Cost to Develop an AI learning app like Duolingo

Learn how much Duolingo like App Development Cost in 2025.

Do you know what’s changed my perspective toward language learning apps? When my parents started using them to learn basic English to talk to their grandchildren.

That’s where I understood the rising popularity of these apps, not only among teenagers who learn foreign languages but also among elders. Learning new languages has gained immense popularity for personal and professional growth. 

With the rising success of language learning apps like Memrise, Babble, and Duolingo, the global eLearning app market is expected to reach $400 bn by 2026. 

But, Duolingo has become the benchmark of this industry by offering personalized, engaging, and interactive learning experiences for every age user. Seeing Duolingo’s success, many businesses seek advanced AI language learning apps like Duolingo to reach a wider audience. But the concern remains the same: cost.
In this blog, you will learn- How much it costs to develop an AI learning app like Duolingo, its core features, cost, and factors affecting the overall learning app development process.

What is Duolingo and its Unwavering Features?

Duolingo is the leading language-learning platform known for its engaging, game-like approach to learning, offering personalized and interactive learning at every step. It has revolutionized how people learn new languages and track their progress with easy tasks.

So what makes Duolingo “the best”? Here are its key features-

6. Community and Social LearningCosts EstimationTime Duration

Duolingo has leveraged AI to make the learning experiences more personal and engaging. It has driven the accelerated market growth of Duolingo. 

Reasons to Invest in AI Learning App Development Like Duolingo 

Here are some stats on why businesses should consider investing in e-learning app development like Duolingo.

• Duolingo had 103.6 million users in 2024.
• Duolingo had 34 million DAUs in Q1 2024.
• Duolingo earned nearly $178 million in Q2 2024.
• Duolingo English Test (DET) is now accepted as proof of language proficiency for international students.

Why must businesses invest in AI learning apps like Duolingo development?

• Global Reach & Scalability
• Engaging & Effective Learning
• Personalized Learning Journey
• Flexibility & Convenience
• Measurable Progress & Feedback
• Diverse Learning Resources
• Revenue Generation Potentials

Let’s measure the cost of developing an e-learning app like Duolingo. 

Cost of Development AI Learning App Like Duolingo

Developing an app like Duolingo can cost between 

• $25k and $100k for one platform ( iOS or Android)
• $75k to $150k for a hybrid app that works on both platforms.

The range is an estimate, as the overall development cost may vary depending on several factors. Let’s explore the factors.

Factors Affecting Duolingo like App Development Cost

While developing an AI learning app like Duolingo, businesses must consider these factors as they can directly affect the overall development costs.

1. App Platform and Development

First, understand for which platform you need to build the app. You have two choices- Android or iOS. However, developing an app for a single platform will cost less. But, with the rising trends of mobile devices, businesses prefer an app that works seamlessly across platforms. So, if you want the hybrid option, it will cost more. 

2. App Design

The core part of any app is its design which attracts people. Make sure your app is easy to navigate with a visually appealing interface. But if you want to build an app with amazing UX/UI, you need skilled designers who will raise the cost of development.

3. Features and Functionalities

First, understand the goal of your app and what features you want your users to experience. The cost will increase with the features and app’s complexity. If you want to include advanced features like AI, voice recognition, real-time content updates, and others, the cost will go up. The cost may include- hiring AI professionals, integration costs, training AI models, and others. 

Below is the list of basic and advanced features that you must consider while developing your eLearning app. 

Consult with learning app development experts and understand what features help you achieve your goals.

4. Content Creation

Creating content is the most challenging task. You need to consider every localization, language, and geography to provide content that fits every user’s goal. Apart from that, complying with regulations, and updating and managing content regularly, while delivering high-end quality content, results in high costs.

5. Gamification

This adds interactivity to each learning session. To keep your audience engaged, they must stay with your app and complete the course they started. Adding the below features will add fun to your learning experiences and costs.

• Add rewards, badges, and leaderboards to encourage user participation.
• Use game-like elements.

6. Third-party Integration

An app has low interactivity unless your audience is not able to share and connect the courses to their loved ones. Adding the below features and integrations will increase your costs.

• Integrate features like social media sharing or translation tools.
• Use APIs for speech recognition or other language learning aids.
• Work with an experienced team to add these services affordably.

7. Backend Development

Having a strong backend ensures your app works flawlessly without minimal downtime. Building a robust backend includes choosing the hosting, servers, cloud infrastructure to scale, security add-ons, and much more. Handling a complex backend requires expertise that will also add up the cost.

8. Technology Stack

Choosing the right stack can also save your development costs. Here are some options that you can choose to build an advanced language learning app like Duolingo.

With our AWS experts, you can save significant costs from hosting to deployment in very simple steps.

9. Testing and Quality Assurance

Testing every aspect of your app is important for it to function properly for each origin and platform. Hiring a dedicated tester will also add up the costs.

Here are some other cost factors-

How long will it take to develop a Duolingo-like app?

Taking all the key factors into account, the estimated time frame is between 47 to 77 weeks, or about 11 months to 1.4 years.

OnGraph’s Approach to Building an AI Language Learning App like Duolingo

At OnGraph, we follow a strategic approach to build the ready solutions.

1. Define Your Vision

At OnGraph, we transform ideas into reality. We help you develop your vision. We conduct market research to understand your target audience and learn their preferences. Then we develop a solution that aligns with your business goals while targeting potential customers. 

2. Build a Custom Solution

We specialize in creating custom online and mobile apps. Our developers will build your language learning app from scratch, tailoring it to your needs and including features like lessons, tests, progress tracking, and gamification—just like Duolingo.

3. Choose the Right Technology

Choosing the right technology will decide your app’s flexibility and scalability, which is important for any app with a growing user base. If you want to expand in the global market, you must choose the right technology that offers high scalability within your budget. Our experts will guide you in choosing the right tech and implementing it for better performance.

4. Design for Easy Use

We understand the need for your aim to offer seamless and effortless learning. It cannot be complete with an interactive and easy user interface. Our core design team has experience in building dynamic, powerful, yet easy-to-navigate interfaces for better engagement.

5. Seamless Integrations

To make an app extensible and feature-rich, the app must be able to integrate with other tools and support third-party integrations. We ensure that the elearning app has suitable integrations to offer advanced learning experiences that work well across devices.

6. Quality Assurance and Testing

Testing is crucial for any app. It helps find potential bugs and fix issues before they impact the performance. It helps to understand if the developed app is functioning as expected and delivering the experience that matches the business’s goal.

7. Support and Maintenance

To make sure that the app works as expected after launch, we offer consistent support and maintenance. We ensure that the app is up-to-date and is integrated with latest trends and technologies to stay competitive. 

Let’s understand what trends and technologies are transforming elearning apps like Duolingo.

Game-changing Trends of Language Learning Apps like Duolingo

Technology has quickly changed the way we learn languages. Building language learning apps has become very popular and is transforming how people study new languages.

Here are some of the latest trends to integrate into your elearning app in 2025.

• AI and Machine Learning (ML)- personalization and smooth interaction are the bases of the elearning apps. With AI and ML-like technologies, you can create effortless learning experiences. You can create smart systems that will help you find the relevant courses, sessions, and quests as per your learning history. 
• Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)- using AR/VR improves immersive learning. It helps you learn from real-world situations while allowing users to talk in their preferred languages and communicate with real people. This helps learners practice speaking and listening in realistic settings, making learning more effective.
• Voice Assistance and Smart Speakers- you must have heard of voice-activated devices like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Now, businesses can integrate their language learning apps with these systems. It helps users practice speaking and listening using voice commands for better results.

Also read- How much does it cost to build an AI Customer Service Chatbot?

Challenges Businesses Might Face in Duolingo-like App Development

While developing a Duolingo-like language learning app, you might come across some technical challenges. Let’s understand them.

1. Creating an Effective Chatbot

Duolingo’s chatbot works in multiple languages and can handle long sentences. Developing a similar chatbot requires complex algorithms and integrations. If are building it from scratch, it takes a lot of time, effort, and money. To reduce the development hassle, businesses can also use readymade AI chatbots that can seamlessly work with your elearning app.

2. Using Voice Technology with the Chatbot

Another challenge is connecting the chatbot with voice recognition technology. This is difficult because voice tech is still developing and lacks the resources needed for smooth integration. Experts recommend working with top education app development services for this part.

Once these challenges are addressed, we can also explore how language learning apps make money (and how you can too).

Connect with OnGraph to integrate an AI customer chatbot directly into your eLearning app with a white-label AI customer support app.

Transformative Business Models to Monetize Your Duolingo-Like Elearning App

Duolingo is based on a crowdsourcing business model. It lets users translate text as part of their learning process. When multiple users give the same translation, it is accepted as correct and saved. This translated content is then shared with companies like BuzzFeed and CNN in exchange for money.

Duolingo also makes money through other methods:

• In-app Ads- Duolingo shows ads to users who are using the app for free. These ads come from brands that pay based on how many times the ad is clicked (CPC) or how many people install the app (CPI).
• Subscription Model- Users can pay to remove ads and get extra features. Paid users also get in-app currency to unlock content early or have more chances in challenges. Duolingo also charges a $49 fee for a certification in any language.
• Freemium- Duolingo offers free content, but users can pay for special features or courses. This model helps attract many users who can then choose to pay for premium features.
• Paid Apps- With this model, the app isn’t free to download. Users must pay to download the app from the app store, and the price depends on the services provided.

These are the main ways Duolingo makes money, but there are other strategies businesses can use, like affiliate marketing, to earn from their apps.

Tips to Learn For Effective Duolingo-Like App Development

Here are some tips that you must learn from Duolingo for effective implementation and success.

• Focus on Customers
  Duolingo is successful because it solves users’ problems. To build your own language app, focus on what your users need and expect. Start by understanding local markets and then expand globally.
• Integrate Real-time Translation
  Few language apps offer real-time translation or writing practice. Adding these features can make your app stand out and attract more users.
• Localize Your App
  Localizing your app for different languages can help you get more users and build loyalty. Work with experts to translate your app into the languages spoken by your target audience.
• Integrate the Latest Technology
  Keep up with new technologies. While AI and gamification are popular, consider adding AR/VR and other emerging technologies to make your app more innovative and attractive.
• Keep up with the UI/UX Trends
  Duolingo’s success is partly due to its great user experience. Follow the latest UI/UX design trends to make your app easy to use and visually appealing, just like popular apps.
• Market Your App
  Promoting your app is key to success. While Duolingo grew through word of mouth, you can try other marketing strategies. Invest in pre-launch promotion to build excitement and get more downloads. This will help you earn back your investment in the app development.

Also read- 9 reasons why Edu Startup Fails and how to avoid them- Tips from experts

How Can OnGraph Help With Duolingo-Like App Development?

With 15+ years of experience in app development, we excel in integrating top technologies and trends to help you get a leg up in your respective industry.

From our custom solutions to white-label solutions, we help businesses scale instantly and build strong brand visibility with unique solutions built for them. We aim to build scalable and robust learning apps and platforms to improve learning experiences for every user.

Connect with us with your unique business proposition and we will add the technology touch to it. 

FAQs

Q. How developing a Duolingo-like App can help your business?

Developing a Duolingo-like app can offer several benefits to your business, especially if you are in the education, language learning, or technology sectors. Here are some ways it can help:

• Expanding Your Reach
• Monetization Opportunities
• Brand Recognition & Credibility
• Data-Driven Insights
• Engagement & Retention
• Potential Partnerships
• Long-Term Market Trends
• Competitive Advantage

Q. Why you must go for a customized elearning app?

Developing a unique elearning app requires businesses to build a custom solution that help them integrate the latest learning trends for better learning experiences. Other benefits are-