StudySes vs Duolingo

Duolingo is the app everyone has already tried: free courses in 40+ languages, a streak that nags you back every evening, leaderboards, gems and a green owl. In the last two years it has added real conversation — Video Call with Lily and Roleplay — but only for Duolingo Max subscribers and only in a handful of courses. Compared on 4 Nov 2026 using duolingo.com, Duolingo’s App Store and Google Play listings, its investor releases and its official blog; StudySes facts come from our own product notes.

The honest framing: these two apps are not trying to do the same job. Duolingo is a habit machine that teaches you a language slowly and pleasantly. StudySes is a speaking-practice app for people who need to talk — in a lesson, a job interview or an IELTS room — soon.

Side by side

Details reflect each app’s public pages on the date above; Duolingo in particular changes features and tier names often.

Where Duolingo is better

Forty-plus languages and the biggest free library in the category. Duolingo’s store listings claim 40+ languages and its December 2025 language report counts over 280 courses, all free with ads. StudySes teaches nine. If you want Navajo, Yiddish or High Valyrian — all named on Duolingo’s own pages — there is no comparison to make.

The habit loop. Streaks, leaderboards, playful rewards, Monthly Streak Repair and a mascot with a guilt trip: Duolingo is unmatched at getting people to open the app every day, and consistency beats intensity for most beginners. StudySes offers progress analytics and goal setting, which is sober by comparison. A learner who struggles to show up will show up for Duolingo.

Vocabulary and grammar foundations before you speak. Duolingo’s path builds reading, listening and sentence patterns in small steps, and its 2021 speaking study reported that about half of Spanish and French learners who finished Unit 5 reached A2 speaking on an external test. That is a real result for a free app. The same post is candid that the result covered two courses and that French pronunciation lagged.

Where StudySes is better

Conversation is the free core, not the top tier. StudySes’s AI conversation partner talks with you in any of its nine languages from the first session, free to download with optional in-app purchases. On Duolingo, open conversation means Duolingo Max: the Max launch post (March 2023) describes it as “a new subscription tier above Super Duolingo”, and the Video Call post (September 2024) confirms the camera icon appears only on Max subscribers’ paths. Duolingo’s September 2025 investor release says Video Call covers nine of its courses — out of 40+ languages.

IELTS Speaking preparation. StudySes carries IELTS Speaking practice for Parts 1, 2 and 3 — the interview questions, the one-minute cue card, the abstract Part 3 discussion — with sample questions, study plans and full-length mock tests. Duolingo’s listings and pages do not mention IELTS. A Video Call with Lily about your weekend is pleasant practice; it is not a timed Part 2 with a follow-up question.

Role-plays that mirror real tasks, in every language. StudySes’s role-play scenarios — travel, work and everyday situations — are available across all nine languages and sit beside the exam material. Duolingo’s Roleplay is a Max feature, and at launch it was limited to English speakers learning Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese, with Japanese, Korean and Chinese learners getting Video Call only. Duolingo’s current help page on Max did not load for us, so treat those launch limits as the last documented list rather than today’s.

Feedback on what you said. StudySes gives feedback on your answer and expression after a conversation. Duolingo’s own Video Call post (September 2024) says Lily “won’t correct your grammar” and that you “won’t be penalized for any mistakes” during the call; its September 2025 investor release says Video Call now includes “real-time feedback, and post-call reviews”, and Roleplay gives AI feedback once the conversation ends. Both approaches are defensible — Duolingo wants you unafraid to talk — but a learner who wants to know what to fix will get more from StudySes’s answer feedback. Neither app scores your pronunciation.

Download StudySes for free and try one conversation; it is the fastest way to feel the difference between a lesson about a language and a conversation in it.

Who should pick which

Pick Duolingo if your language is outside StudySes’s nine, you are a true beginner who needs vocabulary and sentence patterns before any conversation is possible, you know a streak is the only thing that will keep you practising, or you are happy to pay for Max to unlock Video Call in one of its supported courses.

Pick StudySes if you need to speak soon — an IELTS Speaking date, a job interview, a trip — in English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Italian, German, Portuguese or Mandarin, you want conversation and role-plays without a top-tier subscription, or IELTS Parts 1–3 practice is non-negotiable.

Use both if you can. The pairing is natural: Duolingo for the daily vocabulary habit, StudySes for the talking Duolingo’s free tier does not provide. For a wider field, including subscription conversation apps such as Pingo AI, see our round-up of the best AI apps to practise speaking.

Neither app offers live human tutors; Duolingo’s pages do not mention them and StudySes does not provide them.

StudySes is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the IELTS test owners.