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Duolingo ABC is a genuinely good app — for English. If your family speaks more than one language, or a language it doesn't cover at all, here's honestly how it compares to EveryLingo, and when switching (or using both) actually makes sense.
Duolingo ABC teaches reading and phonics in English only. EveryLingo teaches spoken vocabulary in any language your family speaks — including English, plus whatever else. They're not really doing the same job, so a lot of families end up using both rather than picking one.
We'll be straight with you: Duolingo ABC isn't a bad app, and we're not going to pretend otherwise. It's well made, and if you're teaching a child to read English, it's a solid choice. The mismatch only shows up if your family's situation looks a bit different from "one child learning to read one language."
| Duolingo ABC | EveryLingo | |
|---|---|---|
| Languages | English only | Any language or dialect your family speaks — 142+ options, including ones most apps have never heard of |
| What it teaches | Reading, phonics, letter sounds | Spoken vocabulary — words a child hears and says, before reading comes into it |
| Age range | Roughly 3–6 | 0–6, including children who aren't talking yet — but the fun doesn't stop there. Older children often enjoy it just as much, exploring how familiar words sound in languages they don't know yet. |
| Can you add your own words? | No, fixed curriculum | Yes — record your own voice, your own accent, your own family's specific words |
| Price | Free with Duolingo, or part of Duolingo Kids subscription | $29.99 once (lifetime) or $4.99 for 1 month, no subscription |
If you're only teaching English, honestly, Duolingo ABC might be all you need — no reason to pay for something you won't use fully. EveryLingo earns its place earlier and wider than that: before your child says their first word, when you want vocabulary in a language most apps don't support, when you'd rather use your own voice than a stranger's, or when your child is younger than what most apps target in the first place.
You're teaching one child to read English, your child is already 3+, and reading/phonics specifically is what you're after right now.
A fair number of families we've heard from actually run both — Duolingo ABC for English reading once a child's a bit older, EveryLingo for the earlier, spoken-vocabulary stage across whatever languages the household actually uses. They're not really competing for the same job.
Yes. EveryLingo goes the opposite direction — built for families teaching vocabulary in any language, including a single family's own dialect, and it puts multiple languages in one app instead of making you download a separate one for each.
Duolingo ABC is built more for reading and phonics, generally aimed a little older. EveryLingo starts from birth and focuses on spoken vocabulary — closer to how a toddler actually starts picking up words in the first place, before reading is even on the table.
