Comparison

Drops vs effectLang

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Gamified vocabulary learning
  • Visual learning aids
  • 55+ language options
  • Progress tracking and rewards
  • Native speaker pronunciations
  • Customizable learning goals
Read full description

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

About

effectLang

Master new languages with an effective, free system. Create custom flashcards with images and audio, and utilize spaced repetition for optimal memorization. Learn at your own pace, even offline, with a fun, game-like approach to vocabulary building.

Highlights
  • Custom flashcard creator
  • Spaced repetition algorithm
  • Image and audio integration
  • Offline learning capability
  • Excel import/export
  • Text-to-speech pronunciation
Features
Read full description

Learn different languages in the most effective way for free! A simple and straightforward system will help you practice new languages effectively. You can use spaced repetition algorithm for memorization or just learn and practice at your own pace, even daily! A flexible "card creator" system, the use of modern learning strategies, and ease of use are not all the benefits of the app. A unique flashcard maker application lets you do things that weren't possible before. Your studying process will change thanks to the app. What are the main features of effectLang? - Integration with photo providers to instantly find a photo for your own flashcards, ability to add your pictures from your device if you want to. - Ability to add your own audio file or just use device built-in text to speech (TTS) technology for pronunciation (available languages are dependent on your device). Improve your English pronunciation (or any other language you are learning). - Provide an additional example, hint, or description for each flashcard. - Learn any language you want - English, Spanish, Portuguese German, Dutch, Hebrew, Italian, Russian, Polish, Korean, Japanese and many others. - Import and export flashcards content using Excel files. Flashcards and spaced repetition study app can work offline - without the internet (wi-fi is not required), but additional features, like downloading photos, can be used only online. Choose a study cards strategy, you only need to add new words, phrases, and sentences. Learn vocabulary and practice different languages with easy flashcards and modern active recall (active learning) strategies - image learning, spaced repetition & index cards. The whole learning process is like a fun memory game, you don't need to use boring dictionaries. Works for everyone - students, teachers, adults and beginners. Learning can be simple and fun! Doesn't matter if you want to travel, become a language expert or just get a glance at different languages, become a language learner today! Privacy policy: https://dawidwnukowski.com/dawid-wnukowski-mobile-games-privacy-policy/ Terms of service: https://dawidwnukowski.com/flashcards-terms/

Screenshots

Drops4 screens
effectLang4 screens

Verdict

The call

Drops and effectLang both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 75% of Drops's written reviews are positive against 0% of effectLang's. Drops also leads on ratings volume (72K vs 7) and chart position (#146 vs unranked). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Drops sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month and effectLang sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Drops against 4.7 for effectLang. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Drops has 72K ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 75% of Drops's written reviews are positive against 0% of effectLang's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Drops ships an update weekly, effectLang every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and June 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Drops versus effectLang: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDropseffectLang
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (72K ratings)4.7 (7 ratings) — better
Positive reviews74.6% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings72K — better7
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#146 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.616.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size191 MB93 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperPLANB LABS OUDawid Wnukowski

Customer experience

Drops

All ratings71,502 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral2.9%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews2,192 reviews
Positive74.6%
Neutral9.6%
Negative15.8%

effectLang

All ratings7 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral14.3%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bugs and requests

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

effectLang

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

13 purchases

Drops

Subscriptions12
  • Genius for a month$7.991 Month
  • Premium$9.991 Month
  • Premium$11.991 Month
Show 9 more
  • 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
One-time1
  • Unlimited time for all Languages!$59.99
2 purchases

effectLang

Subscriptions2
  • Premium3 Days trial$3.491 Month
  • Premium3 Days trial$21.491 Year

Questions

Is Drops free?
Drops is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is effectLang free?
effectLang is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Drops or effectLang?
effectLang is rated higher. Drops averages 4.7 out of 5 from 72K ratings, while effectLang averages 4.7 from 7 ratings.
Do Drops or effectLang have ads?
Both Drops and effectLang show ads.
Which is updated more often, Drops or effectLang?
Drops ships an update weekly, and effectLang every 3 weeks. Most recently, Drops was updated on September 24, 2026 and effectLang on June 24, 2026.

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