Photo credit: © Katrin Adam
No ads, always free. That was the original promise when the language learning platform Duolingo launched in 2011. But the provider has slowly started breaking that promise: now you often have to watch excessive amounts of ads and still pay for most of the features. So what do Duolingo Costs look like nowadays?
Table of Contents
Before diving in deeper, one of our biggest annoyances with Duolingo is how unclear the pricing structure can be. Getting an overview of the different Duolingo Prices is almost impossible, as they don’t provide a simple cost breakdown. We’ve done our best to track down all the main Duolingo Costs and gather them here.
Duolingo – Isn’t it free?
Unfortunately, the answer is now closer to “No.” But it was different in the earlier days. When Duolingo was first made available to users over a decade ago, you didn’t have to watch ads or pay any money to learn on the platform.
Back then, the company funded itself through partnerships with major outlets like CNN and BuzzFeed. As a Duolingo user, you translated snippets from these organizations’ articles. Duolingo then sold those translations back to the companies, which covered their costs.
This also explains why you sometimes dealt with bizarre sentences that didn’t match your skill level or included unhelpful vocabulary. You can read more about it in our detailed Duolingo review!
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Over time, Duolingo also added advertisements to boost revenue. And not just a few—you often have to watch a short commercial after every (fairly quick) lesson. Despite this, a lot of the platform’s more well-thought out features remain locked behind a paid premium subscription. So what are the current costs for a Duolingo subscription?
Duolingo Costs at a Glance
Important! The following prices refer to purchases made via the Duolingo website. If you buy through the App Store or Play Store, they may add a 30% fee on top of the purchase price. Always subscribe via the website!
Currently, there are three subscription plans that unlock all Duolingo Super content:
The one-month plan is billed monthly at $12.99. That works out to about $156 per year, which is fairly high. The annual plan costs a little over half that: €6.99 per month, based on a one-time yearly payment of $83.99.
You can see there’s not much variety. Obviously, the yearly plan is more cost-effective, or better yet, you can split the Family Plan price with up to five other people. In that scenario, especially when compared to the monthly plan, you can lower your cost to around $1.70 per month. Even with just two people, each person only pays $5 monthly, which is still less than a single-user annual plan. It’s a pretty good deal and we recommend it the most out of all these options.
The New Feature: Duolingo Max
Duolingo Max is a recent subscription plan that allows AI-powered interactions through two new features. However, the forum was removed, so you can no longer exchange ideas with fellow learners or native speakers directly within Duolingo. You’ll find more on this in our Duolingo test!
For now, Duolingo Max is only available for two languages, Spanish and French. However Duolingo is already working on more options! There are two payment packages: if you pay monthly, you’ll spend nearly $30 for Duolingo Max. With annual billing, it’s about $14 per month—still more than double the cost of Duolingo Super.
Editors note: It took us forever to gather all those prices, as they are nowhere to be found on their website. You have to create an account (or sign into an existing one), and even then you cannot see all available options clearly. As I pay for a Super Family Plan personally, it did not show me any other options in the app – I had to make a new e-mail address and another account to even access those. Very annoying and not user-friendly at all. Do better, Duolingo!
The Free Trial at Duolingo
As shown in the image above, you can try Duolingo Super for 14 days at no charge. However, you have to pick which plan you’d like to continue with once the trial is over, and you also need to enter your payment details upfront.
They won’t charge you until your two-week trial finishes, but be sure to cancel in time if you don’t want your account billed – ideally at least 24 hours before the trial runs out. You can even cancel as soon as you sign up for the trial if you’re worried about forgetting later.
During those two weeks, you can access all the Premium features, and no ads will play.
Possible Payment Methods
Currently, on the Duolingo website, you can only pay with a bank card. Many other providers now give you more payment options. To subscribe, you’ll first register with an email and password, choose the plan you want, and then simply enter your card details.
If you go through the App Store or Play Store, you can also pay with store credit, which you can buy in retail outlets or online. Of course, you can just let the cost be charged to the credit card linked to your app store, if that’s simpler.
Money-Back Guarantee
Duolingo doesn’t directly offer a money-back guarantee at this time. According to their FAQ, you can contact support through your user account and fill out a form if you need a refund. However, they explicitly state that this is only for exceptional cases. Forgetting to cancel on time does not qualify. It’s unclear what they actually consider “exceptional,” but other providers tend to be more generous in this regard, as our price comparison of the top language courses shows.
What Is Actually Still “Free” at Duolingo?
Honestly, there’s nothing truly free at Duolingo anymore. Technically, you can still access the basic learning path without paying for it, but there are quite a few good features missing, as we discuss in detail in our Duolingo test. Here’s the short version:
Most of the features that make Duolingos teaching approach sustainable are locked behind the Premium version- e.g. personalized quiz-lessons, listening practice and correcting mistakes specifically. The free version basically comes down to memorizing sentences and reoccurring exercises. Sometimes, even short example sentences simply don’t make sense for day-to-day use.
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The biggest drawback for many is that you pay for the free version with your time. After each lesson – ususally no more than a few minutes – you have to watch up to 30 seconds of advertising to continue. This makes the free version far from ideal if you want to study for longer sessions.
Furthermore, I find it questionable to confront your brain with ads when it’s focused on learning. In my opinion, that’s a didactic no-go.
Alternatives to Duolingo
Are the ads driving you crazy, or do you find the Duolingo costs simply too high for what you get? We’ve highlighted two excellent alternatives that can easily keep up with Duolingo.
Mosalingua – From Simple Flashcards to Our Favorite App
Mosalingua has truly impressed us over time because no other language course has improved so dramatically. Alongside what might be the best flashcard trainer on the market, it offers plenty of additional features. MosaSeries, for example, helps you sharpen your skills through engaging stories. And hardly any other program integrates artificial intelligence so effectively into the learning process. We really enjoy using this app.
Another big advantage: with Mosalingua, you can learn all the available languages without choosing just one at the start. However, the selection of videos, eBooks, audiobooks, and music does vary slightly depending on the language. Thanks to a free trial option with no time limit, you can explore the app risk-free – no payment details required! Check out our full Mosalingua guide for more details.
Mondly – The Master of Motivation
It’s hard to ignore Mondly if you’re interested in less common languages. With a range of 41 languages, most learners will find what they need. And that’s certainly not the only reason Mondly stands out! During our testing, hardly any other provider managed to keep us as motivated as they did. The overall package is backed by a creative learning approach and high-quality content. Great stuff!
-One small catch: Mondly isn’t free. However, they offer a great deal where you can pay a one-time fee of just $119.99 for lifetime access to all 41 languages. On top of that you get access to the corresponding Mondly Kids app, as well as a virtual reality learning environment. There’s also the option to try some basic lessons for free, no time limit.
– Conclusion: Duolingo Costs in 2025 –
“No ads, always free” – well, not quite anymore, Duolingo. What started as a unique, user-friendly approach has shifted more and more in another direction, with costs rising faster than new learning content is introduced.
So, is Duolingo worth it? Our verdict is similar to what we said in our own test. Duolingo is more of a starting point for beginners than a comprehensive language course. It may suit travelers looking to learn a few key words before a trip and newcomers to built a foundation in their language of choice. However, the sometimes nonsensical content pushes us toward other courses that are more solid from a teaching perspective. In fact, Duolingo only takes a ower position in our top 10 list of the best language-learning apps.
Because of all these factors, we’re a bit skeptical about Duolingo’s current path, especially with the arrival of Duolingo Max and the removal of the forum. From my perspective, they’re heading in the wrong direction, and other providers have overtaken them by offering more content for a lower price. For anyone who simply wants a taste of a new language though, Duolingo can still be a good option. It undeniably has its charm and is one of, if not the most user-friendly course out there.
We want to know your take on this! Do you think Duolingo’s prices are too high? How do you feel about the ads? Have you tried learning with Duolingo yourself? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments – we’d love to hear your perspective!