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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Duolingo vs Praktika

Duolingo 4.7★ · Free + IAP 75
Winner Duolingo
Praktika 4.8★ · Free + IAP 60

Duolingo is better for beginners and those seeking a gamified, structured learning path, while Praktika is better for intermediate to advanced learners focused on conversational fluency with AI tutors, despite its significant customer service and billing issues.

Full reviews: Duolingo · Praktika

Duolingo offers a broad range of languages and subjects with a gamified approach, making it engaging for many, but faces criticism for its rapid progression and intrusive monetization. Praktika focuses on AI-driven conversational practice, which users find effective for fluency, but it struggles with technical glitches, poor customer support, and misleading billing practices.

Head to head

Features and Content edge: DuolingoR5R6R7R11
Duolingo Duolingo offers a wide variety of languages, plus other subjects like math, piano, and chess, which users find fun and engaging R5R11. However, some users feel the content advances too quickly without enough repetition R6, and recent updates have been criticized for changing courses and deleting progress R7.
Praktika Praktika focuses on AI-driven conversational practice, which many users find effective for improving speaking and diction R89R98R116. However, the app has a more limited selection of languages , and some users report issues with AI pronunciation, speed, and accent consistency .
Ease of Use and User Experience edge: DuolingoR3R12R15R16
Duolingo Duolingo is generally considered user-friendly and fun, with a gamified approach that includes streaks and rewards . However, many users find the app's monetization strategies, like the 'energy' system and constant ads, disruptive and frustrating, making it difficult to learn without a subscription R12R15. Some also dislike the excessive tapping and 'childlike' game elements R3R16.
Praktika Praktika's conversational interface is appreciated for its immersive nature R98. However, users frequently report technical issues like lost progress R109, difficulty signing in R109, and problems with the app not syncing . The requirement to press and hold a button to speak is also seen as frustrating and not truly hands-free .
Reliability and Performance edge: DuolingoR1R4R7R9
Duolingo Duolingo users report issues with voice recognition R4R9, deleted progress after updates R7, and problems with subscription management, including being charged unexpectedly R1R45. Some also note that the app's AI can provide incorrect translations .
Praktika Praktika suffers from significant reliability issues, including lost progress R109, inability to sign in or access accounts after payment R109R115, and technical glitches where the app teaches the wrong language . The AI itself is sometimes described as robotic or unnatural .
Price and Value edge: DuolingoR12R38R40R46
Duolingo Duolingo offers a free tier, but many users feel it's 'unplayable' without a paid subscription due to ads and the 'energy' system R12R38R40R46. The annual subscription is around $100-120 R38R40. Some users feel the paid version still has too many ads R12.
Praktika Praktika is advertised as having a free trial, but many users report being charged for an annual subscription (over $100) without notification or consent, leading to accusations of 'subscription scam' and 'theft' R61R90R106. The cost for AI avatars is also a point of contention .
Customer Support edge: DuolingoR1R45R82R88
Duolingo Duolingo's customer service is criticized for being unhelpful, especially regarding billing discrepancies and subscription issues R1R45.
Praktika Praktika's customer support is widely described as 'abysmal' and 'non-existent' R82R109. Users report being unable to get refunds for unauthorized charges R88, and support often consists of AI chatbots that don't resolve issues or provide contact with real agents R82R115.
Pick Duolingo if

you want a gamified, structured learning experience with a wide range of languages and subjects, and are willing to tolerate some ads or pay for a subscription to avoid them R5. It's also a better choice if you are a beginner looking for a fun introduction to a language .

Pick Praktika if

you are an intermediate to advanced learner primarily focused on improving conversational fluency through AI interaction R98R116. You should also be prepared to deal with potential technical glitches and poor customer support R82R109.

Evidence note: Praktika's reviews are heavily skewed by negative experiences with billing and customer support, which impacts its overall perception despite some positive feedback on its core conversational feature. Duolingo's negative reviews are more diverse, covering feature design, monetization, and technical glitches.

Frequently asked

Is Duolingo truly free?
Duolingo offers a free tier, but many users find it significantly limited by ads and an 'energy' system that restricts lesson completion, making a paid 'Super Duolingo' subscription, which costs over $100 annually, almost necessary for uninterrupted learning R12R38R40R46.
Does Praktika offer a free trial?
Praktika offers a free trial, but numerous users report being charged for a full annual subscription (over $100) without prior notification or consent after the trial ends, and then facing difficulties getting refunds from customer support R61R90R106R108.
Which app is better for conversational practice?
Praktika is generally considered better for conversational practice due to its AI-driven tutors that require users to respond in complete sentences and offer corrections, which helps with speaking and diction R89R98R116.
Do these apps have good customer support?
Neither app receives high marks for customer support; Duolingo is criticized for being unhelpful with billing issues R1, while Praktika's support is frequently described as 'abysmal' and non-existent, often relying on unhelpful AI chatbots R82R109R115.

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. [R5] Duolingo 5/5 · US Probably the best: Look at the title just learn chess or Spanish , french, Chinese and Japanese and all of the things .That owl does not understand how to be passionate he be yelling at you. I still love it you can have friends and family. You can’t have Infnady charge so sorry but you can with super Duolingo and the super super stuff is definitely Duolingo. You can get it free on the App Store.
  2. [R6] Duolingo 3/5 · US Advances Too Fast: I have been using the app for over two years. Honestly, I have learned some Spanish for sure. However while I can understand some written Spanish here and there and a bit of conversational, I am far from being able to converse in Spanish. For me the big major issue is the app puts an emphasis on advancing you with words and grammar too quickly rather than reinforcing what on
  3. [R7] Duolingo 1/5 · US deleted progress: my app updated automatically and deleted so much of my progress (said i hadn't done 15 units legendary) and made me use a streak freeze even tho i did my lesson to continue my streak yesterday. this is probably the third or fourth time this app has done this, and it is so frustrating to have to redo a ton of stuff because the app can't ever work normally. ever since they started
  4. [R11] Duolingo 4/5 · US Duo: Hello,Duo is fun with learning,chess,and more.But when u try to delete it says “Deleting Duo,you can’t hide from Duo”.😬😬😬
  5. [R3] Duolingo 3/5 · US So much tapping: The amount of tapping on this app after a lesson is so annoying.
  6. [R12] Duolingo 3/5 · US Learning part is good BUT: The learning part of the program is good but even paying for this app, be prepared for CONSTANT annoying ads. Paying for an app used to mean not being constant pestered by ads. We’re looking for an alternative so we can cancel Duolingo. In addition, the insanely loud ding when you get the correct answers make it impossible to do it without disturbing everyone around - i
  7. [R15] Duolingo 3/5 · US Energy is bad: Energy is annoying because you only have 25 chances to answer questions. Even if you do all perfect lessons.
  8. [R16] Duolingo 2/5 · US For children: I dislike all the chimes and prizes. This app is designed for kids, not adults.
  9. [R1] Duolingo 1/5 · US Bad Integration w/ App Store and horrible customer service: The app pushes “super” which is fine. It works well enough to teach you a sufficient amount of a language to get around. However, when the trial ended I got billed for the family plan yearly but the app never updated and would only show that I had an individual plan. Sent screenshots to customer service showing the discrepancy and was
  10. [R4] Duolingo 1/5 · US App doesn’t listen well: I will say the word and the app gives me a blue word saying it right. Then I say the next word and it removes the word before it. Very frustrating. I might quit this app for another method
  11. [R9] Duolingo 3/5 · US Bad Spelling detection: Need to improve the spelling detection, I said the same thing yet the app got it wrong
  12. [R38] Duolingo 4/5 · US subscription: Duolingo is great. It really does help me understand multiple languages at once. The only problem I have with this is I don’t wanna spend $119 a year on a subscription for this. I don’t have money like that to be throwing around and it’s basically un playable without the subscription
  13. [R40] Duolingo 2/5 · US Please fix: It's a good app; It's very fun and addictive. I love that there's a Klingon course. It's almost like it knows exactly how and what I need to learn. BUT at this point it's BEGGING for money. It's OVER 100 DOLLARS per year for super Duolingo. And the battery thing? No. I literally cannot do two lessons for free. I get triple XP boosts and I can't use them because I have no battery. A
  14. [R46] Duolingo 1/5 · US Energy: The new energy update is absolutely terrible! The whole app is about learning a language but once you run out of the energy you have to quit the lesson and watch an ad if you don’t have gems. And watching the ad only gives you 5 energy?! A whole lesson takes like 15, hello??? I can’t even complete a lesson anymore bro. Bring back the hearts cmon.
  15. [R45] Duolingo 3/5 · US Didn’t notify when free trial was over!: I love using Duolingo and wanted to try the super plan. When I signed up, I selected the option to be notified before they charged for the subscription so that I could cancel it if I wanted to. However, they did not notify me and automatically charged for the annual subscription anyways.
  16. [R82] Praktika 1/5 · US Customer Support is abysmal: I paid for this service through an instagram ad. They took my payment and while setting up the account the process crashed and gave me a reference code to contact support. Support is an ai chatbot that gives me the same prompts, when I asked for a real person it says they referred it to an agent but I have had /no contact in almost two weeks. I asked for a refund and
  17. [R88] Praktika 1/5 · US False presentation: They using nice advertisement but real tutor is like from 90-s. I requested refund in January. It is End of June. Refund never arrived. They say it was sent to me through Link. I raised a ticked with Link, attaching transaction info and Link reply that it was never in their system. Fraud Praktika? Not trustworthy team works in Praktika for sure. I have to raise a ticket with A
  18. [R61] Praktika 1/5 · US Jahaan: I purchased this app answered about 50 questions when I got to the end it tried to charge me again
  19. [R90] Praktika 3/5 · US Good but a couple concerns: When I double clicked for the free trial I got a charge notification for $21?? And please change the app icon💀💀💀 most of these AI apps are already freaked out and I don’t wanna have to explain myself to other that this is just a language app😭🙏🏾
  20. [R106] Praktika 1/5 · US Subscription scam: Tried the free trial but they charged me for a full annual subscription.
  21. [R108] Praktika 3/5 · US Misleading trial fee: Beware- I was told upon signing up for the trial, that they would notify me before charging the full subscription fee. I was a day late cancelling because I never received notification, and they refused to issue a refund.
  22. [R89] Praktika 5/5 · US Accurate: Praktika helping me a lot, and teaching me to speak well and the proper diction of each word.
  23. [R98] Praktika 5/5 · US Great for actually learning to be fluent: Im mostly fluent in Spanish, but wanted to perfect it. So many other apps just teach words, as where this app requires you to respond in complete sentences. I have my tutor set on strict, but you can choose whether you want it to be more laid back, or more in the middle. It’s better to be strict so they correct you and not let anything slide. You can adjus
  24. [R116] Praktika 5/5 · US incredible app - please add chinese soon!: this app is incredible - love how you can practice speaking in natural conversations and get corrected when you say something incorrectly or can say it better. The ability to translate words and phrases within context is also super helpful. please add chinese soon!
  25. [R109] Praktika 1/5 · US No login recovery options, support is non-existent, and the app looses progress: Title is an accurate summary
  26. [R115] Praktika 1/5 · US Can’t access: Paid for the app, can’t access, reported it, they say it’s expedited, haven’t heard fro anyone except ai.

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store