Duolingo and Busuu look similar at first: short lessons, a phone app, a free plan. The difference is what happens when you get something wrong. Duolingo marks it wrong and moves on. Busuu lets a native speaker read what you wrote, or hear what you said, and tell you how they'd put it. If you want feedback from people, Busuu is the better app. If you want a habit that costs nothing, it's Duolingo.
A disclosure: I built PrettyFluent, which I mention at the end. I've used both of these apps for over a year each, and I'll say where each app wins. Features and pricing were checked on each company's site on the date at the top; follow the links for current prices, which vary by country.
The short answer
| If you want... | Pick |
|---|---|
| Free, with no limits on the course | Duolingo |
| Motivation and streaks | Duolingo |
| Clear levels (A1 to B2) | Busuu |
| Native speakers correcting you | Busuu |
| A certificate at the end of a level | Busuu |
Busuu's big advantage: real people
Busuu is a structured course in 14 languages, organised by CEFR level, from A1 to B2 for most languages. Its standout feature is community corrections: you submit a written or spoken exercise, and native speakers of that language correct it. You return the favour by correcting people learning your language.
That feedback is the thing apps usually can't give you. A green tick tells you the answer matched. A native speaker tells you it matched but nobody says it that way.
Free users can send a limited number of exercises and may wait longer; Premium removes the limit and puts you first in the queue, and paid plans add personalised grammar review, offline lessons, AI conversation practice on the higher tiers, and an end-of-level test with a certificate.
Falls short on: community corrections vary in quality, since they come from volunteers, and the core lessons are fairly conventional.
Duolingo's big advantage: you'll keep going
Duolingo's free plan covers the whole course, and its streaks and leagues are better than anything else at getting you back tomorrow. Super Duolingo removes ads and mistake limits; Duolingo Max adds AI Roleplay and Video Call on iOS and Android.
Falls short on: no human ever looks at what you produce, and most exercises test recognition rather than whether you can say something yourself.
Why feedback matters
Picking up a language from people is mostly a stream of small corrections. When I was learning French from my girlfriend's friends, most of my progress came after they laughed at how formal I sounded and told me what they'd actually say. Busuu can't replace friends at a dinner table, but it gets you a small version of that: someone telling you what sounds natural. I used both apps for over a year, and a handful of Busuu corrections taught me more about sounding natural than a year of Duolingo streaks.
Side by side
| Duolingo | Busuu | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Full course | Limited lessons and corrections |
| Structure | Units and paths | CEFR levels, A1 to B2 for most languages |
| Human feedback | None | Native-speaker community |
| AI conversation | Max (iOS and Android) | Higher paid tiers |
| Languages | Dozens | 14 |
Which should you choose?
Pick Busuu if you're past the first few weeks, want to know whether you sound natural, and want a clear sense of what level you're at. I'd choose it over Duolingo for anyone learning with a purpose.
Pick Duolingo if you're starting out, learning for fun, or need an app you'll actually open every day.
Where PrettyFluent fits (ours)
Neither app is built around the specific conversations you'll have when you land. That's what PrettyFluent does: each lesson is one real situation with native audio and a spoken roleplay of the whole exchange, so the words are ready when you need them.
The Italian dining lesson, for instance, gives you the handful of phrases that get you through a meal: Vorrei questo (I'd like this), Delizioso (delicious) and, at the end, Il conto, per favore (the bill, please). Tap any of them to hear it from a native speaker.
It covers Italian, French, Spanish, German, European Portuguese, Japanese and Mandarin, on iPhone and iPad. Pricing is from $8.99 a month on the web, or $13.95 a month in the App Store. It isn't a full course: use it alongside Busuu or Duolingo for the foundations.
