Eleven honest head-to-heads. Every price read off the US App Store on the same day, every platform labelled, and on every page a section listing what the other app does better than we do.
Prices verified 30 July 2026 · US iOS App StoreA course gets you your first few hundred words. Nothing on this list except us puts you in an open-ended conversation with someone who will not wait for you — and that is the part that takes years.
| App | Monthly | Annual | Free tier | Open-ended live voice |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saygood | $29.99 | $199.99 (~$17/mo) | 10 minutes of calling, total | ✓ |
| Duolingo | Super $9.99–$12.99 · Max not published | Super $83.99–$119.99 | Whole course, with ads and an energy limit | ~Max tier · 2–6 min |
| Speak | Premium $17.99 · Plus $39.99 | Premium $83.99 · Plus $164.99 | Limited trial of the course | ~around set objectives |
| TalkPal | $19.99 (iOS; web is lower) | $119.99 (iOS) | 10 minutes per day, recurring | ✓ |
| Babbel | $17.99 | $89.99 one language · $107.99 all | First lesson of each course | ✗ |
| Langua | Communicate $19.99 · Unlimited $29.99 | Communicate $149.99 · Unlimited $199.99 | 3 minutes a day, plus ~20 messages a week | ✓ |
| Praktika | $9.99 — cheapest here | $49.99 / $119.99 / $139.99, all listed at once | Limited trial | ✓ |
| HelloTalk | VIP $12.99 | VIP $79.99 | The core product is free | ✓with real people |
| Pimsleur | $20.99 | $164.99 | Trial | ✗ |
| Busuu | $23.49 | $138.99 | Limited course access | ✗ |
| Jumpspeak | Not published in Apple's IAP list | Lifetime $499 on iOS · $299 on the web | Trial | ~turn-based |
| Memrise | $24.99 | $61.99 · Lifetime $329.99 | Limited | ~turn-based |
Saygood is the most expensive app here. A live voice call costs real money for every minute you are on it, in a way that serving lesson screens does not — the cheaper apps are cheaper because nobody is on the other end of them.
Every price was read on the same day, 30 July 2026, from the US iOS App Store listing for that app — not from other comparison articles, which is where most of the wrong numbers in this category come from. Where an app runs several prices at once, we show the range rather than picking the flattering one. Where we could not verify something — Duolingo Max, Jumpspeak's monthly — the page says we could not verify it instead of guessing.
Claims about how a competitor's voice feature works come from that competitor's own documentation and help centre, not from our impressions. Where we mention what reviewers complain about, we are pointing at the public App Store review feed and you should go and read it rather than take our word for it.
We wrote these pages, so obviously we would like you to pick us. The way we have tried to make them worth reading anyway is by giving every page a section that names what the other app does better than we do, by scoring those rows against ourselves in the table rather than leaving them out, and by saying plainly who should buy the other one instead. If you find something out of date or wrong, email [email protected] — including if you work at one of these companies.
Ten minutes of calling, free, no card. That is enough to find out whether talking to an AI partner does anything for you.