Comparison

Memrise vs Language Transfer

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

Language Transfer

Learn new languages and music theory through free, downloadable audio courses. This app offers a structured approach to language learning, allowing you to track progress and listen offline. No sign-up is necessary to begin your educational journey.

Highlights
  • Free audio courses
  • Downloadable lessons
  • Progress saving
  • Offline listening
  • No sign-up required
  • Multiple languages available
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Language Transfer provides free audio courses that teach you to take control of your thought process. There's no sign-up required — just pick a language and start learning! Available courses: - Complete Spanish - Complete Greek - Complete Swahili - Complete German (work in progress) - Introduction to Arabic - Introduction to Turkish - Introduction to Italian - Introduction to French - Inglés Completo (para Hispanohablantes) - Introduction to Music Theory This app provides the same audio available for free on languagetransfer.org, but allows you to download tracks in advance, save your progress, and listen with your phone locked. We collect some anonymous usage data so we can improve the app and learn about how users are engaging with the lessons. You can learn more in the About section of the app, or turn off this data collection in the Settings pane. The source code for the Language Transfer app is available on GitHub: github.com/language-transfer

Screenshots

Memrise4 screens
Language Transfer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Language Transfer at none against Memrise's 10. Language Transfer also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (94% vs 68%). Memrise's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 14 months) and ratings volume (218K vs 1.6K). On price, rating, chart position 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. Memrise sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $24.99 per month. Language Transfer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Memrise against 4.9 for Language Transfer. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Memrise has 218K ratings behind it against 1.6K, 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 94% of Language Transfer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Memrise ships an update fortnightly, Language Transfer every 14 months. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Memrise versus Language Transfer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMemriseLanguage Transfer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (218K ratings)4.9 (1.6K ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.1% of reviews94.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings218K — better1.6K
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 14 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#182#182
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size240 MB79 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMemrise LimitedMihalis Eleftheriou

Customer experience

Memrise

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

Language Transfer

All ratings1,573 ratings
Positive96.5%
Neutral1.1%
Negative2.4%
Written reviews608 reviews
Positive94.1%
Neutral2.6%
Negative3.3%

User reviews

Memrise

From 218K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great for learning basics
  • 👍 Engaging and fun learning experience
  • 👍 Effective memorization techniques
  • 👍 Useful for supplementing language learning
  • 👍 Variety of languages available

Room to improve

  • 💰 Subscription is too expensive
  • 🔒 Limited functionality without subscription
  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches in the app
  • 🤖 AI conversations are not very helpful
  • 🤔 Transition from basics to more advanced content is too abrupt

Language Transfer

From 1.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Highly effective language learning method
  • 👍 Intuitive and logical approach
  • 🤩 Incredible value for being free
  • 💡 Unique teaching style that builds on existing knowledge
  • 🎉 Accelerates language learning progress

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App has some bugs and stability issues
  • 🔍 Lack of playback controls (speed, rewind, etc.)
  • 🗂️ Difficulty navigating and finding specific lessons

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

Language Transfer

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Lessons not always marked as complete correctly
  • App sometimes reverts to earlier lessons unexpectedly
  • Occasional audio playback issues

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more language options
  • Improve lesson navigation and progress tracking
  • Implement playback speed controls
  • Provide transcripts or subtitles for lessons

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Memrise

Subscriptions7
  • Monthly Language Learning Plan$24.991 Month
  • 3-Month Language Learning Plan$24.993 Months
  • Memrise Subscription Offer$58.991 Year
Show 4 more
  • 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-time3
  • Lifetime Plan Offer$98.99
  • Lifetime Plan Offer$131.99
  • Lifetime Plan$329.99
None

Language Transfer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Memrise free?
Memrise is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Language Transfer free?
Language Transfer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Memrise or Language Transfer?
Language Transfer is rated higher. Memrise averages 4.8 out of 5 from 218K ratings, while Language Transfer averages 4.9 from 1.6K ratings.
Do Memrise or Language Transfer have ads?
Memrise shows ads; Language Transfer does not.
Which is updated more often, Memrise or Language Transfer?
Memrise ships an update fortnightly, and Language Transfer every 14 months. Most recently, Memrise was updated on November 7, 2026 and Language Transfer on November 3, 2026.
Which is more popular, Memrise or Language Transfer?
Memrise currently peaks at #182 in the App Store charts, and Language Transfer at #182. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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