Best apps to learn Polish:
who each one is for

Short answer. There is no single best app for Polish, so you combine two or three tools. For lessons from zero, Duolingo, Babbel, Pimsleur, Ling or Memrise; for words in context, Clozemaster; for speaking with an AI partner, Talkpal, Praktika, Kalbo AI or Talkfirst. For the B1 exam for EU long-term residence, polskitest.pl and PolskiPro cover the written part, and Polish B1 Exam Prep, polskitest.pl and the Talkfirst mock exam cover the oral part; for a live teacher, Preply.

We make Talkfirst, one of the apps on this list, so we say plainly where other tools are better. Every price and feature below was checked in October 2026 on the developer's site or in the App Store. Prices are in the currency the source showed and may differ in your country.

Comparison table

Apps for getting started

Duolingo teaches Polish from English only, according to its course list on 13 October 2026: there is no Polish from Russian or Ukrainian. What the course gives and what it leaves out: Polish on Duolingo.

Babbel teaches Polish to English and German speakers. Its Ukrainian site offers Polish A1 and A2 free for Ukrainian speakers; there is no Polish B1 course.

Pimsleur teaches by ear: one level of 30 lessons of 30 minutes each, with Voice Coach pronunciation feedback, and a free first lesson. You answer a recording, not a person who reacts to what you say.

Ling has a Polish course with dialogues and flashcards; the free plan is limited and has ads, the paid plan is $16.99 a month, $64.99 for six months or $89.99 a year. Memrise has an official Polish course of 200+ lessons with speaking practice with an AI tutor. Both build a daily habit; the lesson apps do not ask you open questions.

Words

Clozemaster has Polish sentences from English, Russian and four other languages: you fill the missing word into real sentences, which suits you after the first few hundred words. Anki is a free app for your own flashcards on desktop and Android; the iOS app is paid.

Speaking practice

This is the main gap in lesson apps: you learn words, but nobody asks you a question you have to answer. Apps with an AI partner close it. A closer comparison of them: AI conversation partners for Polish.

Talkpal is a general AI tutor; Polish is one of many languages. Its free plan gives 10 minutes a day, more free time than Talkfirst.

Praktika is an app with AI avatar tutors; in October 2026 its help centre lists Polish among its 14 languages. The free plan has 3 avatars, limited speaking practice and basic feedback; prices vary by region, from $6.99 in the US App Store. The interface is not available in Ukrainian.

Kalbo AI is an iPhone app with Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian and an AI partner; the first conversation is free, then $15.99 a month or $119.99 a year.

Talkfirst is a voice trainer for spoken Polish: you talk out loud with an AI partner from A1, and after each conversation you see your pauses and mistakes explained in English, Russian or Ukrainian. The Polish B1 oral mock exam has three tasks (a photo, a monologue and a role-play dialogue) and a score in per cent; "would pass" starts at 50 %, as in the regulation. Free: 35 voice minutes a week and a full mock exam once every 7 days. Pro: 140 minutes a week and the mock exam without a weekly limit for 500 Telegram Stars per 30 days.

Where Talkfirst is weaker: the mock exam covers only the oral part, the scale is ours because the official criteria are not published, and pronunciation is not scored; there is no grammar course; there is no app in the App Store or Google Play; Pro is paid in Telegram Stars.

Apps for the B1 exam

Long-term EU residence in Poland requires Polish at B1 or higher. How the exam works is explained in Polish B1 for EU long-term residence. The State Commission publishes official sample tests on certyfikatpolski.pl.

• polskitest.pl has B1, B2 and C1 tests online, mostly real exams from past years, with an interface in Polish, Belarusian, English, Russian and Ukrainian. One B1 listening, reading and grammar test each is free; access is 30 zł a month or 50 zł for 3 months. Writing is checked by AI. Speaking is a simulation where you record your answers, sold in packs from 20 zł for 3 sessions; the site does not say who assesses the recordings.
• PolskiPro has listening, reading, grammar and writing tasks in the B1 and B2 formats, with no AI-generated content, on iPhone and Android. $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year. It has no oral part.
• Polish B1 Exam Prep has 800+ tasks, 200+ of them for speaking: you record your voice, talk with an "examiner" in Polish and get instant feedback. iOS and Android. Some tasks and one mock exam are free; $11.99 a month or $24.99 for 3 months.

Live teachers and courses

An app does not replace a teacher who hears you and adapts the lesson. In October 2026 Preply listed 673 Polish tutors. If you already have A2, the Navoica platform has free online B1 courses taught in Polish, for example a B1 course by Adam Mickiewicz University aimed at the exam, open until 31 August 2027.

Which combination to choose

• You are starting from zero: Duolingo, Babbel or Pimsleur for the first phrases plus 15–20 minutes of speaking a day. Phrases to start with: basic Polish phrases.
• You need B1 for residence: a tutor or a course for the level, polskitest.pl or PolskiPro for the written part, and Polish B1 Exam Prep, polskitest.pl or Talkfirst for the oral part.
• You want everything free: the free plans of Ling, Talkpal and Talkfirst, Anki, the free polskitest.pl tests and a Navoica course once you reach A2.

Frequently asked questions

More Polish guides: all guides.