Best app to learn English 8 English apps compared by goal
For a free English course, start with Busuu: the whole course runs from A1 to C1, and native speakers correct your exercises. Pick Lingoda for live classes with a teacher and Duolingo for a free daily routine plus its own English test. Mondly lets you choose American or British English, Memrise has IELTS practice tests, and Tandem puts you in touch with native speakers.
8 English apps at a glance
| Name | Best for | Price | Free plan | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Busuu | A free full course up to C1 | Free; Premium €57.99/yr, Premium Plus €69.90/yr | Yes: the complete English course and community corrections, with an ad before each lesson | 4.7 on the App Store (101.1K) |
| Lingoda | Live classes with a teacher up to C1 | Group from €54.99 per 4 weeks for 5 classes; 12 classes €109.99 or $129.99 | No, 7-day trial with 3 group classes or 1 private class | 4.8 on the App Store (177) |
| Babbel | Grammar explained in your own language | From €8.99/mo on the 12-month plan; Lifetime €299.99 | Partly: the first lesson of every course | 4.7 on the App Store (755.2K) |
| Duolingo | A free daily routine up to B2 | Free; Super from $83.99/yr in the US App Store | Yes: the complete English course with ads and limited energy | — |
| Mondly | Choosing American or British English | $15.90/mo or $74.90/yr (US App Store) | Partly: Daily Lessons, the Hello category and one chatbot lesson; 7-day trial | 4.7 on the App Store (33.2K) |
| Memrise | IELTS practice and native-speaker videos | Free; Pro US $61.99/yr, EU €69.99/yr | Partly: limited lessons and videos, one speaking session a day, with ads | 4.8 on the App Store (217.2K) |
| Tandem | Chatting with native English speakers | Free; Pro $69.99/yr (US App Store) | Yes: partner search, chats, voice notes and corrections, with ads | 4.6 on the App Store (38.3K) |
| Lingvist | Building vocabulary from frequent words | €9.99/mo or €79.99/yr; US App Store $9.99 and $79.99 | No, 14-day trial on the yearly plan | 4.6 on the App Store (3.7K) |
- A free full course up to C1
Busuu
🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom · founded 2008Busuu’s English course covers five CEFR levels, from A1 to C1. You send written and spoken answers to the community, and native English speakers correct them. The free account opens the complete course with a short ad before each lesson.
Pros
- Premium gives a certificate for each English level from A1 to C1
- The app runs in 15 languages, Spanish and Portuguese among them
- Premium Plus adds AI role-play conversations in English
Cons
- Busuu certificates do not replace IELTS, TOEFL or Cambridge results
- Busuu does not say whether the course follows American or British English
- Price
- Free; Premium €57.99/yr, Premium Plus €69.90/yr
- Free plan
- Yes: the complete English course and community corrections, with an ad before each lesson
- Rating
- 4.7 on the App Store (101.1K)
- Live classes with a teacher up to C1
Lingoda
🇩🇪 Berlin, Germany · founded 2012Lingoda is an online school from Berlin. Teachers run 60-minute English classes on Zoom around the clock, in groups of 3 to 5 or one to one. The course goes from A1 to C1 and covers several varieties, from Americanisms to British and New Zealand slang.
Pros
- English costs less than other Lingoda languages: 12 German classes cost €159.99
- A separate Business English course up to B2
- Sprint: 30 classes for €310, with 50% back if you attend every class
Cons
- No free plan, and plans renew every four weeks
- We found no IELTS, TOEFL or Cambridge course on Lingoda’s pages
- Price
- Group from €54.99 per 4 weeks for 5 classes; 12 classes €109.99 or $129.99
- Free plan
- No, 7-day trial with 3 group classes or 1 private class
- Rating
- 4.8 on the App Store (177)
- Grammar explained in your own language
Babbel
🇩🇪 Berlin, Germany · founded 2007Babbel builds its English course for speakers of eight languages: Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Swedish and Ukrainian. You switch the app to one of them, and the grammar notes and instructions come in that language. Lessons take about 15 minutes and check pronunciation with speech recognition.
Pros
- Grammar notes in Spanish, Portuguese and six other languages
- Talking on the Job, a free English podcast for B1 to C1
- Lifetime access for €299.99 once
Cons
- The English course stays hidden while the app runs in English
- Babbel’s help center gives no CEFR level for English, only “beginner to advanced”
- Price
- From €8.99/mo on the 12-month plan; Lifetime €299.99
- Free plan
- Partly: the first lesson of every course
- Rating
- 4.7 on the App Store (755.2K)
- A free daily routine up to B2
Duolingo
🇺🇸 United StatesDuolingo is a US app. Its English course is free in short game-like lessons, and since April 2026 it teaches content up to B2. The same company runs the Duolingo English Test, an online exam that more than 6,500 institutions accept.
Pros
- The whole English course is free
- A free practice test for the Duolingo English Test
- The app runs in more than 30 languages
Cons
- No human teachers
- English content stops at B2
- Price
- Free; Super from $83.99/yr in the US App Store
- Free plan
- Yes: the complete English course with ads and limited energy
- Choosing American or British English
Mondly
🇷🇴 Brașov, Romania · founded 2013Mondly sells American English and British English as two separate courses, both from A1 to B2. You can learn either one from your native language, among 1,320 language pairs. The company comes from Brașov, Romania, and Pearson has owned it since 2022.
Pros
- Lessons follow Pearson’s Global Scale of English
- English progress tests with Pearson content
- A chatbot with speech recognition for practice talks
Cons
- English stops at B2
- The trial bills automatically, and many complaints are about these charges
- Price
- $15.90/mo or $74.90/yr (US App Store)
- Free plan
- Partly: Daily Lessons, the Hello category and one chatbot lesson; 7-day trial
- Rating
- 4.7 on the App Store (33.2K)
- IELTS practice and native-speaker videos
Memrise
🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom · founded 2010Memrise’s English course has 70+ lessons and 8,000+ words, each said by a native speaker on video. MemBot, an AI partner, runs more than 75 conversations in English. Memrise also offers IELTS practice tests in reading, writing, listening and speaking, scored by an AI examiner.
Pros
- IELTS practice tests with feedback on all four skills
- The app runs in 21 languages, Spanish and Portuguese among them
Cons
- Free plan has daily limits
- Focus on words and phrases, less on grammar
- Price
- Free; Pro US $61.99/yr, EU €69.99/yr
- Free plan
- Partly: limited lessons and videos, one speaking session a day, with ads
- Rating
- 4.8 on the App Store (217.2K)
- Chatting with native English speakers
Tandem
🇩🇪 Berlin, Germany · founded 2015Tandem pairs you with an English speaker who wants to learn your language, for example Spanish or Portuguese. You chat, send voice notes and correct each other’s messages. The app also has its own 45-minute English test at A2, B1, B2 or C1 with a certificate.
Pros
- Real conversations with native speakers
- Search partners in the US, the UK or nearby
Cons
- New members need Pro for audio and video calls
- No course, and the Tandem certificate is not an official exam
- Price
- Free; Pro $69.99/yr (US App Store)
- Free plan
- Yes: partner search, chats, voice notes and corrections, with ads
- Rating
- 4.6 on the App Store (38.3K)
- Building vocabulary from frequent words
Lingvist
🇪🇪 Tallinn, Estonia · founded 2013Lingvist ranks English words by how often they appear in subtitles, articles and other texts and teaches the most common ones first. Each card shows a real sentence with one word missing. Custom Decks turn any text, such as a work document, into a word list.
Pros
- A free level test places you at the right vocabulary level
- No ads
Cons
- No free plan
- Grammar comes only as notes on cards
- Price
- €9.99/mo or €79.99/yr; US App Store $9.99 and $79.99
- Free plan
- No, 14-day trial on the yearly plan
- Rating
- 4.6 on the App Store (3.7K)
How to choose an English app, by goal
For a full course with levels, Busuu goes up to C1, and Duolingo and Mondly reach B2. Busuu and Duolingo open the whole English course for free. If you want rules explained in Spanish, Portuguese or another native language, Babbel builds its course for eight of them.
For speaking, Lingoda puts you in a live class with a teacher, and Tandem connects you with native speakers. Busuu Premium Plus and Memrise MemBot run AI conversations when no partner is free.
For accent, Mondly is the only app here with separate American and British English courses. Lingoda’s course covers several varieties, from Americanisms to British slang. For vocabulary, Memrise plays every word in a native-speaker video, and Lingvist starts with the most frequent words.
Free vs paid English apps
Two apps give a complete English course for nothing: Busuu up to C1 and Duolingo up to B2, both with ads. Tandem is free for chats with native speakers. Babbel, Mondly and Memrise give only a part of the course for free, and Lingvist and Lingoda have no free plan.
Paid plans add things the free tiers lack: certificates on Busuu, AI conversations on Busuu and Duolingo, calls on Tandem and live teachers on Lingoda. In the US App Store a year of Memrise Pro costs $61.99 and Tandem Pro $69.99. Babbel’s 12-month plan costs €107.88. Lingoda costs more because a teacher runs every class: €54.99 for 5 group classes every four weeks.
Apps and English exams: IELTS, TOEFL, Cambridge
Memrise is the only app on this list that offers IELTS practice tests, with a score and feedback from an AI examiner. We found no dedicated TOEFL or Cambridge English course on the official pages of the eight apps.
The Duolingo English Test is an exam in its own right. It takes about one hour at home, results arrive in about 2 days, more than 6,500 institutions accept it, and results stay valid for two years. A practice test is free.
Busuu, Lingoda and Tandem give their own CEFR certificates, and Mondly runs English progress tests with Pearson content. They help you see your level before you book an exam, but universities and visa offices ask for official test results.
How we picked
Seven apps come from companies founded in Europe. Duolingo is a US product, and we added it as a reference point because so many English learners start there. For each app we checked the highest CEFR level of its English course, the languages you can learn from, American or British English, exam features and prices on official pages and the App Store in October 2026, and the profiles in this catalog. Some European apps now have owners outside the EU: Chegg (US) owns Busuu, and Pearson (UK) owns Mondly.
More on the EdTech map
Comparisons
- Busuu vs Duolingo
- Babbel vs Busuu
- Babbel vs Duolingo
- Babbel vs Rosetta Stone
- Babbel vs Pimsleur
- Mondly vs Duolingo
- Memrise vs Duolingo
- Tandem vs HelloTalk
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Categories
Sources, checked on 7 October 2026
- Busuu: how our courses work
- Busuu Premium plans
- Busuu help center: certificates
- Busuu on the US App Store
- Lingoda English course
- Lingoda pricing, English
- Lingoda Business English
- Babbel help center: available languages
- Babbel: aprender inglés
- babbel.com/prices
- Duolingo blog: courses up to B2
- Duolingo App Store lookup, US
- Duolingo English Test
- Duolingo English Test help center
- Mondly: learn English
- Mondly methodology
- Mondly on the US App Store
- Memrise English course
- Memrise about: exam preparation
- Memrise plans
- Tandem Certificates
- Tandem on the US App Store
- lingvist.com/pricing
Best app to learn English: FAQ
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