If traditional learning methods like textbooks and classroom drills don’t work for you, Mondly takes a different route. It turns language learning into more of a game, making the whole process fun and engaging. Still, the big question remains: does it actually work? That’s exactly what we unpack in this in-depth review.
As this is a lengthy review, we’ve added jump-to links above so you can quickly navigate this article.
In the video above, Lara from the Test Prep Insight team shares our full Mondly review. She breaks down everything you need to know about the Mondly app, including key features, pros and cons, pricing, and whether we think Mondly is worth it compared to other popular language learning apps. For more detail, be sure to continue reading our full written review below.
Let’s quickly discuss Mondly’s pricing and subscription options. As you may know, Mondly does offer a free version; however, it is very limited.
Given the incredibly limited amount of features, I would say the free account is more like a trial version than anything else. As such, most people opt for the Premium plan instead, which unlocks all of the Mondly content and features.
The Mondly premium plan costs around $10 per month, or about $62 per year if you pay for 12 months in advance.
Also, you can optionally get lifetime access to Mondly as well, which you sometimes find on sale for less than $100 total with a discount link or coupon code. They also offer MondlyWORKS for businesses and schools, but we’ll focus on the individual plans in this review.
Overall, the big takeaway is that Mondly is reasonably priced. It’s cheaper than competitors like Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone by a pretty good margin, and this low price point is one of its more attractive features.
With pricing out of the way, let’s talk about how the Mondly program is structured from a high level (not counting their specialized VR app, which I’ll get to later on).
To start, once you login, you’ll arrive at the main Mondly dashboard, which looks like a map. On this map, you’ll see a bunch of landmark icons, each of which represents a different topic or theme.
You can scroll from left to right and visualize all these different “landmarks” across the interactive map. Some of these topics include weather, travel, and family, among many more. Within each topic after you click into it, there are usually 6 to 8 lessons.
You can jump directly into one of these “landmark” topics, or Mondly will provide you with a daily lesson. The daily lessons are essentially just Mondly’s recommended order of working through the topic lessons, as they tend to build on one another.
These daily lessons are the heart of the curriculum, though of course you can always jump ahead if you want. Additionally, if you complete all of your daily work for the week, you then unlock a weekly quiz. And if you complete all your weekly quizzes, you then unlock a monthly challenge.
Perhaps you can see where I’m going with this. Mondly is big on consistency and streaks, and you generally stick to this through daily assigned work.
They’ve also recently updated their program with a rebranded profile page, search function in the Review section, new streak calendar that includes a points system, and Chatbot addition into category lessons. Bottom line, they’re constantly redesigning and refining the technology to make sure you’re getting a smooth user experience.
Knowing now how the Mondly program is structured from a high level, let’s dive into what the lessons themselves are actually like. I’ll start by saying this: they’re short. Each one only takes about 5 to 15 minutes to complete depending on the day and topic, and they go by very quickly.
The best way to describe the format is that it’s basically a mix between Memrise, Rosetta Stone, Duolingo, and Babbel (make sure to check our reviews of those apps if you don’t know what they’re all about).
Each lesson is made up of a dozen or so quick-hit, interactive drills that span the major mediums listening, reading, writing and speaking. These drills include:
Those are the primary exercises you’ll complete, just in different variations. So as you can see, it’s a wide variety, but the downside is that there isn’t much depth. You’re mostly swiping and tapping through quick, easy games, so you feel like you’re making progress, but you’re not actually learning much.
Time for the good stuff. Now that I’ve covered pricing, subscription options, and what the lessons are all about, let’s get into what I like and don’t like about Mondly after thoroughly testing the program.
For me, one of the greatest perks of Mondly has to be the price. I know we already covered this with a full section, so I won’t harp on it, but Mondly is very affordable, especially when you’re looking at competitors’ prices.
That doesn’t necessarily make Mondly the best value, however. A program like Rocket Languages seems expensive upfront, since you’re paying a one-time fee instead of a low monthly cost. But with Rocket, you get lifetime access, and each lesson pushes you much further so that you’re quickly learning how to understand and speak the language. Mondly’s monthly plan adds up over time, and it barely includes any speaking practice, so you won’t get as much benefit for what you’re paying.
I like that the lessons are short and engaging (much like Babbel’s). They go by super quick, which is great for working professionals, busy parents, and students.
Not everyone out there has a spare hour every day for language learning, and sometimes 15 or 20 minutes is all you have. So it’s nice that you can knock out a lesson or two each day in a short time frame and still feel like you’re making progress.
Another thing I like is that Mondly tries to gamify the language learning experience and make it fun. The main dashboard looks like an interactive map, which I liked, and you can keep track of your stats at all times directly from the navigation bar.
If you’re into that sort of data, you can dig into what you’ve already learned through a neat, interactive brain tool.
Also, as you complete lessons and drills, you earn points that allow you to keep track of your streaks and compare your performance against friends and other users on the Mondly leaderboard, regardless of whether you are learning French, German, or Spanish. They’ve also done a good job building anticipation through the countdown clock, which shows you how long you have to wait for the next day’s lesson to be unlocked.
In my opinion, this all creates a fun, game-like environment that helps keep you motivated and engaged.
In addition to their standard language courses, Mondly also offers a virtual reality (VR) learning app, which is designed to complement the standard lessons.
This is where Mondly really differentiates itself from competitors. In fact, the novelty of the programs sort of make Mondly a pioneer in the digital language learning landscape.
The Mondly VR app is a virtual immersion tool that places you in simulated environments. You’re immersed in all kinds of situations that require you to speak to locals, including simulated grocery shopping, booking flights, or ordering food in a restaurant. In other words, the goal is to simulate real situations with native speakers through VR.
The VR app isn’t free, which is a slight con, but the app is only a $5 one-time purchase, so it’s not too bad. The bigger issue, though, is that you need an Oculus headset to do it. This will likely rule out quite a few folks.
Overall, I found the VR feature to be a nice change of pace from the standard lessons. In a way they are somewhat akin to video lessons, like those from Busuu. They’re not meant to serve as a standalone language program, and they’re definitely not a substitute for real life interactions.
Overall, I found them to be a nice complementary tool for pronunciation and conversational practice. Plus, it’s just cool to add in some clever tech to diversify your language lessons and keep you engaged.
Mondly teaches you truly useful vocabulary and phrases. I learned words and phrases that I would actually use in real world situations, which is something I can’t say for a lot of the other language programs out there.
For example, I learned sentences like, “I need to buy a ticket,” or, “Where is the bathroom?” Mondly even offers job specific courses and lessons, which can be helpful for working professionals that might be looking to work or travel overseas.
For example, Mondly offers courses directly related to marketing, negotiations, customer service, and finance, among others.
With the positives out of the way, let’s switch sides to the things I don’t really care for with respect to Mondly’s program.
Although Mondly makes a big deal about their free version (much like Duolingo does), it is very limited. You just get 1 vocabulary builder, 6 lessons, and 1 mock conversation. Honestly, as referenced above, the free version should really just be renamed “free trial.” It’s good for nothing other than dipping your toes in the Mondly waters.
Plus, Mondly’s speech recognition tool isn’t even available with the free account, so there’s no way to have your pronunciation checked. Given the importance of that alone, you’ll likely want to upgrade to the premium version from the get go.
Put simply, Mondly isn’t the best for developing your speaking skills. The mock conversation exercises and the company’s ChatBot lessons really aren’t that advanced.
Essentially, the AI bot asks you questions, listens to what you’re saying, and responds like a native speaker – although you often end up simply repeating words and phrases in a vacuum. In fairness, the company’s VR feature is a little better in this respect, but at the end of the day, the tech is still limited, and the simulated conversations are fairly basic. They’re honestly closer to texting than a full dialogue.
I think the audio lessons and conversational practice exercises from Pimsleur and Rocket Languages are much better.
So if you’re looking for top-shelf audio-based lessons and conversational practice, be sure to check out those two companies.
When it comes to grammar instruction, the Mondly program is limited. They just don’t provide much detail, and the explanations are thin. In reality, all you get is that when you click on a verb, you can see a list of its conjugations. That’s about it.
For some languages with complex sentence constructions, like Finnish for example, you really need more straightforward explanations. I just felt like the direct grammar teachings could have been more robust.
Mondly is not great for intermediate to advanced learners. In fact, the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels don’t even seem to be that much different from one another – everything is sort of basic.
I mean they do progress, don’t get me wrong. However, they just never felt like they progressed towards more complex language mastery.
For example, they only focus on present and past tense, but don’t really progress towards the more difficult future or past imperfect tenses until very late (if barely at all).
I know this might be nitpicky, but every time you go to speak, you have to hold down the microphone button the entire time, which can become annoying. With other language apps out there, the speech tech will either automatically record your voice without having to do anything, or you simply have to click the button once and the tech will automatically stop once you are finished speaking.
With Mondly though, you literally have to press and hold a button with your mouse the entire time. It’s a small gripe, but it is annoying.
Mondly offers some clear benefits, like an innovative VR app and short, gamified lessons, but there are better language learning apps on the market. With Mondly, you’re not getting direct grammar teaching, and the lessons never advance beyond the basics. It’s a fun way to pick up a few isolated words and phrases, but it won’t get you conversational.
If you’re wanting a more structured app for beginners that constantly works in quick grammar tips, check out Babbel. You get the same quick, easy lessons as Mondly, but with more in-depth content that helps you grow much faster.
And for people wanting to build strong speaking and listening skills, Rocket Languages is the most well-rounded language course we’ve tested. You learn by listening to extended audio conversations between fluent speakers and even participating in them yourself, so you’re speaking out loud from day one. If you want a balanced app that you can use all the way from beginner to advanced, Rocket Languages is our pick.
➡ READ NEXT: Best Language Learning Apps For Beginners
Yes, Mondly has two versions: a totally free version, and a paid subscription. Keep in mind, however, that Mondly is a “freemium” service with lots of limitations on the free version that motivates many users to end up switching to the paid subscription. If you want to become proficient in a language, you’re better off using a higher-quality paid app that provides more in-depth instruction.
In our team’s experience, Mondly isn’t worth it, as the instruction is too simplistic. There’s very little grammar instruction, and Mondly won’t get you speaking or understanding a language.
No, Mondly is not a good language app, as the program lacks grammar instruction, and the lessons are very basic. If you want a stronger language learning app, try Rocket Languages or Babbel, which provide more grammar explanations and speaking practice.