while Learn German averages 4.5 from 539 ratings.
Do Duolingo or Learn German have ads?
Duolingo shows ads; Learn German does not.
Which is updated more often, Duolingo or Learn German?
Duolingo ships an update weekly, and Learn German every 2 weeks. Most recently, Duolingo was updated on September 25, 2026 and Learn German on September 24, 2026.

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