Duolingo was part of a free education wave that hit the internet in the early 2010s, as entrepreneurs saw the tools of the web and mobile to as a way to open up entrenched institutions to the masses.
Luis von Ahn, who already had success selling two businesses to Google in his 20’s, saw an opportunity to turn the language learning model on its head. Instead of having to pay-per-hour or subscribe, Duolingo would be free to all, enabling people from all backgrounds to learn a new language.
Speaking to The Guardian in 2014, von Ahn said: “There are 1.2 billion people learning a foreign language and two thirds of those people are learning English so they can get a better job and earn more. The problem is that they don’t have equity and most language courses cost a lot of money.”
Duolingo was a hit even before its official launch. In November 2011, the team launched a private beta and within a month 300,000 people had signed up on a waitlist. Over 10 million people downloaded the app in the first 12 months.
Instead of building a classroom-style product in an app, Duolingo took cues from the world of gaming to enhance the experience and keep users engaged. Users can compete against friends and random people by completing courses and receive rewards for streaks.
Duolingo also separated itself from other language learning services by using data to its advantage. It regularly runs tests to find an optimal way to design a course, testing users on how quickly they learn part of the language and changing the formula to smooth the learning curve.
In the past few years, Duolingo has embedded artificial intelligence into the app, to analyze mistakes and slightly alter the course to fit user requirements.
As Duolingo started to grow, users asked for more obscure and fictional languages to be added. Von Ahn used his experience as one of the pioneers of crowdsourcing to launch Incubators, which pull together linguists, native speakers and book readers to design a fully optimized course.
These incubators are responsible for several courses Duolingo now offers, including Welsh, Catalan, Latin and fictional languages from Star Trek and George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.
As part of Ahn’s commitment to Duolingo being more than a game, it offers English language certification for $20, much lower than the $250 it can cost in India, China and other countries. Users are able to take the test on Duolingo and results are sent back in 48 hours.
In 2022, it added music and maths lessons to its platform. Following on the excitement of AI, Duolingo added its own chatbot, utilizing OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology.
We have collected data and statistics on Duolingo. Read on below to find out more. Want expert insights on this app sector? Check out the education app report.
Duolingo Key Statistics
- Duolingo generated $531 million revenue in 2023, a 43.6% year-on-year increase
- Duolingo has over 800 million downloads and 74 million monthly active users
- Over 20 million people access Duolingo daily
- Duolingo has over 100 available courses in 38 languages
Education App Report 2024
Want to learn more about the Education app industry? In our Education App Report, we cover financials, forecasts, usage, downloads, demographics and benchmarking data.
Duolingo Overview
| Title 1 | Title 2 |
|---|---|
| Launch date | 19 June 2012 |
| HQ | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| People | Luis von Ahn (CEO), Severin Hacker (CTO) |
| Business type | Public (NASDAQ: DUOL) |
| Industry | Language learning |
Duolingo Revenue
Duolingo made $531 million revenue in 2023, primarily from subscriptions to the company’s premium service.
Duolingo revenue 2020 to 2024 ($mm)
Duolingo revenue 2017 to 2023 ($mm)
| Year | Revenue ($mm) |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 13 |
| 2018 | 36 |
| 2019 | 78 |
| 2020 | 161 |
| 2021 | 250 |
| 2022 | 369.7 |
| 2023 | 531 |
Sources: Education App Report, Company data
Duolingo Monthly Active Users
Duolingo had 74 million monthly active users in 2023, another major increase on the previous year.
Duolingo MAUs 2020 to 2024 (mm)
Duolingo MAUs 2013 to 2024 (mm)
| Year | Users (mm) |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 5 |
| 2014 | 10 |
| 2016 | 30 |
| 2017 | 28 |
| 2018 | 25 |
| 2019 | 30 |
| 2020 | 39 |
| 2021 | 37.9 |
| 2022 | 49.5 |
| 2023 | 74.1 |
| 2024 | 103.6 |
Sources: Education App Report, Company data
Duolingo Daily Active Users
Duolingo’s daily active users increased from 14.2 million to 21.4 million users.
Duolingo DAUs 2020 to 2024 (mm)
Duolingo DAUs 2019 to 2024 (mm)
| Year | Users (mm) |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 7.8 |
| 2020 | 8.8 |
| 2021 | 9.1 |
| 2022 | 14.2 |
| 2023 | 21.4 |
| 2024 | 34.1 |
Sources: Company data
Duolingo Subscribers
Duolingo has grown its paid subscribers at around 50% per year. It surpassed eight million in 2024.
Duolingo subscribers 2020 to 2024 (mm)
Duolingo subscribers 2020 to 2024 (mm)
| Year | Subscribers (mm) |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 1.3 |
| 2021 | 1.9 |
| 2022 | 3.2 |
| 2023 | 5.2 |
| 2024 | 8 |
Sources: Company data
Duolingo Downloads
Duolingo reached 800 million total downloads in 2023.
Duolingo cumulative downloads 2013 to 2023 (mm)
| Year | Downloads (mm) |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 10 |
| 2014 | 25 |
| 2015 | 120 |
| 2016 | 150 |
| 2017 | 200 |
| 2018 | 300 |
| 2019 | 385 |
| 2020 | 500 |
| 2021 | 575 |
| 2022 | 690 |
| 2023 | 810 |
Sources: Company data, CNBC, TechCrunch
Duolingo Valuation
Duolingo’s valuation has increased over the past two years, shaking off its bad start on the stock market.
Duolingo valuation 2015 to 2024 ($bn)
| Year | Valuation ($bn) |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 0.47 |
| 2018 | 0.7 |
| 2019 | 1.5 |
| 2020 | 2.4 |
| 2021 | 6.6 |
| 2022 | 3.4 |
| 2023 | 6.4 |
| 2024 | 9.5 |
Note: Value was taken in April of respective year. Sources: Company data, VentureBeat
Duolingo Courses
Duolingo has over 100 courses available on its platform, including fake languages such as those in Star Trek and Game of Thrones.
Duolingo available courses on platform 2012 to 2023
| Year | Available courses |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 5 |
| 2014 | 11 |
| 2016 | 18 |
| 2018 | 62 |
| 2019 | 91 |
| 2020 | 95 |
| 2021 | 98 |
| 2022 | 102 |
| 2023 | 105 |
Sources: Company data, TechCrunch
Duolingo Users by Language
English language users are the majority on Duolingo, according to data from Jakubmarian.
Duolingo users by language 2023 (mm)
| Language | Users (mm) |
|---|---|
| English | 38.6 |
| Spanish | 13.7 |
| French | 9.7 |
| German | 5.9 |
| Italian | 3.8 |
| Portuguese | 1.9 |
Note: Registered users, not active. Source: Jakubmarian
Duolingo vs Babbel: Revenue
Duolingo surpassed Babbel in total revenue generated in 2021 and has continued to widen the gap in 2022 and 2023.
Duolingo and Babbel revenue 2017 to 2023 ($mm)
Want to learn more? Check out the Education App Report
Duolingo FAQ
What is Duolingo’s most popular course?
English for Spanish speakers is Duolingo’s most popular course, followed by Spanish for English speakers
How many Duolingo users pay for premium?
Less than three percent of Duolingo users subscribe to its premium offering (BBC)
How many schools use Duolingo?
Over 100,000 schoolteachers use Duolingo in foreign language classes
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