AI language apps have split into clear types. Some are voice tutors you talk to every day, some fix your pronunciation sound by sound, and some are full courses that now let you speak with AI as part of the lesson.
TL;DRFor daily speaking drills, pick Speak. For a friendly AI tutor in English, pick Praktika. For a full course built around your own goal, pick Slova. For a free daily habit, pick Duolingo. For English pronunciation, pick ELSA. For the lowest price, look at Airlearn.
We used every app on this list on its paid plan, in 2026, on iPhone and Android. We did the same things in each: the first lesson, a week of daily practice, and a few conversations on topics we chose ourselves. Then we asked one question: after a month, would we still be learning with it?
The list below is not a ranking from worst to best. Each app is here because it is the best choice for a certain kind of learner. Find the line that sounds like you.
Comparison table
✓Yes◐Partly✕No
| App | Best for | Talk with AI | Full course | Word review | Languages |
|---|
| Speak | Daily speaking drills | ✓ | ✓ | ◐Smart Review | 7 |
|---|
| Praktika | A tutor with a face | ✓ | ◐English is deepest | ✕ | 12 |
|---|
| Slova | Learning around your goal | ✓ | ✓A0 to C2 | ✓one list | 10 and growing |
|---|
| Duolingo | A free daily habit | ◐short Video Calls | ✓ | ◐practice sessions | 40+ |
|---|
| Loora | English conversation | ✓ | ◐ | ✕ | English only |
|---|
| ELSA Speak | English pronunciation | ◐Premium only | ◐ | ✕ | English only |
|---|
| Talkpal | The widest language list | ✓ | ◐ | ◐flashcards | 100+ |
|---|
| ISSEN | Open talk for intermediates | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | 50+ |
|---|
| Airlearn | A low price | ◐higher plan | ✓ | ◐ | 12+ |
|---|
| Learna | Simple daily English practice | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | 2 |
|---|
How we chose
- Speaking time. How much of a session you spend talking, not tapping.
- Correction. Whether the app tells you what was wrong and why, in words you understand.
- A path forward. Whether you know what to learn next week, or just repeat the same kind of chat.
- Keeping words. Whether the new words from a session come back later, or disappear.
- Price and honesty. What a year really costs, and how easy it is to cancel.
The best AI language learning apps
1
Speak
Best for daily speaking drills
Speak makes you say every sentence out loud from the first lesson. Lessons move from short phrases, to guided practice, to a small roleplay where you use what you just learned, and a tutor answers questions when you get stuck. It started as an English app in Korea and now also teaches Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Italian and Mandarin.
Our first Japanese lesson had us introducing ourselves out loud within two minutes, and the app kept us on arigatō gozaimasu until the long vowel was actually long. It felt slow that evening. By the third day we were answering before reading the screen, which is exactly the habit most apps never build. The catch is practical: every step wants your voice, so it is hard to use on a crowded bus.
GoodThe clearest spoken course on this list. You get into the habit of talking in the first week.
Watch outOne of the more expensive plans, and roleplays can feel similar after a few months.
- About 14 to 18 dollars a month
- 7 languages
- iPhone, Android
2
Praktika
Best for a friendly AI tutor with a face
Praktika puts an avatar tutor with a name, a backstory and an accent on your screen, and you talk. It answers in voice, corrects you, and you can choose how strict the feedback is. For shy English learners, a patient face that never gets bored is a real help.
On day four we asked our tutor to play a hotel receptionist and tried to change a booking in English. When we said I want change my room, the tutor answered normally and then showed the fix, I would like to change my room, with a short reason. It felt like talking to a patient person, not a quiz. A week later, though, we could not find a list of the words we had learned in those calls.
GoodLots of speaking time and a low monthly price. English is very well done.
Watch outThe daily path is fairly fixed, and the words from your calls are not collected for review.
- About 7 to 10 dollars a month
- 12 languages
- iPhone, Android
3
Slova
Best for learning around your own goal
Slova starts with one sentence about why you are learning, like a job interview in English, a move to Madrid or Japanese shows without subtitles, and builds a path of lessons around it. Behind that path sits a full A0 to C2 curriculum, made by language learners and computer scientists, and every lesson can be done two ways: as a visual lesson at your own pace, or out loud with our AI tutors, who listen and correct you as you go.
What makes it different is how immersive it feels. You are not learning the apple is red for weeks before you get to the part you care about. If your goal is anime, your first words come from anime scenes; if it is work, your first conversation is about your own job. You can describe a place and Slova draws it and labels every object in your language, or ask for a short podcast or story on your topic at your level. It is the only app on this list where you make your own practice material with AI.
That is also why results come fast. The words you learn on Monday are the words you need on Tuesday, so you use them straight away, and that is what makes them stick. Every word from lessons, conversations, pictures and texts you read lands in one list, the Lexicon, and comes back for review. And because the whole course is about something you actually care about, it is much easier to keep opening the app in week six than in a course written for everyone.
We tried it with a real goal: English for a job interview in software. Within a few minutes Slova had a path with units on talking about past projects, explaining a technical decision and answering tricky questions, and the tutor lesson on the first unit had us describe a project out loud and corrected I have worked there since two years to for two years, with the reason. A few days later the same words, from the lesson, a practice podcast about code reviews and an article we pasted in, came back together in one review session. By the end of the week we could talk through a project for two minutes without notes.
GoodImmersive, fast to show results, and built around the thing you actually care about, so you keep coming back.
Watch outNewer than the big names, with 10 languages today rather than 40.
- 10 languages and growing
- A0 to C2 curriculum
- AI tutors in every lesson
4
Duolingo
Best for a free daily habit
Duolingo is still the easiest way to start. Lessons take a few minutes, streaks and leagues bring you back, and the free plan goes a long way. The AI side is Video Call with the character Lily, now moving into the cheaper Super plan.
On day nine of a Spanish streak we had finished the whole restaurant unit, then tried to order out loud with no tiles on screen. We got stuck on ¿Me trae la cuenta?, a sentence we had tapped a dozen times that week and never once said. That is Duolingo in one scene: brilliant at getting you to open the app, weaker at getting you to speak.
GoodFree to start, 40+ languages and a habit loop that really works.
Watch outMostly tapping, not talking. Many learners finish units they still cannot say out loud.
- Free, or about 10 to 13 dollars a month
- 40+ languages
- iPhone, Android, web
5
Loora
Best for English conversation practice
Loora is an English only AI tutor built around real conversations about work, travel and daily life. It suits learners in places like Brazil, the Philippines and Japan who already know some English and need to use it every day. Feedback after each talk points out grammar and word choices.
We used it for a week of lunch breaks, ten minutes a day, talking about work. By Thursday the tutor was bringing up the project we had mentioned on Monday, which made it feel like a real conversation. The feedback after each talk is short and clear, but you will want your own notes if you plan to review the words later.
GoodNatural conversations and very high store ratings.
Watch outEnglish only, and the questions can start to repeat after a few weeks.
- About 15 to 20 dollars a month
- English only
- iPhone, Android
6
ELSA Speak
Best for English pronunciation
ELSA listens to single sounds and shows you exactly which part of a word was off, with short drills to fix it. If people often ask you to repeat yourself in English, this is the most focused tool for that. Open AI conversation is in the higher Premium plan.
We read the sentence I think the third one is better and ELSA marked the th in think and third in red, then played a short clip of how the tongue should sit. Ten minutes of drills later the score went up, and so did our confidence on a call that afternoon. It is a tool for a specific problem, and it is very good at it.
GoodThe most detailed pronunciation feedback on this list.
Watch outEnglish only, and practising sounds is not the same as learning to hold a conversation.
- About 20 dollars a month
- English only
- iPhone, Android
7
Talkpal
Best for the widest choice of languages
Talkpal lets you chat by voice or text with an AI tutor in a very long list of languages, with roleplays, debates and a daily free allowance. It is a good pick if your language is missing from the other apps here. The free plan gives about 10 minutes a day.
We tested it in Portuguese and Greek, two languages some of the other apps do not cover well. The free 10 minutes are enough to judge the voice and the corrections before you pay. In Spanish, when we said es más mejor, it fixed it to es mejor right away, though the lessons around the chat felt lighter than a real course.
GoodHuge language list and a free daily allowance to try it properly.
Watch outThe experience varies by language, and the lessons feel thinner than a real course.
- Free 10 minutes a day, or about 10 to 20 dollars a month
- 100+ languages
- iPhone, Android, web
8
ISSEN
Best for open talk once you are intermediate
ISSEN is a live voice tutor that remembers your past calls and lets you pick tutors by accent and personality. The calls are open ended, and you can jump into a short grammar lesson in the middle and come back. It shines once you can already keep a conversation going.
We picked a tutor with a Mexico City accent and talked about weekend plans for twenty minutes. The next day the tutor asked how the trip had gone, which no other app did. For a beginner, though, the long sentences and fast pace were a lot, and we often had to ask it to slow down.
GoodThe closest feel to a real tutor among voice apps, with memory across sessions.
Watch outToo fast for true beginners, and there is little structure between calls.
- About 15 to 39 dollars a month
- 50+ languages
- iPhone, Android, web
9
Airlearn
Best for a low price
Airlearn is a newer, Duolingo style app with short lessons, clear units and a very low monthly price. It has grown fast in 2026, mostly by word of mouth. AI speaking practice is there, but the calls sit in a higher plan.
The lessons feel familiar if you have used Duolingo: short units, clear progress and small wins. We liked it most as a cheap second app next to a speaking tutor. When we tried the AI calls, they needed a higher plan than the one we started on.
GoodA proper course for a fraction of the usual price.
Watch outA smaller language list, and some reviewers find the AI voices flat.
- About 5 dollars a month
- 12+ languages
- iPhone, Android
10
Learna
Best for simple daily English practice
Learna mixes short lessons with AI chats for English and Spanish learners, and brings back your mistakes in review sessions. It is easy to open for ten minutes a day on a lunch break. Check the billing screen carefully, as many plans are charged weekly.
We opened it on lunch breaks for a week. Each session mixed a short lesson with a chat, and the next day it brought back the mistakes we had made, which is a nice touch. The weekly price looked small until we multiplied it by 52.
GoodSimple, quick sessions with a good mix of lessons and chat.
Watch outOnly two languages, and weekly billing adds up over a year.
- Weekly plans
- English, Spanish
- iPhone, Android, web
Best app by goal
| Your goal | Our pick | Also good |
|---|
| Start from zero, for free | Duolingo | Airlearn |
|---|
| Speak more every day | Speak | Praktika |
|---|
| Learn for a job, move or exam | Slova | Speak |
|---|
| English conversation | Loora | Praktika |
|---|
| English pronunciation | ELSA Speak | Speak |
|---|
| A language the big apps skip | Talkpal | ISSEN |
|---|
| Long, open conversations | ISSEN | Praktika |
|---|
| Keep every new word | Slova | Duolingo |
|---|
| Spend as little as possible | Airlearn | Duolingo |
|---|
Free or paid
Almost every AI tutor on this list needs a paid plan once the trial ends. Talking to an AI costs the company money every minute, so free plans are either short, limited to a few minutes a day, or full of ads.
Duolingo is the exception, with a real free plan, and Talkpal gives you about 10 minutes of AI talk a day. For everything else, count on 5 to 20 dollars a month, or less on a yearly plan. Before you pay, check two things: whether the price is weekly, monthly or yearly, and how to cancel from your phone's store settings.
A good rule: use the free trial for a real week, with daily sessions, before you commit to a year. You will know by day five whether you still want to open it.
Which one should you pick
If you are starting from zero and want something free, start with Duolingo, then add a speaking app after a month. If you already know some basics and freeze when you speak, Speak or Praktika will get words out of your mouth fastest.
If English is your goal and you mostly need confidence, Loora gives you daily conversations, and ELSA fixes the sounds that make people ask you to repeat yourself. If you are intermediate and want long, open talks, try ISSEN. If money is tight, Airlearn is the cheapest real course here.
If you are learning for a specific reason, like a job, a move, an exam or a show, Slova is the one we would start with. It is the only app here that builds the whole course, the speaking practice and the word review around that one reason.
Conclusion
AI has made speaking practice cheap and easy to find, so the real differences now are structure, correction and whether you keep what you learn. Speak and Praktika are the strongest pure speaking apps. Duolingo is still the best free habit, and ELSA the best for English sounds. If you want one app that ties a real course, speaking and review to your own goal, give Slova a try.
Related reads: the best AI conversation apps and the best apps for speaking practice. Deciding between two apps? Our Duolingo vs Speak comparison goes deeper. Or see the best language apps for beginners.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best AI app to practise speaking a language?
Speak and Praktika give you the most speaking time. Speak is more structured, Praktika feels more like a chat with a tutor. If you want speaking tied to a full course around your own goal, Slova lets you take every lesson out loud with its AI tutors.
Is there a free AI language learning app?
Duolingo has the most generous free plan, and Talkpal gives about 10 minutes of AI conversation a day for free. Most voice tutor apps offer only a short trial before you pay.
Can AI apps make you fluent?
They can get you speaking much faster than older apps, but fluency still needs regular practice over months, real correction and a way to keep new words. Pick an app that covers all three, or combine two.
Which AI app is best for learning English?
For conversation, Loora and Praktika. For pronunciation, ELSA. For a structured spoken course, Speak. For English built around a goal like job interviews, Slova.
Sources
