Alternative to Busuu: Wekos

Busuu's strongest feature is one most apps skip entirely: a community of native speakers who correct the writing exercises you submit. The catch is that "free" on Busuu is a 30-day trial, not an ongoing tier. The clock starts the day you sign up.

The short version

What Busuu does well

Getting real correction from a native speaker on something you wrote is useful feedback that most apps never offer at any price. Busuu's course structure is also properly sequenced rather than a loose pile of topics, which puts it ahead of apps that skip that step.

Where Busuu's free version stops

• The free period is a 30-day trial, not a permanent free tier.
• After it ends, Premium runs roughly $10 a month, less on longer commitments.
• There's no equivalent to on-device speaking practice or a conversation partner.

What Wekos does instead

Wekos runs sixteen sequenced units per language with the same kind of structure Busuu is good at, drilling real sentences with native audio in both a male and a female voice. Where Busuu asks the community to check your writing, Wekos has speaking cards that listen while you talk and score whether you were understood, instantly, using your own device.

Eight conversation scenarios run entirely on-device, so a partner is always available without waiting on another person. None of it, the units, the audio, the speaking cards, the conversations, has an expiration date.

Also included, free:

• 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, mixing in questions from earlier units.
• Resume exactly where you left off, and save any unit for offline use.
• Streak tracking and a self-issued CEFR badge at A1, A2 and B1.

Who should still use Busuu

If getting a native speaker's eyes on your writing is the specific thing you want, the 30-day trial is worth using once for that alone. Just go in knowing the clock is running from day one.

How to switch

• Pick a language and sign up with an email address. No trial period, no card.
• Start at unit one, or take the placement test if you already know some of it.
• Use speaking cards from the first unit onward rather than waiting for a "conversation level."

See the best free language learning apps roundup for how Busuu and Wekos each compare to the rest of the field.