How we ranked these apps
- Speaking practice: Does the app make you produce Spanish in realistic conversations?
- Quality of feedback: Does it explain pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and fluency issues clearly?
- Spanish teaching: Does it teach grammar and vocabulary before expecting you to use them?
- Value: Is the free tier useful, and are paid features worth the listed price?
- Best fit: Which learner, level or study style does each app genuinely suit?
This Spanish list goes deeper than our general Duolingo alternatives guide. You can also compare broader course options in our guide to the best apps to learn Spanish.
What Duolingo does well for Spanish
Spanish is Duolingo's biggest course and has its full Max feature set. Roleplay and Video Call with Lily are both available to Spanish learners. Roleplay covers real-world conversations and gives feedback on response accuracy and complexity.
The whole Spanish course is available on the free tier. Its short lessons, streaks and simple exercises make daily practice easy to maintain. It remains useful for basic vocabulary and regular exposure.
However, translation and multiple-choice exercises remain central to the experience. Several recent reviewers with streaks past 1,000 days said they still couldn't hold a simple conversation. Others felt the app rewarded passive recognition more than active recall. Outside Max, Duolingo doesn't give you detailed feedback on your Spanish speaking.
Energy also limits free study. Lessons use Energy, which decreases over time and fully recharges in about a day. Learners can rebuild it with correct answers, rewarded adverts or gem refills.
Super removes those limits and costs around $13 a month or around $84 a year as of September 2026. Max adds Roleplay and Video Call and costs more than Super. Duolingo shows the Max price inside the app, and it varies by region.
1. Lingrow: best for complete speaking practice
Lingrow is an AI language learning app for people who want to speak Spanish confidently, offering guided lessons, voice roleplays and per-conversation feedback. Lingrow has 350+ real-life scenarios covering travel, work, dating and everyday situations. Spanish conversations include Latin American and European contexts. The AI adjusts the difficulty as you go.
Its 100+ guided lessons teach words, phrases and grammar on an interactive whiteboard. Spanish lessons explain topics such as ser versus estar and the subjunctive. Each lesson ends with a short roleplay using what you've learned.
During conversations, you receive real-time feedback while speaking. Afterwards, Lingrow summarises your grammar, vocabulary, fluency and pronunciation, with specific suggestions for what to practise next. You can save words from conversations into spaced repetition flashcard decks.
Lingrow is iOS only, which rules it out for Android users. Choose it when you want speaking practice connected to explanations and detailed feedback, rather than open-ended chat alone.
Best for: Spanish learners who want guided teaching, frequent conversations and specific feedback.
Price: Subscription with a free trial.
2. Busuu: best for community corrections
Busuu is a structured language course for learners who value human input, offering complete Spanish lessons, native-speaker corrections and a personalised Study Plan. Busuu teaches 14 languages and connects learners with native speakers who can correct submitted exercises. Its Spanish course also includes video flashcards featuring real people. Grammar, vocabulary review and Mistake Repair are available in both paid tiers.
Premium Plus adds AI Conversations in real-life scenarios, with instant personalised feedback and pronunciation feedback. That makes Busuu more suitable for speaking than a traditional course alone.
Community corrections can be slow because they depend on volunteers. Its AI conversation features are also basic compared with dedicated speaking apps.
Choose Busuu if you want a conventional course with occasional human corrections. It has an advantage over Lingrow when community feedback matters more than frequent roleplay.
Best for: Structured learners who want exercises corrected by native Spanish speakers.
Price: Premium around $10 a month or $80 a year as of September 2026. Premium Plus, which adds AI conversations, costs around $140 a year.
3. Babbel: best for structured grammar
Babbel is a structured language course for learners who want clear explanations, offering expert-built lessons, contextual grammar and guided speaking practice. Babbel offers separate Spanish options for Latin America and Spain. Its courses are tailored to your native language and built by more than 200 language experts. Lessons can take as little as 10 minutes.
Grammar appears in context, with explanations when relevant. Learners can practise aloud with speech recognition, follow Guided Conversations and use the Babbel Speak conversation partner, which remains in beta.
The speech recognition response is closer to pass or fail than detailed correction. Babbel is primarily a structured course, not a conversation tool.
Choose Babbel if grammar, course order and regional Spanish are your priorities. It offers more systematic teaching than open-ended chat apps.
Best for: Learners who want an organised Spanish course with clear grammar explanations.
Price: Around $18 a month, or around $108 a year for all languages as of September 2026.
4. Pimsleur: best for audio lessons
Pimsleur is an audio-first language course for busy learners, offering 30-minute conversational lessons, hands-free study and Spanish roleplay. Pimsleur builds vocabulary, pronunciation and speaking through audio rather than grammar tables. Lessons work offline, while hands-free mode suits driving or other times when looking at a screen isn't practical.
Spanish learners can also use conversation partner roleplay, transcript review and voice recognition. A free first lesson lets you sample the method.
The course is rigid, with lessons presented in a fixed order. It doesn't provide detailed pronunciation feedback beyond its model audio, and it is one of the more expensive choices here.
Choose Pimsleur if audio-only commuting practice matters more than flexible scenarios or detailed corrections. Its focused audio format is its main advantage.
Best for: Commuters and learners who prefer repeating spoken Spanish without using a screen.
Price: Around $21 a month or around $165 a year as of September 2026.
5. Speak: best for speech recognition
Speak is a speaking-focused app for learners who want frequent verbal practice, offering real-life roleplays, speech analysis and real-time corrections. Speak analyses pronunciation, intonation and fluency. It also provides real-time feedback on pronunciation and grammar. Its curriculum covers Spanish and six other named languages.
Natural-sounding audio and accurate speech recognition are real strengths. Speak is therefore useful when you want to spend less time tapping answers and more time saying complete responses.
Post-conversation feedback is brief, even on the most expensive plan. Content can also become repetitive after beginner level.
Choose Speak if responsive speech recognition is your main requirement. For a closer comparison, read Lingrow versus Speak or see these Speak alternatives.
Best for: Learners who want polished audio and accurate recognition during Spanish speaking drills.
Price: Premium costs around $18 a month or $84 a year as of September 2026. Premium Plus costs around $40 a month or $165 a year.
6. Praktika: best for avatar-led practice
Praktika is an avatar-based language app for visual learners, offering regional Spanish tutors, roleplay topics and personalised pronunciation feedback. Praktika includes more than 1,000 lessons and uses realistic avatars with regional accents. Spanish tutors include Valentina for Mexican Spanish and Lucía for Spanish from Spain.
Learners can practise roleplay topics and receive personalised pronunciation and fluency feedback. The app also accepts photos, PDFs and voice notes as learning material.
Its learning paths are rigid and reset when you change goals. There is no post-conversation feedback summary, so corrections missed during a conversation aren't saved in a final report.
Choose Praktika if avatar-led sessions make speaking feel more engaging. Lingrow is better suited to learners who want a lasting summary after each conversation.
Best for: Visual learners who want avatar conversations with Mexican or Spain Spanish.
Price: Around $10 a month or around $120 a year as of September 2026.
7. Language Transfer: best free grammar course
Language Transfer is a free audio course for independent learners, offering sentence-building explanations, downloadable tracks and progress saving. Language Transfer uses the Thinking Method in its Complete Spanish course. You work out how Spanish sentences are formed instead of memorising lists. There are no adverts, sign-ups or charges for the material.
The app provides the same audio as the website, with offline downloads, saved progress and locked-screen listening. It is also open source and supported through donations.
The format is audio only. It has no speech recognition, nobody checks what you say, and there are no practice conversations.
Choose Language Transfer if you want free explanations and like thinking through sentence construction. Add a speaking app when you are ready to test those ideas in conversation.
Best for: Independent learners who want a completely free audio course on Spanish sentence structure.
Price: Free.
8. Dreaming Spanish: best for listening input
Dreaming Spanish is a comprehensible-input platform for learners who want extensive listening practice, offering graded videos, native Spanish teachers and progress tracking. Dreaming Spanish teaches through videos you can understand from the beginning. Its seven levels range from Superbeginner videos with drawings and gestures to native content.
Nine native Spanish teachers represent Argentina, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Spain and Venezuela. The free plan includes difficulty sorting, search, progress tracking and a watch list.
The platform recommends delaying speaking until level 6. It provides no speaking practice or feedback of any kind by design.
Choose Dreaming Spanish if listening is your priority and you don't want grammar drills. It complements a speaking app, but it doesn't replace one.
Best for: Learners who want graded listening from teachers across several Spanish-speaking countries.
Price: Free plan available. Premium costs around $8 a month as of September 2026, while Premium Double costs around $12 a month.
9. Talkpal: best for open-ended chat
Talkpal is a conversational language app for self-directed learners, offering roleplays, audio calls and text-based corrections. Talkpal supports more than 130 languages. Its modes include Chat, Word, Sentence, Dialogue, Call, Roleplays, Characters and Debates. That range gives learners several ways to start using Spanish.
It provides personalised pronunciation and grammar corrections. The free Basic plan allows 10 minutes of use each day, while Premium includes a 14-day free trial.
Talkpal is a general chat tool rather than a Spanish course. Its listing doesn't describe a structured Spanish lesson path, and feedback appears as text corrections in chat.
Choose Talkpal if you want flexible conversation topics across many languages. Choose a guided course if you need Spanish grammar taught in a planned sequence.
Best for: Self-directed learners who want open-ended chat across Spanish and many other languages.
Price: Basic is free. Premium costs around $20 a month, $50 for three months or $120 a year as of September 2026.
Quick comparison
| App | Speaking practice | Feedback | Free tier | Price as of September 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lingrow | 350+ voice roleplays | Real-time and detailed conversation summary | Free trial | Subscription |
| Busuu | AI conversations and submitted exercises | AI feedback and community corrections | Many features free | Premium around $10 monthly or $80 yearly |
| Babbel | Guided Conversations and Babbel Speak | Pass or fail speech recognition | One free lesson | Around $18 monthly or $108 yearly |
| Pimsleur | Audio responses and Spanish roleplay | Model audio, without detailed correction | First lesson free | Around $21 monthly or $165 yearly |
| Speak | Roleplays and speaking curriculum | Real-time correction, brief final feedback | Free download, paid plans | Premium around $18 monthly or $84 yearly |
| Praktika | Avatar roleplays | Pronunciation and fluency corrections | Free download, paid plans | Around $10 monthly or $120 yearly |
| Language Transfer | Spoken responses during audio lessons | No checking or feedback | Entire course free | Free |
| Dreaming Spanish | None by design | No speaking feedback | Free video plan | Premium around $8 monthly |
| Talkpal | Calls, dialogue and roleplay modes | Text corrections in chat | 10 minutes daily | Premium around $20 monthly or $120 yearly |
The bottom line
Choose Lingrow if your main goal is to speak Spanish and understand how to improve. Its guided lessons, regional contexts and detailed conversation summaries connect study with active use. Speak is strong for speech recognition, while Praktika suits learners who enjoy avatar-led sessions.
Busuu and Babbel are better choices for a traditional course. Language Transfer offers the best completely free grammar-focused option, and Dreaming Spanish is built for listening. Pimsleur has the clearest advantage when you need hands-free audio lessons.
Our guides to the best Spanish learning apps and best AI language learning apps provide more comparisons. If you're still unsure, use our guide on how to choose a language learning app.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Duolingo alternative for learning Spanish?
Lingrow is the best Duolingo alternative for learners who mainly want to speak Spanish. It combines guided grammar lessons with voice roleplays across 350+ scenarios. You receive feedback on grammar, vocabulary, fluency and pronunciation after every conversation. Busuu is a strong alternative if you prefer a structured course with corrections from native speakers.
Is Duolingo enough to learn Spanish?
Duolingo can build basic vocabulary, support daily exposure and help you maintain a learning habit. However, its core still relies heavily on translation and multiple-choice exercises. Most learners will need additional conversation practice. Lingrow adds guided grammar teaching, voice roleplays and specific feedback on each Spanish conversation.
What is the best free alternative to Duolingo for Spanish?
Language Transfer is the best completely free alternative if you want to understand how Spanish sentences work. Its Complete Spanish audio course has no adverts, sign-up or price tag. Dreaming Spanish also has a useful free listening tier. Neither provides speaking feedback, so Lingrow is a better fit when active conversation is the priority.
Which app is best for actually speaking Spanish?
Lingrow is the strongest choice for speaking Spanish because conversation is tied to teaching and detailed feedback. Its guided lessons explain topics such as ser versus estar and the subjunctive before a short roleplay. Speak is another strong option, especially for natural audio and accurate speech recognition, but its post-conversation feedback is brief.
Is Babbel or Busuu better than Duolingo for Spanish?
Babbel and Busuu both offer more structured Spanish study than Duolingo. Choose Babbel for clear grammar explanations and separate Latin American and Spain courses. Choose Busuu for native-speaker community corrections and a personalised Study Plan. Busuu's AI conversations require Premium Plus, while Babbel remains primarily a structured course rather than a conversation app.
