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 StoreMost language apps teach. Saygood does not — it gives you someone to talk to, live, in 20+ languages, on what behaves like a phone call. If you are starting from zero, almost every app on this page is a better first purchase than we are, and each comparison says so by name. If you have done the course and still freeze the moment someone speaks to you, that gap is the only thing we built for.
| App | Monthly | Annual | Free tier | Open-ended live voice |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saygood | $29.99 | $199.99 (~$17/mo) | 10 minutes of calling, total | Yes — the call is the whole product |
| Duolingo | Super: $9.99 and $12.99 SKUs both live. Max: not published | Super: $83.99 / $95.99 / $119.99 depending on the offer you land on | Generous — the whole course, with ads and an energy limit | Video Call with Lily — Max tier only, and a fixed set of scenarios |
| Speak | Premium $17.99 · Plus $39.99 | Premium $83.99 · Plus $164.99 | Limited trial of the course | AI tutor roleplays, structured around lessons |
| TalkPal | $19.99 on iOS — the web price is lower | $119.99 on iOS | 10 minutes per day, recurring | Yes — genuinely open-ended, and on the main tier |
| Babbel | $17.99 | $89.99 one language · $107.99 all languages | First lesson of each course | No — speech recognition on scripted prompts |
| Langua | Communicate $19.99 · Unlimited $29.99 | Communicate $149.99 · Unlimited $199.99 | 3 minutes of calling per day, plus ~20 messages a week | Yes — genuinely open-ended |
| Praktika | $9.99 — cheapest here | $49.99, $119.99 and $139.99 all listed concurrently | Limited trial | Yes, with an animated avatar |
| HelloTalk | VIP $12.99 | VIP $79.99 | Very generous — the core product is free | Voice calls with real people, when they are free and willing |
| Pimsleur | $20.99 | $164.99 | Trial | No — you speak into a scripted pause |
| Busuu | $23.49 | $138.99 | Limited course access | No — recorded speaking exercises, corrected by the community |
| Jumpspeak | Not published in Apple's IAP list — check in-app | Lifetime $499 on iOS vs $299 on the web | Trial | AI conversation practice, turn-based |
| Memrise | $24.99 | $61.99 · Lifetime $329.99 | Limited | AI chat partner, turn-based |
Saygood is the most expensive app on this list — tied with Langua's Unlimited tier, and above everything else on it. That is not an accident and it is not a positioning trick: a live voice call costs money for every minute you are on it, in a way that serving lesson screens does not. If you want the cheapest way to learn a language, it is on this page and it is not us.
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 putting what each competitor does better than us above the part where we argue for ourselves, and by naming the ones you should buy instead. If you find something out of date or wrong, email [email protected] — including if you work at one of these companies.
It is with Apple for review right now. Leave your email and we will send you one message on the day it goes live — nothing before, nothing after.
One email, on launch day. No newsletter, no sharing it with anyone. See our privacy policy.