Very few language apps for kids are free from start to finish. According to their publishers, three things cost nothing: Duolingo ABC (English reading, no ads or in-app purchases), Khan Academy Kids (early learning in English, no ads or subscriptions) and the British Council’s LearnEnglish Kids website. Duolingo’s regular courses, Spanish included, are free with ads. Nearly everything else is a free trial, which is a different thing.
Everything below comes from each publisher’s own pages, checked on 31 October 2026. Free tiers and trials change often, so treat this as a map and confirm the details in the store listing before you install anything for a child.
Which language apps for kids are free forever?
Duolingo ABC: the App Store listing says it is free with no ads or in-app purchases, and that it works offline. It teaches English reading and writing only.
Khan Academy Kids: a nonprofit app for ages 2 to 8 that its page calls free forever, with no ads and no subscriptions. It covers reading, writing and math in English; the page says nothing about other languages.
LearnEnglish Kids: a British Council website with free games, songs, stories and activities, plus printable flashcards, worksheets and colouring pages. The site also promotes paid courses, kept separate from the free material.
Duolingo’s regular courses:Duolingo says you never have to pay to use them, with in-app ads and the paid Super subscription funding the free version. It is a general language app; its separate kids’ app is Duolingo ABC.
That list is short, and most of it is English. Among the apps checked for this page, none aimed at young children for Spanish, French or Chinese is free without limits. Duolingo’s free courses come closest.
Is a free-to-download language app really free?
Not necessarily. Free to download only means the install costs nothing. Lingokids is a good example: its site shows download free as the main button, says no ads, ever, and also has a subscribe link. It does not describe what the free version includes, so open the store listing and read what the subscription unlocks before you assume anything. Gus on the Go invites visitors to download its Stories language apps for free, but its site lists no prices, and the App Store listing for the Spanish Stories app shows paid in-app purchases, so read the store page first.
A quick habit saves money: scroll to the in-app purchases section of any kids’ app listing and read the list of what is sold. If a subscription is the way to get most of the lessons, the app is a trial with a nicer name.
Which kids’ language apps have a free trial?
App
Trial, as stated by the publisher
Languages
What follows
Studycat
7-day free trial; ad-free
English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese
Site does not say what happens after the trial
Dinolingo
7-day free trial
50 languages in one plan
A subscription; its site says one plan covers up to six children
Little Pim
Free trial
12 languages, including Spanish and Mandarin Chinese
A paid subscription
Rockalingua
Free trial
Spanish
A paid membership
A trial is a test drive, not a free app. Put the end date in your calendar the day you start, and find the cancel button in the store before the trial begins. If you want to compare what these apps teach, the guides to Spanish apps for kids and English apps for kids go through each one.
Can you get a language app for kids free with a library card?
Sometimes. The language platform Mango Languages says patrons can use it with a library card at no extra cost, but only where their library subscribes. It also lists Little Pim, the early-years video course above, as an add-on that libraries can buy, so whether your card covers it depends entirely on your local library. Check the library website or ask at the desk; it takes two minutes and could replace a subscription.
Free ways to practice a language that are not apps
On its own, no, and a paid app would not change that. The American Academy of Pediatrics tells families raising children with more than one language to expose them to as much language as possible, and its examples are books, audiobooks, videos and podcasts. A free app is one slice of that. It is a useful slice for vocabulary and listening, and a poor substitute for someone talking back.
What to check before you hand over a free kids’ app
Look at four things in the listing. The age rating, which tells you who the app was designed for. Whether it shows ads: Duolingo ABC, Khan Academy Kids, Studycat and Lingokids all say they are ad-free, and any other app deserves a look. Whether there are in-app purchases or an auto-renewing trial. And whether your child needs an account, because an app that asks a young child for an email address has made a choice you may want to question.
One more reality check. A free app can still be a good one, and a paid one can still waste your money. What matters is whether your child opens it by choice twice in the same week, and whether you have a plan for the parts an app cannot do, like speaking to a real person in the language.
How to raise a bilingual child at home, age by age, using advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics and ASHA: routines, mixing languages, delay myths and when to ask for help.
English apps for kids compared from each publisher's own site, split by the real question: learning to read English, or learning English as a new language.
Spanish apps for kids compared from each publisher's own site: Gus on the Go, Studycat, Dinolingo, Little Pim, Rockalingua and Duolingo, with ages, formats and trial terms.
