Head to head · Chat & research · updated Oct 25, 2026
Duolingo Max vs ELSA Speak
Duolingo Max scores 10 to ELSA Speak's 10 on public evidence for learning & tutoring, and they rank #3 and #4 there. Both are free to start. Numbers below are the same public signals the ranking uses, recomputed nightly — nothing here is sponsored.
Duolingo Max
Duolingo's top tier adds GPT-4-powered Explain My Answer, Roleplay conversations and Video Call practice with the character Lily.
+ Video Call puts you in an unscripted spoken conversation that adapts to your level inside the app you already use.
− Pricey relative to Super Duolingo, and the AI features are only available for a subset of courses.
ELSA Speak
An English pronunciation coach that scores each sound you say and runs AI conversation practice.
+ Phoneme-level feedback shows exactly which sounds in a word you are mispronouncing.
− English-only, and the scoring can be strict on perfectly intelligible accents.
Side by side
public evidence| Duolingo Max | ELSA Speak | |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence score / 100 | 10 | 10 |
| GitHub stars | closed source | closed source |
| Hacker News stories, 30d | 0 | 0 |
| Release-feed mentions, 30d | 0 | 0 |
| Last activity | – | – |
| Pricing | Free tier · Max $29.99/mo | Free tier |
| Platforms | ios, android, web | ios, android, web |
| Maker | Duolingo | ELSA |
Which one?
Pick Duolingo Max if
Video Call puts you in an unscripted spoken conversation that adapts to your level inside the app you already use.
Best for conversation practice inside Duolingo.
Pick ELSA Speak if
Phoneme-level feedback shows exactly which sounds in a word you are mispronouncing.
Best for English pronunciation drills.