Right, let’s be honest with each other for a second. If your house is anything like mine, there is a small green owl living inside a phone somewhere, and that owl has Opinions. Duolingo is brilliant — genuinely — and it has done more to make language learning feel normal and fun than almost anything else out there. But after a while, even my two started doing that glazed-over thing where they’re tapping through lessons without actually noticing any Spanish going in. Same colours, same little ping noises, same owl guilt-tripping them at teatime.
Here’s the thing nobody tells you: there is no single perfect app. Children learn languages the way they learn everything else — through repetition, novelty, songs, silliness, stories, and a hundred tiny exposures from different angles. Variety isn’t a luxury, it’s basically the whole strategy. One app for vocabulary, another for listening, a cartoon-based one for the days when their brain is fried — that mix does far more than grinding the same green streak for 300 days straight.
So this isn’t a list of Duolingo-killers, because I don’t think Duolingo needs killing. It’s a list of the apps I’d actually put alongside it — the ones worth a slot on the family tablet. I’ve checked all of these are still going in 2026 (the language-app graveyard is real — RIP Mindsnacks, which used to be on this list and quietly disappeared years ago), and I’ve been honest about what’s free, what costs, and what’s frankly a bit of a faff. No toxic positivity, no “this changed our lives” nonsense. Just the mum take.
How to choose the right app for your child
Before you download seven apps in a fit of New Year energy (guilty), it’s worth thinking about what actually fits your child and your household. A few honest questions to ask yourself:
- How old are they, really? A non-reading three-year-old needs something built around pictures, songs and tapping. An eight-year-old can handle proper structured lessons. An app aimed at the wrong age will either bore them or baffle them — and then it gets blamed forever.
- What language are you actually after? Some apps do one language brilliantly; others do forty. If you specifically want Welsh, or Polish for the grandparents, or Mandarin, check it’s properly supported before you commit — not just listed.
- Free, freemium, or full subscription? “Free” apps usually mean ads, daily limits, or a polite-but-persistent nudge to upgrade. That’s fine — just go in with your eyes open so you’re not surprised by a charge.
- Screen time and how it feels. An app that’s mostly a passive cartoon is a different beast from one that asks your child to speak, choose and think. Both have their place, but know which you’re handing over.
- Their learning style. Some kids love a points-and-streaks game. Others switch off the second it feels like maths homework and just want a story. You know yours.
My honest advice: pick two, maybe three. One “lesson-y” one and one “telly-ish” one is a lovely combination. And if you want the full breakdown of where the actual Duolingo Kids app sits in all this, I’ve written a proper Duolingo for Kids review separately — worth a read before you decide what to pair it with.
The 10 best language learning apps for kids (that aren’t Duolingo)
In no strict order of brilliance — because the “best” one genuinely depends on your child’s age and the language you’re after — here are the ten I’d happily recommend.
1. Gus on the Go
Ages: roughly 2–6. Best for: a gentle, no-pressure first taste of a language for little ones.
Gus on the Go is a sweet, simple app built around Gus the owl (yes, another owl — they do love an owl) taking your child on a little journey through themed vocabulary: animals, food, colours, body parts, that sort of thing. It teaches around 100 core words across ten lessons, then reinforces them with tidy little games. What makes it stand out is the language range — it covers a genuinely impressive spread, well beyond the usual Spanish-and-French, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Hebrew, Polish and more. Brilliant if you want a less mainstream language for a toddler.
It’s a paid app, but it’s a one-off purchase per language rather than a subscription, which I really appreciate — no monthly creep. Each language is bought separately.
The mum take: Don’t expect fluency — it’s a vocabulary starter, not a course, and once they’ve done the lessons there isn’t masses of depth. But for a preschooler, and especially for a harder-to-find language, it’s lovely, calm and good value. Have a look at Gus on the Go here.
2. LingoPie Kids
Ages: roughly 4–10 (and honestly the grown-ups too). Best for: learning through cartoons and telly without the guilt.
LingoPie’s whole idea is learning a language by watching real shows in it, with clever interactive subtitles you can tap for instant translations. LingoPie Kids is the family-friendly corner of that — cartoons, kids’ shows and films, currently focused on Spanish, in a safe space designed for children. If your child is going to watch something anyway, having it be a Spanish cartoon they can actually follow is a genuinely nice trick.
It’s subscription-based with a free trial, and the subscription covers the whole platform — so the same account works for you learning French in the evening as for them watching Spanish cartoons after school. Decent value if more than one of you uses it. They’ve also added a browser extension that brings the tap-to-translate trick to Netflix, which is a fun bonus.
The mum take: It’s more “absorb” than “study” — they’re listening and picking things up rather than doing drills, so I’d treat it as the listening half of your mix, not the only thing. But for screen time you can feel slightly smug about, it’s hard to beat. Try LingoPie here.
3. Drops
Ages: best for confident readers, so roughly 8+ and teens. Best for: fast, addictive vocabulary building.
Drops is the prettiest app on this list — slick, fast, beautifully illustrated, all swiping and matching with no fiddly typing. It covers an enormous range of languages (well over 40) and is purely about vocabulary: you build up words and phrases through quick, game-like exercises. Older kids who like things snappy tend to genuinely enjoy it.
The free version is famously firm about it — you get short daily sessions with a built-in time limit, which honestly works as accidental screen-time control. The paid upgrade removes the limit, opens up all the topics at once and drops the ads. There’s a monthly, yearly or lifetime option.
The mum take: It does one thing — vocabulary — and does it beautifully, but it won’t teach grammar or sentence-building, so it’s a supplement, not a course. For an older child or teen, the five-minute free version is genuinely a nice little daily habit and costs you nothing. Download Drops here.
4. Little Pim
Ages: 0–6, with separate tracks for 0–2 and 3–6. Best for: babies, toddlers and very young children.
Little Pim is the proper veteran here, built specifically for the very youngest. It uses short, gentle five-minute videos starring Little Pim the panda, with native speakers introducing around 360 foundational words and phrases through everyday situations. It covers a solid spread of languages — Spanish, French, Mandarin, Italian, German, Japanese, Arabic and more — and the method is designed to mirror how children absorb their first language.
It’s a subscription service with a free trial, and one subscription unlocks all the languages. Worth knowing: some UK and US libraries offer it free through Mango Languages, so it’s genuinely worth checking your library card before you pay.
The mum take: It is very much in the “watch and absorb” camp — calm, screen-led, not interactive — so don’t expect your toddler to be doing anything clever, they’re just soaking it up. But for a baby or toddler, that’s exactly right. Check your library first. See Little Pim here.
5. Memrise
Ages: best for teens and tweens, roughly 11+. Best for: hearing how a language sounds from real people.
Memrise’s signature feature is its huge library of short clips of native speakers — real humans, in the street, saying real things — which is brilliant for getting an ear for how a language actually sounds rather than the polished app-voice version. It covers over 30 languages and has leaned hard into AI lately, with chatbot “Buddies” for conversation practice, grammar help and role-play.
There’s a free tier that gives you a decent run of basic lessons and some of the native-speaker clips. The Pro subscription unlocks everything, including the AI conversation features and offline mode.
The mum take: This one’s squarely for older children — it looks and feels more like a grown-up tool, and a young child would be lost. But for a teen doing GCSE Spanish or French, those real-speaker clips are honestly more useful than another textbook, and the free tier alone is worth a download. Explore Memrise here.
6. Babbel
Ages: 8+ and teens (it needs confident reading and writing). Best for: structured, proper lessons for an older child who’s serious about it.
Babbel is the most “grown-up course” on this list, and that’s a compliment. It offers around 14 languages and teaches through short, well-built lessons — usually around 15 minutes — that cover vocabulary, grammar and useful real-world conversation, all designed by actual language experts. It’s not a game with language sprinkled on; it’s a course.
Because it leans heavily on reading and writing, it isn’t suitable for children who can’t yet read confidently — Babbel itself recommends 8 and up. It’s a subscription service, and older students may be able to find a discounted student rate.
The mum take: For a younger child this is the wrong tool — too text-heavy, not enough sparkle. But for a motivated tween or teen, particularly one with exams on the horizon, it’s the most genuinely educational option here, and it actually builds the ability to hold a conversation. Take a look at Babbel here.
7. FunEasyLearn
Ages: flexible — roughly 6+, and great for the whole family. Best for: a genuinely generous free option with a massive word bank.
FunEasyLearn is the quiet overachiever. It covers around 34 languages, teaches a huge 11,000-plus words and phrases through reading, listening, writing and speaking games, and — crucially — works offline. It’s organised neatly into topics and difficulty levels, so it grows with your child rather than being a one-and-done.
The free version is unusually generous: instead of paying, you earn in-app “flowers” through play and spend those to keep unlocking content. So you genuinely can use it for free indefinitely if you don’t mind the slower pace. There’s an optional paid upgrade — a one-off lifetime purchase or a term subscription — that just removes the grind.
The mum take: The sheer amount of content is the headline, but it can feel a touch list-like — more “learn 50 animal words” than a flowing story or course. Still, for a free app it’s remarkably good, and the offline mode is a godsend on long car journeys. Try FunEasyLearn here.
8. Endless Spanish
Ages: 3–6. Best for: tiny ones, if Spanish is your language.
Endless Spanish comes from the team behind the much-loved Endless Alphabet, and it has the same gorgeous, gently funny style — wobbly little monsters, words that spring to life, that lovely satisfying drag-the-letters-into-place mechanic. It teaches frequently used Spanish words in context, with a real focus on charm over cramming. Small children adore the monsters.
It’s free to download to try, with in-app purchases to unlock the full set of word packs — so think of it as free-to-sample with a paid upgrade.
The mum take: It only does Spanish, and it’s firmly a vocabulary toy rather than a course, so it won’t take a child far on its own. But for a three- or four-year-old, the production quality and sheer joy of it make it one of the most genuinely delightful apps here. See Endless Spanish here.
9. Lingokids
Ages: 2–8. Best for: English-language playlearning across loads of subjects, not just words.
Lingokids is enormous — over 25 million families use it — and it’s a slightly different animal. It’s an English-language “playlearning” app, so as well as language it weaves in early maths, literacy, science and social-emotional skills like sharing and empathy, through more than 1,600 games, songs, audiobooks and activities. It’s ad-free and properly designed for small children to navigate by themselves. The clever bit is how it scales: a two-year-old bops along to songs while a seven-year-old does curriculum-style lessons.
There’s a free version, but it’s quite limited — a handful of activities a day. The full library needs a subscription.
The mum take: One honest caveat — Lingokids is primarily about learning in English and building early skills, so if you specifically want your child speaking French or Spanish, this isn’t your main tool. But for English-language enrichment, or for a child learning English as an additional language, it’s polished, safe and genuinely lovely. Have a look at Lingokids here.
10. Dino Lingo
Ages: 2–14. Best for: an all-rounder that actually covers the whole childhood — and our pick to replace the long-gone Mindsnacks.
This is the one I’ve added in place of Mindsnacks, which sadly closed down years ago, and honestly Dino Lingo is a worthy upgrade. It’s a proper kids’ all-rounder: videos, songs, games, stories and printable worksheets, all wrapped in a dinosaur-collecting reward system that my two would happily lose an afternoon to. The headline is the range — around 50 languages, from Spanish and French right through to Welsh, Swahili and beyond — which makes it genuinely useful for families wanting something less mainstream.
It’s subscription-based with a free trial, and one subscription covers up to six children with their own profiles — so it’s surprisingly good value for a bigger family or for cousins to share. It’s clear-eyed about what it does, too: it focuses on building solid vocabulary and confidence rather than promising fluency.
The mum take: The one drawback is the obvious one for any app — there’s no real human to ask when your child gets stuck. But as a flexible, child-friendly base that works from toddler right up to secondary age, across an enormous range of languages, it’s the most “grows with the family” option on this list. Take a look at Dino Lingo here.
How to help your child actually stick with it
Downloading the app is the easy bit. Anyone can do that on a hopeful Sunday evening. Keeping it going past week three is where it all falls down — so here’s what’s actually worked in our house, minus the Pinterest gloss.
- Tiny and daily beats long and occasional. Five honest minutes a day will quietly outrun a heroic 45-minute session once a fortnight. Children’s brains thrive on little, frequent doses — and five minutes is gloriously easy to stick to.
- Anchor it to something that already happens. After teeth, before the bedtime story. In the car on the school run. Right after breakfast. Bolting a new habit onto an existing one is the single most reliable trick there is.
- Let the language leak out of the app. Count the stairs in Spanish. Name the dog’s breakfast in French. Stick a couple of labels on things. The app plants the seed; real life is where it actually takes root.
- Do it with them, at least sometimes. You don’t need to be any good — being visibly worse than them is honestly a gift, because children adore correcting a parent. It turns “homework” into a game you’re both losing.
- Let them have a say. If they’ve quietly gone off an app, don’t force the streak. Switch it. The goal is a child who enjoys languages, not a child who’s been worn down by one.
- Don’t panic over slow weeks. Some weeks nothing visible goes in. That’s normal — it’s not failure, it’s just how learning looks from the outside. Keep the habit gently ticking and the progress catches up.
Frequently asked questions
What age should kids start learning a language?
Honestly, whenever you like — there’s no magic window you’ve missed. Very young children pick up accents and sounds with that effortless ease we all envy, so early exposure is genuinely lovely if it suits your family. But older children and teens learn faster in other ways, because they can grasp grammar and patterns. The “best age” is simply whatever age your child is right now. Starting today always beats waiting for the perfect moment.
Are free apps good enough?
For most families, yes — at least to begin with. Free tiers and freemium apps like FunEasyLearn, Drops or the basic versions of Memrise will absolutely give your child a real, useful start, and there’s no sense paying for a subscription before you even know they’ll stick with it. The honest catch is that free versions usually mean ads, daily limits or unlocking content slowly. If your child genuinely catches the bug, that’s the moment a paid upgrade starts to earn its keep — not before.
How much screen time is OK for this?
A sensible chunk of an app like this is “active” screen time — your child is choosing, listening, speaking and thinking — which sits very differently from passively scrolling. That said, it still counts. A realistic aim for most children is somewhere around 10 to 20 minutes a day, and short daily sessions are better for learning anyway. If you’re using a more telly-style app like LingoPie or Little Pim, just fold that into your usual screen-time thinking rather than treating it as a free pass.
Can an app actually make my child fluent?
No — and any app promising that is having you on. What apps do brilliantly is build vocabulary, train the ear, and most importantly keep a child interested in a language. Real fluency comes from using it: conversation, travel, family, a class, time. Think of these apps as the spark and the daily habit, not the whole fire.
A final word
The big secret is that there isn’t a perfect app, and chasing one will only drive you a bit mad. What actually works is a small, sensible mix — a lesson-y app and a telly-ish one, five honest minutes most days, and a parent who’s relaxed enough to let it be fun rather than another box to tick. Some weeks it’ll click; some weeks it won’t, and that’s completely fine. You’re not raising a tiny diplomat by Friday — you’re just giving your child a warm, low-pressure introduction to the idea that the world speaks in lots of lovely different ways. Pick one or two from this list, keep it light, and let the green owl have a well-earned rest.
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