Best apps to learn Greek (2026): an honest comparison

The comparison at a glance

Language Transfer — the free course everyone should start with

A free audio course in which a teacher walks a real student through Greek by thinking, not memorising: you hear a question, pause, answer out loud, then hear the student answer. Over a hundred short lessons, and by the end you understand how Greek verbs and cases actually work without ever having seen a table. It's the single best free resource for Greek, and it's better than most paid ones.

What it won't do: nobody is listening to your answers, so you'll finish it understanding Greek far better than you can speak it. Pair it with something that answers back.

Duolingo — good habit, small course, almost no speaking

Duolingo's Greek course exists and it's free, which already makes it the most-used Greek app in the world. It will teach you the alphabet, a few hundred words and simple sentence patterns, and it's very good at getting you to open it every day. Finishing it lands most people around A2 on paper.

The limits matter for Greek specifically: the course is far shorter than Duolingo's big languages, it's reading-heavy, and the speaking exercises are repeat-after-me at best. People who've completed the whole thing regularly report that they can read a menu and cannot have a conversation. Use it for the habit and the vocabulary; don't expect it to make you speak. (We go deeper in our Duolingo Greek review.)

Pimsleur — the best first month of pronunciation

Half-hour audio lessons in which you listen, repeat and respond — two levels of thirty for Greek, where the big languages get five. Pimsleur's method is old and it works: by lesson ten your pronunciation of the basics is better than most apps will ever get you, and the set phrases stick. The catches are that it's scripted, so you never say anything the script didn't plan for, and that it ends: sixty lessons, then you're on your own at a low-intermediate level.

SpeakingVibes — the speaking practice (our own, so read with that in mind)

Katerina is an AI Greek teacher you talk to out loud, about whatever situation you choose — ordering coffee, introducing yourself, your weekend. She answers in Greek at your level, slows down when you ask, corrects you gently after you've finished the thought, and saves every new word to your flashcards. The free account gives you daily conversation credits; Plus ($9.99/month) gives you up to 100 sentences a day and unlocks every vocabulary topic.

Where it's weaker than the alternatives: it won't teach you grammar systematically the way Language Transfer does, and it isn't a human — a good tutor will notice things about your Greek that a model won't. Where it's stronger: it's the only thing on this list, apart from a tutor, that makes you produce Greek sentences you weren't given, every day, for the price of nothing.

Tutors on italki and Preply — the gold standard, at a price

An hour a week with a Greek tutor is the best feedback you can get, and the accountability is real: you don't skip a lesson someone's waiting for. Prices run from about €8 to €25 an hour depending on the tutor's experience. The arithmetic is the only problem — one hour a week is one hour a week, and speaking needs daily reps. The common pattern that works: a tutor weekly, something free or cheap daily.

The rest: Memrise, GreekPod101, Anki, Clozemaster, Rosetta Stone

• Memrise has Greek vocabulary with spaced repetition and audio. It's a vocabulary tool; it won't get you talking.
• GreekPod101 is a large library of audio and video lessons and a podcast. The free tier is worth a look for listening practice; the interface feels its age.
• Anki is free flashcard software and the best way to keep the words you've already met. Start it around word 300; before that it's busywork.
• Clozemaster drills vocabulary in real sentences and has a free tier. Better once you're past the basics.
• Rosetta Stone does have Greek. It's a polished, picture-based immersion method, and it's expensive for what a Greek learner actually needs, which is conversation.
• Mondly, Ling, Drops: pleasant vocabulary games. None of them will make you speak.

The combination that actually works

If you're starting from zero: Language Transfer for understanding (20 minutes a day for a month), Duolingo or Anki for vocabulary (five minutes), and daily speaking — Katerina, a tutor, or a patient friend — for ten minutes. That's 35 minutes a day and it beats any single app on this list. If you only have ten minutes, make it the speaking.

For the full method, see our guide to how to learn Greek as an adult, and if you're deciding between the two biggest names, SpeakingVibes vs Duolingo for speaking Greek.