I think it's inevitable that Duolingo will become subscription only.

[QYLaGj7A]

Duolingo was -60 million in profits in 2021. Babble was originally using the freemium model and many other language learning apps have been too. The issue with a freemium model is that ads don't generate enough revenue to be profitable. Duolingo is unsustainable and if they don't change things eventually they will be forced to ditch the freemium model and become subscription only. I could see Duolingo doing this in 5-10 years as the user base is growing. They might need to keep shutting down features to keep Duolingo free. What do you think about this, do you think that Duolingo will remain free?

[Deleted User 114]

I certainly hope they don’t make you pay, but I can’t say I don’t see it ever happening.

[wayfarer]

Will enough people want to pay to use it, though? I've stopped using even the free version as I got tired of its ineffective lesson designs and absurd gamification features. Perhaps if they did a radical overhaul it might become worth it..

[Corinnebelle]

Well Duolingo is back in China now after being banned for 1 year. That might help the company stay afloat.

[panyamnyenyekevu]

Duolingo was -60 million in profits in 2021. Babble was originally using the freemium model and many other language learning apps have been too. The issue with a freemium model is that ads don't generate enough revenue to be profitable. Duolingo is unsustainable and if they don't change things eventually they will be forced to ditch the freemium model and become subscription only. I could see Duolingo doing this in 5-10 years as the user base is growing. They might need to keep shutting down features to keep Duolingo free. What do you think about this, do you think that Duolingo will remain free?

Yes. I think it will remain “free” to the extent forcing people to watch ads is “free.” Did facebook or twitter or youtube become subscription only? No. Nor shall they ever. [Satirical afterthought: If duolingo (or twitter or Facebook or youtube, etc.) were subscription-only, it (they) might have to start to care about what its (their) users wanted and that would be a bridge too far.]

[Explorer]

I still believe in Duolingo's original mission: to bring free education to the world. Duolingo is what it is today because it's accessible to everyone, wherever you live, whatever your age, gender or social condition.

Perhaps I am being too naive, I know, especially given the circumstances over the past few years (excessive infantilization, abusive ads, useful features removed, hearts...) but I haven't lost hope yet. We'll see what the future holds. Fingers crossed...

[Deleted User 114]

Panyamnyenyekevu, you say that Twitter is free, and it is, to join. But, as time keeps going on, places like Twitter and Instagram, are not allowing people to view increasingly more content without an account.

I wonder if Duolingo will do that also. For instance, you can learn half of the course, or a third of the course, but if you wish to keep learning, you have to buy Duolingo Plus/Super Duolingo.

Personally though, I hope that the thoughts expressed in Explorer’s comment will continue to happen.

[panyamnyenyekevu]

Panyamnyenyekevu, you say that Twitter is free, and it is, to join. But, as time keeps going on, places like Twitter and Instagram, are not allowing people to view increasingly more content without an account.

Even more so Facebook. But free to have an account on either twitter or instagram or Facebook.

[LICA98]

Panyamnyenyekevu, you say that Twitter is free, and it is, to join. But, as time keeps going on, places like Twitter and Instagram, are not allowing people to view increasingly more content without an account.

I wonder if Duolingo will do that also. For instance, you can learn half of the course, or a third of the course, but if you wish to keep learning, you have to buy Duolingo Plus/Super Duolingo.

Personally though, I hope that the thoughts expressed in Explorer’s comment will continue to happen.

so you're comparing having to create a free account (twitter/instagram) vs having to pay for something

[Deleted User 114]

Panyamnyenyekevu, you say that Twitter is free, and it is, to join. But, as time keeps going on, places like Twitter and Instagram, are not allowing people to view increasingly more content without an account.

I wonder if Duolingo will do that also. For instance, you can learn half of the course, or a third of the course, but if you wish to keep learning, you have to buy Duolingo Plus/Super Duolingo.

Personally though, I hope that the thoughts expressed in Explorer’s comment will continue to happen.

so you're comparing having to create a free account (twitter/instagram) vs having to pay for something

Maybe I didn’t express myself clearly.

This is what I’m comparing:

Twitter without an account, you can’t view much content > possibly in the future, Duolingo only allowing you to view certain content.

Because you want to view more content, you buy Duolingo Plus > If you’re not into social media, but have friends, family, whatever, on social media you are forced to get an account if you wish to keep up with those people.

Now, as you said, getting an account on Twitter is free, but still something for whatever reason you might not want to do.

But, we can hope Duolingo sticks with it’s motto: The company’s mission is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available.

[panyamnyenyekevu]

As I recall, Elon Musk spoke about switching to a subscription-only plan for twitter. Maybe him realizing that this wasn’t going to be a viable business plan is one of the reasons he’s trying to weasel out of that deal.

[LICA98]

Panyamnyenyekevu, you say that Twitter is free, and it is, to join. But, as time keeps going on, places like Twitter and Instagram, are not allowing people to view increasingly more content without an account.

I wonder if Duolingo will do that also. For instance, you can learn half of the course, or a third of the course, but if you wish to keep learning, you have to buy Duolingo Plus/Super Duolingo.

Personally though, I hope that the thoughts expressed in Explorer’s comment will continue to happen.

so you're comparing having to create a free account (twitter/instagram) vs having to pay for something

Maybe I didn’t express myself clearly.

This is what I’m comparing:

Twitter without an account, you can’t view much content > possibly in the future, Duolingo only allowing you to view certain content.

Because you want to view more content, you buy Duolingo Plus > If you’re not into social media, but have friends, family, whatever, on social media you are forced to get an account if you wish to keep up with those people.

Now, as you said, getting an account on Twitter is free, but still something for whatever reason you might not want to do.

But, we can hope Duolingo sticks with it’s motto: The company’s mission is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available.

"twitter without an account you can't view much content" well that's the same as not being to learn a language on duolingo without having an account

if twitter had some feature which was only available if you pay for it then it would make sense to compare it to duolingo plus

[mathemajician]

Yes, for example on Memrise some of the grammar lessons are only available in the app, and even in the app seem to be available for only paid subscribers.

Free subscribers (like me) seem to only be able to access the vocab lessons.

[luciennet]

Nope; freemium model works by having a basic product that is good enough that a heap of people will use it for free and a small number will upgrade providing the revenue.

By making it free you fill the funnel and don’t have to spend heaps of money on marketing, lead generation and customer acquisition because there’s an easy entry point, spreads by word of mouth, lots of people promote it freely - including school teachers.

Once they have lots of users they then just have to work out what will upsell a proportion of them. To make it paid for everyone will destroy the model.

Just think: if free apps like Facebook and twitter started charging, they would quickly decimate their own business model. Same for Duolingo.

Also duolingo didn’t start from a commercial mindset, they don’t have the greedy values of some companies, they are trying to find the balance of quality universal access to language learning while having a way to pay the salaries of the people who do the work to make the app. Initially they used volunteers to help this process, but to improve the product there was a point they had to professionalise.

So yeah, they need to raise some money, and are going to try different things to see how they can do that, but there are plenty of différent revenue streams they can try without removing the free base level.

Pro/Super is one option. The English for LOTE certification is another. Advertising. In-app purchases. A special interface for teachers, who have a school budget to work with, is another option if it is a small enough subscription.

[LICA98]

yeah like apparently it's already almost impossible to learn if you don't know how to get around the health (hearts)

maybe they will add some feature like Drops that you can only learn 5 minutes a day and if you want more you gotta pay out