The best AI English tutors in 2026, free and paid
Short answer: Carna for one tutor across all eight skills on a CEFR path, Speak or Praktika for conversation, ELSA Speak for pronunciation, Duolingo for a daily habit, Cambly for a human. The most free practice: Gliglish and TalkPal, ten minutes a day.
Prices and free plans below were read on each product's own site or app-store listing on 27 September 2026. They change often; the sources are listed at the end.
The short list
| App | Best for | Free | Paid, from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carna | One tutor for all eight skills, A1 to C2 | A free plan when the app opens; joining the early-access list is free now | Not announced yet |
| Speak | Conversation practice | 7-day trial | $17.99 a month (US App Store) |
| Praktika | Conversations with AI avatars | 3 avatars, limited practice | $9.99 a month (US App Store) |
| Loora | Conversation practice | One full lesson | $14.99 a month (US App Store) |
| Fluently | Feedback on your speaking | An initial assessment | $24.99 a month (US App Store) |
| Gliglish | Conversation in the browser | 10 minutes a day | $8 a month |
| TalkPal | Short daily chat and voice practice | 10 minutes a day | $19.99 a month (US App Store) |
| ELSA Speak | Pronunciation | 8 lessons, once, and a 7-day Premium trial | $89.99 a year |
| Duolingo | A daily habit | All courses | Super from $9.99 a month (US App Store) |
| Cambly | Human tutors | Self-study activities and a $1 trial lesson | 453 TL a month for small groups (prices shown in Turkey) |
What makes a great AI English tutor?
Before comparing products, it helps to know what to look for. A genuinely useful AI English tutor needs to do five things:
- Cover all four skills — speaking, writing, reading, and listening. Products that focus on one skill require you to patch the others with separate apps.
- Track CEFR progress — without a benchmark, you have no idea whether you're improving. CEFR (A1–C2) is the international standard.
- Give real feedback — not "good job" but specific: which words were unclear, which sentences were grammatically off, which ideas were underdeveloped.
- Adapt to your level — a fixed curriculum puts fast learners to sleep and overwhelms slow ones. Adaptive paths make efficient use of limited practice time.
- Prepare for exams — if you're heading toward IELTS or TOEFL, the tutor should cover exam-format tasks, not just general English.
Research backs the feedback and pacing points. In a randomised trial at Harvard, a tutor built to give step-by-step feedback at each student's own pace beat an active-learning class: here is what the study found, and what it does not prove.
The leading AI English tutors compared
Carna — full-skill, CEFR-aligned
Carna covers all eight skills from A1 to C2 in one platform. Speaking practice is AI conversation that adapts to your level; writing is scored against the same rubric as IELTS examiners; reading and listening are built into every lesson. For individual learners it will open with a free plan. It is in early access now: the list is the way in, and joining costs nothing.
Best for: learners who want a complete English curriculum and measurable CEFR progress. Also well-suited for IELTS and TOEFL preparation.
Duolingo — gamified vocabulary
Duolingo is the world's most downloaded language app for good reason: it is excellent at habit formation and vocabulary acquisition. Its weakness is depth — speaking is shallow, writing isn't evaluated, and most learners plateau around B1 because the format doesn't push productive skills.
Best for: beginners who need a daily habit and don't yet have a specific English goal.
Speak — AI conversation specialist
Speak is one of the best AI speaking apps available. Its conversation loops are well-designed, pronunciation feedback is reliable, and the product is genuinely consumer-friendly. The limitation is scope — it doesn't cover writing, and there's no structured CEFR curriculum.
Best for: learners who are already conversational and want speaking-only practice.
ELSA Speak — pronunciation drill
ELSA's phoneme-level AI scoring is the most precise pronunciation tool on the market. It goes deeper into individual sounds than any other app. Beyond pronunciation, it doesn't teach grammar, vocabulary, or writing.
Best for: professionals who are fluent but want to reduce accent for a specific context.
Cambly — live native speakers
Cambly connects you with native speakers on a schedule. The human element is valuable — real conversation with real feedback — but the cost (typically $19–$53/month), scheduling constraint, and inconsistent tutor quality make it a supplement rather than a core learning tool. If you want a human tutor as well, how to find an English tutor online walks you through choosing one, and what private English lessons cost sets out the prices.
Best for: learners who specifically want human conversation at a scheduled time.
Praktika — conversations with AI avatars
Praktika builds its lessons around conversations with AI avatar tutors, on iOS and Android; there is no desktop version. The free plan includes three avatars and limited speaking practice.
Best for: learners who want to talk through everyday situations on their phone.
Loora — AI conversation partner
Loora is an AI English conversation partner for iOS and Android, with no web version yet. The first full lesson is free and needs no payment details; after that there are monthly, three-month and yearly plans.
Best for: learners who can hold a conversation and want more speaking time.
Fluently — feedback on your speaking
Fluently is an AI speaking tutor that gives instant feedback on fluency, pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. The free part is an initial language assessment; practice needs a subscription.
Best for: learners who want frequent feedback on their own speech.
Gliglish — conversation in the browser
Gliglish runs in the browser, with an iPhone app and no sign-up for the free plan: ten minutes a day, conversations up to 50 messages, limited at peak hours. Plus costs $8 a month or $49 a year.
Best for: trying AI conversation practice without paying.
TalkPal — short daily practice
TalkPal's free Basic plan has a 10-minute daily limit, and Premium comes with a 14-day free trial. It works on the web, iOS and Android, in many languages.
Best for: a short daily practice session.
Free AI English tutors: what you actually get
Most apps call themselves free and mean a trial. Three give you practice every day without paying: Gliglish and TalkPal, ten minutes a day each, and Duolingo, whose courses are free. ELSA gives eight lessons once, Loora one lesson, Fluently an assessment and Speak a seven-day trial. Carna's app will open with a free plan; it is in early access now, and joining the list is free.
The verdict
For most English learners in 2026, the right answer is a full-skill AI English tutor that tracks CEFR progress — not a single-skill specialist. Carna covers the most ground and will open with a free plan; individual access starts with the early-access list. Speak is worth adding if speaking practice is your only gap. ELSA is worth using alongside any of the above if pronunciation is a specific concern.
The worst outcome is using Duolingo for years and wondering why your English hasn't improved. Vocabulary acquisition is not English proficiency. All eight skills, tracked against CEFR — that's the bar a tutor should meet in 2026.
FAQ
Is there a free AI English tutor?
Yes, three apps give you free practice every day: Gliglish and TalkPal allow ten minutes a day each, and Duolingo's courses are free. Most of the others offer a trial or a one-off sample: Speak a seven-day trial, ELSA Speak eight lessons once, Loora one full lesson and Fluently an initial assessment. Carna's app will open with a free plan; it is in early access now.
Which AI English tutor is best for speaking practice?
For speaking-only practice, Speak is the specialist: it is one of the best AI speaking apps available, with well-designed conversation loops and reliable pronunciation feedback. It does not cover writing and has no structured CEFR curriculum. Praktika and Loora are also built around AI conversation, on iOS and Android. For pronunciation alone, ELSA Speak uses phoneme-level AI scoring. To try AI conversation practice without paying, Gliglish gives ten minutes a day in the browser.
Is an AI English tutor enough on its own?
An AI English tutor is enough on its own only if it covers all four skills: speaking, writing, reading and listening. Products that focus on one skill require you to patch the others with separate apps: Speak does not cover writing, ELSA Speak does not teach grammar, vocabulary or writing, and most Duolingo learners plateau around B1. For most English learners the right answer is a full-skill AI English tutor that tracks CEFR progress. Human conversation, as on Cambly, is a valuable supplement.
Is Carna free?
The Carna app will open with a free plan, but the app has not opened yet: it is in early access now. For individual learners the early-access list is the way in, and joining it costs nothing. The price of the paid plans has not been announced. Carna covers all eight skills from A1 to C2 in one platform.
How were the prices and free plans in this comparison checked?
The prices and free plans in this comparison of AI English tutors were read on each product's own site or US App Store listing on 27 September 2026. App prices change often, so treat each figure as that day's reading and check the product's own page before you pay. Every source is listed at the end of the post.
Sources
Checked on 27 September 2026, on each product's own pages and US App Store listing: Speak, Praktika, Loora, Fluently, Gliglish, TalkPal, ELSA Speak, Duolingo, Cambly.
