Best Free Language Learning Apps in 2026

Almost every language app calls itself free. Open most of them and "free" turns out to mean a trial that expires, a heart you lose for a mistake, an ad between lessons, or a five minute daily cap. Very few actually let you learn the whole thing without paying.

This list only ranks what you get for nothing, not what the marketing page implies. Wekos is first because it's the only app here with no limit of any kind on the free version: no cap, no hearts, no trial, no card, and no paid tier left to upgrade to.

1. Wekos

Wekos is a sequenced course in Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese. Sixteen units per language, each built around a grammar step rather than a theme, drilling real sentences with native audio in a male and a female voice instead of word lists.

Speaking cards listen while you talk and score whether you were understood, using your own device's recognizer, so nothing is sent anywhere. Eight conversation scenarios run entirely on your phone, so they cost nothing to offer and work with no signal. They do need a fairly recent phone or browser to run the on-device model, which Wekos checks for and tells you.

It also tracks streaks and skill scores, so you're not giving up the habit-forming side of things by picking it. The difference is that none of it is metered: no daily cap, no hearts, no ads, no credit card at signup and no paid tier, because Wekos removed its paid tier and kept every feature that had been behind it.

It also includes, at no cost:

• Three playback modes (auto, semi-manual, manual), with repetitions adjustable from 2 to 15.
• A story every unit, read aloud in character, with comprehension questions and a translation a tap away.
• A twelve-question quiz at the end of every unit, graded on the server and mixing in questions from earlier units.
• Two spaced-review modes: one on a schedule, one that ignores it and drills whatever's catching you out.
• Resume exactly where you left off, save any unit for offline use, and one account across iOS, Android and the web.
• A self-issued CEFR badge at A1, A2 and B1, stated honestly as self-issued rather than a certifying authority.

2. Duolingo

Duolingo's free version is real and playable indefinitely, which is more than most apps on this list offer. The cost is hearts: mistakes cost you one, and running out means waiting, practicing to earn more, or stopping for the day.

Short video ads appear between lessons on the free tier. Super removes both hearts and ads for a monthly subscription, but the course itself stays at the level of matching exercises rather than full sentence drilling or a conversation partner.

3. Memrise

Memrise's free tier is ad-supported and gives you a real slice of its 20-plus languages, built around short video clips of native speakers saying a word or phrase. It's a good way to hear natural pronunciation early on.

The free tier caps how many lessons you can take before it asks you to upgrade, and Memrise's paid pricing is unusually wide: from around $13 a month to $40 depending on region and promotion, with a "contact us" tier above that.

4. Busuu

Busuu runs a genuine sequenced course with a nice touch most apps skip: you can submit writing exercises for correction from native-speaker members of the community. That feedback loop is worth trying at least once.

The catch is that the free version is really a 30-day trial rather than an ongoing free tier. After it ends, Premium runs roughly $10 a month, cheaper on longer commitments.

5. LingoDeer

LingoDeer's grammar explanations are unusually thorough for Japanese, Korean and Mandarin, written for English speakers rather than translated generically. The free tier gives you the full alphabet section and all of unit one, plus a travel phrasebook.

That's a real preview, not a gimmick, but it is a preview. Everything past unit one sits behind a subscription starting around $15 a month.

6. Drops

Drops teaches vocabulary through a fast, game-like swipe interface, and it's well designed for five minutes at a time. That's also the entire free allowance: five minutes a day, then the app locks until tomorrow.

It doesn't teach grammar, sentence structure or conversation at any tier, so it works best as a small addition to a real course rather than the course itself.

7. HelloTalk

HelloTalk isn't a course. It's a language-exchange network that matches you with native speakers to text or call, with built-in translation and correction tools. The matching itself is free and unlimited.

Translation and transliteration usage is capped on the free tier, and there's no structured curriculum underneath it. It's a strong supplement once you have some vocabulary to use, not a place to start from zero.

8. Quizlet

Quizlet isn't built for languages specifically. It's a general flashcard tool, which makes it good for drilling a vocabulary list your teacher already assigned. You can build a set from any word list in minutes.

The free tier caps how many rounds of its Learn mode you get and runs ads; Plus removes the cap for around $8 a month. It has no audio recorded by native speakers, no grammar teaching and no course structure. See our Quizlet comparison if that's what you actually need.

9. Ling

Ling's pitch is breadth: chatbot-style lessons across more than 60 languages, including several with almost no other app coverage. That range is genuinely useful if you're learning something obscure.

Almost none of it is free in practice. The app is free to download, but subscriptions run from about $15 a month, and most lesson content sits behind one.

10. Babbel

Babbel's lessons are well written and grounded in practical conversation, and it's worth naming here so you know what "free" doesn't mean elsewhere on this list. There is no ongoing free tier: you get one trial lesson per language, then a paywall.

Plans run roughly $8 to $15 a month depending on the commitment length. If you were hoping to avoid paying anything, Babbel isn't the app for that.

How to pick, if you only try one

If you want to actually finish a language rather than sample it, start with Wekos. It's the most complete free option on this list: a full course, unlimited practice, native audio, speaking practice, a conversation partner and streak tracking, all in one app with nothing behind a paywall.

If you're already enrolled in a class and just need to drill the word list your teacher assigned, Quizlet is a fine free supplement. If you want native speakers to actually talk to once you have some vocabulary, pair a course with HelloTalk rather than expecting either app to do both jobs alone.