Yes. A public company, a real free tier, no card required, and nothing predatory in the billing. duolingo.com and the official app stores. Free use is ad-supported, so learning and engagement data feeds advertising and product design. No trials that auto-bill and no hidden charges. Whatever else it does, it doesn't ambush you at checkout. The mechanics are built to hold your attention — streaks, notifications, and an energy meter that gates free lessons. That's the actual cost, and it's worth naming.

What does Duolingo really cost?

Ads, plus a daily energy wall that stops even perfect learners.

What do you get free with Duolingo?

All course content in every language; Streaks, leaderboards, and practice tools; The web version, which still runs on the gentler hearts system

Is Duolingo actually free?

Free-ish

How free52/100

Value6/10

How these scores work

Free Score (0–100) follows a fixed rubric: cards up front, auto-billing, hard time cutoffs, withheld core features, and paying with your data or attention all deduct points. 90–100 truly free · 70–89 free forever · 45–69 squeezed · 15–44 trial mechanics · under 15 fake or gone. Value (0–10) is editorial: real-world worth of the free offering measured against its paid equivalent. Full rubric on the methodology page.

Less than it used to be. The course content is still free — but in 2025 Duolingo replaced hearts with an 'energy' meter on mobile that drains with every exercise, right or wrong, walling most free users off after a couple of lessons a day.

What it’s worth

Super costs real money monthly; free still teaches — now on a meter.

What you get free

All course content in every language
Streaks, leaderboards, and practice tools
The web version, which still runs on the gentler hearts system

In practice: the full path in any language still costs nothing — free now just buys fewer minutes of it per day on mobile.

Drawbacks

The energy meter drains even on correct answers (mobile)
A practical cap of a couple of free lessons daily
Ads between lessons
Gamification sometimes outruns depth

Also paywalled

Unlimited energy on mobile
Ad removal
Offline lessons and streak repair

What the free tier actually gives you

Card required	No
Full course content	Yes
Graded work	Yes
Certificate	None offered
Access expires	Never
Ads	Yes

Same questions, same order, for every listing in Learning — so you can compare them side by side. Deliberately no exact allowances: those change monthly, the shape of the limit doesn't.

Free facts

Verdict	Free-ish
Card required	No
Auto-bills	—
Account	Required
Limits	Ads; an 'energy' meter caps daily lessons on mobile
The real cost	Ads, plus a daily energy wall that stops even perfect learners.

The catch

Under hearts, a careful learner could study free all day; under energy, even perfect answers burn the meter, and refilling means watching ads, spending gems, waiting, or subscribing. The content is free. The time to actually learn it, on mobile, increasingly isn't — which is why we moved Duolingo down a tier.

Is Duolingo safe?

Yes. A public company, a real free tier, no card required, and nothing predatory in the billing.

Downloadduolingo.com and the official app stores.

Your dataFree use is ad-supported, so learning and engagement data feeds advertising and product design.

Scams to watchNo trials that auto-bill and no hidden charges. Whatever else it does, it doesn't ambush you at checkout.

Account riskThe mechanics are built to hold your attention — streaks, notifications, and an energy meter that gates free lessons. That's the actual cost, and it's worth naming.

Safety here means downloads, data practices, and scam exposure — it is separate from the free verdict above. Checked August 2026.

The smart play

Use the web version — as of our check it still runs the gentler hearts system, not the energy meter
Where offered, practice and review sessions refill the meter without paying
Serious about the language? Pair it with free Anki flashcards on desktop

More info — tap to expand

The energy system, precisely

Rolled out from 2025 on mobile: a meter (around 25 units) that drains with every exercise — including correct answers — replacing hearts, which only punished mistakes. Refills come from ads, gems, waiting, or streak bonuses, and the rollout is staggered, so two phones can behave differently.

The web loophole

As of our check, the browser version still runs the older hearts system: mistakes cost, perfection doesn't. Free users serious about volume should simply study at duolingo.com — no promise it lasts, but it's real today.

Is free still worth it?

The content — full courses in every language — remains free and identical to paid. What changed is daily time: free mobile users hit the wall after a couple of lessons. As a daily habit-builder it still works; as an intensive tool, free no longer suffices on mobile.

Last checked: August 2026 · Verdict: Free-ish — a free tier exists, but it's shaped to squeeze you toward paying.

Ratings elsewhereTrustpilot 2.2/5 App Store 4.7/55.4M Google Play 4.7/549MLive scores from the sources named — not ours. Store counts rounded.

What users actually say

Trustpilot 2.2/5 from a large, vocal user base

What they praiseNobody disputes that the free tier teaches, or that the streak mechanic works — millions keep coming back, which is itself the review.

What they complain aboutThe energy meter dominates recent complaints. Long-time users describe a system that now drains even on correct answers, capping free mobile learning at a couple of lessons a day where it once ran unlimited.

The low score isn't people saying the app doesn't work. It's people saying it used to be better before the free tier was throttled toward a subscription.

Our reading of the public review record — patterns, not quotes. Scores link to their sources above.

Visit Duolingo →

Is Duolingo actually free?

What you get free

Drawbacks

Also paywalled

What the free tier actually gives you

Free facts

The catch

Is Duolingo safe?

The smart play

More info — tap to expand

What users actually say

Was this verdict right?

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