Comparison

Duolingo vs Sign BSL

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

Sign BSL

Explore a vast video dictionary of British Sign Language. Search and compare thousands of words and phrases, with over 20,000 videos available on your mobile device.

Highlights
  • Searchable BSL video dictionary
  • Thousands of words and phrases
  • Over 20,000 video demonstrations
  • Mobile accessibility
  • Compare signs
Features
Read full description

Search and compare thousands of words and phrases in British Sign Language. Easily find and view signs on your mobile device. Over 20,000 videos in this video dictionary. For more information please visit www.signbsl.com

Screenshots

Duolingo4 screens
Sign BSL4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sign BSL at none against Duolingo's 10. Sign BSL also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). Duolingo's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 55 months) and ratings volume (5.6M vs 7). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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. Sign BSL asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Duolingo holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Duolingo has 5.6M ratings behind it against 7, 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 63% of Sign BSL's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Duolingo ships an update every 5 days, Sign BSL every 55 months. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Duolingo versus Sign BSL: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDuolingoSign BSL
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (5.6M ratings) — better4.6 (7 ratings)
Positive reviews64.8% of reviews — better62.5% of reviews
Number of ratings5.6M — better7
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 55 months
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
Best chart rank#1 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size499 MB3 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperDuolingo, IncDaniel Mitchell

Customer experience

Duolingo

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

Sign BSL

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews56 reviews
Positive62.5%
Neutral21.4%
Negative16.1%

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

Sign BSL

From 7 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🌟 Excellent free resource
  • 👍 Very helpful for learning BSL
  • ✅ Great for quick word lookups
  • 📚 Useful for all BSL levels
  • 📹 Clear sign videos

Room to improve

  • ❌ Missing some words
  • 🤔 Regional dialects not specified
  • 🤷‍♀️ Some signs don't match words
  • 📉 Outdated signs mentioned

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

Sign BSL

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • 🐛 App crashes after playing videos
  • 🐛 App crashes on iPhone X
  • 🐛 App crashes after iOS update
  • 🐛 App crashes when trying to watch another video of the same word
  • 🐛 App force closes after one video
Show 3 more
  • 🐛 App crashes frequently
  • 🐛 'Wrong format' error on iOS
  • 🐛 Random words in suggestions/quick links

Requested features

9 requests
  • Specify regional dialects for signs
  • Add missing words
  • Include key sentences/phrases
  • Add a 'save' or 'favourites' button
  • Allow 'suggest add' for new words
Show 4 more
  • Display recent searches instead of random words
  • Organize words into categories/folders
  • Add a 'sign of the day' feature
  • Improve non-manual features in videos

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
None

Sign BSL

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Duolingo free?
Duolingo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sign BSL free?
Sign BSL is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Duolingo or Sign BSL?
Duolingo is rated higher. Duolingo averages 4.7 out of 5 from 5.6M ratings, while Sign BSL averages 4.6 from 7 ratings.
Do Duolingo or Sign BSL have ads?
Both Duolingo and Sign BSL show ads.
Which is updated more often, Duolingo or Sign BSL?
Duolingo ships an update every 5 days, and Sign BSL every 55 months. Most recently, Duolingo was updated on November 12, 2026 and Sign BSL on November 11, 2026.

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