Six years ago, after binge-watching Narcos, I set out to learn Spanish. The easiest way was to join Duolingo. Their marketing game was so strong, I knew I’d get so fluent, I’d be able to talk to a Colombian, maybe even shock them with my Spanish-speaking skills. If I ever ran into one.
Three days after downloading the app, I deleted it. I was learning the same words and phrases for days. At that rate, I could only say, “She is a girl/He is a boy” in Spanish, a sentence I could never use to break the ice with a Hispanic, let alone shock them.
When I joined Class Central this year, the excitement to learn something new was back. I downloaded the app again. It was still the top language-learning app.
By the fifth day, I was on the verge of deleting it again. This time it wasn’t the repetition. It was something worse. The ads were out of control.
The Ad Strategy that Trumps Learning
I had joined the app for chess, their recent addition.
After every unit/level (which lasted about 30 seconds) came a skippable ad, then a mandatory ad to join Super Duolingo (for 15-30 seconds). I was spending more time on ads than the sessions.
They were incessant, unstoppable, and downright annoying. They defeated the purpose of learning because they broke my flow every time.
This isn’t a personal issue, but a community one. Several Redditors have called out Duolingo’s ad frequency in its community (r/duolingo), many even leaving years of streaks.
The gamification aspect never appealed to me, so I wasn’t a streak protector. But I enjoyed learning chess. Every section focused on one move, which was easier to practice, making every unit shorter. So every unit lasted about 30 seconds, followed by 40-45 seconds of ads.
The ratio was unfair, and after a point, unbearable. On the second day, I stopped learning and only played matches that didn’t have ads.
Some other things that tipped me off were:
- The ‘Skip Ad’ symbol was so small, that I’d barely notice it in the first (skippable) ad. I’d end up watching it 4-5 seconds longer.
- Plus, the app asked me to watch an ad for a meager 15 to 25 points, but to get an extra heart (one life) I had to spend around 750 points! Again, the ratio was way off. Each ad was about 30 seconds long, and to earn one heart, I’d have to watch anywhere between 30-50 ads (15-25 minutes!).
My next best option was to wait for hours to get a new heart, which I’d lose in the next few minutes. What was the point of learning if every mistake cost me so much time and made it harder to learn?
Some users mentioned that on the website, the ads are skippable. I started taking French lessons to check this but I haven’t gotten any (I’m still on the first section), which is good, but it doesn’t matter.
I like learning on the go — while waiting for a friend in a cafe, before I sleep, and during long commutes. The app is more convenient and accessible than the web browser.
Free Education at What Cost?
Duolingo claims it’s free. Technically, that’s true. But I still pay a cost for it.
I visited the company website, and it read, “A free, fun, and effective way to learn a new language.”
When I’m spending more time on ads than learning, it’s not fun. And the fact that I choose to just play matches without understanding openings, moves, or checks in chess, hardly makes it effective.
The features required to learn a topic like unlimited hearts and a seamless ad-free experience are behind paywalls ($12.99 per month and $83.99 a year).
This hasn’t hindered Duolingo’s growth. While discussing this article with our Founder, Dhawal, who routinely reviews the quarterly and annual filings of public edtech companies, he mentioned that the number of paid subscribers is still increasing.
I signed up for Super Duolingo too. While the constant ads were gone, I was still getting ads to join the Family plan.
This ad-bombing is again, a shared experience. In another Reddit thread, people who bought the Plus/Super Subscription complained about getting ads for Max (Duolingo’s new premium service to learn with AI-powered features to explain answers and practice with a bot over a video call).
Some were also annoyed with the placement of the ad and how it blocked access to a learner’s progress. One of them even mentioned feeling like a “second-class customer” even after paying for Super.
While the ad frustration is ongoing, users are also disappointed that once necessary and free features are now advertised as being part of premium plans like Max. One of them is the ‘Explain My Answer’ feature.
You could look at an explanation for each question for free. They took that away and are now trying to get people to pay for it. Explaining why you are wrong and being able to look at grammar rules seems a fundamental thing to learning a new language, so once my subscription is up I’m probably going to cancel it. – Reddit user
These strategies, clearly designed to push users to pay for more are making the community question the company’s now translucent motive.
Is Obsessive Monetization Needed?
A 2021 TechCrunch article mentioned that when Duolingo decided to monetize, employers were worried about that clashing with their mission. Some employees even threatened to leave.
Luis von Ahn, in a 2016 blog post, stated, “Most people don’t realize how expensive it is to operate a platform that is actively used by tens of millions of users. We spend about $42,000 per day on servers, employee salaries, etc. And this cost keeps going up with our number of users, which doubles every few months.”
At that time, Duolingo had 150 million users, which reached 300 million in 2018.
I understand the need for monetization to match the rapid growth, but I don’t connect with the mission anymore. The fact that Duolingo is profitable, and on track to complete a $1 billion in revenue, makes me wonder if they’re still in touch with their mission or whether their mission is now monetization.
In 2024, its ad revenues accounted for just 7% of the total revenue. It had grown 10% in 2024 while subscription revenue grew by 50%! The numbers show where Duolingo’s priorities lie. They are sacrificing their ad revenue and trading it for subscription revenue.
In a press release, CEO, Luis von Ahn, said, “We closed out 2024 with a truly exceptional fourth quarter, achieving our highest ever quarterly bookings, revenue, DAUs (daily active users), and net new subscribers.”
The main reason for this growth was a higher number of DAUs, which led to more ads being shown and thus more advertising revenue.
How Duolingo Benefits from the Ad Hate
The ads clearly don’t deter users from using the app. In fact, when I was going through Reddit posts on Duolingo ads, people had come up with hacks to dodge the ads, a common one being closing the app after every lesson and re-opening it for the next.
The ad bombardment feels like a ploy to annoy learners into paying for the paid plan.
Even after showing explosive user growth, Duolingo is converting users into paid users at a much higher rate than before. Dhawal, our Founder, in one of his articles, even pointed out that Duolingo’s market value transcends Udemy and Coursera combined.
I believe the design and the gamification (streaks) keep people hooked. The ads are the perfect hurdle to get seamless access to that.
Gamification = User Growth
Advertising = Paid User Growth
Some users succumb to this annoyance, they’ve claimed to get Super Duolingo to save time and sanity.
In a Reddit thread on Duolingo alternatives, people recommend many alternatives like Busuu, Babbel, Mango, etc. While they’re strong contenders and they teach language minus the games (a plus for serious language learners) Duolingo’s user base is far larger.
Communities bond over their hatred of the ads, but Duolingo’s numbers don’t reflect that hate. The app still ranks as the best language-learning app. The lists it doesn’t rank in? The ones that discuss its alternatives.
The first time I used the app, I didn’t enjoy it because it was too thorough. Now I despise it because it makes real learning inaccessible. Users are recognizing this, some have even decided to uninstall the app once their subscription ends (the ads being only one reason behind it).
The conversation threads on Duolingo’s alternatives don’t seem to threaten its monopoly, but there are signs. The company has claimed that even if ad revenue has increased, the average revenue earned per daily active user from these sources actually decreased.
Add to that the irritation of users and the act of leaving dramatic streaks and uninstalling the app. It shows that even the most ardent fans can detach from “the leading language learning app” and explore other options that, to be honest, are worthy contenders.
The post Duolingo, Please Control Your Ads, We’re Trying To Learn Here appeared first on The Report by Class Central.
