Repeto vs Duolingo: Which Learning Workflow Fits?

Choose Duolingo if you want a structured language course, short guided lessons, speaking and listening practice, and strong daily motivation. Consider Repeto once the relevant Repeto surface is publicly released if you already have material you need to remember—or want to study something other than a supported language course—because Repeto is designed as a general flashcard and spaced-repetition system, not a curriculum; it remains pre-release today.

Disclosure: Repeto publishes this comparison. We have a commercial interest in the decision. We link to first-party product sources, state where each tool is stronger, and separate currently available features from planned or pre-release ones. Facts were checked on August 21, 2026.

Repeto vs Duolingo at a glance

Decision	Duolingo	Repeto
Product type	Guided language, math, music, and chess courses	General flashcard and spaced-repetition product in pre-release
Best fit	Learners who want the course to decide what comes next	Learners who already know what material they need to retain
Availability	Public web, iOS, and Android product	Web/API/Android are unreleased; the Repeto iPhone/iPad update is in preparation
Content	Duolingo-designed course paths and exercises	Manual decks and editable cards in the current web code; editable generation also exists in the current codebase
Personal imports	We could not verify an official workflow to import a personal flashcard deck or source document into a course	Supported Anki `.apkg` import exists in the current codebase; broader inputs require live verification
Review system	Spaced repetition is built into the path and personalized practice	FSRS due-card scheduling in the current codebase
Speaking and listening	Core exercises, course audio, Stories and Radio where available, and Video Call or Roleplay with Max where supported	Flashcards can contain media, but there is no comparable proven language curriculum
Portability	We could not verify an official course-content or scheduler-history export workflow	`.apkg` deck export exists in the current codebase; broad round-trip fidelity is not yet proven
Motivation and social features	Streaks, XP, leagues, Friends Quests, characters, reminders, and bite-sized lessons	The current codebase includes a review queue, streaks, and statistics; public behavior is unproven
Price	Core courses are free; check the live purchase screen for current Super and Max pricing and terms	No final public Repeto 2.2 checkout should be treated as settled

Where Duolingo is better

Duolingo supplies the curriculum

Duolingo decides which vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and review exercises a learner encounters next. Its current strategy materials say nine major language courses now extend to B2, though depth still varies by language pair.

That guidance is valuable for a beginner who cannot yet judge what belongs in a deck. Repeto is designed to help schedule and draft cards from material chosen by the learner. It does not replace a sequenced course, teacher, graded reader, conversation partner, or feedback on every language skill.

Duolingo practises more than declarative recall

Duolingo mixes translation, listening, speaking, stories, personalized practice, and other exercise types. Where available, its newer Flashcards exercise asks learners to say or type a translation, returns missed items to the back of a five-card stack, and connects vocabulary recall to pronunciation.

Duolingo Max adds AI conversation through Video Call and Roleplay in supported courses and markets. Repeto’s current codebase can generate and schedule rich flashcards, but that is not equivalent to an interactive speaking curriculum.

Duolingo has a stronger motivation system

Streaks, XP, leagues, characters, reminders, and short lessons make the next action obvious. That can be more important than scheduler sophistication for a learner who struggles to return each day.

Repeto has review-oriented progress and statistics in its current codebase, but it has not demonstrated Duolingo’s scale of engagement or years of experimentation. A comparison should not dismiss gamification as decoration when it changes whether someone studies at all.

Where Repeto is designed to be better

Repeto starts with the material you choose

Duolingo is intentionally a course product. We could not verify in Duolingo’s official product materials a workflow to upload your lecture, import an Anki deck, or build a fully custom course around vocabulary from a job, textbook, relationship, or trip.

Repeto is intended for learner-managed decks. Its current codebase includes manual cards, editable AI card proposals, and supported Anki .apkg import. That makes it a better-shaped tool for “help me remember this material” after release. It does not make Repeto a better beginner language course.

Repeto exposes a dedicated due-card system

Duolingo says spaced repetition is built into its course path and that personalized practice selects words and grammar using timing and accuracy. Its documented workflow centers on the course path and Practice tab rather than a learner-managed list of individually due cards.

Repeto’s current codebase uses FSRS, where each Again, Hard, Good, or Easy answer updates a card’s memory state and next interval. This is intended for learners who want a durable personal collection that can continue beyond a fixed course. See how FSRS works for the scheduling model.

Repeto is intended to make the deck portable

Duolingo course progress is useful inside Duolingo, but we could not verify in Duolingo’s official product materials a workflow for exporting course exercises and review history as a reusable flashcard package.

Repeto’s current codebase exports decks as Anki .apkg files. That is a meaningful intended advantage for learners who want an exit path, but it is not yet a promise of lossless compatibility with every Anki template, media reference, or review history.

Where Repeto is worse or less proven

Repeto 2.2 is not publicly released. Its web, API, and Android surfaces are unreleased, and the iPhone/iPad update is still in preparation. Duolingo is available across web and mobile now.

Repeto also lacks Duolingo’s established curriculum, exercise variety, speaking interactions, stories, course research, global learner community, and proven motivation system. A deck generated from a Spanish article may help retain its vocabulary, but it will not automatically diagnose missing grammar foundations or build a balanced path from beginner to B2.

Finally, learner-chosen material can be badly chosen. AI can produce a plausible card from an irrelevant fact just as efficiently as from an important one. Repeto requires the learner to review proposals and decide what deserves long-term repetition.

Content creation: course path or personal deck

Duolingo removes authoring from the learner’s job. Choose a course, take a placement path where offered, and continue through the sequence. The benefit is coherence; the cost is that the course cannot center every term from your own class, workplace, or reading.

Repeto is intended to make that personal layer easier. A learner can manually create cards, migrate a supported Anki deck, or review generated proposals in the current codebase. Broad claims about turning every PDF, recording, webpage, image, or video into cards must wait for live source-by-source verification.

These workflows often complement each other. Duolingo can provide structured lessons and listening practice, while a personal SRS holds the names, phrases, corrections, and domain vocabulary that the course does not know you need.

Reviewing: embedded spacing or explicit scheduling

Duolingo’s official learning-science material says the path deliberately revisits concepts over increasing intervals. Personalized practice uses spaced repetition and accuracy to choose earlier vocabulary and grammar for review. A historical engineering article describes Half-Life Regression, but it does not establish the exact algorithm running in every current course, so this comparison does not attribute a specific current scheduler version.

Repeto exposes a more conventional flashcard loop with individual card grades and FSRS intervals. That is easier to reason about when the goal is long-term retention of a personal collection. It is less varied than Duolingo’s mix of exercises and provides less contextual language practice.

Platforms, offline use, and price

Duolingo is available on the web and in iOS and Android apps. A 2026 Duolingo engineering article says sessions are designed to work offline and later send stored progress when connectivity returns. Because the company does not present one clear consumer-facing offline matrix for every lesson type and subscription, test the exact course and device you plan to use.

Duolingo says its core courses remain free, supported by advertising and paid subscriptions. Current official materials describe Super as removing ads and providing unlimited hearts, while Max adds Video Call and Roleplay in supported courses and markets. This article does not quote a subscription price; check the live purchase screen for the current price and terms.

Repeto cannot win on current platform coverage: its new surfaces are not recorded as released. Its final public 2.2 price and full offline behavior should be checked only after launch.

A repeatable Repeto vs Duolingo trial

This is not a symmetric feature test because Duolingo does not accept the same personal source. Use a shared learning objective instead and record the mismatch rather than hiding it.

Choose one beginner situation, such as ordering food, and define 30 target words or phrases before opening either product.
In Duolingo, use the relevant course path and available practice for 15 minutes a day over seven days. Record which target items the course actually covers.
In Repeto, once a beta or release is available, build a verified 30-item deck from the same target list and review for the same daily time. Record all creation and correction time separately.
Do not use either product on day eight. Test unaided meaning recall, production, listening recognition, and a two-minute spoken role-play.
Record the number of correct target items, total time, missed days, and which skills each product did not practise.
Try exporting or reusing the learned material outside each product and document what moves.

Expect different results: Repeto may cover the exact list more directly, while Duolingo may provide better pronunciation, sentence context, and speaking practice. The trial helps decide whether you need a course, a memory tool, or both.

Which should you choose?

Choose Duolingo if you are a beginner, want the product to supply a curriculum, need listening and speaking exercises, or rely on gamification to maintain a habit.

Consider Repeto after the relevant surface is publicly released if you already have a course or source material and need to retain its exact vocabulary or facts in a personal deck scheduled with FSRS. The current codebase also includes .apkg export, but portability fidelity remains unproven. For many language learners, the honest answer is Duolingo plus a personal SRS, not one product replacing the other.

Official sources

Facts were checked on August 21, 2026.

Repeto vs Duolingo: guided language course or your own material?