ELSA Speak review

Best for

English learners working on pronunciation, accent or speaking exams

Price

Freemium · from $19.99/month
Free: A few lessons a day with basic feedback

Platforms

iOS, Android

Made by

ELSA, Corp.

App store ratings

iOS 4.8★ (114K) · Android 4.6★ (1.0M)

What it is

ELSA Speak focuses on English pronunciation, using its own speech recognition to flag errors down to individual sounds and drill your weak spots. It adds AI conversation practice, accent training and IELTS/TOEFL score predictions across thousands of lessons.

What the AI does

• Phoneme-level pronunciation scoring
• AI conversation practice
• Personalised drills for weak sounds
• IELTS and TOEFL speaking score prediction

Pros and cons

How it scores

Best-in-class at pronunciation, but narrow: English only and light on grammar.

Feature checklist · 3 of 9

• ✓Spoken, back-and-forth conversation with an AI tutor (yes)
• –Real-life roleplay or scenario practice (no)
• ✓Pronunciation scoring or feedback (yes)
• –Corrects and explains grammar or word-choice mistakes (no)
• ✓Structured course path by level (yes)
• –Spaced-repetition vocabulary review (no)
• –Teaches 20+ languages (no)
• –Some AI conversation practice on the free plan (no)
• –Works on the web as well as phones (no)

How we score apps →

Alternatives

See all ELSA Speak alternatives, ranked →

• Duolingo 8.6/10Beginners and casual learners who want a free daily habit, with optional AI speaking practice
• Speak 7.9/10Learners whose main goal is speaking confidently in a major language
• Babbel 7.7/10Learners who want a structured, grammar-aware course with some AI speaking practice
• Busuu 7.6/10Learners who want a structured, level-based course with feedback from native speakers

Duolingo vs ELSA Speak

Sources

• ELSA Speak review (LearnEnglish.life)
• ELSA Speak on the App Store
• ELSA Speak on Google Play