FluentU vs Drops
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
FluentU
Learn languages through engaging, real-world videos like movie trailers and music clips. Interactive subtitles and vocabulary tools make comprehension and speaking natural. Connect with culture while mastering a new language.
- Interactive video lessons
- Real-world content
- Tap-to-translate subtitles
- Vocabulary review tools
- Bilingual dictionary
- Cultural immersion
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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/
Drops
Learn new languages through engaging games and visual aids. Practice vocabulary and common phrases in over 55 languages, from beginner to expert levels. Track progress, unlock achievements, and enjoy professionally curated lessons with native speaker pronunciations.
- Gamified vocabulary learning
- Visual learning aids
- 55+ language options
- Progress tracking and rewards
- Native speaker pronunciations
- Customizable learning goals
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Join over 50 million people who use Drops for free language lessons. It’s fast, fun, and easy! Practice vocabulary in Spanish, Japanese, French, Korean, Chinese, German, English. Discover 55+ different new languages with Drops! Learn new languages while playing games. You can become fluent, learn vocabulary and common phrases in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, and Hindi. Set goals, unlock achievements, and get rewards! • Become fluent in a foreign language with this language learning app • Learn to read characters and scripts from different alphabets like Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, and Hindi • Custom illustrations for each vocabulary word makes it easy to remember • From beginner to expert levels, grow your foreign language vocabulary • A professionally curated vocabulary list with more than 3,000 words and phrases • Game-like language lessons that make language learning fun and effective • Level up! Track your progress and get rewards • Professional voice artists and sound design with correct dialect pronunciations • Learn to speak languages like Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English (British), English (American), French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (European), Russian, Spanish (Mexican), Spanish (European), Tagalog, Ainu, Arabic (Egyptian), American Sign Language (ASL), Basque, Bosnian, Cantonese, Catalan, Chti, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, Galician, Greek, Greenlandic, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Igbo, Indonesian, Irish, Maori, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Romanian, Samoan, Sanskrit, Serbian, Swahili, Swedish, Swiss German, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Welsh, and even Yoruba! "By focusing on visually appealing games and vocab, Drops aims to lower the barrier preventing users from exploring a new language and, ultimately, accessing the social and economic benefits knowing that language may provide." - TechCrunch We are featured by CNET, Forbes, VentureBeat and many other places too! Try Drops Premium with a 7 day free trial. Download the app to learn about different membership options, and register to learn all about exclusive discounts. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of Drops premium. Afterwards your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your settings in the iTunes Store after purchase. You can cancel your subscription anytime, and you won't be charged in the next billing cycle. Privacy Policy and Terms of Use: http://languagedrops.com/privacypolicy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Drops at free with in-app purchases against FluentU's subscription. Drops also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.3) and review sentiment (75% vs 56%). FluentU's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. FluentU sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month and Drops sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Drops holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Drops has 72K ratings behind it against 2.8K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 56% of FluentU's written reviews are positive against 75% of Drops's.
FluentU ships an update fortnightly, Drops weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | FluentU | Drops |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (2.8K ratings) | 4.7 (72K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 56.3% of reviews | 74.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2.8K | 72K — better |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | — | #170 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 549 MB | 191 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Enux Education Limited | PLANB LABS OU |
Customer experience
FluentU
Drops
User reviews
FluentU
From 2.8K App Store ratingsWhat 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
Drops
From 72K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Vocabulary learning
- 👍 Unique and engaging learning activities
- 👍 Wide range of languages
- 👍 Customizable learning experience
- 👍 Effective for building vocabulary
Room to improve
- 🐛 Inaccurate translations or pronunciations
- 🔒 Subscription model issues
- 👎 Limited to vocabulary, lacks grammar/sentence structure
- 👎 Repetitive and not enough variety in exercises
Bugs and requests
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
Drops
Reported bugs
2 issues- Login issues and lost progress
- Crashes and performance problems
Requested features
5 requests- Add more grammar and sentence-level learning
- Improve accuracy of translations and pronunciations
- Provide more flexibility in time limits and review sessions
- Integrate more conversational practice
- Improve user interface and navigation
In-app purchases
FluentU
- FluentU Plus14 Days trial$14.991 Month
- FluentU Plus14 Days trial$17.991 Month
- FluentU Plus14 Days trial$20.991 Month
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- FluentU Plus14 Days trial$23.991 Month
- FluentU Plus14 Days trial2 variants$29.991 Month
- FluentU Super Monthly14 Days trial$39.991 Month
- FluentU Plus14 Days trial$71.991 Year
- 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
Drops
- Genius for a month$7.991 Month
- Premium$9.991 Month
- Premium$11.991 Month
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- Premium$14.991 Month
- Curious for a month$22.991 Month
- Holiday premium!$39.991 Year
- Premium7 Days trial$62.991 Year
- Premium7 Days trial$69.991 Year
- All Language Learning Plans7 Days trial$69.991 Year
- Premium7 Days trial$79.991 Year
- Premium7 Days trial$89.991 Year
- Premium7 Days trial$99.991 Year
- Unlimited time for all Languages!$59.99







