Comparison

Open Dictation vs Dubara

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

Head to head
About

Open Dictation

This app helps you learn languages by listening to native speakers and typing what you hear. It uses a spaced repetition system to optimize learning and provides detailed feedback on your errors.

Highlights
  • Listening and dictation practice
  • Character-level error feedback
  • Spaced repetition algorithm
  • Thousands of sentences per language
  • Instant translations
  • Cross-device progress sync
Features
Read full description

Open Dictation is a listening and dictation trainer for seven languages: Romanian, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, and English. HOW IT WORKS A native speaker sentence plays. No text is shown. You listen, then type what you heard. A character-level diff shows exactly where you went wrong — not just that you made an error, but which characters. The spaced repetition algorithm schedules each sentence to return at the moment your brain is about to forget it. Over thousands of repetitions, your ear sharpens. Sounds you once missed become automatic. This is how children acquire language, compressed into deliberate daily practice. WHAT'S INCLUDED · Thousands of sentences per language — real speakers, natural speech · Instant translations in 13 languages for every sentence · Spaced repetition scheduling based on your personal error history · Sign in with Apple or Google to sync your progress across devices · The web app at sitedictation.com/play runs the same experience in your browser · No account required to start — progress stays on your device FREE TIER + PRO Free tier includes 1,000 unique sentences per language. Pro subscription removes the cap and unlocks the full corpus: 26,000+ Romanian, 70,000+ French, 159,000+ Portuguese, and more. HONEST ABOUT WHAT IT IS This is not a gamified app. There are no points, no streaks to protect, no social features. It is a training tool, built by someone who used it daily to reach C1 Romanian.

About

Dubara

Features
Read full description

You can read it. You just can't produce it. Dubara hands you one real sentence, you translate it in your own words — no multiple choice, no word tiles — and an AI grades what you actually wrote in seconds, with a reason instead of a red X. That gap between understanding a language and using it is where most learners stall for years. Dubara is built for exactly that gap. HOW A SESSION GOES 1. You get a sentence at your CEFR level (A1–C2) on a topic you picked. 2. You type the translation. Any wording. Your own phrasing. 3. You get a score out of 100, a natural-sounding suggested translation, and specific tips — "'tomar' is more common than 'beber' when you're talking about having coffee" — not "incorrect, try again". 4. Tap any word you didn't know for a hint, star it, and it comes back as a flashcard before you forget it. ALSO IN THE APP • Today's news, rewritten at A2, B1 and C1 — tap any word for a hint, star it into your deck, then translate the whole article for points • The Daily Headline: one sentence a day, one try, the same for everyone learning your language pair — see where you stand • An AI tutor you can roleplay with: café, airport, job interview, doctor. It answers in your target language and corrects you gently • Spaced-repetition flashcards with Quiz, Match and Write games • Every sentence you've ever written, scored and searchable, plus accuracy by level and by topic so you can see where you actually break • Streaks, weekly quests, streak freezes and repairs for the weeks life wins • Home-screen widgets, offline practice and a listening mode • Made for iPhone and iPad • The whole interface in 15 languages — Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Chinese WHAT MAKES THIS DIFFERENT Almost every language app grades you by recognition: pick the right tile, tap the matching word, choose one of four. That is easy to score automatically, and it is why you can hold a 400-day streak and still go blank ordering a coffee. Free-form production is the hard thing to grade, so almost nobody grades it. The apps that get close hand your sentence to a volunteer native speaker and you wait — minutes if you're lucky, hours if you're not, and only if someone happens to be online. Dubara grades the sentence you actually wrote, in seconds, every time, even at three in the morning, and tells you why. FREE AND PRO Free: a daily workout of graded sentences, one news translation and a short tutor chat a day, unlimited flashcards. Pro lifts the daily limits — practice, read and talk as much as you like — and unlocks every theme. Choose monthly, yearly (with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers) or a one-time Lifetime purchase. Pick your languages, tell us why you're learning and set your daily pace. A free account — email, Apple or Google — keeps your level, your streak and every sentence you've written in sync across your devices. Terms: https://dubara.io/terms · Privacy: https://dubara.io/privacy

Screenshots

Open Dictation3 screens
Dubara4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Open Dictation at none against Dubara's 2. Open Dictation also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). Dubara's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 9 days). On price, ads 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. Dubara sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Open Dictation asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Open Dictation ships an update every 9 days, Dubara every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Open Dictation versus Dubara: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOpen DictationDubara
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB26 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperHuman Machine Learning S.R.L.Soner Sahin

In-app purchases

None

Open Dictation

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Dubara

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$5.991 Month
  • Yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year

Questions

Is Open Dictation free?
Open Dictation is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Dubara free?
Dubara is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Open Dictation or Dubara have ads?
Neither Open Dictation nor Dubara shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Open Dictation or Dubara?
Open Dictation ships an update every 9 days, and Dubara every 4 days. Most recently, Open Dictation was updated on October 10, 2026 and Dubara on October 23, 2026.

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