Comparison

Memrise vs FluentU

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

FluentU

Learn languages through engaging, real-world videos like movie trailers and music clips. Interactive subtitles and vocabulary quizzes make learning immersive and natural. Connect with culture while mastering a new language.

Highlights
  • Learn with interactive videos
  • Tap words for instant definitions
  • Vocabulary quizzes
  • Bilingual dictionary
  • Track progress
  • Cultural immersion
Features
Read full description

Start your 2-week free trial of FluentU now! Cancel anytime. Tired of boring language learning textbooks? FluentU brings languages to life with real-world interactive videos! Learn to read and speak Spanish, French, English, Mandarin Chinese, German, Japanese, Russian, Korean and Italian with FluentU. FluentU turns music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks into an amazing language learning experience. Experience an immersive education that teaches you to speak and comprehend new languages in a natural way. Now you can learn a new language while connecting with the culture. No matter what your skill level or interest, FluentU has you covered. FLUENTU FEATURES: LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE - Immerse yourself in a foreign language to understand how it’s used - Connect with the language through real-world videos - Quiz yourself on the vocabulary - Learn to speak the language instead of scripted phrases - Stay motivated to learn each day WATCH, LISTEN & LEARN - Put the textbooks away and learn from experience - Watch videos with subtitles and translations to learn the language - Tap on any word or phrase to learn its meaning - Add words to your vocabulary list for review - Listen to audio dialogues to gain an understanding of the language BILINGUAL DICTIONARY - Look up any word and see how it’s used in a sentence - Search content by title or grammar and vocabulary points AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: - Chinese (Mandarin) - English - French - German - Italian - Japanese - Korean - Russian - Spanish WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING "Great app. To my knowledge the best on the market. You created something unique and new!" - Felix Wedel "It is more helpful than any other tool I've used. I had been using podcasts before and trying to make flashcards, and that worked pretty well. But it ended up that I was spending more time making the flashcards than studying. FluentU really solves this." - David Brown "FluentU has quickly become one of my favorite language-learning tools. Great job on an aesthetically pleasing app and an incredibly functional one." - Justin Price "This concept in FluentU is amazing. It's such a great way to help you understand a spoken language and the way you break it down is amazing." - Demi Pradolin "This app is so fun and useful - the best Chinese language learning app I've ever used." - Richard Jun PLUS SUBSCRIPTION FluentU is available as a monthly ($29.99 for Plus) or yearly subscription ($239.99 for Plus). If you enjoy FluentU, do nothing and your membership will automatically continue for as long as you choose to remain a member. You can easily cancel anytime, online. Just sign up to get started! If you subscribe via iTunes: Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period and identify the cost of the renewal. Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings 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: http://www.fluentu.com/privacy/ Terms of Use: http://www.fluentu.com/terms/

Screenshots

Memrise4 screens
FluentU4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: FluentU at none against Memrise's shown. Memrise's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.3) and ratings volume (218K vs 2.8K). 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 10 in-app purchases, starting at $24.99 per month and FluentU sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $17.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Memrise holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Memrise has 218K ratings behind it against 2.8K, 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 56% of FluentU's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Memrise ships an update fortnightly, FluentU every 10 days. Both last shipped on November 10, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Memrise versus FluentU: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMemriseFluentU
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (218K ratings) — better4.3 (2.8K ratings)
Positive reviews68.1% of reviews — better56.3% of reviews
Number of ratings218K — better2.8K
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 10 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#181 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size240 MB545 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperMemrise LimitedEnux Education Limited

Customer experience

Memrise

All ratings217,451 ratings
Positive96.2%
Neutral2.4%
Negative1.4%
Written reviews2,916 reviews
Positive68.1%
Neutral8.8%
Negative23.0%

FluentU

All ratings2,791 ratings
Positive83.7%
Neutral4.1%
Negative12.2%
Written reviews1,067 reviews
Positive56.3%
Neutral9.0%
Negative34.7%

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

FluentU

From 2.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Engaging learning experience
  • 🎓 Effective for language learning
  • 👍 Variety of content and features
  • 💡 Innovative learning approach

Room to improve

  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🐛 Buggy and unreliable app
  • 🔍 Lack of transparency around pricing and cancellation
  • 📱 Compatibility issues on mobile devices

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

FluentU

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes frequently
  • Subscription issues and unexpected charges
  • Syncing and login problems
  • Inconsistent performance across devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more language options
  • Improve user interface and navigation
  • Provide better guidance and progression for learners
  • Enhance audio and speech recognition capabilities

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
8 purchases

FluentU

Subscriptions8
  • FluentU Plus14 Days trial$17.991 Month
  • FluentU Plus14 Days trial2 variants$29.991 Month
  • FluentU Super Monthly14 Days trial$39.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • FluentU Plus14 Days trial$95.991 Year
  • FluentU Plus14 Days trial$119.991 Year
  • FluentU Plus14 Days trial$139.991 Year
  • FluentU Super Annual14 Days trial$199.991 Year
  • FluentU Plus14 Days trial2 variants$239.991 Year

Questions

Is Memrise free?
Memrise is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is FluentU free?
FluentU is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Memrise or FluentU?
Memrise is rated higher. Memrise averages 4.8 out of 5 from 218K ratings, while FluentU averages 4.3 from 2.8K ratings.
Do Memrise or FluentU have ads?
Memrise shows ads; FluentU does not.
Which is updated more often, Memrise or FluentU?
Memrise ships an update fortnightly, and FluentU every 10 days. Most recently, Memrise was updated on November 10, 2026 and FluentU on November 10, 2026.

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