The best learning apps for adults, sorted by what you want to learn
There is no single best learning app, because learning a language, rebuilding your maths, and preparing for a hard conversation at work are three different jobs. This guide matches the app to the job, and says where each one stops being the right answer.
Disclosure: Learning Cadence publishes this article and makes Cadence, one of the apps listed. We have a commercial interest in Cadence. Every other app is described from its official pages, linked in each entry, and we say plainly where a different app is the better choice.
Most roundups rank learning apps as though they compete. They mostly do not. Duolingo and Khan Academy are both excellent and they have almost nothing to do with each other.
So this list is organised by the thing you are trying to learn. Find your row in the table, read that entry, and ignore the rest. Every app is described from its official pages, which are linked, and each entry includes what the app is bad at.
Start here
Pick by what you want to learn.
Swipe the table to see every column.
Pick by what you want to learn
If you want
Use
Why
A language
Duolingo
Short daily exercises and the habit tools to keep you at it.
Maths and science from the ground up
Khan Academy
Free, complete course sequences with practice that finds your gap.
Thinking through problems, not watching them
Brilliant
Every lesson is a problem you attempt before the explanation.
A credential an employer will recognise
Coursera or edX
University and company courses, with a paid certificate track.
One specific tool or technique
Udemy
Buy the single course that covers the exact thing.
Workplace and software skills
LinkedIn Learning
Broad business catalogue, often free through a public library.
A topic no catalogue covers, at ten minutes a day
Cadence
You type the topic and get an ordered daily course. This is our app.
Deciding which books are worth reading
Headway or Blinkist
Summaries that let you triage a reading list quickly.
Remembering facts exactly
Anki
Flashcards scheduled for the day you are about to forget.
The apps
Every app, with what it is bad at.
Each description comes from the app's official pages, linked in the entry and checked on the review date at the end of this article.
01
Duolingo
Languages
Duolingo teaches languages through short exercises that repeat vocabulary and grammar until they stick. The streak, the daily goal, and the reminders are the reason many people keep going, and they are the most copied idea in the category.
Best for
Building and holding a daily habit while you learn a language.
Not for
Subjects outside languages, or getting to confident conversation on the app alone.
Price
Free with ads. On mobile the free tier meters how many lessons you can do through an energy system, so you wait, watch an ad, or spend gems to continue. The web version is less restricted. Paid tiers remove the ads and the meter. Check the app for the current price where you live.
Khan Academy is a nonprofit that publishes full course sequences in maths, science, economics, and test preparation. Every lesson is free, there are no ads, and the practice sets tell you which idea you have not understood yet, not just marking you wrong.
Best for
Rebuilding a foundation you missed at school, especially in maths and science.
Not for
Soft skills, workplace situations, and creative subjects.
Price
Free. It is funded by donations, not subscriptions.
Brilliant teaches through problems and not lectures. You are given a puzzle, you try it, and the explanation arrives once you have already thought about it. That order is harder work than watching a video and it is why the ideas tend to stay.
Best for
People who want to actually think during a lesson, not watch one.
Not for
Anyone looking for a free option, or for subjects outside maths, science, and computing.
Price
Brilliant's help centre says the free tier unlocks the first chapter of each course. Everything after that is a subscription, and the free trial asks for card details. Check the official site for the current price.
Coursera hosts courses from universities and companies, with video lectures, readings, and graded work. Many courses can be audited for free, which means you can watch the material without paying. Graded assignments and the certificate are the paid part.
Best for
Subjects where the name on the certificate matters to an employer or an application.
Not for
A ten-minute daily habit. Most courses expect real study blocks.
Price
Many courses are free to audit. Certificates, some assignments, and the all-access plan are paid. Check the course page for what the free option includes.
Practical and technical skills, bought one course at a time
Udemy is a marketplace, so anyone can publish a course. Quality varies a lot between instructors, which makes the ratings and the free preview lessons worth using before you buy. It is strong for software, tools, and other subjects where you want a specific technique.
Best for
One concrete tool or technique you need soon.
Not for
Consistent quality without doing your own checking, or a daily learning habit.
Price
Courses are bought individually and are discounted often. Check the course page for the current price.
LinkedIn Learning covers business, software, and creative skills in video courses, and completed courses can be shown on your LinkedIn profile. Many public libraries give cardholders free access, which is the cheapest way in and is often overlooked.
Best for
Workplace software and management topics, especially if your library or employer already pays for it.
Not for
Deep academic subjects, or learning without video.
Price
A subscription, included with some LinkedIn Premium plans. Many public libraries provide free access with a library card.
Cadence takes a topic or a practical goal you type in, then builds it into an ordered course of short daily lessons. Each lesson takes about ten minutes, you can read it or listen to it, and the course remembers where you stopped. Lessons include quizzes or other checks, and you can ask a coach for another explanation without leaving the lesson.
Best for
Learning something specific that no fixed catalogue covers closely enough, at one lesson a day.
Not for
Anyone who needs a recognised certificate, a named instructor, or a language course with speaking practice.
Price
Free to start, with one short lesson and quiz a day plus custom courses, audio, progress, and coaching inside the published limits. Plus raises those allowances for US$39.99 a year on the web, with a 7-day trial.
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.
Price
A subscription with a free trial. Check the official site.
Anki is a flashcard tool that schedules each card for the day you are about to forget it. It is plain, it is powerful, and it does nothing to help you decide what is worth learning. Medical students and language learners rely on it for a reason.
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.
Almost everyone who asks which learning app is best has already downloaded two or three. The app was never the blocker. Stopping after nine days is the blocker.
Three things decide whether you are still learning in a month, and none of them are features.
The unit is small enough that a bad day cannot break it. Ten minutes survives a bad day. An hour does not.
The next step is decided before you sit down. If you have to choose what to study, you will spend the ten minutes choosing.
The thing you are learning connects to something real in your week. Abstract goals lose to concrete ones every time.
Where we fit
What Cadence does, and what it does not.
We make Cadence, so treat this section as what it is. Cadence is built for one narrow case: you know what you want to learn, no catalogue covers it closely enough, and you have about ten minutes a day.
You type the topic, answer a few setup questions about your level and what you want to be able to do, and Cadence builds a syllabus and the daily lessons inside it. Progress stays with the course, so returning on day nine does not mean deciding anything.
If you want a language, use Duolingo. If you want a certificate, use Coursera or edX. If you want maths from the ground up, Khan Academy is free and better at it. Cadence does not compete with any of those and we would rather say so here than have you find out after installing it.
See it in concrete terms
Open a real Cadence course.
If the ten-minutes-a-day approach is the part that interests you, these are real Cadence courses with their syllabus and first lessons visible before you start.
There is no single best one, because the apps are built for different jobs. Duolingo is the strongest for languages, Khan Academy for maths and science fundamentals, Brilliant for problem solving, Coursera and edX for recognised certificates, LinkedIn Learning for workplace software, and Cadence for a topic you choose yourself at about ten minutes a day.
Are any of these learning apps completely free?
Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseWare, and TED are free with no subscription. Coursera and edX let you audit many courses for free without the certificate. Duolingo, Brilliant, and Cadence have free tiers with limits, and Anki is free everywhere except its iPhone app.
How long should an adult study each day?
A unit you can finish on a bad day beats a longer one you skip. About ten minutes a day is enough for steady progress on most subjects, as long as the next step is already decided and you do not have to plan the session first.
Do learning apps actually work for adults?
They work when the app supplies structure and you supply the return visit. Apps that sequence lessons and check your recall tend to outperform apps that show you a feed of interesting material, because a feed never tells you what you have not learned yet.
Is a learning app better than just using ChatGPT?
A general assistant is better for a one-off question and for pushing on something you half understand. It is weaker at continuity, because you have to rebuild the plan and remember what you covered. A course app keeps the sequence and the progress. Many people use both.
Last reviewed
How we chose
What we checked, and what we did not.
We selected apps that adults commonly use for self-directed learning, then grouped them by the learning job they are built for instead of ranking them against each other. Every description comes from the app's own official pages, checked on the review date shown on this page.
Direct checks: We opened the current official site or app store listing for each app named here and checked its described features, free tier, and purchase model.
Testing limits: We did not buy a subscription to every paid app, and we did not test signed-in or offline behaviour on apps we do not publish. Claims about those products stay attributed to their official pages, and no exact competitor prices are quoted because they change by region and offer.
Disclosure: Learning Cadence publishes this article and makes Cadence, one of the apps listed. We have a commercial interest in Cadence. Every other app is described from its official pages, linked in each entry, and we say plainly where a different app is the better choice.
Learning Cadence is not affiliated with any other product named on this page. Product names belong to their respective owners. Prices and free tiers change, so open the official page before you buy.
