AI speaking partner:
Talkfirst, ChatGPT, Talkpal or a tutor

Short answer. Talkfirst gives 35 voice minutes a week for free in Telegram and in the browser, with a word-by-word pronunciation score, feedback after each conversation and spaced-repetition flashcards. ChatGPT voice mode is a good conversation partner, but on its own it does not score pronunciation word by word, keep flashcards or log how much you have spoken.

We make Talkfirst, one of the four options below, so we say plainly where the others are better. Facts about other products were checked on their own sites on 15 October 2026, or come from our earlier reviews. Where we could not check something, the table says “—”.

What an AI speaking partner is for

An AI speaking partner lets you answer out loud and get an answer back, as often as you like, and nobody minds if you need ten seconds to find a word. The products differ in what happens around the conversation: feedback on mistakes, a pronunciation score, and whether new words come back later.

Comparison table

Talkpal and Preply were checked on 15 October 2026 on talkpal.ai and preply.com. We give no ChatGPT prices or voice limits here.

ChatGPT voice mode: a strong partner, not a course

If you already pay for ChatGPT or use its free plan, its voice mode is the easiest place to start. It plays any role, adjusts to your level, explains grammar in plain words and shows how a native speaker would say the same thing. For simply talking, it is very good.

What it does not do on its own:

• It does not score pronunciation. Voice mode tries to understand you, not to grade you, so it may let a wrong sound pass. There is no word-by-word score, and “great pronunciation” from the assistant measures nothing.
• It does not bring words back. A new word needs to come back after a day, then after a few days, then after a week. The chat does not remind you and does not know which words are due.
• It does not keep a log. ChatGPT's memory holds notes about you, not a record of how much you spoke, which words you learned and where you keep making mistakes.
• Corrections are inconsistent unless you set clear rules in a prompt.

All of this can be added: a prompt for corrections, a word list you keep yourself, or a connector. Ready-made prompts are in the guide English with ChatGPT and Claude.

Talkpal: more free minutes, many languages

Talkpal is a general AI tutor with conversations in a natural AI voice and a pronunciation assessment tool. Its free plan gives 10 minutes a day, about 70 minutes a week if you use it daily, which is twice as much free time as Talkfirst. It lists 130+ languages and has apps for iOS and Android as well as the web. Premium runs for 1, 12 or 24 months with a 14-day free trial; the pricing page shows no amounts and says prices depend on your location. It does not describe flashcards or exam preparation, so we leave those cells empty. If you are looking for a Talkpal alternative, the honest trade-off is: Talkpal gives more free time and more languages, Talkfirst gives detailed feedback after each conversation, flashcards from your own conversations and a Telegram app.

Talkfirst: conversation, feedback and flashcards in one account

Talkfirst is a voice trainer for spoken English, Lithuanian, Polish and Czech. You talk out loud with an AI partner in a scene (a café, getting around, meeting people for free; a job interview, the doctor, a hotel and more in Pro) or, in Pro, on your own topic. After the conversation you see where you paused and for how long, your mistakes and a better way to say the whole phrase. Pronunciation practice scores every word, and words from your conversations go into flashcards with spaced repetition and quizzes. You can also see your voice minutes this week and the words in your flashcards.

It runs in the browser, as a Telegram Mini App and inside ChatGPT and Claude through a connector, with one account and the same progress everywhere. Explanations come in English, Russian or Ukrainian. Free: 35 voice minutes a week, no card needed. Pro: 140 voice minutes a week for 500 Telegram Stars per 30 days. Limits reset on Monday.

Where Talkfirst is weaker:

• There is no real person. The partner is AI, the voices are synthesised, and scores and corrections are automatic and can be wrong.
• Only four languages, and Czech is in beta.
• The free plan is smaller than Talkpal's: 35 minutes a week against 10 minutes a day.
• There is no grammar course with explanations and drills, and no mock exam for English.
• There is no app in the App Store or Google Play, and Pro is paid only with Telegram Stars.

More about the product and plans: About Talkfirst.

A live tutor: more expensive, and still different

An AI partner gives you volume: many short conversations without anyone's schedule. A tutor gives what AI does not: a person who hears exactly how you speak, notices what you avoid saying, plans the next lesson around it and keeps you accountable. On Preply on 15 October 2026 there were more than 46,000 English tutors, and the site gave average rates of $28 an hour for native speakers and $21 for non-native speakers. A common middle way is a weekly lesson with a tutor plus daily practice with an AI partner between lessons.

Which one to choose

• You only want to talk, for free: ChatGPT voice mode with a prompt, or the free plans of Talkpal and Talkfirst.
• You want feedback, pronunciation and words that come back: Talkfirst, in Telegram, in the browser, or as a connector inside ChatGPT or Claude.
• You learn a language other than our four: Talkpal or ChatGPT.
• You need Lithuanian, Polish or Czech for a residence permit: see our reviews of apps for Lithuanian, Polish and Czech.
• You need a plan, motivation and a person: a live tutor, with an AI partner for practice in between.

Questions

More English guides: all guides.