Comparison

Memrise vs LingoBuddy

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

LingoBuddy

Practice speaking a new language through natural voice conversations with an AI companion. Get instant feedback on grammar and pronunciation, track your progress on the CEFR scale, and receive personalized recaps after each session. Supports 15 languages.

Highlights
  • AI voice conversations
  • Personalized progress tracking
  • Instant grammar/pronunciation feedback
  • CEFR proficiency scale
  • 15 languages available
  • Debrief and recap after calls
Features
Read full description

Finally, a language partner who's always ready to talk! LingoBuddy is your personal AI language companion. Call Lingo anytime and just start speaking. From day one, you're having natural, pressure-free voice conversations that actually get you talking. Whether you're a complete beginner or looking to polish your fluency, Lingo adapts to your level. Chat about your day or practice ordering food. It's the safest place to make mistakes, get instant feedback, and build real-world confidence. WHY LINGOBUDDY? - REAL VOICE CONVERSATIONS: Call an intelligent AI that listens and responds just like a native speaker. No typing, no judgment, just pure speaking practice. - LINGO REMEMBERS YOU: Every call, Lingo picks up where you left off: your interests, your progress, the words you're working on. It's like talking to a friend who's genuinely following your journey. - A DEBRIEF AFTER EVERY CALL: Hang up and get a short, focused recap: what you did well, what to work on, and what to practice next. Gentle, instant corrections to your grammar and pronunciation, right when you need them. - WATCH YOUR VOCABULARY GROW: Every word you say or hear in a call is saved to your Learn tab. Lingo brings each word back right before you'd forget it (spaced repetition) and slips the ones you're about to lose into your next conversation. Not in the mood to talk today? Practice your flashcards instead. They're built from your own calls, not a generic word list. - SEE YOUR LEVEL RISE: Lingo analyzes your conversations and places you on the CEFR proficiency scale (A1 to C2). Watch yourself move from Beginner toward Fluent as you practice more. 15 LANGUAGES AVAILABLE Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), English, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese, and Arabic. PRACTICE THAT FITS YOUR LIFE Start free with short daily calls, then upgrade for longer calls and more monthly minutes whenever you're ready. Every call runs up to 10 minutes - a quick chat or a proper conversation, your choice. Lingo gives you a soft heads-up before time's up, so nothing ends mid-sentence. Download LingoBuddy today and turn your language learning into a real conversation! Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Memrise4 screens
LingoBuddy4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: LingoBuddy at none against Memrise's shown. LingoBuddy also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 68%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). Memrise's advantage is ratings volume (217K vs 2) and chart position (#144 vs unranked). 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. Memrise sells 14 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and LingoBuddy sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

LingoBuddy holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Memrise has 217K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of Memrise's written reviews are positive against 100% of LingoBuddy's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Memrise ships an update fortnightly, LingoBuddy every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Memrise versus LingoBuddy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMemriseLingoBuddy
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (217K ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.1% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings217K — better2
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#144 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size238 MB92 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMemrise LimitedJakob Frederik Ahlberg

Customer experience

Memrise

All ratings216,707 ratings
Positive96.2%
Neutral2.4%
Negative1.4%
Written reviews2,902 reviews
Positive68.1%
Neutral8.8%
Negative23.1%

LingoBuddy

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

LingoBuddy

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
4 purchases

LingoBuddy

Subscriptions4
  • Pen Pals14 Days trial$5.991 Month
  • Language Adventurer7 Days trial$6.991 Month
  • Best Friends14 Days trial$12.991 Month
Show 1 more
  • Language Master$35.006 Months

Questions

Is Memrise free?
Memrise is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is LingoBuddy free?
LingoBuddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Memrise or LingoBuddy?
LingoBuddy is rated higher. Memrise averages 4.8 out of 5 from 217K ratings, while LingoBuddy averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Memrise or LingoBuddy have ads?
Memrise shows ads; LingoBuddy does not.
Which is updated more often, Memrise or LingoBuddy?
Memrise ships an update fortnightly, and LingoBuddy every 2 weeks. Most recently, Memrise was updated on October 18, 2026 and LingoBuddy on October 14, 2026.

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