Fluentish vs Duolingo

Fluentish and Duolingo are both language-learning apps, built around different ideas: Duolingo is a gamified course of lessons; Fluentish is one continuous, adaptive feed with no lessons at all. This page lays out the concrete differences so you can pick the right one for you.

An honest comparison: no scare quotes, no strawmen. Duolingo is a good app; it is just built around a different idea of what practice is.

Is Fluentish better than Duolingo?

Neither app is simply better. They are different tools, and which fits depends on how you like to practise. Duolingo is a structured, gamified course refined over a decade and covering dozens of languages. Fluentish is a single adaptive feed with no lessons at all, built for people who want practice that works the way scrolling does.

What is the main difference between Fluentish and Duolingo?

Duolingo organises learning into lessons and units along a path you complete; Fluentish has no lessons: it is one continuous, vertically-scrolling feed of exercises that adapts as you answer. In Duolingo you finish things: a lesson, a unit, a level. In Fluentish nothing is ever finished. "Learned" just means a word moved into spaced review and will quietly come back.

How does each app decide what you know?

Fluentish infers knowledge from answer speed: fast and correct means known, slow means shaky, wrong means not yet, and you are never asked to rate yourself. Duolingo tracks progress through lesson completion and motivation systems such as XP, streaks, and, on its free tier, hearts that limit mistakes. Fluentish has no hearts or XP; its visible level moves slowly while the difficulty of what you are shown adjusts immediately.

How does review work in each app?

Fluentish schedules review with FSRS, a modern open-source spaced-repetition algorithm: words you know are retired into a review queue and resurface in the feed just before you are predicted to forget them. Duolingo represents memory as word and skill strength and offers practice sessions to refresh weaker material. The practical difference: in Fluentish, review is invisible. Old words are mixed into the same feed as new ones, so there is no separate review mode to skip.

How do the prices compare?

Fluentish is free through level 3 (or through your placement level if you place higher) with no ads and no daily caps; Fluentish Plus costs $7.99/month or $39.99/year, with a 7-day free trial on the annual plan. Duolingo offers a free tier supported by ads, plus paid subscriptions (Super Duolingo and Duolingo Max) that remove ads and limits; its prices vary by region and plan, so check duolingo.com for current numbers. The structural difference: Duolingo's free tier limits mistakes via hearts, while Fluentish's free plan limits maximum level, never volume.

Who is Duolingo better for?

Duolingo is likely the better fit if you want structure and breadth: a visible course path, a much larger catalogue of languages, streak-based motivation that has been tuned for years, and a large community. It is also the established choice, while Fluentish is new and launches with six language pairs.

Who is Fluentish better for?

Fluentish fits people who bounce off lessons but scroll endlessly: it is silent, one-handed, and session-free, so it works in bed and on the train. There are no hearts, no energy meters, and no ads on the free plan, and it never quizzes you about what you know: it measures it from how you answer. At launch that applies to six pairs: English speakers can learn Spanish, Italian, French or German; Spanish and French speakers can learn English.

At a glance

Duolingo is a trademark of Duolingo, Inc. Fluentish is not affiliated with Duolingo, and Duolingo's current prices and plans are on duolingo.com.

New here? Start with what Fluentish is, in plain answers, see how the feed works, or ask anything via the support page.