Duolingo Alternatives for Speaking Practice (2026)
Short answer: if Duolingo taught you words but not how to hold a conversation, Speak is the most direct upgrade, as long as you are learning Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese or English. For other languages, Talkpal and Praktika are the main AI options; Babbel is the choice if you want a more serious course; HelloTalk if you want real people. If you like Duolingo's path, streaks and characters and just want conversations added, that is exactly what Fluently, the app we make, is built for.
Disclosure: we make Fluently. Features and ratings below come from each app's official US App Store listing on October 2, 2026. Prices change by country and over time, so we link to the listings instead.
Why Duolingo does not get you speaking
Duolingo is brilliant at one thing: getting you to open the app every day. Its 40+ courses are free, the lessons are short and the streak is hard to break (App Store).
But a conversation needs three things a Duolingo lesson barely trains:
- Producing sentences from nothing. In a lesson you assemble words you are given. In a café nobody hands you tiles.
- Speed. Real people do not wait while you scroll for the right word.
- Recovering. You will mishear, forget and get stuck. Conversation practice teaches you to keep going anyway.
That is why the usual advice, which we agree with, is to keep Duolingo for habit and vocabulary if you enjoy it, and add an app that makes you speak.
The alternatives
1. Speak: the most direct upgrade
Speak is the closest thing to "Duolingo, but you talk the whole time". Lessons have you repeat, answer and improvise out loud, and the AI tutor gives real-time feedback on pronunciation and grammar (App Store).
- Best for: learners of its languages who want more speaking per minute than anything else.
- Falls short: seven languages only; full access requires a membership.
2. Babbel: a real course, plus an AI partner
Babbel is what many people move to when Duolingo starts to feel like a game. Courses are written for speakers of your language, grammar is explained, and Babbel Speak adds an AI conversation partner with feedback. 14 languages (App Store).
- Best for: people who want to understand why, not just repeat.
- Falls short: most of the time is still classic exercises; it gets you speaking more slowly than Speak.
3. Praktika: conversation with a face
Praktika replaces the owl with realistic AI avatars that have names, backstories and accents. 12 languages, 1000+ lessons, and IELTS and TOEFL prep for English (App Store).
- Best for: people who speak more naturally to a face.
- Falls short: strongest for English; the current version needs iOS 18.
4. Talkpal: for the languages nobody else teaches
Talkpal lists 130+ languages and many practice modes: chat, calls, roleplays, debates, photo mode (App Store).
- Best for: less common languages, and intermediate learners who want variety.
- Falls short: little structure for beginners; quality varies by language.
5. Fluently: the Duolingo-style path with real conversations
This is ours, so weigh it accordingly. Fluently keeps the parts of Duolingo that work, a lesson path, XP, streaks and a cast of recurring characters, and adds what is missing:
- Most lesson steps are spoken. You say the phrase and get scored, word by word.
- AI conversations by chat or voice call in 29 languages, with 385 real-life scenarios that each have four goals, plus 210 topics and 41 personas.
- Corrections on every message: Perfect, Good or Revision needed, with a more natural way to say it.
- Your mistakes come back in the Study tab and in a daily lesson built from your own chats.
Courses from A1 to B2 exist in nine languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian and Turkish.
- Best for: Duolingo fans who want to keep the path and finally talk.
- Falls short: it is small (61 US ratings) and iPhone only; Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Arabic are conversation-only, without a course.
6. ELSA Speak or Loora: if your language is English
If you are learning English, two specialists beat every generalist. ELSA Speak analyzes your pronunciation sound by sound and has interview and exam prep. Loora is a relaxed AI conversation coach with real-time feedback.
- Falls short: English only, and neither is a full course for beginners.
7. HelloTalk: real people instead of AI
HelloTalk matches you with native speakers who want to learn your language, for free, by text, voice messages, calls and voice rooms (App Store).
- Best for: intermediate learners who want genuine conversations.
- Falls short: partners are unpredictable and rarely correct you.
Quick comparison
| If you want… | Pick |
|---|---|
| The most speaking per minute, in a big language | Speak |
| Grammar explained, with an AI partner on the side | Babbel |
| A face to talk to | Praktika |
| A language almost nobody teaches | Talkpal |
| Duolingo's path and streaks, plus AI conversations | Fluently |
| Better English pronunciation | ELSA Speak |
| Real native speakers | HelloTalk |
A routine that works with or without Duolingo
- Ten minutes of input: a Duolingo or Fluently lesson, a short story, a podcast.
- Ten minutes of output: one AI conversation or call where you must produce full sentences.
- Two minutes of repair: say the corrected versions of your mistakes out loud, twice.
The repair step is the one most people skip, and it is where most of the progress is. We go deeper in how to practice speaking a language without a partner, and compare nine apps in detail in the best AI apps to practice speaking.
FAQ
Is Duolingo good for speaking?
Duolingo is good for building a daily habit, vocabulary and reading, but most of a lesson is tapping, matching and translating, and its speaking exercises are short and scripted. Many learners with long streaks still freeze in a real conversation, which is why they add a speaking-focused app.
What is the best Duolingo alternative for speaking?
Speak, if your language is Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese or English: its lessons are built around talking. For other languages, Talkpal, Praktika or Fluently. For real people instead of AI, HelloTalk.
Should I stop using Duolingo?
Not necessarily. Duolingo is free and excellent at keeping you coming back. A common setup is ten minutes of Duolingo for vocabulary plus ten minutes of conversation practice in another app.
Is there an app like Duolingo but with AI conversations?
Fluently has a Duolingo-style course path with lessons, XP and streaks, plus AI conversations by chat or voice call in 29 languages. Babbel pairs its course with an AI partner called Babbel Speak, and Praktika combines lessons with AI avatars.