Duolingo Premium: What It Offers and If It’s Worth It

When you start learning a language with Duolingo Premium, a paid upgrade to the popular language-learning app that removes ads, unlocks offline lessons, and gives you unlimited hearts. Also known as Duolingo Plus, it’s designed for users who want to learn consistently without interruptions or limits. But is it just a fancy ad-free version, or does it actually help you speak better?

Duolingo Premium isn’t a full language course—it’s a tool that supports your practice. It works best when you’re already using Duolingo daily and hit walls: losing hearts too often, getting distracted by ads, or wanting to review lessons without internet. The real value? Unlimited hearts mean you can keep going after mistakes, offline access lets you learn on the bus or in flights, and progress quizzes help you track what stuck. It doesn’t teach grammar like a textbook, but it builds habit through repetition, which is how most people actually learn.

Who gets the most out of it? Students cramming for a trip, professionals brushing up for work, or parents learning with kids. If you’re serious about daily practice and hate hitting a dead end because you lost three hearts, Premium removes that frustration. But if you’re waiting for Duolingo to turn you fluent on its own, you’ll be disappointed. Real fluency needs speaking, listening to real people, and using the language—tools like podcasts, tutors, or language exchange apps fill that gap. Premium just makes the app part smoother.

It’s not the only paid language app out there, but it’s one of the most accessible. At under $15 a month, it’s cheaper than a single tutoring session. And if you’re already using Duolingo every day, upgrading feels less like spending money and more like removing friction. You’re not buying lessons—you’re buying consistency.

Below, you’ll find real stories and comparisons from people who’ve tried Duolingo Premium—and what actually changed for them after they hit subscribe.

Is Duolingo actually free? The real cost of learning English with Duolingo
Aarini Hawthorne 21 November 2025

Is Duolingo actually free? The real cost of learning English with Duolingo

Duolingo offers free English lessons, but ads, limited features, and lack of real conversation make true fluency hard. Here's what you really get - and what you need beyond the app.

View More 0