Duolingo vs. Babbel vs. Speak vs. Pimsleur vs. Praktika: US iPhone language app snapshot, October 2026
How do the top-grossing language learning apps compare on downloads, spending, prices and complaints?
- Duolingo leads on both: an estimated 420K US downloads and $13M in App Store spend over 30 days, 87% of this group's downloads and 77% of its spend.
- App Store spend per download (30 days of spend, renewals included, over 30 days of new installs) ranges from about $20 (Praktika) to $217 (Pimsleur). A high figure usually means a large base of paying subscribers, not a pricier first purchase.
- Praktika moved from #73 to #44 on the US Top Free Education chart between Sep 29 and Oct 25, the biggest climb in this group.
- Country
- United States
- Platform
- iPhone (App Store)
- Estimates
- 30 days to October 26, 2026
- Data collected
- October 26, 2026
Downloads against App Store spend
Each dot is one app's estimated US downloads and App Store spend over the same 30 days. Further right means more installs, higher up means more spending; both scales are logarithmic, so equal steps are equal multiples.
Share of downloads vs. share of spend
Within these 5 apps only: each app's share of the group's estimated downloads and of its App Store spend. An app whose spend bar is longer than its downloads bar earns more per install than the group.
- Share of downloads
- Share of App Store spend
The apps side by side
30-day US estimates with their confidence, the US App Store rating, and each app's first and last position on the overall US charts between Sep 29 and Oct 25.
| App | Downloads, 30 days | App Store spend, 30 days | Spend per download | Rating | US Top Free | US Top Grossing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DuolingoDuolingo, Inc | 420KHigh confidence | $13MHigh confidence | $32 | 4.75,534,464 ratings | #48 → #76↓28best #48 · 26 days | #27 → #24↑3best #22 · 26 days |
 PimsleurSimon & Schuster | 8.7KHigh confidence | $1.9MMedium confidence | $217 | 4.730,513 ratings | Not in top 100 | Not in top 100 |
 SpeakSpeakeasy Labs, Inc | 35KMedium confidence | $1MMedium confidence | $29 | 4.865,182 ratings | Not in top 100 | Not in top 100 |
 BabbelBabbel GmbH | 8.8KHigh confidence | $880KMedium confidence | $100 | 4.7756,938 ratings | Not in top 100 | Not in top 100 |
 PraktikaPraktika.ai Company | 9.2KHigh confidence | $180KMedium confidence | $20 | 4.8166,970 ratings | Not in top 100 | Not in top 100 |
What they charge
The in-app purchases each app lists on its US App Store page, grouped by the plan length the product name states.
| App | Monthly plans | Yearly plans | All listed prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| DuolingoDuolingo, Inc | — | — | $0.99–$13.9910 products |
| PimsleurSimon & Schuster | — | $131.99–$164.99 | $19.99–$164.996 products |
| SpeakSpeakeasy Labs, Inc | $17.99–$39.99 | $83.99–$164.99 | $17.99–$164.996 products |
| BabbelBabbel GmbH | $17.99 | — | $17.9910 products |
| PraktikaPraktika.ai Company | $9.99 | $49.99–$139.99 | $6.99–$139.999 products |
A plan length is shown only where the product name states it (“Weekly VIP”, “12 Months”); other products count in the last column. The full list per app:
Duolingo: 10 listed prices
- Basket of Gems$0.99
- Basket of Gems$1.99
- Streak Repair$2.99
- Chest of Gems$3.99
- Streak Repair$4.99
- Basket of Gems$4.99
- Chest of Gems$7.99
- Holiday Avatar Bundle$7.99
- Streak Repair$9.99
- Barrel of Gems$13.99
Pimsleur: 6 listed prices
- Spanish Premium Subscription$19.99
- Japanese Premium Subscription$19.99
- Italian Premium Subscription$19.99
- All Access Subscription$20.99
- All Access Annual Subscription$131.99
- All Access Subscription Annual$164.99
Speak: 6 listed prices
- Monthly Premium$17.99
- Monthly Subscription$17.99
- Monthly Premium Plus$39.99
- Annual Premium$83.99
- Annual Subscription$83.99
- Annual Premium Plus$164.99
Babbel: 10 listed prices
- German 1 month$17.99
- English 1 month$17.99
- Spanish 1 month$17.99
- French 1 month$17.99
- Italian 1 month$17.99
- Portuguese 1 month$17.99
- Polish 1 month$17.99
- Turkish 1 month$17.99
- Swedish 1 month$17.99
- Dutch 1 month$17.99
Praktika: 9 listed prices
- Praktika Premium$6.99
- Praktika Premium, 1 month$9.99
- Praktika Premium 3 Month Promo$19.99
- Praktika Premium$39.99
- Praktika Premium 3 Mon + Trial$49.99
- Praktika Premium 3 Months$49.99
- Praktika Premium Annual$49.99
- Praktika Premium 1 Year$119.99
- Praktika Premium 1 Year$139.99
Chart movement
Each app's best daily position on the US Top Free chart (or its Education chart when it was not in the overall top 100 on enough days). Hover a line for the rank on a given day.
Duolingo
#48 → #76US Top Free, Sep 30–Oct 25
Pimsleur
#52 → #47US Top Free Education, Sep 29–Oct 25
Speak
#25 → #9US Top Free Education, Sep 29–Oct 25
Babbel
#60 → #39US Top Free Education, Sep 29–Oct 25
Praktika
#73 → #44US Top Free Education, Sep 29–Oct 25
What reviewers complain about
Of each app's recent 1–3-star US App Store reviews, the share that mention each theme. Each app's most common complaint is in bold. "Paywall & subscription push" and "Too many ads" are top-three themes for most of these apps.
| Complaint theme | Duolingo | Speak | Babbel | Praktika |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paywall & subscription push | 10% | 39% | 19% | 18% |
| Too many ads | 12% | 23% | — | 9% |
| Billing, refunds & cancelling | — | — | 8% | 23% |
| Customer support | — | — | 6% | 10% |
| Bugs & broken features | 5% | — | — | 10% |
| Too expensive | 4% | — | 6% | — |
| Missing features & requests | 5% | — | 4% | — |
| Usage limits | 5% | — | — | — |
| 1–3★ reviews / all reviews in the sample | 380 / 800Oct 16–Oct 24 | 13 / 50Sep 19–Oct 10 | 254 / 307Jun 7–Oct 23 | 255 / 307Jan 2–Oct 22 |
Where they meet in search
App Store search positions in the US, from our latest keyword checks.
| Search | Popularity | Duolingo | Pimsleur | Speak | Babbel | Praktika |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| duolingo | 80 | #1 | #10 | #5 | #2 | — |
| language learning | 61 | #1 | #4 | #3 | #2 | — |
| learna ai | 60 | #2 | — | #8 | — | #5 |
| pimsleur | 60 | #2 | #1 | #4 | #3 | — |
| speak | 60 | #2 | — | #1 | #7 | #5 |
| babbel | 59 | #2 | #3 | #8 | #1 | — |
| lingo | 59 | #2 | — | — | #10 | — |
| airlearn | 58 | #2 | #8 | #3 | #10 | #7 |
| busuu | 58 | #2 | #7 | #10 | #4 | — |
| dulingo app | 58 | #1 | — | — | #2 | — |
| language transfer | 58 | #2 | #6 | — | #5 | — |
| pingo ai | 58 | #4 | — | #2 | — | #7 |
| preply | 58 | #2 | #6 | #7 | — | #5 |
| rosetta stone | 58 | #3 | #6 | — | #5 | — |
| spanish learning app | 58 | #1 | #8 | #2 | #3 | — |
| Searches where the app ranks top 10 | 293 | 60 | 83 | 100 | 49 |
The most popular US searches where at least two of these apps rank in the top 10 of App Store results, by Apple's popularity score (5–100). “—” means the app is not in that search's top 10. Brand searches for other apps show up because the store also returns related apps for them.
Key findings
- Duolingo leads on both: an estimated 420K US downloads and $13M in App Store spend over 30 days, 87% of this group's downloads and 77% of its spend.
- App Store spend per download (30 days of spend, renewals included, over 30 days of new installs) ranges from about $20 (Praktika) to $217 (Pimsleur). A high figure usually means a large base of paying subscribers, not a pricier first purchase.
- Praktika moved from #73 to #44 on the US Top Free Education chart between Sep 29 and Oct 25, the biggest climb in this group.
- "Paywall & subscription push" is a top-three complaint for all 4 apps with a review sample.
- Searching for one app's name shows its rivals too: for "duolingo", Duolingo is #1, with Babbel #2 and Speak #5 in the top 10 (3 rivals in all).
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How this snapshot was made
Selection. The language learning apps at #1, #6, #9, #11 and #33 of the US Education Top Grossing chart, averaged over October 19–26, 2026. Learna and YayTalk (English only) and Lingokids (children) are not included.
When and where. US App Store, iPhone apps. Data collected on October 26, 2026; download and spend estimates cover the 30 days to October 26, 2026; chart positions are daily best ranks from September 29, 2026 to October 25, 2026. This page is a frozen snapshot and will not change; newer editions get their own page.
Sources. Apple's US Top Free and Top Grossing charts (overall and Education), recorded several times a day; each app's US App Store listing (rating, listed in-app purchase prices); recent US App Store reviews; and US App Store search results for the keywords we track. Downloads and spend are AppTrendKit estimates from chart positions, ratings and pricing. How we estimate.
- Downloads and App Store spend are AppTrendKit estimates for the US App Store over 30 days, not figures from Apple or the developers. Spend is what users paid through Apple before Apple's commission, so it is higher than what a developer receives.
- Web subscriptions, advertising income, enterprise deals and Android are not included.
- Spend per download divides 30 days of App Store spend, which includes renewals from existing subscribers, by 30 days of new downloads. It shows how much an app earns relative to its install volume, not what a new user pays, and it is left out where either estimate has low confidence.
- Prices are the in-app purchases Apple lists on each app's US App Store page; Apple shows a limited number, and the price someone actually pays can differ with offers and trials.
- Complaint themes come from a sample of recent US App Store reviews, classified by topic. A theme's share is the share of the sample's 1–3-star reviews that mention it, not a share of all reviews or users. Themes mentioned fewer than 3 times are left out.
- Duolingo sells its subscriptions without a plan length in the product name and also sells gems and streak repairs, so its listed prices are not comparable plan by plan.
- Babbel and Pimsleur list a separate subscription per language; the prices shown are a sample of those Apple lists.
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