Super Duolingo Review (UPDATED 2023) – Is The Premium Tier Worth It?

Whether you’re new to Duolingo or a seasoned veteran, you might be wondering whether Super Duolingo – Duolingo’s premium subscription service – is worth the cost.

Given Duolingo is renowned for being one of the best ways to learn a language for free, so it’s natural to wonder what more Super Duolingo could provide.

Super Duolingo has been around for almost a year now, and while it hasn’t changed that much, there are a few little tweaks that need to be discussed to help you inform your decision.

In this review, we’ll look at:

• What Super Duolingo is, how it differs to the free membership, and how it differs to Duolingo Plus
• How to get Super Duolingo on mobile and desktop
• How much Super Duolingo costs in different regions, as well as ways to get it cheaper
• Why you might resist subscribing to Super Duolingo
• What you currently get with Super Duolingo and why you should consider subscribing
• Finally, an in-depth set of considerations to help you decide whether to subscribe

So, is Super Duolingo worth it in 2023?

Let’s dive in!

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What is Super Duolingo?

Super Duolingo is Duolingo’s premium subscription. It replaced Duolingo Plus in 2022, giving the owl a futuristic makeover.

As you’d expect from a premium subscription, it opens the door to some fancy new features that you don’t get with the free version, and also gets rid of some annoying ones.

That’s pretty much all there is to it.

Is Super Duolingo the same as Duolingo Plus?

If you’re familiar with Duolingo Plus, which was the previous iteration of Duolingo’s premium service, then you might be wondering what the difference is.

For the most part, Super Duolingo and Duolingo Plus are identical.

All the features are exactly the same. The only difference is the name and the theme — Super Duolingo swaps out the spacey, galactic vibe of Plus for a more colourful, futuristic appearance.

How to get Super Duolingo

As of February 2023, Super Duolingo is available for most Duolingo users.

However, it appears that Duolingo may still offer Duolingo Plus in some regions.

Either way, the good news is that everyone will have the option to upgrade to a premium membership. Most will get Super. But some may get Plus.

Keep in mind that the two memberships are exactly the same. They cost the same and you get the same features. They just look different and have different names. That’s it.

Mobile

Upgrading to Super Duolingo is really easy on mobile.

In this example, I’ll walk you through how to upgrade on IOS. The process may differ slightly on Android devices, but it should be similar for the most part!

You’ll be prompted to enter your payment details, after which your free trial will start. At the end of your free trial, you will convert to the paid plan unless you cancel beforehand.

Desktop

If you’re signing up for Super Duolingo on desktop, the main difference is you’ll be paying Duolingo directly rather than through the App Store/Google Play Store.

Other than this, the process is pretty much the same!

How much does Super Duolingo cost?

The cost of Super Duolingo depends on a few things, such as where you are, how long you subscribe for, and whether you go for an individual or family plan.

These are the updated prices for 2023:

• In the USA, Super Duolingo starts from $6.99 per month.
• In the UK, Super Duolingo starts from £4.99 per month.
• In Australia, Super Duolingo starts from $10.83 AUD per month.
• In Canada, Super Duolingo starts from $9.99 CAD per month.
• In the EU, Super Duolingo starts from €7.33 per month.

This is based on taking out a 12-month subscription. You can also get monthly subscriptions that will cost a bit more per month.

There is currently no lifetime plan for Super Duolingo.

Super Duolingo Family Plan

One way to slash the cost of Super Duolingo is to sign up for a Family Plan.

The Family Plan lets you club together with up to 5 other people — friends or family — to save on the yearly cost of Super Duolingo.

The savings can be huuuuuuge.

For instance, in the UK, a Family Plan will set you back £89.99 for the year.

Wait, isn’t Duolingo supposed to be free?

Yes, Duolingo is 100% free. Super Duolingo is simply an optional bolt-on.

The free membership comes with all the essentials, such as complete language paths, stories, audio lessons and leagues.

In theory, there’s nothing stopping you from getting to where you want to go with just the free membership. So if you can stomach the ads and the heart system, you probably won’t be interested in Super…

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Why you might resist subscribing to Super Duolingo

In my case, I resisted subscribing to the premium membership for as long as I could.

As we’ve just covered, Duolingo is famed for being a free way to learn languages. It’s quite literally their mission to make language learning ‘free, fun, and accessible to all. ’

Even though it’s billed as supporting free education, I couldn’t see how a premium service was consistent with their mission.

It isn’t exactly cheap either. Unless you go for the Family Plan, it’s pretty expensive, especially when you consider how solid a free membership already is.

That, ultimately, is why I was on the fence for so long.

The free plan gives you access to complete courses across a range of devices. Nearly 40 languages in your pocket or at your desk, free to learn anywhere at any time. It’s easily one of the best deals in language learning.

But as we all know, the owl is persuasive, so eventually I gave in and subscribed.

And I have absolutely no regrets.

So should you join me in the land of Super?

To answer that, we’ll have to consider a couple of things: the features, and you.

What do you get with Super Duolingo?

As mentioned, Super Duolingo adds new features and removes others.

However, it doesn’t offer as much as it used to. Compared to what Duolingo Plus offered back in the day, the offerings are noticeably thinner.

Super Duolingo now includes:

• Unlimited hearts
• Unlimited legendary level attempts
• Unlimited timed challenge attempts
• Complete access to the practice hub/personalized practice
• Monthly streak repair
• Super Duolingo app icon

Super Duolingo also removes ads.

It’s also important to note that Duolingo have a habit of rolling out new features every now and then, some of which they will make exclusive to Super members.

Typically these will come to IOS before Android.

However, apart from the app icon, all of the features listed above are available on both operating systems.

Why you should consider subscribing

So do these benefits justify coughing up for Super Duolingo?

To answer this, I’ve broken it down into three areas that will affect your experience. This should help you get a better understanding of how these features stack up in context.

Less punishing

Let’s start with what I consider to be the biggest perk of Super Duolingo.

As great as the free membership is, something that really grinds my gears on mobile is the heart system.

Duolingo claim that it’s designed to pace lessons to balance practice and new material.

But what it really does is punish you for making mistakes. Get too many questions wrong, and you temporarily lose your license to learn your language.

This is problematic because making mistakes is an essential part of learning a language. Exposure, repetition and immersion — these are non-negotiable prerequisites on the road to fluency. The heart system erects roadblocks that can eventually make you consider turning back.

No more worrying about making mistakes.

No more avoiding the hard lessons because you’re worried about losing your license to learn.

With Super, you are free to fully commit to learning your language. You can move along your path and rack up your XP, as much or as little as you want.

For me, this was the big game-changer. Sure, I could always watch an ad, complete a practice, or splurge gems to refill my hearts.

But these are distractions. I just want to learn a language, not mess around watching ads for energy providers I have no interest in switching to!

Note that hearts are only available on mobile devices, so if you only use the desktop version, you won’t really feel this benefit.

More convenient

Let’s be honest: Duolingo’s free membership is already convenient. But Super takes it to a new level.

It gets rid of ads, paving the way for a smoother and quicker journey between lessons.

Getting rid of the hearts is also super convenient. No more 5-hour waits for a heart refill. With Super, you’re free to dive in to your language wherever and whenever you want.

Individually these perks might not seem like much. But together they combine to make a significant difference to the flow and feel of your lessons.

More supportive

The free membership is already plenty supportive; after all, where would we be without Duo’s daily encouragement!

But with Super, the owl is extra determined to carry you to language learning success.

Granted, some of the premium features are a bit pointless.

If you’re on the fence, I doubt a new app icon is the thing that will convince you to subscribe!

But some of the features are genuinely useful.

The Practice Hub (or Personalized Practice as it seems to be called more now) is one of the features I use most. It lets you revisit questions you got wrong in previous lessons and challenges you with some toughies you might not have come across yet.

Super Duolingo also puts you at the front of the queue for new features going forward, although this seems to have slowed down of late.

Things like Practice Hub and Pronunciation Review (which Duolingo removed for some reason…) were both released to Super subscribers first.

This isn’t always the case — they have been known to trial new features with free users as well — but generally, the juicier features get rolled out to Super members first.

This is why I describe Super Duolingo as being more supportive. It gets rid of the punishing nature of the heart system and creates an environment in which making mistakes—and being able to practice them—is actively encouraged.

How to cancel Super Duolingo

If you decide to give Super Duolingo a go, but then decide it’s not for you, rest assured you can cancel it at any time!

If you signed up through the Apple App Store, then you’ll need to do it through your Settings app. Tap your account at the top of the page, then hit Subscriptions, Duolingo, then hit Cancel.

If you signed up through the Google Play Store, you can cancel through the Duolingo app. Just tap the Super Duolingo icon, hit Settings, then Manage Subscription, then follow the instructions to cancel your subscription.

If you signed up through the Duolingo website, then you’ll need to do is head over to the website, login to your account, hit Super Duolingo, and then select ‘Cancel Subscription’.

For more details click here to read Duolingo’s step-by-step instructions.

How to get Super Duolingo for free

Did you know it’s actually possible to get Super Duolingo for free?!

Well, for a limited time, anyway.

As far as I’m aware there are currently three ways you can do this:

1. Take Duolingo’s 14-day free trial

Everyone should have access to a 14-day free trial of Super Duolingo.

Tap this, sign up, and your 14-day free trial will start immediately.

2. Look out for promo codes

Another great way to get Super Duolingo for free is to keep an eye out for Super promo codes.

Every now and then, Duolingo will release fresh codes that will let you snag a Super Duolingo subscription for nothing.

Keep in mind though that with promo codes you’ll usually need to enter payment details as well. However, so long as you cancel before the 30 days end, you won’t get charged.

3. Extend your streak

Extending your streak doesn’t just get you some cool goodies from the streak society. It also gets you some free trials of Super Duolingo!

These trials are usually a lot shorter than the ones above, usually lasting no more than 3 days at a time.

They’re also a bit more random and sporadic. I’ve seen users get these free trials at 7 days, 50 days, 100 days and 150 days.

Over to you

Now for the big one. The thing that matters most. We’ve considered the features. Now we need to consider you.

Why is this the big one? Because deciding if Super Duolingo justifies the price is a very personal decision. It all boils down to your priorities, goals and circumstances. From this side of the screen, I can never know what those are. All I can do is present the facts and share my experiences.

It’s also important to be clear about what Super Duolingo can do for you. Even though it’s a premium service, Super won’t make you fluent in your target language. Not by itself, anyway.

That’s because learning a language requires a balanced diet of study and application. You can’t limit yourself to just one thing.

In my case, Duolingo features heavily.

But I also use NordVPN to access thousands of TV shows and movies in my target languages;

LingQ to work on my reading and listening;

Benny Lewis’s Language Hacking books — available in French, Spanish, German and Italian — to work on my speaking;

And HelloTalk to practice my messaging.

Super Duolingo simply enhances that one part of my diet. It isn’t an all-in-one superfood that meets all of my language needs.

So, with this in mind, is Super Duolingo worth it?

As unhelpful as this may sound, only you can decide.

In my case, I think Super Duolingo is worth it.

Because I use it so often (every day for roughly 10-30 minutes) it works out at roughly £0.16 a day over the course of the year. As far as I’m concerned this is pretty good value, as it means I can get rid of the heart system and the ads, and take advantage of the Super-only features.

That being said, Super Duolingo isn’t as good as it used to be. Duolingo seem to have removed a number of features — such as offline lessons and mastery quiz — not really added any new ones, yet have kept the pricing the same.

While I’m still getting the features I care most about, it doesn’t seem to be as good value as it used to be.

But, again, everyone’s different. So here are my recommendations:

Stick with the free membership if…

• You’re just starting out on your language-learning journey
• You’re not ready to commit to Duolingo or your target language long-term
• You’d prefer to spend your money on other resources
• You’re looking to cut back on expenses
• You’re happy with the free membership (e.g. you don’t mind the heart system, ads etc)
• You primarily use the desktop version of Duolingo

Consider subscribing to Super Duolingo if…

• You’ve been using Duolingo for a while
• You use Duolingo every day (and have done for at least 30 days)
• You’re frustrated with the heart system, ads etc
• You want the extra features
• You’re in a position where you can justify it financially

If you’re still on the fence about Super Duolingo…

If you’re still undecided then I’d highly recommend taking advantage of a Super Duolingo free trial. Duolingo usually offer them on a 14-day basis, which I think is plenty of time to get a feel for the service and make an informed decision as to whether it’s worth subscribing.

If the 14 days isn’t enough or they aren’t offering free trials, then it might be worth subscribing for a month to give yourself a bit more time to figure out if it’s the right membership for you.

Have your say!

So, after all that, what do you think of Super Duolingo?

Is it something you can see yourself subscribing to or are you happy with the free membership?

Do you prefer it to Plus?

Be sure to let me know in the comments!