With cheeky mascot Duo the owl enticing over 500 million total signups, Duolingo has ignited a global craze for gamified language learning. Thanks to bite-sized lessons, motivating achievement badges, and easy vocabulary building, it‘s easy to see why Duolingo pulls in over 2.5 million active subscribers.
But did you know Duolingo also offers a paid subscription option called Super Duolingo removing ads and providing bonus features?
If you‘re enjoying Duolingo so far but want to upgrade the experience, that‘s exactly what we‘ll unpack today:
- What Super Duolingo adds over free Duolingo
- Which languages it can teach you
- How much it really costs
- Whether upgrades like personalized lessons are worth paying for
After analyzing all the core features, pricing tiers, and real user reviews across the web, I‘ll give you my verdict on if shelling out for Super Duolingo makes sense based on your learning style and goals.
Let‘s dive in!
Wait, What is Super Duolingo Again? A Quick Explainer
Before comparing free vs paid Duolingo plans, let‘s quickly summarize what Super Duolingo even is!
Known formally as Duolingo Plus until a 2022 rebrand, Super Duolingo is Duolingo‘s premium subscription offering ad-free lessons, unlimited "hearts" so you can learn without timed breaks, and personalized recommendations to boost weak areas.
For $6.99-$9.99 monthly, it ultimately promises a more focused learning experience.
But just how "super" are the upgrades really? And could free Duolingo potentially teach you just the same? We‘ll analyze whether the perks add up later on.
First, let‘s see how Super Duolingo differs from standard Duolingo across some major categories:
Free vs Paid Duolingo: What‘s Actually Different?
While you still access the full Duolingo language catalog of 39 tongues with a free or paid subscription, a few key features set them apart:
Unlimited Lessons
Duolingo uses a "heart" system where after 5 mistakes, you lose a heart and must wait hours to earn more without buying gems. This can severely slow down progress.
Super Duolingo provides unlimited lessons without waiting, so you can learn continuously every day.
Personalized Recommendations
Standard Duolingo follows generalized curriculum maps. However, Super Duolingo customizes your experience slightly based on trouble areas, repeating concepts you routinely get wrong.
Legendary Challenges
Upon completing Duolingo courses, Legendary Challenges test skills through difficult lessons spanning reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
Standard Duolingo charges gems for each attempt. Super Duolingo subscribers enjoy unlimited attempts.
Ad-Free Lessons
Finally, Super Duolingo removes all advertisements from lessons and app menus. So that‘s one less distraction!
Below summarizes what‘s equally included or exclusive to paid Super Duolingo:
| Standard | Super | |
|---|---|---|
| Core Language Lessons | ✅ | ✅ |
| Unlimited Hearts | ✅ | |
| Personalized Content | ✅ | |
| Legendary Attempts | 5 Free / Gems for More | Unlimited ✅ |
| Ad-Free Experience | ✅ |
So in essence, Super Duolingo accelerates progression by letting you learn without breaks, provides a bit more customization, and eliminates pesky ads.
But is losing hearts really detrimental enough to justify paying extra? And could the better consistency ultimately translate into better fluency over time?
To answer those questions, let‘s analyze some independent opinions on the value of upgrading:
Reviews Agree: Super Duolingo Offers "Nice Quality-of-Life" Perks Overall
Scouring blogs and app store reviews, current Super Duolingo subscribers widely agree:
- The unlimited hearts allow more convenient, focused practice time without breaks
- Removing ads cuts major distractions
- And skewing questions toward weaker areas is logically helpful
But most stop short of claiming the lessons themselves are superior or will single-handedly make you fluent.
As language blogger Lindsay Dow from Lindsay Does Languages puts it:
"I don‘t think any of Super Duolingo‘s features are absolutely essential, but they do add some nice quality-of-life improvements over the free version."
This sentiment echoes across most reviews. The perks feel worthwhile, especially eliminating ads. But content remains the same otherwise.
For travel blogger Asher Fergusson of Asher & Lyric, unlocking unlimited attempts at difficult Legendary Challenges proved the difference maker:
"I chose the yearly subscription for $84 ($7 / month) and have been happy with the unlimited hearts and ad-free experience. Being able to retry Legendary levels unlimited times for free has also been huge."
But is shelling out $7-$10 monthly worth just losing a few ads? Let‘s break down exact pricing next.
How Much Does Super Duolingo Cost? Pricing & Membership Options Explained
Super Duolingo offers two main subscription tiers:
👪 Family Plan
- Up to 6 people
- $9.99 / month
- Billed $119.99 / year
🙋♂️ Individual Plan
- 1 person
- $6.99 / month
- Cancel anytime
The Family Plan allows a primary account holder to add up to 5 additional "sub-accounts" for others, without needing to prove relationships.
However, note the $9.99 monthly fee is actually a mandatory 12-month commitment at $119.99 paid upfront.
The Individual Plan offers more flexibility at $6.99 per month with no yearly contract. You can cancel directly through your account settings.
Both memberships auto-renew by default, so be sure to toggle this off to avoid being charged indefinitely!
Now that we‘ve covered the core differences in features and pricing between free Duolingo, its Super paid offering, and what real users think, let‘s get into my own take:
Is Super Duolingo Worth Paying For? Here‘s My Verdict
I‘ll be straightforward with my opinion here as someone who has used Duolingo daily for years across 5 languages:
The ads are frustrating. I love the app otherwise. And I think most learners will appreciate Super Duolingo‘s quality-of-life upgrades.
Removing ads alone can justify $6.99 monthly in my book. When I‘m trying to cram in my daily French practice during lunch break at work, nothing‘s worse than 3 back-to-back promo videos killing my focus and time.
For context, Duolingo rolled out ads back in 2014. And they‘ve steadily increased in length year by year. Some now span 15-30 seconds and you can‘t skip them!
So from both distraction and convenience standpoints, I‘d happily pay $7 monthly just to control my learning pace without annoying pauses.
The extras like unlimited hearts and personalized tweaks are just cherries on top to me. Could I manage hearts responsibly on the free tier through discipline? Sure. But worrying about penalties causes anxiety versus just diving into lessons freely. And resourcefully using those slip-ups to reinforce my grammar weaknesses makes practical sense.
My friend Vivian who has used both Super Duolingo and standard Duolingo perhaps says it best:
"I used free Duolingo for years before trying out a Super Duolingo trial. And I don‘t think I can ever go back! I had no idea how much those ads affected my concentration until they disappeared. Now lessons feel calmer plus I pick up phrases way faster without losing hearts forcing long timeouts."
For Vivian, the gains in consistency and attention from upgrades directly impacted proficiency over time despite no fundamental changes in teaching methods themselves.
And this aligns broadly to most expert opinions…
Language Experts Agree: Fluency Requires More Than Any App Alone
While Super Duolingo may help progress basics marginally quicker, no app alone promises fluency without additional immersion.
As famed linguistics professor Dr. Jennifer Jenkins argues:
"Technology enables helpful vocab building through Duolingo and other programs. But conversational fluency requires authentic speaking and listening practice which applications don‘t provide meaningfully yet."
Duolingo competitor Busuu recently conducted a study comparing 96 hours of standard use to a combined approach with additional speaking practice. Shockingly, learnersfollowing the blended strategy tested 2-3x more proficient.
So if your standards involve fluid conversations, long-form writing, and advanced reading, expect supplementing with language meetups, news podcasts in your target tongue, italki tutoring, and other immersive resources.
Let‘s recap the main pros and cons of paying for Super Duolingo before wrapping up:
Super Duolingo Pros 👍
- No Pesky Ads – Worth it alone for uninterrupted lessons to me!
- Unlimited Hearts – More flexibility if you miss a day.
- Personalized Lessons – Handy for improving weak spots quicker.
Potential Cons 👎
- Same Core Content – Won‘t teach exclusive material unavailable to free subscribers.
- Expensive Yearly – $120 annually is steep for casual learners. The $7 monthly plan offers more flexibility.
- Fluency Unlikely – No app alone can promise fluency. Requires additional immersion.
So in summary:
If you appreciate Duolingo‘s style but want to own your learning pace without ads, hearts, or unnecessary breaks, Super Duolingo feels rewarding for $6.99 monthly.
Removing distractions can work magic improving lesson focus too!
But manage expectations around exclusive teaching methods or guaranteed fluid skills. Blended approaches work best leveraging apps plus conversation for big fluency gains.
Final Verdict: Who Should Buy Super Duolingo?
Casual learners on a budget are better off sticking to free Duolingo in my opinion.
The ads are annoying but with some patience hearts get the job done. And $120 yearly justifies more costs once vocabulary expands.
But dedicated daily Duolingo users tired of promotional interruptions will appreciate the unlimited, personalized lessons. Even 10 minutes daily freer from ads offers compounding dividends over time intrinsic motivation and acquring travel phrases quicker.
If that sounds like you, grab a one month trial of Super Duolingo. See if removing ads, customizable pacing, and bonus Legendary Challenges make your productive learning time feel less restricted.
For me, the quality-of-life improvements alone warrant $7 monthly. But make sure to weave in conversational practice too enroute to fluency!
Hope this Super Duolingo review gave you all the essential details to decide which Duolingo tier fits your learning priorities! Now go ace those new vocab lessons. 😎
