Speak App Review 2026: Price, Features, Pros and Cons, and Who It’s For

Speak at a glance

What Speak is

Speak is a language app built on one idea: you learn to speak by speaking. It is made by Speakeasy Labs in San Francisco. In December 2024 the company raised $78 million at a $1 billion valuation in a round led by Accel, with the OpenAI Startup Fund among its earlier investors, as TechCrunch reported. Speak uses OpenAI’s technology, and its website says the app has been downloaded more than 15 million times.

For most of its history Speak taught one language, English, and it is especially big in Korea and Japan: its Korean App Store listing has 173,851 ratings, against 66,878 in the US. Its help center now lists English courses for speakers of 15 native languages, including Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Vietnamese and Hindi, and courses for English speakers in Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Italian and Chinese. Courses in languages other than English are only open to English speakers.

Course lessons are written by Speak’s learning designers, a team of educators, linguists and translators. Speak says it uses AI to speed up that work, but a person reviews every lesson, and the teachers in its videos are bilingual speakers (how Speak writes its lessons).

How Speak works

Every course lesson follows what Speak calls the Speak Method: Learn, Practice, Apply.

• Learn: a video lesson in which a teacher introduces phrases people use in real situations, and you say them back.
• Practice: speaking drills in which you say the same patterns in new sentences, again and again, until they come out without translating in your head. Speak’s Korean website says learners say more than 100 sentences in 20 minutes.
• Apply: a back-and-forth conversation with the AI, in which you use what you just learned and get feedback.

AI conversations: Free Talk, Speak Tutor and AI Tutor Call

Free Talk is where the open role-plays are. Since Speak’s winter 2025 update, role-plays are audio-first in the new Immersive mode: you talk with an animated character in a scene, can cut in at any time, and get hints and corrections along the way. The older turn-based Chat mode is still there, and you can type instead of speaking when you can’t talk out loud. In “Create your own,” you describe a scenario and pick a character, and Speak builds the scene (Free Talk help page).

Speak Tutor is a chat you can ask about grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation, and it can build a speaking lesson on any topic you name. Made For You lessons are generated from the mistakes you make in lessons and role-plays (Speak Tutor help page).

AI Tutor Call, launched on October 20, 2026, is the newest part: a voice call with no topic list. According to Speak’s announcement, the tutor remembers what you talked about before, gives feedback during and after the call, turns repeated mistakes into practice lessons and works hands-free; you can ask for help in your native language. Sessions last eight to ten minutes on average. It is available to Premium Plus learners of English and Spanish, and Premium learners can try one call.

Speak is also testing lessons led by a live AI tutor. In September 2026 it announced Live Tutor Lessons built on OpenAI’s GPT-Live-1, starting with a limited rollout for English and Spanish learners.

Pronunciation feedback

Speak listens to what you say in lessons and gives feedback on your pronunciation and phrasing, according to the FAQ on its website. English learners also get Pronunciation Coach, which is in both plans; Speak’s plan comparison says it is only for people learning English.

Speak has also written about why speech recognition is hard to get right for learners. In a May 2026 post, a Speak engineer explains that most speech recognition is built to recover what you meant, so a learner who says “she coming” gets “she is coming” back and the mistake disappears. Speak argues that feedback should come from a transcript that keeps those errors.

Review and habit tools

Smart Review brings back phrases you have learned. Hands-Free mode moves through drills and conversations without you tapping the screen, and “I can’t speak” mode lets Speak’s model voice speak for you in Today’s Lesson when you are somewhere quiet. There are streaks, leagues and a Speak Level that shows your speaking level and progress. Speak said in December 2025 that Speak Level would start with English learners in Korea, Japan and Taiwan and reach all users in 2026.

Speak price in 2026

Speak has no free plan. The FAQ on speak.com says the 7-day free trial is followed by a paid subscription, that prices vary by plan, region and promotion, and that “the most accurate pricing is always within the app.” The App Store lists several versions of each plan. These are the prices the US App Store showed on November 13, 2026:

Paid yearly, Premium at $83.99 works out to about $7 a month, and Premium Plus at $164.99 to about $13.75. Prices in other countries differ, and prices on Speak’s website may too, so check the amount on the payment screen before you start the trial.

Premium vs Premium Plus

Sources: Speak’s plan comparison and its AI Tutor Call announcement.

How the free trial works

You start the trial in the app (Profile, Settings, Manage Membership), choose a plan and add a payment method; you are not charged at that step. If you don’t cancel at least one day before the 7 days end, the plan you chose is charged automatically (free trial help page). The plan you pick matters: the trial gives you that plan’s features, so a Premium trial doesn’t show you Premium Plus.

See your speaking level for free

Get the Fluently app and take the free AI speaking assessment: a short conversation that estimates your CEFR level and scores five speaking skills. Then practice with games that build your vocabulary and pronunciation.

Download on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play

Pros

• You speak a lot. Lessons are built so that you say each phrase out loud many times, first in drills and then in conversation. A US App Store review from June 2025 describes it as “one type of exercise, speaking, with a lot of repetition and small variations.”
• A course and open conversation in one app. You get a lesson path written by people, plus role-plays and calls where you choose the topic. A US review from November 2025 calls Free Talk and creating your own lessons “probably the most helpful tool.”
• Practice without looking at the screen. Hands-Free mode and the hands-free AI Tutor Call make it easier to practice on a commute or while cooking, and you can type in Free Talk when you can’t talk out loud.
• Popular and well rated. 4.8 on the US and Korean App Stores, 4.8 on Google Play in the US and more than 10 million Google Play downloads.
• Fast development. In the past year Speak added audio-first role-plays, Speak Level, Live Tutor Lessons (limited rollout) and AI Tutor Call.

Cons

• No free plan. After 7 days you pay or stop. The trial needs a payment method and renews automatically.
• The newest features cost extra. On the US App Store, Premium Plus costs more than twice as much per month as the cheapest Premium ($39.99 against $17.99), and that is where unlimited personalized lessons and AI Tutor Call are.
• Prices are hard to compare. The US App Store lists ten in-app purchases, with prices from $17.99 to $164.99, and Speak points you to the app for the accurate price.
• Speech recognition doesn’t always hear you right. This was the complaint we saw most often in the reviews the six App Stores show first. A 4-star US review from December 2025 says voice recognition sometimes “isn’t the best,” though the reviewer adds it could be their own pronunciation; Korean reviews from February 2026 describe correct words not being recognized; and a Brazilian English teacher wrote in February 2025 that the app accepted words he mispronounced on purpose. Speak keeps a help page for voice recognition problems.
• Phone and tablet only. Speak’s help center says the app is not available on desktop computers; one account works on up to three phones or tablets.
• Refunds are limited. App Store refunds go through Apple. For Google Play and web purchases, Speak’s refund policy says payments are generally non-refundable unless the law requires otherwise, with requests reviewed case by case.
• Your recordings go through AI providers. Like other AI speaking apps, Speak processes your voice with outside services: its privacy notice says it uses your recordings to run lessons and to improve its speech recognition, and lists OpenAI and Microsoft among the companies that receive audio. Read it before you start if that matters to you.
• Not exam prep. Speak has no tie-in with standardized tests; its CEO told TechCrunch in 2024 that Speak is “explicitly trying not to be a test prep solution.”

What store reviews say

Ratings are high in every store we checked, and lowest in Japan:

The written reviews that each store shows first repeat a few themes. Reviewers praise how much they get to speak, the role-plays and the lessons built around their own topics. They complain about speech recognition, the paywall and the price, and in Korea about a change to Smart Review: several Korean reviews from September to November 2025 say phrases are now marked as learned too early and come back for review only a year later. Speak’s own website shows a selection of five-star reviews; read those as marketing.

Who Speak is for

• Good fit: you have studied the language for years, understand much more than you can say, and freeze when it is your turn to talk.
• Good fit: you want someone else to plan the lessons, with a video teacher, drills and a clear path, plus room for open conversation.
• Good fit: you practice in short sessions on your phone, often away from a desk.
• Not a good fit: you need a free option, want to study on a computer, want a human teacher, or are preparing for an exam or a certificate.
• Think twice: your accent often trips up voice assistants. Use the trial to check whether Speak’s recognition handles your speech before you pay for a year.

How to test Speak in the 7-day trial

A week is enough to see whether Speak works for you if you use it on purpose. Here is a plan. It is an example, not a test we ran.

For days two and three, pick the sounds your first language makes hard. Spanish speakers often say b and v the same way and add an e before s (“estop”); Brazilians add a vowel at the end of words (“internetchi”); Japanese speakers put vowels after consonants (stress in four syllables); and Korean speakers often turn f into p. Say a sentence with your sound, such as “I have a very busy schedule this week,” and see whether Speak catches it. Our English pronunciation practice guide has drills for each.

Alternatives to Speak

The right alternative depends on what Speak didn’t give you.

Fluently: conversations about your own life and work

Fluently is built around 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 my manager. I need to explain why the report will be two days late. Ask me follow-up 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. Fluently’s AI tutor also teaches languages other than English; if you are learning Spanish, see the Spanish tutor page.

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.

Fluently is free to start. Take a free AI speaking assessment to see your level, then practice with games that build your vocabulary and pronunciation. Conversations with your AI tutor come with Fluently Premium.

ELSA Speak: pronunciation first

Despite the similar name, ELSA Speak comes from a different company, ELSA Corp. Its App Store listing describes pronunciation, accent and grammar coaching, a Speech Analyzer for free speaking and role-plays for interviews and meetings. Consider it if people often ask you to repeat yourself. Our Fluently vs ELSA Speak comparison goes into detail.

Duolingo: a free daily habit

Duolingo says all of its courses are free, paid for by ads and subscriptions. It is built around short game-like exercises and streaks, so it suits vocabulary and a daily habit better than long conversation. See what is free in Duolingo and how it compares with Busuu.

A human tutor

If you want a person to judge your speaking, plan lessons around your goals or prepare you for an exam, book a tutor. Our guide to online English lessons compares the main services by price, lesson length and trial.

For more options, see our lists of the best AI apps to learn English and the best apps for speaking practice.

Say it out loud, in your own words

Get the Fluently app, take the free AI speaking assessment to see your level, then practice with games that build your vocabulary and pronunciation. Conversations with your AI tutor, where you can role-play your own scenarios and get cards after your turn, come with Fluently Premium.

Download on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play