During this lock-down, I couldn’t make time-related excuses to myself whenever I wanted to learn a new skill. As a result, I spent the next few minutes researching a good skill to learn during a lockdown.
To my surprise, 8 times out of 10, language learning appeared in the top 3 skills to learn when you can’t step out of your house. The universe was giving me a sign here.
As I was committed to learning Spanish, it didn’t take me long to find the perfect mobile app that could help me learn a new language on the go.
It was none other than the Duolingo language learning app! As usual, this app grabbed my attention, and when I dug a little deeper into its features and benefits, I found out that it’s the perfect opportunity for anyone looking to learn a new language.
With the language learning market quietly taking a gargantuan shape, the online language market is set to grow like never before. This translates into one clear conclusion: if you’re an entrepreneur looking to enter a thriving market, you should know how to develop a language learning app like Duolingo.
In this article, I’m going to help you explore almost every aspect of Duolingo’s app development, including market analysis, core features, development costs, and much more with custom elearning software development.
For those who aren’t familiar with the Duolingo language app or wondering how to make an app like Duolingo, let’s start with a brief introduction to an incredible language learning tool that has become a favorite of millions of users worldwide.
If you’ve been thinking about how to create an app like Duolingo this guide will provide you with the insights, you need to get started.
Imagine the idea of the coolest language app in the whole wide world. What traits would it possess? Like, fun ways to teach new languages and support dozens of languages, right?
Well, Duolingo is way ahead in this game too. Duolingo was launched in 2011 with a simple thought to quench the thirst for language learning for millions of people on the go.
The mobile app has a well-known logo of a cute-looking plump green owl with a golden beak. Duolingo supports almost all the famous languages that people want to learn.
With gamification of the learning process, Duolingo helps learners to learn their favorite language in interactive sessions that are quick and engaging.
Besides learning, Duolingo has been leveraging essential features like push notifications to keep the learners on track and motivate them to learn regularly. And surprisingly, people do obey the notifications from Duolingo.
Personally, in my busy day of searching for new topics to write about, having an app that reminds me to catch up on the Spanish course is a blessing in disguise.
Let’s find out how promising is the performance of Duolingo in the real world. It will clear the picture of whether you should develop a language learning app like Duolingo or not.
According to Forbes, Duolingo supports more languages than any of its competitors, i.e. approximately 34.
It comprises not only the highly speaking language like English, Spanish, French, and Chinese, but also a little speaking language like Hawaiian, Gaelic, and Navajo.
But that’s not it, Duolingo also supports language from fictional worlds as well, like it supports High Valyrian from the blockbuster TV show on HBO, Game of Thrones. Currently, over 1.2 million users are learning this language.
During the first quarter of 2024, Duolingo had approximately 103.6 million monthly active users (MAUs) of the app. This represented an increase of around 40 percent compared to the corresponding quarter in 2023. Between the third quarter of 2020 and the beginning of 2024, Duolingo’s monthly active users experienced a growth trend.
The current success already seems overwhelming for a top app like Duolingo which has touched the paramount of a growth that many start-ups can only think of. But still, there is plenty of room for growth in the world where people just cannot stop demolishing their language barriers.
In fact, aside from using language learning apps, they increasingly turn to on-demand remote interpreting to facilitate communication in another language.
According to Forbes, over 2 billion people are learning foreign languages worldwide and they are moving to online platforms at a rapid pace. With the global pandemic due to COVID-19, people are getting dependent on online platforms for their even major learning programs.
This will give a boost to online learning platforms like never before. As far as the revenue is concerned, digital language learning yields revenue of over $6 billion every year, and this number is projected to grow to around $8.7 billion by 2025.
Hence, we can safely say that the market still has plenty of room to offer a healthy competition for online language learning platforms, which gives you a green signal to start building your own language learning mobile app like Duolingo, hopefully even better than Duolingo.
These language learning apps are the top language learning apps.. Have a look-
Now let’s find out how Duolingo earns profit with the mobile app. So far you might have got an idea of the possible revenue models of Duolingo.
If now, don’t worry, we will talk dedicated to it now, as choosing the right pricing strategy is a must for your mobile app project.
For an app like Duolingo that offers online educational services, there are two major revenue models-
The most famous version of Duolingo is the free version that offers its language learning services for free but shows some 3rd party ads within the app. From these ads, Duolingo company earns a significant amount of annual revenue.
The best part of this revenue model is that it attracts more users to the app. Because in exchange for a few intrusive ads the app offers its premium services for free.
Hence, it not only attracts free users but is also a great way to attract some potential paid users as well.
In the year 2018, the annual revenue of Duolingo hit the $36 million mark. However, the founder Luis von Ahn had claimed that despite the low number of paid subscribers Duolingo is going to bag $160 million in revenue by the end of the year 2020 as more users will show interest in paying for the premium version of the app.
The best part about the subscription model of the ad-free model is that it unlocks some exclusive features of the app and turns off all those disturbing ads to elicit a great and uninterrupted language learning experience for the users. Also, it makes users feel special as well.
Hence, both revenue models have their own merits and both attract a different category of users while making money anyways. This is why Duolingo incorporates both types of revenue models.
Therefore, it becomes crucial for you to understand and study both revenue models for your own language learning mobile app like Duolingo.
When developing apps like Duolingo, it’s essential to integrate certain key features that contribute to a seamless and engaging user experience. These features help users stay motivated, track progress, and continuously improve their language skills. Here’s a brief explanation of some of the core features you might want to consider, based on Duolingo app features:
A user profile is crucial in any language learning app, including apps like Duolingo. It allows learners to customize their learning journey, track their progress, and set personal goals. In the profile section, users can adjust their settings (such as notification preferences, difficulty levels, or language choices) to tailor the app to their needs. Apps similar to Duolingo should ensure that users can easily access and manage their profiles to enhance the learning experience.
The core of any language learning app is the course structure. Duolingo app features include structured lessons that are divided into levels, allowing users to gradually progress from beginner to advanced. Each level introduces new vocabulary, grammar, and phrases, providing a logical and manageable progression. When developing a language learning app like Duolingo, it’s important to create a course framework that guides users through lessons while allowing for flexibility in learning.
To reinforce learning, apps like Duolingo use regular practice sessions that help users revisit and retain vocabulary and grammar. The language practice and revision feature are designed to remind users to practice what they’ve learned previously, ensuring that information stays fresh and prevents skills from deteriorating. It can benefit from integrating spaced repetition systems, where earlier lessons are periodically revisited to aid long-term retention.
Push notifications are a key feature in Duolingo app. They help encourage daily practice by reminding users to continue learning, setting reminders for new lessons, or celebrating achievements. For apps like Duolingo, push notifications can be customized based on user activity, such as daily streaks or new lessons available. This is a great way to keep users engaged and motivated to continue their language learning journey.
One of the most engaging aspects is gamification. Duolingo uses elements like earning rewards, completing daily challenges, and leveling up to keep users motivated. By adding game-like features, such as points, badges, leaderboards, and progress tracking, a language learning app like Duolingo can make the learning process more fun and competitive. Gamification can turn a mundane task into an enjoyable challenge, which is especially important when users are learning something new.
Social media integration allows users to share their progress, achievements, or language learning milestones on their social media accounts. This not only helps to create a sense of community but also provides an opportunity to grow through word-of-mouth and user-generated content. By integrating with platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, apps similar to Duolingo can increase user engagement and broaden their reach.
Voice recognition technology is a standout feature in Duolingo app. It allows users to practice pronunciation by speaking into their device. The app listens and provides feedback, helping learners improve their speaking skills. For anyone looking to create an app like Duolingo, incorporating voice recognition can significantly enhance the learning experience, particularly for those focusing on mastering correct pronunciation and fluency. This feature also adds an interactive element to the lessons, making it more engaging and effective.
Now that you have made up your mind to develop the best language learning mobile app like Duolingo, it is time to find the right mobile app development partner for successful execution to develop language learning app like duolingo.
And the dilemma also lies in whether to choose freelance mobile app developers or a reputed mobile app development company.
The choice becomes even tougher in the time of the global pandemic or the post-pandemic era. Because the world is not the same as it was before.
Anyways, let’s shed some light on both options.
This option is great for the risk-takers. However, this option could be a reckless choice if not paid attention wisely.
The freelance mobile app developers can develop your language learning mobile app for a relatively lower app development cost. or you could lose your time and money both on some untrustworthy freelance developer. Hence, you should always play your cards right.
If you can find some really trustworthy freelance developers or white label language learning app developers, then go for it. But it is highly unlikely because good freelance developers always seem to start their own companies.
There are some problems with freelance developers, you might have issues related to punctuality, discipline, and even professionalism.
However, not all freelancers are alike some are really professional and do their job honestly, but for that, you need to do your homework very hard.
Where freelancers work for money to pay bills, mobile app development companies work for building a sustainable reputation in the market, and of course money as well.
The only drawback with a good mobile app development company is that you have to pay a little bit more for your online language learning mobile app development.
Somehow, that extra money that you pay is also quite justified when you are getting trust, loyalty, great quality of work, and guaranteed professional support, all within the development price you pay with certainty as well.
If you want to find the best mobile app development companies you can always find them on trusted websites like Clutch and GoodFirms.
However, if you want to save your precious time then you can directly contact our professionals here.
You and I both can agree on one thing a great mobile development depends on a great team.
In order to ensure a flawless development process, you need to make sure every element responsible for seamless mobile app development is present in your mobile app development team.
Because the right mobile app development will not only work on your idea, even they will incorporate their experience and technological prowess to polish the idea in order to make it ready for the market.
Choosing the right technology for the app development, and understanding the trajectory of your vision are some of the perks that you can only enjoy if you are partnered with the right team.
What are the essential elements of this team that can make the language learning mobile app development process so smooth that it is ready for the market competition? Let’s find out in the list given below:
When at least this many team members are involved in your language learning app development process then you can rest assured.
For creating a language app like Duolingo, you need the latest tech stack. Let us give you a brief on that.
Usually, this section can be taken care of by the team you are working with for your language learning mobile app development. But I guess, giving you a head start about this process wouldn’t hurt at all to create app like duolingo.
Whenever you start any development process of any type of mobile app, you always have two options to start with, either you choose native mobile app development or a hybrid mobile app development platform or can even get in touch with elearning app development company as well.
Now let’s understand the difference in a little bit of contrast here:
In simple words, the Native platform means individually developing apps for mobile platforms like Android app development and iOS app development. This means a separate app development process for each mobile platform. This means two simultaneous processes and more development costs.
But it also means mobile OS-level of compatibility, more stability, and consistency. If you want to rise above just delivering services to your customer and want to deliver a true learning experience then you must go for this option.
As you can guess, it is a much cheaper and time-saving option for you to develop your language learning mobile app for both platforms like Android and iOS. This method allows you to develop your language mobile app for both major mobile platforms at the same time.
Hence, the development cost would be lower so would the performance and native compatibility of the OS. The app will do its job perfectly fine but it would be as polished as the native mobile app.
So whatever suits your priority, just go with it. Now is the time for the most anticipated question.
Well, the answer is a little more complicated than the question. But we will get our answer soon once we understand what goes into determining the duolingo like app development cost. To find out that, let’s talk about the factors that vary the cost of the development of a mobile app.
Yes, most of the time it is the ideation process of the project that alters the project budget by a large margin. Because it is the time when the client and development team actually determine the scale of the project with elearning app development.
This is the process where the big decisions are made like the trajectory of the project, the development period, technologies involved, 3rd party APIs, etc.
No one actually realizes it but many times the last-minute changes are done within the product development cycle of the app development. The thing is, mobile app development takes a significant amount of time.
There are months involved in the entire process. Therefore, it is natural that either clients or developers can come across some last-minute suggestions that can increase or reduce the cost of development. So, you must always make some extra room for this flexibility in this process.
Technologies like the development platforms, APIs, themes, designs, licenses, and many other technologies are costly and required to be purchased for your mobile app development.
Since, just like any other product in the market, these technologies also come in various qualities and capacities. Hence, the overall cost of development is also determined by the choice of development as well.
We have talked about it earlier in this blog, but let’s talk about it one more time because it is relevant here. Whether you choose a hybrid or native app development or cross-app development, it affects the overall cost of mobile development.
Features are the most essential part of any mobile app. Hence, for your language learning mobile app development, you must incorporate all the best features in it. Sometimes each feature can require its own API which costs a certain amount of money.
Hence, choosing between a fully-fledged mobile app or MVP model can also determine the cost of your mobile app development.
Last but not the least, geographical location is one of the biggest factors that can affect the overall cost of your language learning app development. Different countries in the world have their own different economical condition, that determines the hourly working cost of their developers.
Although, this has nothing to do with the overall quality of work. Of such differences in economies, often clients from western countries prefer to get their apps developed in Asian countries like India.
In contrast, the hourly charge of a developer in the USA is somewhere around $180 – $220, whereas it is $140 – $180 in Europe, the same hourly charge in Australia is around $120 – $180.
However, the same hourly cost in India is somewhere around $40 – $120. It is a difference of a huge margin and it can change the mobile app development cost in 2022 by a huge factor.
Now coming to the final answer to our question. So, let’s assume a scenario, where you are developing an MVP model of your app with normal features just to make do its job, and you are developing it only for one platform. Then the estimated cost of language learning mobile apps like Duolingo would be around $65,000 to $85,000.
In the modern world, people are not only developing their apps for only Android and iOS, but they are also developing their apps for wearables and AR/VR devices as well to take interactivity to a whole new level.
So, this was everything you needed to know before you dip your toe into developing your own language learning mobile app like Duolingo.
In this highly dynamic e-learning market, numerous apps and elearning management systems are gaining popularity and acceptance among the masses, with Duolingo being one such learning app that is gaining significant momentum.
Since the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for e-learning app development has been skyrocketing, driving unprecedented growth in the revenue of EdTech organizations. As a result, the language learning segment has seen a massive uptick, and apps like Duolingo are thriving in this digital transformation era.
Duolingo is efficiently leveraging the abilities of AR/VR technologies to enhance the overall language immersion process, making learning more interactive and engaging.
If you are planning to develop a language learning app like Duolingo, you must consider the aforementioned factors such as immersive technologies, monetization strategies, and features that cater to user needs and preferences.
To create a language learning app like Duolingo, define your target audience, choose languages, integrate features like gamification, voice recognition, progress tracking, and spaced repetition. Choose the right tech stack (e.g., React Native, AWS) and ensure regular updates for user engagement and retention.
The cost to develop an app like Duolingo can range from $30,000 to $200,000, depending on features, complexity, and the development team’s location. Native apps for both iOS and Android, along with advanced features (speech recognition, gamification), will increase development and maintenance costs.
Duolingo-like apps make language learning accessible, fun, and interactive with gamification, personalized learning paths, and instant feedback. They help users stay motivated through rewards, progress tracking, and daily reminders, while supporting on-the-go learning, boosting retention, and making learning a language engaging and efficient.
Jeeto11
The app quickly earned over 1,000 downloads within two months of launch, and users have responded positively. ARKA Softwares boasted experienced resources who were happy to share their knowledge with the internal team.
Archithrones
While the development is ongoing, the client is pleased with the work thus far, which has met expectations. ARKA Softwares puts the needs of the client first, remaining open to feedback on their work. Their team is adaptable, responsive, and hard-working.
Service Provider
I started my project with Arka Softwares because it is a reputed company. And when I started working with them for my project, I found out that they have everything essential for my work. The app is still under development and but quite confident and it will turn out to be the best.
