Duolingo Max Review 2026: Pricing, Features and Verdict

What it is

Duolingo Max is the top subscription tier of Duolingo, the language app with 5.5 million App Store ratings. Duolingo announced Max on March 14, 2023 as a tier above Super Duolingo, using OpenAI's GPT-4 for new AI features:

• Video Call: a spoken conversation with the character Lily, who opens on a recent topic and responds in real time, with a transcript afterward.
• Roleplay: conversation practice in scenarios with in app characters, with AI feedback on accuracy and complexity after each session.
• Explain My Answer: an explanation of why your answer was right or wrong.

At launch, Video Call and Roleplay covered English speakers learning Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese, and Video Call also covered Japanese, Korean and Chinese, on iOS and Android in 188 countries.

What changed in 2026

Max has been taken apart piece by piece:

• Explain My Answer moved to the free tier in early 2026, per DealNews.
• Video Call is moving to Super. Reporting on Duolingo's Q1 2026 shareholder letter quotes it as "starting to expand access to Video Call to Super subscribers," and coverage of the Q2 letter says most new Super subscribers now have it. The Motley Fool reports that Video Call's cost fell from about $0.30 per call on ChatGPT to about $0.01 on open source models, per a Citi presentation.
• Max's future is open. On the Q2 2026 call, CEO Luis von Ahn said, "we may actually sunset Max." At a Citi conference he said the company was not entirely sure what it would do with it. Max was about 10% of paid subscribers, per the Motley Fool.
• New subscribers may not see it. Language App Guide reported in September 2026 that Max did not appear on its author's iOS purchase screen.

Pricing explained

Duolingo does not publish a price table, and prices vary by account, device and region.

Plan	Price	What you get
Free	$0	Full courses with ads and limited energy; Explain My Answer since early 2026
Super Duolingo	App Store in app purchases from $9.99 to $119.99, terms not labeled	No ads, unlimited energy, monthly streak repair, 14 day free trial; Video Call for most new subscribers
Duolingo Max	$29.99 per month or $167.99 per year (last recorded, DealNews May 2026)	Video Call, Roleplay, Explain My Answer
Max Family	$239.99 per year (last recorded)	Max for up to 6 members

On those recorded prices, Max cost about twice as much as Super, per the Motley Fool. Language App Guide recorded Super at $16.99 per month or $119.99 per year on its author's account in September 2026, about $9.99 per month on annual billing. Check the price on your own account before you subscribe.

Key features

Video Call

The most useful AI feature: a spoken, real time conversation pitched at your level, with a transcript so you can review mistakes. It is what most learners want from an AI tutor, and it is now reaching Super.

Roleplay

Scenario practice, such as ordering at a cafe, with feedback after each session. It still appears to be the main Max only feature, and reporting cites a Duolingo community response saying Roleplay is no longer included with new subscriptions.

Explain My Answer

Short explanations of mistakes. Now in the free tier, per DealNews.

The core Duolingo course

Short daily lessons, streaks and leagues, free with ads. This is still the best free way to build a habit, and for kids it is one of the safest options in the category.

What users say

Duolingo rates 4.7 on the App Store from 5,513,488 ratings. Trustpilot tells a different story: 1.6 from 8,209 reviews, with 67% one star, and Duolingo has not invited reviews there. Trustpilot's summary of 688 reviews says people frequently complained about unexpected subscription charges, with renewals processed without notice, plus hard to reach support, lessons crashing and ads interrupting sessions. Some find the courses basic or repetitive. The minority who praise it like the easy, self paced format.

Privacy and security

Duolingo's privacy policy treats users under 13 in the US as Child Users. They register with a username not tied to their real name; Duolingo says it does not collect the child's name, email or phone number, and gives them an avatar instead of a photo. Ads are non personalized and family safe, third party behavioral tracking and analytics are off, and promotional emails are off. After a child first logs out, Duolingo asks for a parent's email and contacts the parent about its practices. All users under 16 get non personalized ads and no third party tracking.

For adults, the App Store privacy label lists purchases, location, contact info, user content, identifiers and usage data among data used to track you.

Who it is for

• Existing Max subscribers who use Roleplay often and are happy with their price.
• Families on Max Family who already pay for it.

For everyone else, Super or the free app now covers almost everything Max did.

Who should skip it

• New subscribers. Buy Super for Video Call, or wait to see what Duolingo does with Max.
• Learners who want to speak a lot. Speak and Praktika are built around speaking.
• English learners preparing for IELTS or TOEFL. ELSA Speak maps scores to those exams.

Alternatives

• Speak: speaking first lessons with real time feedback, $17.99 per month or $83.99 per year on the App Store.
• Praktika: avatar tutors in 13 languages, $9.99 for a month on the App Store.
• ELSA Speak: English pronunciation scored against IELTS, TOEFL, CEFR and TOEIC.
• ChatGPT: free voice conversation practice in your target language.

See the full ranking in the best AI language tutors.

Verdict

Duolingo Max was a smart bet in 2023 and is a weak buy in 2026. The features that made it worth twice the price of Super are moving down the ladder, and the company has said in public that it may retire the tier. Keep the free app for the daily habit, pay for Super if you want Video Call, and pick a dedicated speaking tutor if conversation is the goal.