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Language learning app Duolingo this week introduced a paid subscription program for Android users, reports TechCrunch. Duolingo Plus will cost $9.99 a month and offers users ad-free lessons and offline access. The free, ad-supported version of the app will remain available.
“Subscribers will help keep language education free for millions of people around the world,” Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn wrote in a blog post. “Being able to download lessons is particularly appealing to those learning a new language for travel purposes who want to practice while flying or without a stable Wi-Fi connection.”
The paid subscription comes after Duolingo’s dabble in various ways in monetize, from ads to certification courses to A/B testing in-app payments like charging $4.99 to repair a streak record.
von Ahn helped launched Duolingo with the goal of making language learning free and more accessible. In its early stages, the company launched a program to help crowdsource translations for the web, with plans to sell commissioned work to support the free service. According to TechCrunch, this program is still in beta.
