Duolingo Review
The habit machine
The best place to start and the worst place to finish. Use it to build a daily habit and a first thousand words, then graduate to something with real conversation.
Where Duolingo shines
- Free tier is genuinely usable — no other app comes close
- Streaks and daily goals build the habit that actually drives progress
- Max adds AI roleplay and per-answer explanations
- Huge course library, including several less-common languages
- Weak above intermediate — courses thin out fast at B2+
- Sentences can be artificial and rarely teach connected speech
- Grammar is inferred rather than taught unless you pay for Max
- Gamification can turn into streak-keeping rather than learning
Duolingo's real product is not the lessons, it is the habit. The streak, the daily goal, and the notifications do more for the average learner than a better-designed curriculum they abandon in week two. For an absolute beginner, that is worth a great deal, and the free tier means there is no reason not to try it.
The AI layer changed what the app can do. Duolingo Max introduces Video Call with Lily — an AI character you speak to in the target language — plus 'Explain My Answer', which tells you why the sentence you wrote was wrong instead of just marking it red. That closes the app's oldest weakness: it used to correct without ever teaching.
Where it still falls down is the ceiling. Courses beyond Spanish, French and German thin out quickly, and even the strong courses stop being challenging somewhere around B1. If your goal is exams or professional fluency, treat Duolingo as the on-ramp rather than the road.
Version reviewed: 6.90.3 · July 31, 2026
Screenshots below were captured by our automated test rig on a real Android phone (Moto G Power 2021, Android 11) on a fresh free account — no card, no trial.
The path: a course disguised as a game board
This is the same moment in the journey as Babbel's course catalog — a brand-new account, first unit, learning Vietnamese — rendered completely differently: a winding path of nodes, a treasure chest, a mascot, and four counters across the top (streak, flame, gems, energy). Nothing here asked for money or a card. Duolingo's free tier is the real thing, and that alone separates it from half this list.
The word bank: friendly, fast, and a little too easy
The core exercise: a character speaks the Vietnamese sentence ('Chào, tôi là người Anh') and you assemble the English from word chips. New words come highlighted and pre-taught. It's pleasant and quick — and because the chips only fit together so many ways, you can often solve the puzzle without really knowing the sentence. That's the standing criticism of Duolingo's method, visible in its very first lesson.
Listening exercises, and the energy meter
Listening drills play a Vietnamese phrase and ask what you heard — with an honest 'CAN'T LISTEN NOW' button that swaps them out when you're somewhere loud. Now look at the top right: 25 energy. Every exercise spends energy, and correct answers earn some back. Run dry and you wait — or spend gems, or subscribe. This is the free tier's real meter: generous at first, designed to make you feel the ceiling later.
The Duolingo Score tracks real progress
Finish a lesson and Duo celebrates, then unlocks your 'Vietnamese Score' — a number that grows as your skills do, with milestones tied to abilities like 'Introduce yourself' at 10 and 'Order food at a restaurant' at 30. Under the confetti, this maps roughly onto real proficiency levels, and it's a better progress signal than XP, which mostly measures time spent tapping.
And then there's the slot machine
After the lesson, before you're allowed back to the path: a reward chest with a rarity label and a 'tap for a chance to upgrade!' prompt — ours went from COMMON to RARE, sparkles included. This is game-industry loot-box design, transplanted whole into a language course. It works — Duolingo's retention is legendary — but you should recognize what's holding your attention: it isn't always the Vietnamese.
The catch: the free tier runs on your attention
The chest paid out 55 gems, one of three currencies you'll accumulate (with XP and energy). None of this money-machinery costs money — in our whole session we hit no paywall, no card request, not even an ad. But the engagement engineering is the price: streaks that guilt you back, chests that variable-reward you, energy that meters your pace. Free, genuinely. Just know what it's optimized for.
Is Duolingo enough to become fluent?
No. It reliably takes a beginner to a solid A2/B1, but fluency requires conversation practice and input the app does not provide.
Is Duolingo Max worth it?
If you use the AI video call and explanations regularly, yes. If you only do the standard lessons, Super is enough.
How many languages does Duolingo teach?
Over 40 courses for English speakers, though quality varies enormously between the flagship and smaller courses.
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