ELSA Speak vs Duolingo

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

1. [R2] ELSA Speak 4/5 · US Good,but not good enough: While voice recognition has improved significantly, it still fails to recognize speech in certain situations. Currently, the biggest problem with the user interface is the virtual character (the tutor) who occupies a third of the screen, which is unreasonable. This is an unnecessary (even useless) feature that only obstructs the view during learning.
2. [R12] ELSA Speak 3/5 · US Horrible update: I’ve been using the app since 2021 and I honestly preferred the earlier user interface that had. the planets. This new 2025 update is distracting and not user friendly. I liked just logging in and seeing my daily lessons rather than this AI tutor asking me what I would like to do for the day . I probably won’t renew my pro subscription.
3. [R61] Duolingo 1/5 · US Random untaught words: Starting off with the app it was absolutely fun and engaging. However, I don’t know if it’s the learning process, but in subsequent lessons I’m asked to translate an English word (to German) when that particular word or words was never reviewed whatsoever. It’s annoying, frustrating, and a major put down because I feel like I missed something when I know I didn’t because I’
4. [R75] Duolingo 3/5 · US Good for vocabulary: The app is decent if your goal is learning random vocabulary words; however, it is not helpful if you want to learn a language with the goal of traveling to another country and being able to converse. Day 200 and I’m not comfortable ordering a meal in a restaurant.
5. [R1] ELSA Speak 2/5 · US Don’t recommend: I am a Lifetime License holder, but now half of the learning interfaces require me to pay extra to unlock them. Gating content behind a new tier after selling a "lifetime" deal is highly unethical. On top of that, the recent app updates completely butchered the UI. The interface and content layout changed drastically and became so complicated and hard to use. They ruined a perfec
6. [R4] ELSA Speak 1/5 · US Unable to unsubscribe from spamming once registered: I’m keep getting spammed by ELSA ever since I’ve created my account. I unsubscribe every single time I get an email. Reached out to support, still getting spammed. Terrible marketing and support. The app wouldn’t be bad otherwise.
7. [R72] Duolingo 3/5 · US Fun App … but: Duolingo makes learning fun, but the app keeps crashing. It crashes in the middle of a lesson, causing you to repeat lessons, which can be very frustrating.
8. [R90] Duolingo 3/5 · US good but annoying: duolingo is very good for repetition of learning i'm taking spanish in school and this helps give me that extra practice. the only thing is i want to just do as many lessons as i want and i keep running out of energy but i don't think paying for and app is necessary so unless you pay for it could be a real pain in the neck
9. [R7] ELSA Speak 2/5 · US Buggy app: The app is so slow, sometimes it glitches. Incorrect score calculation.
10. [R10] ELSA Speak 1/5 · US Disappointing trial experience: I tried to cancel before being charged, but the app warned that canceling would immediately disable the trial features, so I continued the trial. After 7 days I was charged $99.99 without a reminder. I contacted Apple and ELSA immediately, but both refused to help. The app itself may be useful, but the subscription/trial cancellation flow needs to be more transparen
11. [R99] Duolingo 3/5 · US Not what it used to be: I hate the energy system. When my app crashes halfway through a lesson, I lose all the spent energy. Lessons can be fun, but the slow but inevitable increase of ads has been disappointing.
12. [R22] ELSA Speak 1/5 · US Scam, get away: It practically impossible to cancel a subscription. I had to cancel my credit card to get rid of it. Refund, forget about it! They keep renewing even they know you’re not using. No communication, no support, no contact!!!
13. [R68] Duolingo 4/5 · US The family plan is too expensive: It’s really good but the family plan is way to expensive, but without the plan there is so many adds and I keep losing my progress because I run out of energy, also it sometimes makes me lose energy when it got the answer correct
14. [R67] Duolingo 1/5 · US Thanks a lot: Logged on and found out my course was updated it messed up all my progress and added words I didn’t know to my learned words and now I have phrases I don’t know that I have to figure out the hard way thanks so much for another thoughtful Duolingo update that was much needed so smart of the development team
15. [R112] Duolingo 2/5 · US AI Drivel: I hate the way Duolingo is structured. I feel like I don’t really learn anything helpful. They just toss grammar and vocabulary at you in no particular order, with no proper explanations, and hope you figure things out by making mistakes. It is a frustrating way to learn. I dropped off my family plan because my mother upgraded us to Max without consulting the rest of us. It forces
16. [R28] ELSA Speak 1/5 · US Horrible: I got the app and practiced for a bit but then it kept bugging me to buy a membership just to practice more in that one day horrible just horrible