Duolingo itself now teaches maths, music, and chess. For science, memory, work skills, university courses, and book ideas, these alternatives apply the same short daily format to a different job.
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Learning Cadence editorial, , 8 min readHow we work
Duolingo now covers more than languages. Its official site lists maths, music, and chess alongside language courses, and says everyone can access its courses without paying. If one of those is your subject, the closest Duolingo alternative may be Duolingo itself.
For subjects outside that range, the useful question is which apps reproduce the same learning shape: a short daily unit, a next step that is already chosen, visible progress, and a reason to return. Below, each entry says which parts it actually copies, because several apps look similar and behave nothing like it.
What it copiesIndividual talks to explore ideas; check the format before expecting a practice course.
The apps
Every app, with what it is bad at.
Start with the job you need the app to do, then read the tradeoff.
01
Brilliant
Maths, science, and computer science by doing
Brilliant teaches maths, science, and computing through interactive problems. This format is worth trying if you want to work through a problem during the lesson; we have not measured its learning outcomes against the other apps here.
Best for
People who want to think during a lesson instead of watching one.
Not for
Subjects outside maths, science, and computing, or learners who need unlimited daily access without a subscription.
Price
Brilliant Free provides two keys a day. Each key unlocks one lesson or practice set, and free users move through courses in order. Premium removes the daily limit, allows jumping ahead, removes ads, and gives full Koji access.
Anki is a flashcard tool that schedules reviews using spaced repetition. You create cards or use a shared deck, so the usefulness of a session also depends on the material you choose.
Best for
Facts, vocabulary, and anything you must recall exactly.
Not for
Understanding a subject. Anki assumes you already know what belongs on the card.
Price
Free on desktop and Android. The iPhone app is a one-time purchase that funds the project.
General knowledge through short topics and questions
Kinnu's developer listing covers history, psychology, science, literature, and other general-knowledge subjects. It describes a map of topics, short lessons, audio, and questions for review.
Best for
Exploring a published subject path and returning to questions about what you learned.
Not for
A course built around your exact situation, or a credential. Check whether its existing topics cover your goal.
Price
Check the current store listing and any in-app offer for your region; this comparison does not promise every feature is free.
Mimo teaches coding through short guided lessons, exercises, and projects. It is a different fit from reading about technology: you work with code as you learn.
Best for
Starting coding through small interactive exercises before moving into larger projects.
Not for
Learning software development without eventually building and debugging projects outside the guided lesson.
Price
A selection of lessons and features is free. Paid subscriptions unlock full course and project access; check the current plan before subscribing.
Cadence starts with a problem you want to solve or a curiosity you want to explore, then builds an ordered 7 to 30 lesson course around it. Each lesson takes about ten minutes, can be read or played as audio, and stays connected to the course. Lessons use checks or practice when they help, and Ask Coach stays inside the lesson.
Best for
Turning your own starting point into one coherent course you can keep progressing through.
Not for
Anyone who needs a recognised certificate, a named instructor, or a language course with speaking practice.
Price
Free to start, with unlimited daily lessons and audio and 4 lesson voices included, and 2 new custom courses a month. Plus adds 8 more voices, for 12 in total, and makes new courses, practice, and Ask Coach unlimited for US$49.99 a year on the web, with a 7-day trial.
Khan Academy offers free course sequences and practice across school subjects. Its official help page describes weekly streaks: reach Proficient or higher in at least one new skill that week. Course levels track skills brought to Proficient or higher.
Best for
Rebuilding a foundation you missed at school, especially in maths and science.
Not for
Soft skills, workplace situations, and creative subjects.
Price
Core videos, articles, lessons, and practice are free.
Headway condenses nonfiction books into short text and audio summaries you can finish in a sitting. It is a fast way to decide whether a book is worth your time, and a reasonable way to recall one you have already read.
Best for
Covering a lot of book ideas quickly, or triaging a reading list.
Not for
Learning a skill. A summary tells you what a book argued, not how to do the thing.
TED publishes short talks from researchers, writers, and practitioners, with transcripts and subtitles in many languages. A talk is a good way to find a subject worth studying. It is not a course, and treating it as one is the usual mistake.
Best for
Finding your next topic, and listening while you do something else.
Not for
Building a skill. There is no sequence and no practice.
Duolingo teaches languages, maths, music, and chess through short exercises on a guided path. Its streak, daily goal, reminders, and game mechanics make the return habit unusually visible, which is why the same shape is copied across education apps.
Best for
Building and holding a daily language habit through short guided exercises.
Not for
A broad subject outside its current catalogue, or reaching confident conversation through the app alone.
Price
Course access is free with ads. Optional paid tiers remove ads and add premium features.
Choose one thing you want to do better, then try a free lesson or public sample. Use these four checks to compare the experience. This is a suggested selection exercise, not a test of which app teaches best.
Find your next step. Can you see what to do after this lesson and why it follows? A guided path can reduce planning; a library can suit you if you already know what to study.
Check the time commitment. Finish one unit and note how long it takes, including the practice. Compare that with the time you can realistically give it.
Try the skill without the explanation. Close the lesson and solve a fresh problem, recall a fact, or draft a response. For a feedback lesson, write a specific observation and a clear request for a different situation.
Inspect the feedback and return path. Does it explain what to improve, and can you find your next lesson later? A completed lesson or a streak alone does not show that you can use the skill.
A caution
The streak can become the point.
Streaks can make a return visit more visible. They also have a failure mode worth naming: protecting the number can replace the learning goal, especially when the fastest possible lesson keeps the count alive.
Duolingo reports that changes to its streak feature increased return activity in its own experiments. That is evidence about returning to Duolingo, not proof that a streak improves learning in every app. Judge the habit alongside what you can recall or do.
Khan Academy is not a streak-free alternative. Its official help page describes weekly streaks earned by bringing at least one new skill to Proficient or higher, plus course levels. If a daily target feels unhelpful, compare the actual goal, timing, and reminder controls before choosing.
Where we fit
How Cadence adapts the daily-learning format.
Cadence is our product, so this is a disclosure.
Cadence applies the daily format to a topic you choose: an ordered course, lessons of about ten minutes that you can read or hear, and saved progress. Lessons use checks or practice when they help; this is not a promise that every lesson contains a quiz.
For a workplace goal, inspect the sample lesson and syllabus on a course below. Check whether the explanation and practice fit the situation you need to handle. We have not measured Cadence against these apps in a comparative learning study.
Put it into practice
Start it today, ten minutes at a time.
Cadence builds a course around your own goal instead of a catalogue, with short daily lessons, practice and saved progress. Cadence is our app.
Questions
Common questions.
What app is like Duolingo but for other subjects?
For maths, music, or chess, use Duolingo itself because it now teaches those subjects. Compare Brilliant for interactive maths and science, Kinnu for general-knowledge topics with review questions, and Mimo for guided coding exercises and projects. Anki reproduces the daily queue for anything you must memorise. Cadence, which is our app, applies the daily lesson and streak format to a work or career topic you choose yourself.
Which Duolingo features should I look for in another app?
Look for a clear next lesson, a manageable unit, practice relevant to your goal, and feedback you can use. These are ways to assess fit, not evidence that every app needs the same design. Try a lesson before paying and check what you can do afterwards.
Is there a Duolingo for work skills?
That is roughly what Cadence is built to be, and since we make it you should weigh that accordingly. It turns a topic such as giving feedback or running meetings into an ordered course of roughly ten-minute daily lessons, with checks or practice when useful and saved progress. LinkedIn Learning covers similar subjects but in a video catalogue rather than a daily sequence.
Are streaks actually good for learning?
A streak records activity according to an app's rules. Duolingo reports improved return activity in its own experiments, but that does not establish learning gains across apps. Khan Academy uses weekly streaks tied to skill proficiency. Check both the habit and what you can recall or apply.
What is the best free alternative to Duolingo?
Khan Academy for free core videos, articles, lessons, and practice across school and university subjects, and Anki for anything you need to memorise, which is free everywhere except its iPhone app. Khan Academy includes weekly streaks and course levels; Anki centres on a scheduled flashcard queue.
See it in concrete terms
Open a real Cadence course.
These Cadence courses show the daily format applied to non-language subjects, with the syllabus visible before you start.
We compare subject coverage and described learning format, then suggest a lesson check readers can try themselves. The list is a guide to fit, not a measured ranking of learning effectiveness.
What we checked directly: On 18 September 2026 we read Kinnu's developer store description and Mimo's official lesson, project, and access information to add these two subject choices. This was a public-source comparison, not a signed-in product test. The original product review is dated 21 August 2026. On 13 September we rechecked Khan Academy's official streak and course-level documentation and Duolingo's explanation of its streak experiments. This update corrects the streak comparison and narrows effectiveness claims; it is not a new hands-on test of every app.
Limits of this review: We did not subscribe to every paid tier and did not measure retention or habit formation ourselves. Claims about other products stay attributed to their official pages, and no exact competitor prices are quoted because they change by region, platform, and offer.
