{"slug": "duolingo", "name": "Duolingo", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 2, "commenters": 13, "warners": 8, "score": -4.582, "rising": 0.67, "first": "2025-11-08", "latest": "2026-09-03", "why": "", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 0, "compare": 3, "warn": 8}, "spark": [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Duolingo"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 792776064, "item_id": 49548504, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49548504", "by": "watwut", "date": "2026-09-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I got actual visible measurable results.", "excerpt": "> Take a real language class. It is simple. I do not want to and have absolutely no reason to take the language class. So, why would I? They costs money, time and are not something to look forward to. I got actual visible measurable results. Why would I changed? Besides, language classes also fail. Going to language classes for years and not being able to use the language in any practical situation was always fairly ", "context": "", "use_case": "language learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "How accurate have Ed Zitron's AI skeptic predictions been?"}, {"id": 734821664, "item_id": 45926354, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45926354", "by": "raw_anon_1111", "date": "2025-11-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Duo Lingo as a guided learning path.", "excerpt": "Study Spanish. I use Duo Lingo as a guided learning path. But mostly use ChatGPT for various drills and have it give me sentences to study for whatever concept I\u2019m practicing", "context": "", "use_case": "learning Spanish", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What do you do while LLM is writing code"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 782673232, "item_id": 48917077, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48917077", "by": "ifwinterco", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The issue is Duolingo is rubbish", "excerpt": "The issue is Duolingo is rubbish, what the app does isn\u2019t that hard to replicate and there are already competitors that have a better product. So if AI is real then that\u2018s the cherry on top: people can now make an alternative to your ineffective messy app even easier. For those kind of SaaS products with no moat LLMs could actually be a problem and definitely aren\u2019t a good thing", "context": "", "use_case": "language learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "Financing the AI boom: from cash flows to debt [pdf]"}, {"id": 776765744, "item_id": 48547859, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48547859", "by": "nephihaha", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Yes, definitely happened to me.", "excerpt": "They have a forum. Yes, definitely happened to me. I used a different device to check out why I was getting no responses on there and right enough, I was not visible. There was a thread boasting about how they were paying some of the developers years after they had volunteered to do so (Since some would have died or become uncontactable it was a bit much.) I asked why a billion dollar company couldn't afford to pay c", "context": "", "use_case": "forum shadowbanning", "switched_from": "", "story": "I got shadow banned on X, 3 mistakes that led me to it"}, {"id": 774497296, "item_id": 48406081, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48406081", "by": "apsurd", "date": "2026-06-04", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it doesn't actually work for learning. Duolingo sells feel-good vibes of being productive with your doomscrolling time.", "excerpt": "An engaging teacher makes the effort worth it. So it doesn't feel like the contrast effort required if oriented horribly. I fully believe there are good teachers and bad teachers. But that's why I used the word biology: there is no way to learn without effort. Your relationship with the effort is the important point. > Duolingo is just one example that there is plenty of money to be had even with dubious claims and a", "context": "", "use_case": "language learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why I'm Skeptical About Efforts to Revolutionize Schooling"}, {"id": 763507666, "item_id": 47719229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47719229", "by": "lobati", "date": "2026-04-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Animations and loaders with tools like Duolingo", "excerpt": "I'm building a flash card learning tool. I was frustrated with the slowness and complexity of other solutions. Animations and loaders with tools like Duolingo, and unnecessary extra steps to move onto the next card in tools like Anki. If you give it a try I'd love to hear your feedback. https://flash.boon.gl", "context": "", "use_case": "language learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you building that's not AI related?"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["language learning", "forum shadowbanning", "learning spanish"], "compared": [{"slug": "anki", "name": "Anki", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "babbel", "name": "Babbel", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 2}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45859624", "title": "Duolingo stock plunges as company prioritizes user growth", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49526069", "title": "How accurate have Ed Zitron's AI skeptic predictions been?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48913443", "title": "Financing the AI boom: from cash flows to debt [pdf]", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48514905", "title": "I got shadow banned on X, 3 mistakes that led me to it", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48376008", "title": "Why I'm Skeptical About Efforts to Revolutionize Schooling", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47783940", "title": "Is anyone actually using OpenClaw?", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"warn": 3, "compare": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2025-12": {"warn": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"compare": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"warn": 1, "compare": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"warn": 2}, "2026-07": {"warn": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 792776064, "item_id": 49548504, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49548504", "by": "watwut", "date": "2026-09-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I got actual visible measurable results.", "excerpt": "> Take a real language class. It is simple. I do not want to and have absolutely no reason to take the language class. So, why would I? They costs money, time and are not something to look forward to. I got actual visible measurable results. Why would I changed? Besides, language classes also fail. Going to language classes for years and not being able to use the language in any practical situation was always fairly ", "context": "", "use_case": "language learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "How accurate have Ed Zitron's AI skeptic predictions been?"}, {"id": 782673232, "item_id": 48917077, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48917077", "by": "ifwinterco", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The issue is Duolingo is rubbish", "excerpt": "The issue is Duolingo is rubbish, what the app does isn\u2019t that hard to replicate and there are already competitors that have a better product. So if AI is real then that\u2018s the cherry on top: people can now make an alternative to your ineffective messy app even easier. For those kind of SaaS products with no moat LLMs could actually be a problem and definitely aren\u2019t a good thing", "context": "", "use_case": "language learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "Financing the AI boom: from cash flows to debt [pdf]"}, {"id": 776765744, "item_id": 48547859, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48547859", "by": "nephihaha", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Yes, definitely happened to me.", "excerpt": "They have a forum. Yes, definitely happened to me. I used a different device to check out why I was getting no responses on there and right enough, I was not visible. There was a thread boasting about how they were paying some of the developers years after they had volunteered to do so (Since some would have died or become uncontactable it was a bit much.) I asked why a billion dollar company couldn't afford to pay c", "context": "", "use_case": "forum shadowbanning", "switched_from": "", "story": "I got shadow banned on X, 3 mistakes that led me to it"}, {"id": 774497296, "item_id": 48406081, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48406081", "by": "apsurd", "date": "2026-06-04", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it doesn't actually work for learning. Duolingo sells feel-good vibes of being productive with your doomscrolling time.", "excerpt": "An engaging teacher makes the effort worth it. So it doesn't feel like the contrast effort required if oriented horribly. I fully believe there are good teachers and bad teachers. But that's why I used the word biology: there is no way to learn without effort. Your relationship with the effort is the important point. > Duolingo is just one example that there is plenty of money to be had even with dubious claims and a", "context": "", "use_case": "language learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why I'm Skeptical About Efforts to Revolutionize Schooling"}, {"id": 764579315, "item_id": 47786207, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47786207", "by": "newswasboring", "date": "2026-04-15", "stance": "compare", "quote": "it maps perfectly to my learning style and keeps it fresher than flashcards or Duolingo", "excerpt": "I don't use openclaw but I spent few weeks on nanobot and then this week switched to Hermes. I have simple usecases like a news brief in the morning on my areas of interest, checking my email for latest updates on things I care about right now etc. But I gave my wife access to the discord server, she burned 20% of weekly quota for codex (I use it as the provider) but created a skill which helps her practice dutch her", "context": "wife learning Dutch", "use_case": "language learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "Is anyone actually using OpenClaw?"}, {"id": 763507666, "item_id": 47719229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47719229", "by": "lobati", "date": "2026-04-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Animations and loaders with tools like Duolingo", "excerpt": "I'm building a flash card learning tool. I was frustrated with the slowness and complexity of other solutions. Animations and loaders with tools like Duolingo, and unnecessary extra steps to move onto the next card in tools like Anki. If you give it a try I'd love to hear your feedback. https://flash.boon.gl", "context": "", "use_case": "language learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you building that's not AI related?"}, {"id": 753768993, "item_id": 47110562, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47110562", "by": "ipnon", "date": "2026-02-22", "stance": "compare", "quote": "be much more useful than 100 hours of Duolingo", "excerpt": "It\u2019s true that 70% of a language is about ~100-300 words. In linguistics this is called the \u201ccore sight set\u201d. If you\u2019re in a pinch traveling I recommend asking an AI for the 300 most frequent word core sight set and cramming these with Anki. You can get gist with about 10 hours of study and be much more useful than 100 hours of Duolingo. With the core sight set and a generous amount of loan words and gesticulation yo", "context": "", "use_case": "language learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "What's the best way to learn a new language?"}, {"id": 740491120, "item_id": 46280695, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46280695", "by": "dirkc", "date": "2025-12-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I strongly dislike duolingo - it's gamification kept me pre-occupied for a while without noticing that I wasn't making any progress learning the language.", "excerpt": "That approach might be at odds with the market, but I don't think it's at odds with learning. I strongly dislike duolingo - it's gamification kept me pre-occupied for a while without noticing that I wasn't making any progress learning the language. When I figured that out, I felt cheated by the app! A long time ago I used a beta app that was being built by a high school teacher that I really enjoyed. It basically had", "context": "developer in the education space", "use_case": "language learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Is building a calm, non-gamified learning app a mistake?"}, {"id": 735304832, "item_id": 45956552, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45956552", "by": "xphos", "date": "2025-11-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I am looking at DuoLingo that thing has crazy dark patterns", "excerpt": "I love this resource it is really good one thing I'd like to see is some education games here. I am looking at DuoLingo that thing has crazy dark patterns but i think it gets written off as educational despite most people not learning a language from it. There are other ones and clearly you cannot list everything either way awesome work", "context": "", "use_case": "language learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dark Pattern Games"}, {"id": 734821664, "item_id": 45926354, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45926354", "by": "raw_anon_1111", "date": "2025-11-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Duo Lingo as a guided learning path.", "excerpt": "Study Spanish. I use Duo Lingo as a guided learning path. But mostly use ChatGPT for various drills and have it give me sentences to study for whatever concept I\u2019m practicing", "context": "", "use_case": "learning Spanish", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What do you do while LLM is writing code"}, {"id": 733912258, "item_id": 45869516, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45869516", "by": "ChadNauseam", "date": "2025-11-09", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Duolingo is great for exposure to new sentences, but it's oriented around \"lessons\" and SRS is an afterthought.", "excerpt": "I'm working on https://yap.town - an SRS based language learning app. I would say it combines the best parts of Duolingo and Anki. Anki is great for memorizing words, but you don't see the words in the context of novel sentences. Duolingo is great for exposure to new sentences, but it's oriented around \"lessons\" and SRS is an afterthought. (Duolingo is also not designed for people serious about learning a language IM", "context": "", "use_case": "language learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Nov 2025)"}, {"id": 733801504, "item_id": 45862594, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45862594", "by": "nozzlegear", "date": "2025-11-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The app is a far cry from what it used to be.", "excerpt": "I've got a 2400+ day streak going on Duolingo. I used to love the app, it really helped me relearn the Spanish I used to know from my youth. The app is a far cry from what it used to be. I can't stand the goofy animations and characters they've added to everything \u2013 the weird gigachad Duo or anime girl Duo, what is going on here? I want something that doesn't treat me like a child clapping at Saturday morning cartoon", "context": "2400+ day streak, relearning Spanish", "use_case": "language learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "Duolingo stock plunges as company prioritizes user growth"}, {"id": 733771408, "item_id": 45860713, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45860713", "by": "briantoknowyou", "date": "2025-11-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Duolingo is really just a low-effort mobile game as the popular argument goes.", "excerpt": "I read a lot of reviews of people really unhappy about the change to the \"energy system\" (basically their lever to control how much content can be consumed before the paywall pops up), and it sounds pretty heavy handed. I can't comment on that since I'm a paying user, but for me as someone heavily immersed in learning a second language, this plus the changes that made the immersive gamified elements like audio positi", "context": "paying user immersed in learning a second language", "use_case": "language learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "Duolingo stock plunges as company prioritizes user growth"}]}