Duolingo

Duolingo, Inc.
Duolingo home page visited while logged out in March 2024
Type of businessPublic
Available in
Multilingual
Traded as
Founded2011; 13 years ago (2011)
HeadquartersPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Area servedWorldwide
Founder(s)
Key peopleLuis von Ahn (CEO)
Severin Hacker (CTO)
IndustryOnline education
Products
ServicesLanguage, music, and mathematics courses and language assessment.
RevenueIncrease US$531 million (2023)
Operating incomeNegative increase US$−13 million (2023)
ProfitIncrease US$16.1 million (2023)
Total assetsIncrease US$954 million (2023)
Total equityIncrease US$656 million (2023)
Employees≈ 850 (September 2024)
URLduolingo.com
AdvertisingYes
RegistrationYes[a]
Users113 million MAU (Q3 2024)
LaunchedNovember 27, 2011; 12 years ago (2011-11-27) (private beta)
June 19, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-06-19) (public release)
Current statusOnline
Native client(s) onAndroid, iOS, iPadOS
[1][2][3][4]

Duolingo, Inc.,[b] is an American educational technology company that produces learning apps and provides language certification. Duolingo offers courses on music,[5] math,[6] and 43 languages,[7] ranging from English, French, and Spanish to less commonly studied languages such as Welsh, Irish, and Navajo, and even fictional languages such as Klingon.[8] The learning method incorporates gamification to motivate users with points and rewards and interactive lessons featuring spaced repetition.[9] The app promotes short, daily lessons for consistent-phased practice.

Duolingo also offers the Duolingo English Test, an online language assessment, and Duolingo ABC, a literacy app designed for children. The company follows a freemium model, with optional premium services like Super Duolingo and Duolingo Max, which are ad-free and provide additional features. Additionally, Duolingo runs Duo's Taqueria, a Mexican taco restaurant.

With over 100 million monthly active users, Duolingo is the most popular language learning app.[10][11][12] Learners on Duolingo complete more than 13 billion exercises per week.[13] A systematic review of research on Duolingo from 2012 to 2020 found comparatively few studies on the platform's efficiency for language learning but identified several studies that reported relatively high user satisfaction, enjoyment, and positive perceptions of the app's effectiveness.[14] The company has also been recognized for its successful marketing tactics and strong brand engagement.[15][16]


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  1. ^ "Duolingo, Inc. 2023 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 29, 2024. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  2. ^ "Migrating Duolingo's Android app to 100% Kotlin". blog.duolingo.com. April 6, 2020. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  3. ^ "Real World Swift – Making Duolingo Blog". making.duolingo.com. January 7, 2015. Archived from the original on June 6, 2019. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  4. ^ "Rewriting Duolingo's engine in Scala – Making Duolingo Blog". making.duolingo.com. January 31, 2017. Archived from the original on August 4, 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  5. ^ Ortiz, Sabrina. "Duolingo opens waitlist for its new, free music course. Here's how to sign up". ZDNET. Archived from the original on October 12, 2023. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  6. ^ Duolingo Team (October 26, 2022). "Duolingo Math makes learning easy as pi(e)". Duolingo. Archived from the original on October 27, 2022. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  7. ^ Matt (February 20, 2023). "The Complete List Of EVERY Duolingo Language". Duoplanet. Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  8. ^ Higgins-Dunn, Noah (April 14, 2019). "If you are a 'Game of Thrones' fan, this app will teach you how to speak in High Valyrian". CNBC. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  9. ^ "Dear Duolingo: Why is spaced repetition so important for learning?". Duolingo Blog. December 26, 2023. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  10. ^ "duolingo reports 45% revenue growth and record profitability in first quarter 2024; raises full year guidance".
  11. ^ Ceci, Laura. "Top language learning apps by downloads 2023". Statista. Archived from the original on January 20, 2024. Retrieved October 6, 2023.
  12. ^ Transcribing, Motley Fool (August 7, 2024). "Duolingo (DUOL) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript". The Motley Fool. Retrieved August 9, 2024.
  13. ^ "Cem Kansu on LinkedIn: How Duolingo Turned a Free Language App Into a $7.7 Billion Business". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  14. ^ Shortt, Mitchell; Tilak, Shantanu; Kuznetcova, Irina; Martens, Bethany; Akinkuolie, Babatunde (March 4, 2023). "Gamification in mobile-assisted language learning: a systematic review of Duolingo literature from public release of 2012 to early 2020". Computer Assisted Language Learning. 36 (3): 517–554. doi:10.1080/09588221.2021.1933540. ISSN 0958-8221.
  15. ^ Cohen, Ben (June 14, 2024). "The Only App That Always Wins the Battle for Your Attention". The Wall Street Journal.
  16. ^ Morley, Olivia (April 5, 2024). "Duolingo's Masterminded Social Listening Tactics". www.adweek.com. Retrieved June 18, 2024.