In this comprehensive list, we've combed through the market to find the best Spanish learning apps out there. From free flashcard learning apps to platforms that connect you directly with a native Spanish speaker, there’s an app out there for every type of learner.
Let's get to it!
1. FluentU: 3.5/5
Available: IOS & Android
Price: Free for 14 days (monthly subscription $30)
Suitable for: Visual learners
FluentU hones in on the idea of learning through immersion, video-immersion in particular. The app has a huge database of real-world Spanish videos that have been subtitled, and then translated, so you can follow along. There is all sorts of learning material to choose from, including film trailers, music videos and newsreels, so you can change it up every day.
2. Memrise: 3/5
Available: IOS & Android
Price: Free
Suitable for: Getting your vocabulary up to scratch.
Memrise was my personal lifeline when I lived in Russia. Every step I took, I saw or heard a new word that I didn’t recognise. So, I made it my mission to write them all down, and, with the help of Memrise, I literally had thousands of flashcards to use at my fingertips. It’s mainly a vocabulary learning app, and in the Spanish version, you can differentiate between learning Spanish from Spain and Spanish from Mexico. It's a fantastic supplementary tool for your learning, but not so good if you want to learn a language from scratch.
3. Duolingo: 3.5/5
Available: IOS & Android
Price: Free (with ads)
Suitable for: Beginners to intermediate learners
One of my personal favourites, Duolingo, is great bite-sized learning for newbies to the world of Spanish or those hoping to brush up on their skills. It’s a game based app, that has you completing tasks for rewards each day for that extra satisfaction factor. They cover all bases from reading and writing to grammar and even a bit of speaking thrown in there too.
We've already got a pretty comprehensive review of Duolingo here on Actual Fluency where we discuss its as a great tool for keeping your motivated, but not necessarily for getting you fluent in Spanish.
4. MosaLingua: 4.5/5
Available: IOS & Android
Price: $5.99
Suitable for: Casual Spanish leaners
The concept behind MosaLingua is brilliant: it’s an app that focuses on the 20% of words that will get you by in Spanish 80% of the time. In other words, you’ll be learning phrases and vocabulary that’ll help you out on holiday or to have a casual conversation, without delving into the nitty-gritty details of the technical stuff. By using the repetition technique, along with audio and visual cues, this app aims to achieve long term memorisation for its users.
5. Busuu: 4/5
Available: IOS & Android
Price: Free
Suitable for: All levels.
Combining challenging quizzes, interesting learning exercises and captivating games, Busuu makes learning Spanish pretty fun. A recently added feature allows you to connect with Spanish natives, so you can receive same-day feedback on your writing, pronunciation or any questions you might have about the language. If you’re happy to pay for the premium version, you’ll also find Spanish podcasts available along with extra useful content.
6. SpeakEasy Spanish
Available: IOS
Price: $3.99
Suitable for: Travellers on the move
SpeakEasy is a Spanish phrasebook in app form. It’s great for finding quick and useful phrases while you’re out and about, eating in restaurants, ordering cocktails at the bar, or trying to find directions. Next to the English phrase, you’ll find the Spanish translation, a phonetic translation and an audio recording of a native speaker saying the phrase. It covers you for Spain, or Latin American Spanish so you don’t need to worry about which Spanish-speaking country you are heading off to.
7. Open Language
Available: IOS & Android
Price: $30/month
Suitable for: Serious audio learners
Open Language may have one of the heftiest monthly subscription fees out there, but it’s also one of the most well-designed Spanish learning apps on the market. The app itself is broken up into several different courses, all of which correspond to different ability levels, allowing you to benchmark your progress against the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for languages). The lessons are focused on a dialogue between two native speakers, but also covers writing, reading and grammar exercises too.
8. Rosetta Stone
Available: IOS & Android
Price: $36 for 3-month subscription
Suitable for: Learners who want to become fluent in Spanish.
Rosetta Stone was one of the first companies to release comprehensive learning courses for us to have at home. While they remain to be one of the most expensive products in the language market, the app covers every single base you need to learn Spanish comprehensively, including videos for vocabulary learning, extensive grammar exercises and even an accent coaching program to help you achieve that je ne sais quoi.
In this extensive Rosetta Stone review we dive into our love-hate relationship with the software; loving its organised learning schedule and effortless interface, but hating its higher prices and dated features.
9. Cat Academy Spanish
Available: IOS
Price: Free
Suitable for: Cat-loving and visual Spanish learners
Combine your love of cats with your love of Spanish and you’ll have something that looks a little bit like the Cat Academy Spanish app. Using memorable cat graphics, this unique app hopes that these furry creatures will help make some common Spanish phrases a little more memorable. Seriously though, if you look beyond the cats, you’ll find heaps of useful information about grammar and useful phrases. Plus you can connect with your friends on the app, so you’ll be learning as a pair.
10. MindSnacks
Available: IOS
Price: Free
Suitable for: Kids who want to learn Spanish
If you’re much more of a visual learner, this quick game-based app might just be the ticket to get you on the road to becoming a Spanish pro. The graphics on Mindsnacks are hand-illustrated and are designed to help users retain vocabulary and encourage conversation. Along with engaging games, Spanish lessons include basic grammar too like gender and conjugation.
11. Lingualia
Available: IOS & Android
Price: $14.95
Suitable for: Langauge lovers who enjoy structured learning
Resembling traditional learning, the Lingualia app guides students through a structured learning program, taking them from novice to intermediate in no time at all. Lessons will be based on your level, and range from A1 to B2 standards. Like you’d expect in a classroom, each lesson is based around a theme, giving you a chance to practice your reading, writing, speaking, listening and grammar in one neat session.
12. Mirai Spanish
Available: IOS & Android
Price: Free for first 20 lessons
Suitable for: Spanish speakers of all levels who enjoy traditional learning
Mirai Spanish is more like an online language course in a mobile app form. The app contains a huge amount of lessons, that start from the very basics, and takes you through everything you need to know to become fluent. Lessons cover everything from pronunciation to grammar and vocabulary, using vivid graphics to help you retain information.
13. Mondly: 3/5
Available: IOS & Android
Price: Free
Suitable for: Learners who are keen to get speaking
On a mission to get your conversational Spanish flowing as quickly as possible, Mondly uses speaking-focused learning as its central point. Using high-tech speech recognition and augmented reality, Mondly allows you to have actual conversations through your phone. Clever, huh? While Spanish conversation is their focal point, the Mondly app also includes reading, writing and grammar exercises too. It's a great app for mastering the basics, but it won't get you to fluency alone.
14. LanguageCourse.net
Available: IOS & Android
Price: Free
Suitable for: Learners trying to improve their vocabulary range
Taking us back to the tried-and-tested method of learning vocabulary, Learn Spanish from LanguageCourse.net features more than 10,000 flashcards in its application. Covering everything from must-know vocab to a few more niche topics, using this app for just a few minutes each day will help your range of vocabulary come on leaps and bounds. And for those who want to see if you really can learn a language in your sleep, this app can help you try the theory!
15. Preply: 4/5
Available: IOS & Android
Price: App is free to download, but tutor fees vary.
Suitable for: Learners who want the tutoring experience.
Sometimes, no matter how hard you try using apps and online courses, there’s nothing better than having an actual person teach you how to speak Spanish.
Preply has created a hybrid of the two, offering a platform on which you can find a tutor, and book lessons with them, either online or in person. Each tutor has a profile that you can check out before you book, and you’ll also be able to see reviews from their past students too.
Bonus Info: You can sign up and make money yourself on Preply by offering tutoring in your strongest languages!
16. AccelaStudy
Available: IOS
Price: Free for one week
Suitable for: Anyone who needs to learn Spanish fast
The AccelaStudy app focuses on fast learning and short-term retention, so you can ace that Spanish test or get ready for that spontaneous trip away.
The app works on the theory that there are around 2,500 basic words and phrases that will give you a quick and basic understanding of the Spanish language. You'll be taught through the use of interactive flashcards and regular quizzes to make sure you're keeping all of that important information tucked away in your brain.
17. HiNative
Available: IOS & Android
Price: Free
Suitable for: Learners wanting to connect with natives
HiNative is one of a new wave of language forums to come onto the app market. Essentially, these are places where you, a non-native speaker, can connect with native speakers who will give you tips and tricks on how to master the Spanish language. You can submit questions in the traditional way, or send audio clips to have your pronunciation checked. Think of it as a modern day penpal.
18. Spanish Translator +
Available: IOS & Android
Price: Free
Suitable for: Anyone heading on a quick city break
Translation apps are often overlooked when it comes to learning a language, but in my opinion, this can be a huge mistake. With a quick-response dictionary and audio pronunciation, you can use this app not only to help with your learning, but also to get you out of tricky situations if you’re struggling to keep up with the Spanish.
Spanish Translator + also includes a handy essential phrase book that’ll help you find your way around whichever Spanish-speaking country you’ve found yourself in.
19. HelloTalk
Available: IOS
Price: Free
Suitable for: Learners looking for a language exchange
Let’s face it, travelling isn’t always possible, and meeting native Spanish speakers in your local town can be tricky. That’s where HelloTalk comes in with its language exchange concept being offered in a video call or camera form.
In exchange for all of this help with your Spanish, you will need to offer up a few lessons or conversations in your native-tongue too, but that’s a small price to pay for these invaluable experiences.
20. Babbel: 4/5
Available: IOS & Android
Price: $12.95 monthly subscription
Suitable for: Learners with a busy lifestyle
With a string of 15-minute lessons, Babbel is the perfect choice for anyone struggling to find the time in the day to learn a language.
The concept of the app is based on conversational skills, so you’ll be tackling real-life Spanish conversations every single day, and they even have speech recognition technology to help improve your pronunciation. And, for those times that the language just isn’t sticking, there’s always the handy refresher lessons.
In our lengthy review of Babbel, we discuss why it's great for Spanish learners, teaching relevant and useful vocabulary and grammar at a very reasonable price.
21. Drops
Available: IOS & Android
Price: Free with ads
Suitable for: Learners short on time
Drops promises to get you learning Spanish by putting aside just five minutes of your time each day. With a heavy emphasis on vocabulary, this game-styled app takes you on a fun-filled journey to every corner of Spain. Games include matching pictures to their Spanish equivalents and unscrambling letters, making the learning side of things feel much less taxing and much more effective.
22. Amikumu
Available: IOS & Android
Price: Free
Suitable for: Finding same language speakers
Amikumu is perhaps one of the most unique language apps out on the market. While you won't be using the app to necessarily learn Spanish, you will be using it to seek out others in your local area who are either learning the same language, or are native speakers.
You can choose to chat with that person on the app, or meet up for a coffee and practice your speaking in person. Amikumu also has a newsfeed feature, that focuses on news pieces, book reviews and online events, all of which are related to your target language – Spanish.
23. Lupa: 4/5
Available: IOS & Android
Price: Free or from $8.95/month
Suitable for: Intermediate and advanced speakers
Lupa is an extension of the popular podcast, Radio Ambulante, which has been around for more than ten years. The podcast features real-life stories from native speakers from across Latin America. Lupa takes these podcasts, adds an interactive transcript to them, and helps you to break down each sentence, word by word. Using the transcript you can repeat and rewind the audio, control playback speeds, create flashcards and hide certain words to make it even harder. It's a unique app that fills a void Spanish learning apps tend to overlook. It caters to the upper-intermediate and advanced learner that want to listen to native speakers talking at real speed, while still having a support system in place.
Our Final Thoughts on the Best Spanish Learning Apps
While we can’t tell you exactly what the best app is to learn Spanish for your needs, we can tell you that there will be something out there for your learning style.
Whether you’re looking for a simple interface with flashcards, a high-tech app that you can have a Spanish conversation with or a gripping game that'll have you learning without even realising, one of these many apps, will have something to help you on your language journey.
Of course, Spanish apps are just one way to get learning, there are also plenty of online courses, Spanish podcasts and other ways to learn the language too.