How Much Does Super Duolingo (Duolingo Plus) Cost in 2024?
Duolingo is a well known and popular language learning app and website which is free to use for as long as you want, but there is also a premium bolt on. Super Duolingo (formerly Duolingo Plus) costs $6.99 per month. You can sign up for a free 14-day trial before you commit to the $6.99 monthly fee. But is it actually worth it?
After reading this post you will know:
- What you get with the free version of Duolingo
- The benefits of signing up for Super Duolingo
- Whether or not Super Duolingo is worth the money
This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through my partner links, I may receive a small commission for the referral at no additional cost to you. Please read the disclaimer for more info.
While Duolingo is a popular option, my favourite language learning app is Mondly.
My Choice
- Engaging, gamified language learning app
- State of the art speech recognition software
- Conversation focused curriculum
What Do You Get For Free?
Duolingo is popular because it uses a game style format. I’m sure many of us stumbled across Duolingo at the beginning or our language learning journeys.
The idea is that you can learn a language and have that app gameplay experience at the same time. Duolingo currently offers an incredible 40 languages from the more common French, Spanish and German to the less well known languages such as Gaelic, Hawaiian and Yiddish.
The vast majority of users have the free version, and you get a lot for free with this app. Working through the learning path for your target language, you get lessons in reading, writing, listening and some speaking practice.
There is loads of new vocabulary up for grabs, grammar concepts and the spaced repetition system helps to get these new words and phrases into your memory.
There are also the Duolingo Stories, which help improve your reading and listening skills by working through short but interesting stories and answering comprehension questions.
So far so good, that’s a lot of language learning material, all for free! But what’s the payoff? Well, there are adverts, which most people are used to in apps.
Duolingo also uses a ‘lives’ or ‘hearts’ system whereby if you answer a question incorrectly, you lose a life / heart. You only have a limited number of hearts per day, which replenish at a rate of 1 heart every 4 hours. This can be frustrating when you’re trying to get through a difficult lesson.
Benefits of Super Duolingo
So now we know how much Super Duolingo costs, and how much they give us for free. But what are the benefits of Super Duolingo? In addition to the lessons described previously, you also get:
- No ads
- Unlimited hearts (lives)
- Personalised practice
Some of these features are more useful than others. Yes, ads are annoying, but they don’t really interfere with the usability of the app and most of us are used to ads on mobile apps.
The other interesting feature of the paid version is the ability to make unlimited mistakes. This is something I found really frustrating. You are enjoying a lesson and the feeling of progress, make one too many mistakes and that’s it! No more Duolingo for the day.
Each time you answer a question wrong, you’ll lose a life or heart. With a limited number of hearts available, having to stop a lesson halfway through is common. I find it really interrupts the flow of learning. Normally I would say that this is definitely a reason to pay for Super Duolingo, however there is a way around this…
Ready to finally master German sentence structure?
Download your German Sentence Structure Cheat Sheet for just $1 and get your sentences to flow naturally.
Tips To Avoid Super Duolingo Costs
There is an easy way to avoid the problem of having limited hearts on Duolingo. Use the desktop version. When you log in to your account online using a PC or laptop you get all the usual features of Duolingo, but there are no hearts (lives). You can sit at your PC all day playing Duolingo without ever having to worry about running out of hearts.
Unfortunately this only works for PCs and laptops. If you’re using a tablet which runs the app, you’ll still have to work with hearts. Of course, the appeal of Duolingo is that you can take it with you anywhere, so this may not be suitable for everyone. However if you’re really dedicated to using Duolingo and don’t want the Super Duolingo costs, this is a good option to consider.
If you’re sticking with the app version, you can earn extra hearts by practicing previous lessons. Each lesson practiced will earn 1 heart. Alternatively, hearts are refilled at a rate of 1 heart every 4 hours.
Is Super Duolingo Worth the Money?
In my honest opinion, it’s not worth paying $6.99 per month for Super Duolingo. While there are some benefits, Duolingo is a totally free app that provides a huge amount of learning resources at no cost. If you are totally hooked on it, and you want to use the app without running out of hearts, then maybe it would be worth it for you.
However for the vast majority of language learners, the free version of Duolingo works well, and there are few reasons to actually pay any money out to use it.
My Choice
- Engaging, gamified language learning app
- State of the art speech recognition software
- Conversation focused curriculum
I am on 587 days in a row with Duolingo French and I paid them for a year in advance . It is totally worth it, and I hate ads. I am totally rocking French thanks to this app
I don’t know how to replenish hearts. They have suddenly appeared from nowhere. I see above its by doing some practice sessions. Where do I find them? I would also like to have the Ipswich back! They seem to have disappeared. Gail
Click on the heart at the top right, and that will take you to a practice session. Complete a session for one heart, and then watch an ad for another one.
Use Russian VPN and you will get unlimited hearts for free. Although ads will still be there