Comparison

Memrise vs Whale Notes

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Memrise

Learn over 40 languages through immersive lessons that simulate real-life conversations and cultural experiences. Practice vocabulary, listening, and speaking with AI-powered bots and native speaker videos to build confidence and speak like a local.

Highlights
  • Real-life conversation simulation
  • Cultural insights
  • Vocabulary and listening practice
  • Speaking practice with AI
  • Native speaker videos
  • Learn over 40 languages
Features
Read full description

Memrise is a language learning app for people who have a specific reason to learn. Trusted by 80 million learners, Memrise offers specialised courses for your goals: passing an exam, speaking confidently at work, building relationships, or discovering cultures you love. Unlike gamified apps with robotic voices, it's built around real native-speaker videos - so you learn to speak like real people. Learn Spanish, Korean, Japanese or 136 other languages in lessons that teach you vocabulary, listening and speaking as if you were a local living in the country. 15 NEW languages to learn from: Afrikaans, Ancient Greek, Latin, Finnish, Irish, Czech, Hungarian, Cantonese, Romanian, Esperanto, Croatian, Kurdish, Serbian, Bulgarian, Azerbaijani * Showing you how to piece together natural sentences, preparing you for everyday conversation * Giving you a place to practice role-play and gain confidence * Teaching you the cultural nuances you need to feel like a local Memrise is the best language-learning app for beginners that are starting to learn a language from scratch, intermediate learners that want to build on their listening and speaking, and advanced learners who are looking to improve their conversational skills. Download Memrise so that you can confidently: * Connect with your partner and their family * Have a better time while travelling * Sharpen your mind if you’re learning a language for brain health * Prepare for a language exam * Connect with work colleagues * Better understand different cultures How do we help you have conversations in other languages? * Choose from hundreds of real-life scenarios * Practice listening to native speaker videos using what you’ve just learned * Then build confidence speaking with AI Buddies, your personalised language learning bots - Helping 80+ million learners speak confidently - Featured in BBC World Service, Forbes, The Verge, The Financial Times, and more What other learners are saying "I've been using Memrise for about two years, studying European Portuguese. I have the paid version - it's a solid learning tool, and it has been my primary resource ever since got it. I find the Learn with Locals feature to be especially useful, more so as my Portuguese improves. My wife and I spent a couple of weeks in Portugal a few months ago, and we were able to handle all of our transactions - stores, restaurants, markets, car rental, etc!" - Voloúre Need to speak a new language soon? Get the practice you need with Memrise Pro - Unlock all vocab lessons - Unlock all native speaker videos - Unlimited speaking practice - Ad free Compare with our Free Plan - Limited vocab lessons - Limited videos and conversations - Ads Download our app for free and start learning with Memrise today: Learn French, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Mexico), German, Korean, Japanese, Japanese (no script), Turkish, Italian, Chinese (simplified), Dutch, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Danish, Slovenian, Icelandic, Yoruba, Mongolian, English (UK) and English (US)! ------ *PLEASE READ: A Memrise Pro subscription are designed for Memrise-approved courses. A subscription is required in order to access all our learning features. These features may vary depending on your device's language and language pair. Once purchased, subscriptions will automatically renew unless cancelled before the end of the current payment period. Subscriptions can be managed or cancelled in your Apple App Store account. In-app Permissions – To enable some of the features of the Memrise app we may need to ask for your permission. For example, we'll ask to access your microphone if you'd like to practice your pronunciation skills. You can change permissions at any time in your settings. Privacy Policy: https://www.memrise.com/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://www.memrise.com/terms/

About

Whale Notes

Easily record new vocabulary words, their meanings, and example sentences. Sync notes across devices with cloud backup. Offers tools for word definition lookup to help you build a daily learning habit.

Highlights
  • Record new words and meanings
  • Add example sentences
  • Cloud backup and sync
  • Offline functionality
  • Word definition lookup
  • Daily learning habit tracker
Features
Read full description

- When you come across a new word while studying, just open Whale Notes and add a note with its meaning and an example sentence. - You can create an account or link a social media account to make sure all your notes are backed up to the cloud. This way, you won’t lose your notes if you delete the app or if your phone is lost or stolen. - Works smoothly both online and offline. - Available on multiple platforms, so you can sync your notes across different devices. - More tools to help you find word or phrase definitions. - Try to make this a daily habit, aiming to learn 3-5 new words each day. We hope this app helps you grow your vocabulary. Thank you for your support! Subscriptions in the app will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account. The subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Once activated, the subscription cannot be canceled. You can manage your subscriptions in Account Settings after purchase. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Memrise4 screens
Whale Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Whale Notes at none against Memrise's shown. Whale Notes also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). Memrise's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 months) and ratings volume (218K vs 34). On price, rating, 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. Memrise sells 14 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and Whale Notes sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 3 months. 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 — 4.8 for Memrise against 4.8 for Whale Notes. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Memrise has 218K ratings behind it against 34, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 68% of Memrise's written reviews are positive against 50% of Whale Notes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Memrise ships an update fortnightly, Whale Notes every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Memrise versus Whale Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMemriseWhale Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (218K ratings) — better4.8 (34 ratings)
Positive reviews68.1% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings218K — better34
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 5 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
Best chart rank#196 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size240 MB24 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMemrise LimitedThi Vo

Customer experience

Memrise

All ratings217,451 ratings
Positive96.2%
Neutral2.4%
Negative1.4%
Written reviews2,905 reviews
Positive68.1%
Neutral8.8%
Negative23.1%

Whale Notes

All ratings35 ratings
Positive94.3%
Neutral2.9%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

Memrise

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes or freezes during lessons
  • Inconsistent performance across devices
  • Issues with syncing progress across devices
  • Incorrect translations or pronunciations in some courses

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more advanced content and courses
  • Improve AI conversation feature
  • Allow more control over review and repetition
  • Provide offline access to courses
  • Improve search and discovery of community courses
Show 1 more
  • Add support for writing practice and handwriting recognition

Whale Notes

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

14 purchases

Memrise

Subscriptions10
  • Weekly Language Learning Plan$2.997 Days
  • Monthly Language Learning Plan$24.991 Month
  • 3-Month Language Learning Plan$24.993 Months
Show 7 more
  • 30% off Annual Memrise Pro$42.991 Year
  • Memrise Subscription Offer$58.991 Year
  • Memrise Subscription Offer1 Month trial$59.991 Month
  • Annual Language Learning Plan$61.991 Year
  • Memrise Annual Pro$61.991 Year
  • Memrise Subscription Offer1 Year trial$61.991 Year
  • Memrise Subscription Offer$79.991 Year
One-time4
  • Lifetime Plan Offer$98.99
  • Lifetime Plan Offer$131.99
  • Lifetime Plan Offer$164.99
Show 1 more
  • Lifetime Plan$329.99
5 purchases

Whale Notes

Subscriptions3
  • Premium 3 months14 Days trial$2.993 Months
  • Premium 6 months14 Days trial$4.996 Months
  • Premium 12 months14 Days trial$8.991 Year
One-time2
  • 200 notes$1.99
  • 500 Notes$2.99

Questions

Is Memrise free?
Memrise is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Whale Notes free?
Whale Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Memrise or Whale Notes?
Memrise is rated higher. Memrise averages 4.8 out of 5 from 218K ratings, while Whale Notes averages 4.8 from 34 ratings.
Do Memrise or Whale Notes have ads?
Memrise shows ads; Whale Notes does not.
Which is updated more often, Memrise or Whale Notes?
Memrise ships an update fortnightly, and Whale Notes every 5 months. Most recently, Memrise was updated on November 1, 2026 and Whale Notes on October 14, 2026.

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