Which language apps actually grade your pronunciation?

Most language apps listen to you, but few grade your pronunciation in detail. The big course apps mostly use speech recognition to accept or reject what you said, which tells you that a word failed but not which sound. A smaller group scores each word, and a few score each individual sound: ELSA Speak and BoldVoice for English, Speak’s Pronunciation Coach for English learners, and TonePerfect across eight languages. Speechling is different again: a human coach listens to your recordings. If you want to know which sound to fix, pick an app that documents per-sound feedback for your language, and test it with a deliberately wrong sound before you pay.

Facts checked 20 October 2026 · Sources

Written by TonePerfect, which makes one of the apps listed. No other app is affiliated with us or paid for this page. Apps are listed alphabetically, not ranked, and each row says only what that app’s own website, help pages or store listing say.

At a glance

App	What it checks when you speak	Languages	Platforms	Free tier
Babbel	Speech recognitionSpeech recognition “analyses your pronunciation and provides feedback based on how closely it matches the target language”; answers are accepted or “marked as incorrect”. Babbel Speak (beta, mobile) gives feedback on tasks and vocabulary after a conversation. No per-word or per-sound score documented.	13 for English speakers (help centre); the App Store listing says 14	iOS, Android, web	The first lesson of every course is free; full courses need a subscription
BoldVoice	Per sound“Sound-by-sound analysis of every word you pronounce”, with “instant scores and feedback showing exactly which sounds need work”. Video lessons from accent coaches.	English only (an accent app for non-native English speakers)	iOS, Android; sign-up on the web	Free trial (first 7 days); without a subscription only the first lesson is free
Busuu	Per wordHuman feedbackSpeaking practice “highlights the word(s) needing more practice” (English, Spanish, French and German Complete courses), lets you compare your recording with the speaker’s, and adds AI feedback in the English and Spanish interface languages. Other learners who are native or advanced speakers can correct exercises you send to the community.	14	iOS, Android, web	Yes: free lessons with an ad before each one
Duolingo	Speech recognitionSpeaking exercises ask you to repeat words or say answers aloud, and they are graded correct or incorrect; for Chinese, grading became phonetic in 2020, so a close-enough pronunciation counts as a match. The Max plan adds AI Video Call conversations. No per-word or per-sound score documented.	40+	iOS, Android, web	Yes: “every course is free” (with ads); Super and Max are paid
ELSA Speak	Per wordPer soundFeedback “on every sound you make”: a percentage score for each word or sentence, and each mispronounced sound shown with its phonetic symbol.	English only	iOS, Android; not on PC or laptop	The first 2 lessons of every module are always free; 7-day free trial of the full curriculum
HelloChinese	Speech recognition“Speech recognition corrects your pronunciation”. How the feedback is broken down (sentence, word or character) and whether tone is scored separately are not documented.	Mandarin Chinese only (Simplified and Traditional)	iOS, Android	Free download with in-app purchases; which lessons are free is not stated
Langua	Per phraseHuman feedbackAI conversation practice. On the web version, for learners of Spanish, French or English, you can say a suggested reply aloud and “receive a score on your pronunciation” (granularity not documented). Human tutors, booked separately, give pronunciation help.	Over 20 languages; the pronunciation score covers Spanish, French and English	Web, iOS, Android	A free conversation without subscribing; full trial of 5–7 days with a card
LingoDeer	No automatic checkSpeaking exercises “let you record yourself for practice” and play the recording back; no automatic scoring is documented.	20 languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Spanish and Russian	iOS, Android	Free download; a subscription is needed for full access to all courses
Loora	Per soundAI English conversation with “immediate feedback on your pronunciation and grammar”; its FAQ says the AI “identifies exactly which sounds you’re struggling with and provides specific coaching”. No per-sound score is documented.	English only	iPhone, Android	Free download; unlimited access needs a subscription
Memrise	Speech recognitionPronunciation Buddy “will let you know if you got it right or encourage you to try again”. Announced (January 2025) for English speakers learning Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish.	Many courses; its website and App Store listing give different totals	iOS (other platforms not checked)	Yes: free plan with limited lessons and ads; Pro adds unlimited speaking practice
Mondly	Speech recognition“Built-in speech recognition helps you practice pronunciation”; the chatbot “also provides feedback on your pronunciation”, and Hands-Free mode repeats words you get wrong. Granularity not documented.	41	iOS, Android, web; VR	Yes, limited: Daily Lessons, the Hello category and a chatbot lesson; 7-day trial of Premium
Pimsleur	Speech recognitionVoice Coach (a Premium feature) “uses AI voice recognition” and gives AI feedback “in most languages”; in the others you record yourself and compare with the native speaker. A Voice Coach score appears in your profile; how it is calculated is not explained in the FAQ.	50+	iOS, Android, web	No free tier: a 7-day free trial
Praktika	Per wordAI tutor conversations. Tap “?” on your own message for “an overall and per-word score considering your pronunciation, fluency, completeness and rhythm”.	14 options: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (European and Brazilian), Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Arabic, Russian, Dutch, Polish	iOS, Android	Free download with in-app purchases; what the free version includes is not stated
Rosetta Stone	Speech recognitionHuman feedbackTruAccent “compares your voice to data from millions of native speakers and gives you immediate feedback on your pronunciation”, with chances to retry each word; no score scale is documented. Some US users can book 1-to-1 sessions with certified tutors.	25	iOS, Android (not tablets), web	Limited: the first lesson in every language, a little free practice each day on the web, and a 7-day free trial
Speak	Per soundFor English learners, the Pronunciation Coach analyses your pronunciation phoneme by phoneme (“only available for users learning English”). In the other courses Speak promises “real-time pronunciation feedback”; its granularity is not documented.	English speakers can learn Spanish, French, Korean, Japanese, Italian and Chinese; English for speakers of other languages	iOS, Android	No free tier: a 7-day free trial, then a subscription
Speechling	Human feedback“Certified pronunciation coaches give feedback on your speaking”, within 24 hours, with side-by-side comparisons of your voice and a native voice. No automatic scoring documented.	10 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean	Web, iOS, Android	Yes: a “Forever Free” plan with the whole curriculum; how much free coaching you get depends on the language
SuperChinese	Per wordEach recorded line gets “a pronunciation score color-coded down to the individual characters that came out wrong”. A separate tone score is not documented.	Mandarin Chinese only	iOS, Android	Yes: a selection of lessons “is free and remains free”; the full course needs PLUS
Talkpal	Per phraseAI conversation practice. In Sentence Mode “your performance is rated on a scale of up to 100” with scores for pronunciation, accuracy, fluency and completeness; Word Mode gives pronunciation feedback (granularity not documented).	“130+ languages”; which ones get pronunciation scoring is not stated	Web, iOS, Android	Yes: free Basic plan with a 10-minute daily limit, including the pronunciation assessment tool
TonePerfect (wrote this page)	Per soundA score for the whole recording, each word and each sound. In Mandarin, the tone of each syllable is scored separately from its initial and final. Japanese is scored for sounds and timing, not pitch accent. Sentence intonation is not scored.	8: Mandarin Chinese, English, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Korean	iOS, Android, web; free tests in the browser	Yes: browser tests with no account; the app has a free tier with daily limits and a Premium subscription

“Not documented” means the app’s own pages we checked do not say; the app may still do it. Prices and free tiers vary by country and change often, so check your own store before you pay.

Six levels of pronunciation feedback

“Speech recognition” on an app’s feature list can mean very different things. From least to most detail:

No automatic check. You record yourself and play it back, or the app has no speaking exercises at all. Useful for self-comparison; nothing tells you what was wrong.
Speech recognition, without a documented score. The app runs speech recognition on what you said and accepts it, rejects it or gives general feedback. It tells you that something failed, but usually not which sound, and a recogniser built to understand accented speech can accept a sound that is clearly off.
A score for the whole phrase. One number for the sentence you said, sometimes split into pronunciation, fluency and completeness. More than right or wrong, but it does not say which word or sound pulled it down.
Feedback per word (or per character). Each word, or each character in Chinese apps, gets a score, a colour or a highlight. You know which word to repeat, but not which sound inside it slipped.
Feedback per sound. Each individual sound (phoneme) is scored or flagged, so you know whether it was the vowel, the consonant or, in Mandarin, the tone. This is what “grades your pronunciation” usually means to learners, and few apps document it.
Human feedback. A person listens to your recordings and sends corrections. The most complete feedback, including rhythm and intonation, but not instant and usually limited by plan.

Which kind of app fits what you need

You learn English and want to know which sound to fix: BoldVoice, ELSA Speak, Speak (its Pronunciation Coach, for English learners only) and TonePerfect document feedback per sound. Loora says it identifies the sounds you struggle with but documents no per-sound score.
You learn another language and want feedback per sound: Among the apps checked, TonePerfect is the only one that documents per-sound scoring outside English (Spanish, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Korean and Mandarin). For feedback per word, Praktika gives a score for each word in 14 languages, and Busuu highlights the words to practise in its English, Spanish, French and German courses. A tutor is the other route.
You learn Mandarin and want your tones checked: SuperChinese colours each character you got wrong; HelloChinese uses speech recognition; Duolingo grades Chinese speech phonetically. None of them documents a separate tone score. TonePerfect scores the tone of each syllable separately from its initial and final.
You want a person to listen: Speechling’s coaches reply to your recordings within 24 hours and it has a free plan. Busuu lets other learners who are native or advanced speakers correct you, Rosetta Stone offers tutor sessions to some US users, and Langua sells sessions with human tutors.
You mainly want conversation practice: Praktika, Talkpal, Langua, Speak, Duolingo Max (Video Call) and Babbel Speak are built around AI conversation. Feedback on grammar and word choice is not a pronunciation score: check which of them score your pronunciation, and how finely, in the table.
You want a free structured course and basic speaking checks: Duolingo (every course free, with ads) and Busuu (free lessons with ads) are the most generous; Memrise and Mondly have limited free versions. None of the four documents a score per sound; Busuu highlights the words to practise in four of its courses.

How to test any app’s pronunciation feedback in two minutes

In a quiet room, say a word from the lesson correctly and note the result.
Say it again with one sound deliberately wrong: “sheep” as “ship”, Spanish “perro” with a single tap, French “dessous” as “dessus”, or a Mandarin word with the wrong tone.
If the app still accepts it, its check is not listening to that sound. If it rejects it, note whether it tells you which sound was wrong or only that the word was.
Repeat each pair three times; one take can be a fluke, three show the pattern.

For a method to work on your pronunciation with or without an app, see how to improve your pronunciation in any language.

FAQ

Which language learning app actually grades your pronunciation?

It depends on how detailed you need the feedback to be. Most course apps (Babbel, Duolingo, Memrise, Mondly, Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone) check your speech with speech recognition but do not document a score per word or per sound. Praktika and SuperChinese score each word or character. BoldVoice, ELSA Speak and Speak’s Pronunciation Coach score individual sounds in English, and TonePerfect scores individual sounds in eight languages. Speechling has human coaches listen instead. Facts checked 20 October 2026 against each app’s own pages.

Does Duolingo grade your pronunciation?

Duolingo has speaking exercises in which you repeat words or say answers aloud, and your answer is graded correct or incorrect. For Chinese it moved to phonetic grading in 2020, so a close-enough pronunciation counts as a match. Its pages we checked do not document a score per word or per sound. Duolingo Max adds AI Video Call conversations.

Does Babbel check pronunciation?

Yes, through speech recognition: Babbel says it compares what you say with the target language and gives instant feedback, and answers can be marked incorrect. It does not document a score per word or per sound. Babbel Speak, a beta conversation feature on mobile, gives feedback on the tasks you completed and your vocabulary.

What is the best app for accent reduction?

For English, the apps built for it document feedback per sound: BoldVoice and ELSA Speak, plus Speak’s Pronunciation Coach for English learners. For a human ear, Speechling’s coaches listen to your recordings. For other languages, few apps document per-sound feedback; TonePerfect does for seven languages besides English, and a tutor is the other option. Try the free tier or trial and test it with a deliberately wrong sound before paying.

Do AI speaking apps like Praktika, Talkpal and Langua check pronunciation?

Partly. They are conversation apps first. Praktika gives an overall and a per-word score for each message you say. Talkpal’s Sentence Mode rates you out of 100, with separate scores for pronunciation, accuracy, fluency and completeness. Langua gives a pronunciation score for a suggested reply in Spanish, French and English, on its web version, and says the technology is not 100% accurate.

Which apps check Mandarin tones?

SuperChinese colour-codes the characters you got wrong, HelloChinese corrects pronunciation with speech recognition, and Duolingo grades Chinese speech phonetically; none of them documents a separate score for tones. TonePerfect scores the tone of each syllable separately from its initial and final. For a test you can run on any app, see our page on whether there is an app that checks Mandarin tones.

Is automatic pronunciation scoring accurate?

It is consistent and points at a specific word or sound, but it has limits: background noise, a clipped start or a quiet voice can lower a score, scores are measured against one standard variety of the language, and most apps do not score intonation. Use a score to decide what to practise, and check surprising results by recording again in a quiet room or asking a native speaker.

How was this comparison made?

Each app’s row comes from its own website, help pages, blog or US App Store listing, opened on 20 October 2026 and listed under Sources. When those pages do not say something, we write “not documented” rather than guess, so an app may do more than its row says. TonePerfect wrote the page and is listed alphabetically like the others.

Sources

Every fact about an app was checked against these pages on 20 October 2026. Store listings are the US App Store’s; prices and free tiers change often and vary by country.