Memrise vs Duolingo

by Gralio Feb 27, 2025

Memrise and Duolingo are both popular language learning apps catering to different learning styles. Memrise is better for learners who prefer a structured, immersive approach with personalized feedback, while Duolingo suits those who enjoy gamified learning and free access to basic content.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 1025 reviews and 60 websites, saving 6 hours, 11 minutes of reading.

Memrise

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Duolingo

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About

Memrise is a language learning app designed to be a fun and effective alternative to traditional textbook methods. It offers over 20 language courses created by experts, focusing on real-life language used by native speakers. The app uses a variety of memory techniques and personalized learning plans to help users learn quickly and retain information. It includes features like pronunciation practice, review sessions, and offline learning. Memrise emphasizes learning useful words and phrases and provides immersion through native speaker audio and video.

Duolingo is a popular language learning software offering a free, gamified approach to learning new languages. It provides bite-sized lessons designed to build vocabulary and grammar skills in a fun and engaging way. Duolingo incorporates game-like features, progress tracking, and personalized learning paths to keep users motivated. While primarily known for its consumer app, Duolingo also offers resources for schools and a separate app focused on teaching children literacy.

Summary

Main difference

Memrise offers a more immersive and structured approach to language learning, emphasizing vocabulary acquisition and practical usage. Duolingo, on the other hand, provides a gamified and free learning experience, focusing on bite-sized lessons and broader language exposure.

Relative strengths of Memrise (compared to Duolingo)

Memrise provides a more immersive learning experience through native speaker videos and interactive exercises.
Memrise utilizes spaced repetition for optimized memorization and long-term retention.
Memrise offers personalized learning plans and AI-powered conversation partners (MemBot).

Relative weaknesses of Memrise (compared to Duolingo)

Memrise has a limited free version and requires a subscription for full access.
Memrise focuses primarily on vocabulary acquisition with less emphasis on grammar.
Memrise may have inconsistent course quality across different languages.

Who should use Memrise VS. Duolingo

Memrise is a fun, engaging language learning app ideal for individuals seeking to expand their language skills for travel, personal enrichment, or connecting with other cultures. Users love the gamified approach and variety of language courses, but some find the grammar instruction limited. A free version is available, with a premium subscription offering additional features.

Duolingo is a popular language learning platform offering a gamified approach to language acquisition. Best for individuals and companies seeking engaging and accessible language learning tools. Users praise the user-friendly interface and bite-sized lessons, while some find the grammar explanations limited and the repetitive exercises tedious.

Ideal for individuals and small teams.
Suitable for personal use, travel, and cultural exchange.

Ideal for companies of all sizes seeking to offer language training to their employees.
Suitable for most industries, especially those with global operations or customer interactions.

Memrise and Duolingo features

Supported

Partially supported

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Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need

Interactive learning exercises

Supported

Memrise offers interactive exercises, multimedia content, and uses spaced repetition for enhanced learning.

Supported

Duolingo offers interactive exercises, multimedia content, and engaging activities to enhance knowledge retention.
Spaced repetition learning

Supported

Memrise uses spaced repetition to schedule reviews at increasing intervals, optimizing memorization.

Supported

Duolingo uses spaced repetition with a half-life regression model to optimize learning.
AI language learning partners

Supported

Memrise offers AI-powered conversation partner MemBot for personalized language learning.

Supported

Duolingo offers AI-powered partners for interactive conversations and personalized feedback.
Quiz progress saving

Partially supported

Quiz progress saving is supported but resuming is not explicitly confirmed.

Not supported

Quiz progress cannot be saved and resumed.
Discussion forums

Not supported

Memrise does not offer built-in discussion forums.

Not supported

Duolingo no longer supports discussion forums.
Announcements

Not supported

Memrise does not appear to support sending announcements to learners.

Not supported

Duolingo does not provide a feature for sending announcements to learners.

Qualities

Value and Pricing Transparency

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Customer Service

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Ease of Use

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Reliability and Performance

No data

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Ease of Implementation

No data

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Scalability

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Memrise and Duolingo Pricing

Memrise offers a free plan with limited features. The Pro plan includes ad-free access, all lessons, AI Buddies (in select languages), sentence builder, grammar assistance, conjugation practice, role-play, and culture tips.

Plans

User sentiment

Rather positive

+0.6

See full Pricing page

Duolingo offers a free plan and two paid plans: Super and Super Family. The free plan includes learning content, unlimited hearts, skills practice, mistake reviews, free challenge entry, but has ads. The Super plan removes ads and includes unlimited mistakes, personalized practice, and unlimited legendary. The Super Family plan allows up to 6 users to share the Super features.

User sentiment

Rather negative

-0.53

See full Pricing page

Memrise and Duolingo review insights

Users love

Fun and engaging learning experience.
Gamified courses and progress tracking.
Wide variety of language courses.
Mobile app allows learning on the go.
User-friendly interface.

Gamified approach makes learning fun and engaging.
User-friendly interface is easy to navigate.
Wide variety of languages available.
Bite-sized lessons fit easily into busy schedules.
Progress tracking and rewards keep users motivated.

Users dislike

Limited grammar focus, mainly vocabulary.
Inconsistent course quality.
Requires internet connection.
Limited offline functionality.
Premium version is expensive.

Limited grammar explanations, often insufficient for deeper understanding.
Repetitive exercises can become tedious, especially for advanced learners.
In-app advertisements can be disruptive to the learning flow.
The "hearts" system can be frustrating and limit practice time.
Occasional technical issues or bugs.

Memrise and Duolingo Ratings

G2

4.6/5

(22)
Glassdoor

4.1/5

(40)

G2

4.5/5

(133)
Capterra

4.6/5

(790)
TrustPilot

1.7/5

(80)
Glassdoor

4.1/5

(162)

Company health

Employee growth

9% decrease in the last year

25% increase in the last year

Web traffic

20% decrease in the last quarter

5% increase in the last quarter

Financing

March 2018 - $22M

July 2020 - $183M

How do Memrise's spaced repetition and Duolingo's gamification impact long-term retention?

Memrise's spaced repetition system promotes long-term retention by strategically scheduling reviews at increasing intervals, reinforcing learned material over time. While Duolingo's gamification, through points, rewards, and interactive exercises, can boost engagement and motivation in the short term, its impact on long-term retention is less pronounced than Memrise's structured approach to memory consolidation. Duolingo's focus on making learning fun may not always translate to the deep encoding necessary for lasting knowledge.

Which platform offers better pronunciation practice and feedback for beginners?

Memrise appears to offer slightly better pronunciation practice and feedback for beginners. While both platforms incorporate pronunciation activities, Memrise explicitly highlights features like pronunciation practice and utilizes native speaker audio and video for immersion, suggesting a greater emphasis on this aspect. Duolingo's focus, while including pronunciation, leans more towards gamified vocabulary and grammar acquisition. For beginners specifically, the emphasis on accurate pronunciation and exposure to native speakers offered by Memrise might be more beneficial.

What are the advantages of Memrise?

Memrise emphasizes real-life language learning through native speaker audio and video, offering a more immersive experience. It also uses a variety of memory techniques and personalized learning plans, potentially leading to faster learning and better retention compared to gamified approaches. Memrise also offers an AI-powered conversation partner, MemBot, for personalized language practice.

What are the disadvantages of Memrise?

Memrise users dislike the limited grammar focus, inconsistent course quality, requirement for internet connection for some features, limited offline functionality, and the expense of the premium version.

Alternatives to Memrise and Duolingo

Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone is a popular language learning software that has been around for over 30 years. It uses a method called "Dynamic Immersion" to teach you new languages in a way that feels natural and engaging. The software includes interactive activities, audio from native speakers, and personalized feedback on your pronunciation. Rosetta Stone offers solutions for individuals, businesses, and schools. Its focus is to help users gain the confidence to speak, read and write in their new language so they can have real-world conversations.

Disprz

Disprz is a learning and skilling platform used by companies to train and develop their employees. It offers various tools, including a learning management system (LMS) to deliver training, a learning experience platform (LXP) to help employees develop new skills, and a frontline enablement solution (FLE) designed for training employees in customer-facing roles. Disprz focuses on providing a personalized learning experience, tracking employee progress, and measuring the effectiveness of training programs.

DrivEd

DrivEd is a Learning Management System (LMS) designed for businesses and educators to create online courses, manage training programs, and track student progress. Features include gamification, progress tracking, quizzes, customizable branding, and integrations with popular tools. DrivEd aims to make learning engaging and efficient for various sectors like language learning, cybersecurity training, and employee onboarding. It is suitable for companies of all sizes and offers a free trial.

Babbel for Business

Babbel for Business provides online language learning for employees at companies of all sizes. It offers courses in 14 languages, covering both professional and everyday communication skills. Babbel for Business aims to make employees more confident communicators, whether interacting with international colleagues, serving diverse customers, or navigating safety protocols in different languages. Learners can progress through self-paced lessons and personalized content.

Google Classroom

Google Classroom is a free online platform that helps teachers manage classes and interact with students. Through Google Classroom, teachers can create and grade assignments, provide feedback, share resources, and communicate with students individually or as a class. It simplifies common tasks and streamlines communication to save teachers time and keep everyone organized.

Busuu

Busuu for Business is a language learning platform designed for employee training. It offers courses in 12 languages, customizable content, and progress tracking tools. Busuu allows companies to create structured language programs and monitor their effectiveness.

Page co-authored by

Michal Kaczor

CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

Tymon Terlikiewicz

CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.

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