Memrise vs Duolingo: Which Is Better for Learning and Speaking English?

Memrise vs Duolingo at a glance

Neither app wins on every count. Start from what your English is missing right now: a daily routine, a clear course, the words people actually use, or practice at speaking. Each of those gets its own section below.

How each app teaches

Memrise is a vocabulary app built around native speakers. Its method is “hear it, learn it, copy it”: you meet a word or phrase in a short video of a native speaker, practice remembering it, then repeat it. You pick scenarios, such as ordering at a restaurant, and sessions mix new words, review tests (tapping, typing, multiple choice and listening), videos and conversations. Memrise has separate American and British English courses. A spaced-repetition schedule brings each word back after 4 hours, 12 hours, a day, 6 days and so on up to 6 months; a wrong answer sends it back to the start.

The Videos tab labels each clip by how many of its words you already know, and Memrise’s English page says the clips come from YouTube, TikTok and other sources. If you remember Memrise for its user-made flashcard decks, those community courses left the app on March 31, 2024, and now live on a separate site. The app teaches Memrise’s own courses.

Duolingo is a game you come back to every day. Where Memrise opens with a native speaker on video, Duolingo opens with a short exercise on a path, and streaks, leaderboards and rewards bring you back for the next one. The Duolingo Score, out of 160, tracks how far along the course you are and maps to the CEFR; Duolingo’s score guide puts 30–59 at A2 and 100–129 at B2.

Memrise has streaks too, but no friend features or leaderboards. Both apps can be set to Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and many other languages; Memrise simply follows your phone’s language. If competing with friends gets you to open an app, Duolingo has the edge. If you want to understand people talking at normal speed, Memrise’s videos are the closer match.

English levels and the CEFR

Here the two apps differ most. Duolingo gives its English course a finish line: since April 2026, almost anyone learning English on Duolingo, from whichever language, can study through B2, a Duolingo Score of 129. Until then, most learners could go only as far as A2.

Memrise doesn’t set an end level for English. Its CEFR guide says it organizes content around the framework instead: word lists such as “1000 Most Popular Words” are matched to CEFR levels, and MemBot’s conversations are meant for the unplanned speaking of B1 and above. When you start, you choose a starting point, from “Learn from scratch” to “Improving my skills”, and the English page offers a quick level check from A1 to C2.

The size of Memrise’s English course depends on the language you learn from. Its American English course for Spanish speakers lists more than 600 lessons, 6,000 words and 400 videos; the Japanese and Korean versions list more than 300 lessons, 3,000 words and 200 videos. Each lists more than 75 AI conversations.

Course range describes the material. Finishing the B2 lessons in Duolingo or every scenario in Memrise doesn’t mean you can hold a B2 conversation. To see what a level means for speaking, read our guide to English levels A1–C2; to find your starting point, the free English level test gives a CEFR estimate after 18 questions in your browser.

Speaking and pronunciation practice

Memrise: copy native speakers, then chat with MemBot

Copying a speaker is the third step of the Memrise method: you listen to how a native speaker says the whole phrase, then say it yourself, trying to match the rhythm and stress, and record yourself to compare. From a word’s information screen, Pronunciation Buddy checks how you say a single word. Memrise’s help center says this screen is free, but Pronunciation Buddy isn’t available for every language or word. Memrise’s AI Buddies announcement even leaves it out for people learning English, so look for it in your course before you count on it.

MemBot is the conversation part. In the Conversations tab you pick a chat, a game or a mission, and MemBot plays a role, such as a barista in London or a friend planning a party in Boston. You can type or use the microphone. Memrise says MemBot gives grammar corrections, and suggested replies if you get stuck. You can’t save a conversation to read later, which Memrise says people have asked for.

AI Buddies are a newer set of chatbots: Grammar, Role Play, Translator, Culture and Conjugation Buddies, plus one that helps you use the app. They need Pro, and for English learners, Memrise lists them only when the app is in Spanish, German, French, Brazilian Portuguese or Chinese. Check your app language before you pay for them.

Duolingo: spoken answers in lessons, plus Video Call

Duolingo puts speaking inside the course instead of in a separate chat. Its speaking guide describes exercises from the first lesson where you repeat words, say translations out loud or take part in short dialogues, and many writing exercises accept a spoken answer through the microphone. When you want a whole session of it, the Practice tab has speaking-only sessions, free for all learners. In its Q3 2026 letter, Duolingo says the share of exercises you can answer by speaking has doubled this year.

Video Call is Duolingo’s counterpart to MemBot: a spoken call with an animated character rather than a chat. Lily starts the call, and you can talk about anything. Duolingo’s launch post says she adjusts to your level, doesn’t correct your grammar during the call, and keeps calls to about a minute early in the course and up to three minutes later. For beginners, Falstaff runs guided calls that coach you through useful phrases.

For calls, compare Memrise Pro with Super, not Max. Duolingo’s Q3 2026 shareholder letter of November 3 says new Super subscribers already get unlimited Video Call, all Super subscribers should have it by the end of 2026, and Max stops selling this month, with individual Max subscribers moved to a Super Family plan at the same price. Open your English course and check what your plan includes before you pay for calls.

Duolingo also offers Explain My Answer, a short note on why your answer was right or wrong, free for everyone since January 2026. Whether your English course has it depends on the language you study from, so look for it inside the course.

What you get free

Memrise: its own pages describe the free plan in different ways. Its Spanish, Brazilian and Japanese homepages say the free plan includes every language and vocabulary lesson. Its store listing says free learners get limited vocabulary lessons, limited videos and conversations, and ads, and in the app, scenarios marked with stars open only with Pro. They agree on what Pro adds: unlimited speaking practice and no ads. The listing also warns that features vary with your device language and the language pair you study.

Duolingo: ads and subscriptions pay for the courses, so all of them are free. The catch is a cap on how much you can do in one go. Under the older hearts system you lose a heart for each mistake; under the newer Energy system a battery runs down as you work through lessons, tops up when you answer several questions correctly in a row and refills fully in about a day. In July 2025, Duolingo said only a small number of users had Energy. Today the US App Store listing promises unlimited Energy with Super, while the listings in Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and Korea still promise unlimited hearts. In both cases Super lifts the cap, removes ads, adds a monthly streak repair and starts with a 14-day free trial.

Put simply, Duolingo gives you the whole course for free and limits how much you can practice at a stretch; Memrise gives you part of its words, videos and chats for free and opens the rest with Pro. Our guide to what is free in Duolingo goes through its limits in more detail.

Prices in November 2026

Both apps list several versions of the same plan in the App Store, and the store shows only some of them, sometimes without the billing period. These are the prices the US App Store listings for Memrise and Duolingo showed on November 13, 2026:

Prices in other countries can be different, and so can prices on Memrise’s website. Memrise’s help center describes only monthly, annual and lifetime plans, so the 3-month item (listed at the same $24.99 as the monthly plan) may not appear on your Upgrade screen; check there before you choose. Memrise’s lifetime plan is a single payment with no renewals, and one subscription covers every language on the app and the website. It also has a 30-day money-back guarantee, 14 days for monthly plans; if you bought through the App Store, you ask Apple for the refund. Whichever app you pick, compare today’s charge with the renewal price, and make sure the plan covers the speaking feature you are paying for.

Where you can use them: Memrise runs on iOS, Android and the web, and a subscription bought on the website works in the app, and the other way round, when you sign in with the same account. We found both apps on the App Store and Google Play in all six markets we checked: the US, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and Korea.

Check your speaking level for free

Get the Fluently app and start with the free AI speaking assessment, a short conversation that estimates your CEFR level and scores five speaking skills. After that, games build your vocabulary and pronunciation.

Download on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play

Which should you choose?

• You are starting from zero and want to pay nothing: Duolingo. The full English course and the Practice tab’s speaking sessions cost nothing.
• You know the grammar but not the words people use: Memrise. Native-speaker clips and spaced review build everyday vocabulary; try the free plan first, then decide whether you need all the videos.
• You want a clear level to aim for: Duolingo, with a path up to B2 and a score that maps to the CEFR.
• You want to try new phrases in a chat: compare Memrise Pro, with unlimited speaking practice and MemBot, and Duolingo Super, which is getting unlimited Video Call.
• You want to talk about your own work and life every day: add Fluently to whichever app you keep.

What neither app is built for

Both apps practice speaking around their own material. Memrise builds MemBot’s chats, games and missions on its own scenarios. You can type instead of speaking, and you can’t save a chat to review later. Memrise’s pronunciation practice has you repeat a model phrase. On Duolingo, a call with Lily was designed to run one to three minutes, with no grammar corrections along the way.

Neither gives you a long, open conversation about your own life, such as walking a colleague through a problem, describing your weekend to a friend or rehearsing a phone call that makes you nervous, with feedback on your own sentences that you can use in the next answer. To see whether that gap matters to you, try the self-check below after a week with either app. It is an example task; we did not run it in the apps.

Run the same test on your accent. Learners trip on different sounds depending on their first language: Spanish speakers often merge b and v, Japanese speakers add a vowel after consonants (so stress comes out in four syllables), Brazilians add one at the end of words (“internetchi”), and Korean speakers turn f into p. Record a sentence full of your trouble sound and check whether the app catches it. Drills for each of these sounds are in our English pronunciation practice guide.

Where Fluently fits

Fluently is built for that conversation. You talk with an AI tutor by voice, like on a phone call, about whatever you need: your job, a trip, an opinion. You can describe your own scenario for a role-play, and the tutor plays the other role. For example: “You’re a hotel receptionist. My booking is missing and I need a room tonight. Ask me questions.”

After your turn, a card can show a grammar fix, a more natural way to say your sentence (the way a native speaker would put it) or a better word, and the conversation keeps going. Your scores for pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, grammar and coherence update as you practice. In the settings, you can turn off live captions to practice listening by ear, and change the tutor’s speaking pace.

To see where you stand first, the free English speaking test in the app is a conversation of about four minutes that estimates your CEFR level and gives you an overall score out of 100 and scores for five skills. Keep Memrise or Duolingo for words and grammar, and use Fluently to say things in your own words.

Practice saying it your way

Download Fluently and begin with the free AI speaking assessment to learn your level, then play games that build your vocabulary and pronunciation. Fluently Premium adds conversations with your AI tutor, including role-plays you set up yourself and cards after your turn.

Download on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play