LearnLingo vs Preply: Free English Course or Paid Private Tutor?

Key takeaways

• Preply's core product is a live human tutor. LearnLingo's core product is a free interactive course. They are not direct substitutes.
• Preply tutors set their own prices, so cost depends on the tutor you choose. LearnLingo lessons are free, with optional Plus.
• LearnLingo follows a fixed CEFR path from A1 to C1. On Preply, the curriculum depends on your tutor.
• Preply wins clearly on real conversation, personal correction and accountability to a person.
• LearnLingo wins on price, daily structure, grammar drills and built-in Turkish support.
• A practical combination: daily LearnLingo lessons plus one or two Preply lessons a week focused only on speaking.

LearnLingo vs Preply at a glance

The facts about Preply below come from Preply's own "How it works" page, checked in October 2026. Prices and features change, so check the current details before you pay.

Feature	LearnLingo	Preply
Price model	Free course; optional Plus subscription	Pay per lesson; each tutor sets a rate; weekly-hours subscription after a trial
Free tier	Every lesson, full course	No free lessons; trial lesson is paid, with refund or free tutor switch if unhappy
Levels (CEFR)	Structured path A1 to C1	Any level; depends on the tutor's plan
Teaching method	Short interactive exercises, grammar tips, review of mistakes	Live 1-on-1 video lessons in Preply's classroom
Speaking practice	Speaking Coach game, browser speech recognition on web, listen and repeat on iOS	Real conversation with a human tutor
Listening practice	Listening exercises, dialogues read aloud by a speech engine, Listening Lab	Live listening to your tutor; anything the tutor brings
Grammar explanations	Built-in tips, unit guides, Sage the Turtle helper	From your tutor, quality varies
Native-language support	Turkish UI and explanations	Find a tutor who speaks your language
Platforms	Web browser, iOS app	Web, mobile apps
Offline use	No offline mode on web	No; lessons are live online
Certificates	None	None official
Best for	Self-starters who want free, daily, structured practice	Learners who need conversation, feedback and a person to keep them on track

Method and lesson design

Preply. A Preply lesson is a live video call in Preply's virtual classroom with one tutor. You pick the tutor from profiles, book a trial lesson of 25 or 50 minutes, and then subscribe to a set number of hours per week. Between lessons Preply offers extra tools: Lesson Insights after a lesson, daily exercises and AI practice tools, according to its own site. The big advantage is flexibility. A good tutor can drop what you already know, spend twenty minutes on the job interview you have next week, and correct your exact mistakes in the moment.

The weakness is the flip side of the same flexibility. Quality depends on the person you book. Some tutors arrive with a clear plan and materials; others mostly chat. You also need to manage scheduling, time zones and cancellations, and Preply's own policy charges a lesson in full if you cancel less than 12 hours before.

LearnLingo. LearnLingo lessons are short and interactive. You answer multiple-choice questions, translate with a word bank, match pairs, fill gaps and listen to sentences. Each unit has grammar tips and a guide, dialogues are read aloud by your device's speech engine, and mistakes go into spaced practice so they come back before you forget them. There is no waiting for anyone: open the browser and start.

Verdict: Preply for personalized live teaching; LearnLingo for consistent, structured self-study. If you only have ten minutes on a bus, LearnLingo fits; if you need to talk, Preply fits.

Curriculum and levels

LearnLingo is organized by CEFR level, from A1 (beginner) to C1 (advanced). Every unit builds on the previous one, so you always know what comes next. If you are not sure where to start, our guide to CEFR levels explained and the free 5-minute English level test will place you.

Preply has no single public curriculum. Each tutor designs their own lessons, and many use their own materials or a published coursebook. This is excellent if you have a clear goal such as an IELTS speaking score, and less helpful if you are a beginner who does not know what to ask for.

Verdict: LearnLingo for a clear, ordered path; Preply for goal-specific lessons once you know what you need.

Grammar

A tutor can explain grammar, answer follow-up questions and give you examples about your own life. That is real value. But paying tutor rates to drill the difference between "since" and "for" is expensive, and many tutors prefer conversation to systematic grammar.

LearnLingo builds grammar into every unit: a short tip, an example, then many quick exercises that make you use the form. Sage the Turtle, the course helper, explains why an answer is right or wrong. Sage is rule-based, not an AI chatbot, so its explanations are consistent but limited to the course content. For a deeper reference, the English grammar hub collects every topic.

Verdict: LearnLingo for practice volume and consistency; Preply for answering your personal "why" questions.

Vocabulary and review

Forgetting is the main enemy of vocabulary. LearnLingo stores your mistakes and brings them back on a schedule, which is the idea behind spaced repetition. Games like Word Match and Speed Quiz add extra review.

Preply says it offers personalized vocabulary tools and daily exercises between lessons. Inside lessons, vocabulary depends on the tutor; some send word lists after class, some do not.

Verdict: LearnLingo for systematic review. Preply for learning words you personally need, if your tutor tracks them.

Speaking and pronunciation

This is Preply's strongest area, and it is not close. A human tutor hears your pronunciation, notices what you avoid, asks follow-up questions and makes you produce long answers under real pressure. Nothing in an app replaces that.

LearnLingo offers speaking practice through the Speaking Coach game. On the web it uses browser speech recognition where your browser supports it; on iOS it is listen and repeat with a self-check. That helps with confidence and clear sounds, but it is not conversation. For more ideas, read how to improve your English speaking and our English pronunciation tips.

Verdict: Preply, clearly.

Listening

A Preply tutor speaks with you at a speed you can follow and will repeat when asked, which is helpful at first but can make you used to "teacher English." LearnLingo includes listening exercises, read-aloud dialogues and the Listening Lab game. The voices come from your device's speech engine, so they are clear but less natural than a real person.

Neither replaces real-world listening. Add podcasts and video from our listening guide.

Verdict: A tie, with different strengths. Preply for real human speech; LearnLingo for frequent, short, repeatable listening drills.

Motivation: streaks, XP and leagues

LearnLingo uses game mechanics: hearts, daily streaks, XP, levels and weekly leagues. They make a short daily habit easier to keep. Preply's motivation is different and very strong: a real person expects you at a fixed time, and you have paid for the lesson. For many adults, that commitment works better than any streak.

Verdict: Preply for accountability; LearnLingo for daily habit building. Our guide to staying motivated covers both.

Price and value

Preply tutors set their own per-lesson rates. On Preply's Turkish-locale page in October 2026, sample English tutors were listed at roughly TRY 1,580 to TRY 2,271 per lesson, and other countries see different prices. After the trial, you choose 1 to 5 hours per week, billed every 28 days. Preply says you can pause, cancel or change your plan, and that one week of unscheduled hours carries forward at renewal. Always check the current price on Preply itself.

LearnLingo's full course is free. LearnLingo Plus is an optional subscription with weekly, monthly and yearly options; see the LearnLingo Plus page for current prices. App Store prices can differ.

Verdict: LearnLingo for cost. Preply can still be good value when you use every lesson for speaking instead of drills.

Platforms

Preply runs on the web and on mobile apps, and lessons need a stable internet connection, a microphone and ideally a camera. LearnLingo runs in any modern browser and on iOS. Neither offers a true offline mode on the web.

Verdict: Roughly equal. LearnLingo is easier to use in short, unplanned moments.

Support for Turkish speakers

LearnLingo has a full Turkish interface and Turkish explanations, and our blog covers common mistakes Turkish speakers make in English. On Preply you can filter for tutors who also speak Turkish, which helps beginners a lot, but the support you get depends on the person.

Verdict: LearnLingo for built-in support; Preply if you book a Turkish-speaking tutor.

Privacy and ads

Preply is a marketplace: you create an account, share your schedule and talk with a tutor on video. Check its privacy policy for how lesson data is used. LearnLingo has no ads inside lessons and lets you start learning before you create an account. As with any service, read the privacy policy before you sign up.

Verdict: Both are mainstream services. LearnLingo asks for less to get started.

Who should choose Preply

• You need to speak English at work, in interviews or in exams soon.
• You are intermediate or above and have hit a plateau that drills will not fix.
• You stay motivated when another person expects you.
• You have a specific goal, such as IELTS speaking or business presentations, and a budget for it.

Who should choose LearnLingo

• You want to learn English without paying.
• You are a beginner and need a clear path from A1 upward.
• You prefer short sessions at any time, with no scheduling.
• You are a Turkish speaker and want explanations in Turkish.
• You want lots of grammar and vocabulary practice before paying for conversation.

Using both together

The most efficient plan is to let each tool do what it is best at. Use LearnLingo for daily input and drills, and spend paid tutor time only on what an app cannot do.

A sample week

Day	LearnLingo (free)	Preply (paid)
Monday	One or two lessons, review mistakes	None
Tuesday	One lesson, Listening Lab	25 to 50 min conversation on this week's unit topic
Wednesday	Grammar Gap game, review	None
Thursday	One lesson, Speaking Coach	None
Friday	Review mistakes, Word Match	Optional second lesson: role-play or exam speaking
Weekend	Short review to keep the streak	Write five sentences using new words; send to tutor if they accept it

Before each tutor lesson, tell your tutor which LearnLingo unit you just finished, for example "past simple" or "ordering food." Ask them to make you use those structures in conversation. Our daily English study routine shows how to fit this into 20 minutes a day.

Self-check: are you ready for a tutor?

Paid conversation is most useful once you can produce simple sentences. Answer these honestly.

1. Can you introduce yourself in five sentences without notes?
2. Can you describe your day using the past simple?
3. Do you know at least the most common verbs and question words?
4. Can you understand a slow speaker asking simple questions?
5. Can you ask someone to repeat or slow down?

If you answered "no" to three or more, spend a few weeks on A1 lessons first. Your tutor money will go further.

Practice set: tutor-lesson English

Choose the best answer. Answers are below.

1. You did not hear the tutor. You say: "Sorry, could you ___ that, please?" (a) repeat (b) repeating (c) repeated
2. "I ___ English for two years." (a) study (b) have studied (c) am study
3. Polite request: "___ you speak a little more slowly?" (a) Could (b) Must (c) Should
4. "What does this word ___?" (a) means (b) mean (c) meaning
5. "I'm not sure ___ to say it." (a) what (b) how (c) which
6. "Can we focus ___ speaking today?" (a) in (b) at (c) on
7. "I ___ to the meeting yesterday." (a) go (b) went (c) gone
8. "If I practice more, I ___ improve." (a) will (b) would (c) am
9. "Is it 'make a mistake' or 'do a mistake'?" The correct one is (a) make (b) do
10. "I'm looking forward ___ our next lesson." (a) to (b) for (c) at

Answers: 1 a, 2 b, 3 a, 4 b, 5 b, 6 c, 7 b, 8 a, 9 a, 10 a. If number 9 was hard, read make vs do.

Looking for other options?

If you want to compare more tutor platforms, schools and apps, see our list of Preply alternatives for learning English, or browse every comparison. You can also read our broader roundup of the best apps to learn English.

People Also Ask

Is Preply better than LearnLingo?

For live conversation and personal feedback, yes: Preply gives you a human tutor and LearnLingo does not. For free, structured daily practice of grammar, vocabulary and listening, LearnLingo is the cheaper and more systematic option. Many learners use LearnLingo daily and book a tutor once or twice a week.

How much does Preply cost?

Each Preply tutor sets their own per-lesson rate, so prices vary widely by tutor, country and currency. After a trial lesson you subscribe to a plan of 1 to 5 hours per week billed every 28 days. Check the current price on Preply before you book.

Is LearnLingo really free?

Yes. Every lesson and the full A1 to C1 course are free in the browser. LearnLingo Plus is optional and adds unlimited hearts, more help from Sage and early access to every game.

Can LearnLingo replace a Preply tutor?

Not fully. LearnLingo has no human tutors, no live classes and no AI conversation partner, so it cannot replace real conversation. It can replace much of the drilling a tutor would otherwise spend lesson time on, which makes paid lessons more efficient.

Does Preply give a certificate?

Preply does not issue official English certificates, and neither does LearnLingo. If you need proof of level for work, study or a visa, take an official exam such as IELTS, TOEFL or a Cambridge exam.

Which is better for Turkish speakers?

LearnLingo has a Turkish interface and Turkish explanations built in. On Preply you can search for a tutor who speaks Turkish, which can help a lot at beginner level, but the experience depends on the tutor you choose.