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Duolingo Like App Development Cost: A Detailed Budget Breakdown

How Much Does It Cost To Create An App Like Duolingo?

Looking for a Duolingo like app development cost? Well, you must have done your research work before coming to this blog and majorly experts have quoted you to build an e-learning app like Duolingo for around $25,000 to $50,000+. But the question is what exactly is included in that cost range and what features have been covered under that estimation? 

Don’t worry here we have explained everything from factors affecting the app development cost, its features, tech stack, and monetization strategies…

But before addressing these pointers, let’s get into the fact that why you need to invest in creating an e-learning app in 2024!

In this fast-paced era, where businesses are touching cross-border markets, the demand for learning new languages keeps surging. In addition, individuals prioritizing personal and professional growth through acquiring new language skills, are finding a well-developed language learning app and a much more convenient platform to excel in their skills. 

As mobile apps are transforming the entire education system and making it easier, more convenient, and simpler for learners, language learning apps are not exceptional. Now it can be accessible through language learning apps. Duolingo is one of the most renowned language learning apps boasting over 300,000 users!

Looking forward to creating your own Duolingo-like app for your business? This would require you to collaborate with a top mobile app development company, that can help you transform your business journey with the smartly designed solution!

But you must be wondering while there are hundreds of language learning apps available in the market, what makes Duolingo stand apart? 

Here’s what makes Duolingo stand apart in the market:

  • Duolingo is an e-learning app that is majorly focused on delivering new language-learning experiences.
  • It is a globally accepted and most downloaded education app that aims to simplify the education process through easy reach and make it free for all!
  • Duolingo, like an e-learning app, is free to access and has a user-friendly app that ensures swift progress in language learning. 
  • It boasts a diverse range of exercises and gamified activities to make the entire learning process highly engaging.
  • Moreover, Duolingo facilitates the mastery of over 30+ languages and lets people acquire new linguistic skills with enjoyable and interactive lessons.   

What’s so Attractive for Businesses to Invest in Apps Like Duolingo?

Planning to invest in a language learning app? Congrats in advance for your success!

You made the right decision, but do businesses are keenly interested in developing apps like Duolingo app?

According to the reports, the market size of online learning platforms is projected to reach $5.050 billion by 2024. The revenue is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25.17% from 2024 to 2029 and is predicted to make a value of $16.90 by 2029. 

Moreover, the number of users is expected to amount to $283.1 million users by 2029.

The average user is expected to invest in an online learning platform is around $31.64. 

Duolingo Like App Development Cost

Source: Technavio

These stats and facts portray the progressive picture of online learning platforms and make them a potential business opportunity for investors. All you have to do is look for a top software development company, that can handle the complexity of the task and enable you to build it with an innovative approach!

Duolingo Like App Development Cost: How to Set a Right Budget?

So, how much will it cost to build a Duolingo-like app in 2024?

If you are looking to become a part of a thriving industry and want to grab this growing opportunity then surely you will be concerned about Duolingo app development cost. 

Well, it’s always hard to calculate the average cost to create an e-learning app like Duolingo as different businesses have different requirements and there is no standard app that fits all, and that’s for cost as well. 

If you still wish to develop a multi-language learning app for a single platform, then it will be around $25,000 to $50,000+ depending upon the complexity of your app requirements. 

However, if you are looking to create an app like Duolingo with all the detailed features and functionalities, then the app development cost might range from $50,000 to $75,000+.

Before you take these estimations as a final app development cost, keep in mind that these are rough estimations. Considering the major factors like the complexity of the app, features and functionalities, technologies, app development team, operating platform, and more, we have concluded a rough estimation.

Looking for a cost estimate for your E-learning app?
Let our app consultants with refined education app development experience with 4200+ business verticals, evaluate your app idea.

Must-Have Features to Create an App Like Duolingo

Duolingo like app development costs can greatly affect features and functionalities. But when you decide to create an app like Duolingo, keep in mind that it involves integrating a wide range of features to ensure a seamless learning experience. Let’s take a look at the crucial features that you can consider including in an online language-learning app.

  • User Registration: Let users sign up for an account using email, social media, and Google sign-up options. The simple tip to consider for developing this feature is to keep the signup process simple and minimal. 
  • Profile Update: Have a feature in the app that allows users to personalize their profile information by adding skills, progress, achievements, and preferences.
  • Multiple Languages: Offer a wide range of languages for users to learn and let them opt for as many as they want to learn. If you’re building an app like Duolingo, it offers 30+ languages in the app.
  • Set the Fee Structure: You can divide the fee structure according to levels of learning. You can categorize it as a beginner, moderate, or advanced-level course. 
  • Add a Skill Tree: It could be a great feature in your app that structured pathways where users can check progress through different levels and topics.
  • Lessons and Exercises: Interactive lessons with various exercises like translation, listening, speaking, and multiple-choice questions.
  • Points and Rewards: This is where you can make the entire learning process a little motivation by allowing users to earn points for completing lessons.
  • Add Streaks: Boost user encouragement to maintain a learning streak by practicing daily.
  • Achievements and Badges: To keep their learning spirit high, offer unlockable achievements to users.
  • Speech Recognition: This could be a perfect interactive feature in your app that allows users to practice pronunciation and improve their speaking abilities.
  • Audio and Visual Aids: Make sure you integrate audio clips and images to help in learning.
  • Quizzes and Tests: To keep your learning sessions engaging and interactive, add regular quizzes and level tests to assess progress.
  • Leader Boards: Let users compare progress with friends and other users by sharing their scores.
  • Discussion Forums: Since all are learning online, make sure you have a support panel on the app to discuss language topics and help each other.
  • Follow Friends: Option to add and follow friends for mutual encouragement and support. 
  • Daily Goals: Let users set and track their learning progress in the app and keep them motivated. 
  • Notifications and Reminders: Push notifications to remind users to practice and achieve their targeted goals. 
  • Downloadable Content: Allowing users to download lessons for offline use without consuming huge memory.
  • Performance Analytics: Make sure users will have weekly or monthly detailed statistics on user performance which helps them understand the areas for improvement.
  • Progress Reports: Have a feature in the app that sends weekly or monthly reports on user progress.
  • In-App Feedback: Provide a to users to give feedback on lessons and app functionality.
  • Customer Support: An should have accessible customer support for user queries and issues.
  • Cross-Platform Availability: Instead of targeting any single platform, make sure your app is easily available and supported on iOS, Android, and web platforms.
  • Data Security: Use data encryptions in the app to protect user data and ensure privacy.
  • Parental Controls: Make sure your app provides an option for parental control for younger users.

The Duolingo-like app development cost will be ranging between $25,000 to $35,000+ if you are considering developing an app using these features. But still, there are many more things that can cater to app development. Let’s get started with the process that how to create a Duolingo-like app.

How to Create an Elearning App Similar to Duolingo?

Building a language learning app like Duolingo is not that challenging when you know what steps you need to follow. If you are serious about developing an online learning app like Duolingo then here are the few major steps that you need to follow:

Step 1: Evaluate Your Business Requirements and Decide an App Idea

Before you rush to get straight into the app development process, it is worth evaluating your business requirements. Know the reasons why you need this app and what you are trying to get from this app. To whom are targeting and what type of education program you are going to offer? Then plan the functionalities, features, and tech stack that you would like to integrate into an e-learning app. 

Step 2: Choose the Right Operating Platform

Make sure you choose the right platform for your education app. It’s a major factor that can determine the success of your e-learning app and make it available on both iOS and Android platforms. This will be a crucial factor to decide as it affects the development time, cost, and efforts. 

Step 3: Decide Upon Tech-Stack

Ensure you select a tech stack that supports your language learning platform and can handle the complexity of the app. Several platforms include various tech stack approaches and requirements. Different platforms require different languages, for example, using programming languages like Kotlin and Java for Android app development whereas Object-C and Swift can be used for iOS app development. 

Step 4: Create an Attractive UI/UX design

The app interface is one of the major aspects that can affect the app’s success. Always remember that simple and easy-to-access app designs are appreciated by the users. A badly designed education app can lead to failure of your education app. This is why it is important to look for a top mobile app development company that helps in building simple and attractive designs by taking into account these factors:

  • Apps’ usability and accessibility
  • Wireframing and prototyping
  • Information Architecture
  • The visual design of the app

Step 5: Hire a Development Team

Duolingo like app development costs can greatly vary upon the type of development team you decide to hire for the project. You need a team of app developers including project managers, frontend developers, backend developers, UI/UX designers, quality assurance analysts,s and more. At Xicom, our team of developers closely collaborates with clients and customizes the app to align perfectly with their requirements. 

Step 6: App Testing 

Before you launch your app to the app store, make sure you conduct rigorous testing to eliminate bugs. Our team of experts ensures 100% bug-free coding as they follow both manual and automated app testing to eliminate errors.

Step 7: Launch Your App

With the help of experts, you can seamlessly deploy your app on the app store and take your business to new heights.        

These are the few general steps that everyone follows to create an online education learning app. But how will you make it stand apart in the market? Let’s take a sneak peak!

Looking Forward to Transform Your Business in the Education Sector?
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Tips and Strategies to Make Your Education App Successful

To remain on top of the market competition, you need to go beyond offering the basic features and functionalities. Duolingo-like app is integrated with various modern features that not just entice but also enhance user engagement. Other than that, there are a few strategies that you need to take into consideration to understand how to build a language-learning app.

Duolingo Like App Development Cost

 

Here are a few top tips and strategies that can increase your chances of being successful:

1. Pay Attention to App’s Accessibility

Duolingo-like apps boast a comprehensive app structure but it doesn’t irritate users with complex functionalities. There are a plethora of languages and learning courses, and they have smartly designed this education app that makes it simple and easy to access. 

So the tip is, to focus on the UI/UX concept of your app and avoid excessive graphical ornamentation. Follow a simple approach to make the exercise easy to understand and create a clean UI. 

2. Make The Learning Process Enjoyable With Gamification!

Elearning apps like Duolingo take complete advantage of gamification and entire learning process highly engaging. The entire learning process revolves around solving puzzles, and quizzes, and getting points for each completion. 

So if you are planning to create an app like Duolingo, then start with gamification at every step to make your app a success. 

3. Leveraging Personalized Push Notifications

Using a push notification in your app can be a perfect strategy to increase your conversions. Duolingo has understood this technique and introduced different push notification mechanisms into the app. They have used this technique to remind users about their daily, weekly, and monthly education goals and encourage them to another course with some personalized content.

4. Integration Voice Recognition

Did you know that 95% of users access information using voice commands by 2045? If you want to keep your app ahead of the market curve, it is worth looking to integrate Voice Recognition in your app for a better user experience. Duolingo like education apps offers a satisfying experience to its users as it has integrated with all the latest tech-stacks. 

Best Ways to Monetize Your Online Learning App

No matter whether you are a startup or a leading enterprise, your centeral concern is to make money from the app. Duolingo-like app is a crowdsourced platform so there are no standard revenue generation strategies they follow. 

However, if you are planning to build a multi-language learning app, then you can leverage these monetization strategies:

In-App Advertisements

Like Duolingo, you can allow users to access lots of free content on the app, but it will be loaded with third-party advertisements from the brands who pay you for using the space in your app.

Subscription Fees

This is one of the most common ways to generate revenue from your app. The application provides an ad-free experience alongside various advanced features like gaining gems or in-app currency for early course completion.   

Freemium 

To make money through online learning apps, you can offer freemium features or access to special courses through monthly or yearly payments. It gives a chance to users to explore your app and learn more about the special courses integrated with special features.

These are the few most popular strategies that businesses can leverage to make money. New-age businesses can emulate to earn money from a mobile app with other right marketing strategies and remain on the top.

Read More: 115+ Top Mobile App Ideas in 2025 For Startups, Entrepreneurs etc.

 

Conclusion

Hopefully, this blog has guided you through everything about online learning apps and how they are slowly taking over the traditional learning process. Language learning apps have become one of such most demanding apps in the education sector. So if you have decided to build an app like Duolingo, then this would require you to hire software developer that can help you customize the app using innovative features and ensuring user-friendly app design.

In that case, Xicom can be your perfect tech partner in Duolingo like app development as they have 500+ in-house tech programmers that can easily handle your request. For more details and estimations, you can drop a query below or contact us directly!

FAQs

How Much Does It Cost to Develop an App Like Dualoingo?

The average cost to create an app like Duolingo will be ranging from $25,000 to $50,000+ for a single platform which can go lower than $20,000 and above than $50,000, depending upon the complexity of the requirements.  

What are the Top User Engagement and Retention Strategies That You Can Adopt for Online Education Apps?

Here are the number of ways you can make your app engaging and interesting for users:
– Regular Updates: Keep adding new language courses, lessons, and features to keep the content fresh and enjoyable.
– Push Notifications: Engaging users with reminders, new content announcements, and motivational messages can help them stay connected with the app.
– User Feedback Integration: Continuously improving the app based on user feedback will be a great way to deliver a satisfactory experience. 

What are the Top Technologies You Can Use for Duolingo Like App Development?

Duolingo is a comprehensive app that has a strongly backed and user-centric front and other technologies that empower it to work flawlessly. So here are a few suggested tech stacks you can use to develop an app like Duolingo:
– Front-End: React Native for mobile app development.
– Back-End: Node.js for server-side operations.
– Database: MongoDB for storing user data and progress.
– Speech Recognition: Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API.
– Payment Gateway: Stripe or PayPal for handling in-app purchases.

How Long Does It Take to Build a Duolingo App?

The timeframe of Duolingo-like app development depends upon the complexity of the app requirements. The basic to moderate app structure would take around 3 to 6 months whereas an online education app with modern functionalities will take around 9+ months depending upon the type of team you deploy on the project. 

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