Speechling is built for learners who want someone to actually listen to how they sound. You record a sentence, save it for one of Speechling's coaches, and in some languages the free plan includes some coaching too. That raises fair questions: is Speechling really free, how much coaching do you get, and what happens when you say something wrong?
To find out, we used Speechling's French and Latin American Spanish courses on a free account, made mistakes on purpose, recorded lines for its coaches and checked what the paid plan costs. Here's what we found, what it costs and who it suits.
How we tested Speechling
Our team used Speechling's French and Latin American Spanish courses on the web with a free account on November 13, 2026. We worked through Speak cards in both courses, typed 17 dictation sentences (10 in French, 7 in Spanish) with mistakes made on purpose, such as a wrong word, a wrong gender, a wrong ending, a typo and missing accents, and tried the self-graded flashcards. To test speaking, we played generated speech into the microphone in both courses and saved a correct and a deliberately wrong Spanish recording for a coach. We also listened to the sentence audio in both courses and read the prices on Speechling's pricing and upgrade pages.
What is Speechling, and how does it work?
Speechling describes itself as a nonprofit language-learning platform focused on speaking. Its homepage lists 13 courses, including French, Spanish for Latin America and for Spain, German, Italian, Japanese and Korean, and it says its certified pronunciation coaches give feedback on your speaking.
Sign-up walks you through a short setup: pick a language, "MEET YOUR COACH!" (a profile of the coach assigned to you), then a track such as Core Curriculum, Conversations, Phrasebook or an exam track for French, a level and a male or female voice. We chose the Core Curriculum at Beginner (A1).
The main drill is called Speak. Each card shows an English sentence under "Say this in French:" with a red record button. Once you record, or tap "I don't know. Show me.", Speechling shows the French sentence, plays it with a waveform and puts your own recording underneath as a second waveform. Then you tap Hard, Okay or Easy, and spaced repetition brings the card back in "a minute", "10 minutes" or "4 days". A turtle switch slows the audio, and you can swap between the male and female voice.
The first French cards were tiny: Et toi ?, Non., Vraiment ?, Super. By Beginner 3 we were on full sentences like Je ne suis pas fatiguée. Outside Speak, the Toolbox has a Dictation drill that checks what you type, and flashcards that you grade yourself with "I got it right!" or "I didn't get it right."
Is Speechling free?
Yes, the practice is free. Signing up took an email and a password, and the pricing page's promise held: "We won't even ask for your credit card." Our account went straight into setup with no card and no email check, and Speak, Dictation and Flashcards ran with no daily cap during our session.
The free coaching depends on your language. Speechling's pricing page offers "Up to 10 coaching sessions per month, except English, French, Chinese and German", and our account matched that list. After a French recording, the card said "You have used 0 of your 0 free monthly coaching sessions.", and Save for Coaching opened the upgrade page instead of sending anything.
In Latin American Spanish, the same card said "You have used 0 of your 10 free monthly coaching sessions.", and our recordings went through to the coach queue.
Free recordings also stop at 10 seconds. That's plenty for Je ne suis pas fatiguée, but tight for a longer answer; the paid plan raises the limit to 25 seconds.
So if you're learning Latin American Spanish, the free plan gives you drills plus a few coached recordings each month. If you're learning French, it gives you the drills and the record button, and coaching needs Unlimited.
How does Speechling give feedback on your speaking?
Through a human coach, later. While you practise, Speechling doesn't check your speech at all: there is no speech recognition and no automatic score. After you record, you see your waveform under the native one and judge the difference yourself.
We tried this with generated speech, one correct and one wrong line in each course. In French, our wrong clip said Je ne suis pas fâchée ("I'm not angry") on a card that asked for Je ne suis pas fatiguée ("I'm not tired"). Speechling showed the two waveforms and nothing more: no sign that a whole word was wrong. On the free plan, we couldn't send it to a coach either.
In Spanish, we saved a correct No estoy cansada. and a deliberately wrong ¿Qué pesabas? ("What did you weigh?" instead of ¿Qué pensabas?, "What did you think?") for coaching. Both uploads went through, and when we finished the session both sat in the Audio Journal marked "No feedback yet." Coaching feedback isn't instant, so you move to the next card without knowing how the last one went.
For speaking practice, Copycat Cafe goes further. You get a 0–100 pronunciation score on every word as soon as you say the line, so you know which words to work on before you move on, and then you use the same language in conversation with Copy, your AI conversation partner.
Does Speechling correct your mistakes?
In our test, only the dictation drill checked what we typed, and only with "Try again". Dictation plays a sentence and you type it. When you're wrong, Speechling repeats your answer with the right words in green and the wrong ones in red, then shows the correct answer with each wrong word replaced by asterisks. It never explains the mistake, and you only see the missing word if you tap Give Up.
When we typed J'ai besoin de m'entrainer beaucoup. for … davantage., it answered "Correct answer: J'ai besoin de m'entrainer **********". Our Le télévision est cassé. got "Correct answer: ** télévision est *******": two words are flagged, but nothing says that télévision is feminine. In Spanish, Él está en el cocina. got "Correct answer: Él está en ** cocina", again with no reason given.
It's also lenient exactly where French and Spanish learners need a nudge. It accepted Ou est-ce arrive ?, with no accents, as "Nice job!", took Por que dijiste eso? without the accent or the opening ¿, and accepted El for Él, which turns "he" into "the". Aujourdhui without its apostrophe passed too, yet fait il froid dehors was rejected for the missing hyphen. If accents are your weak spot, our guide on how to type and pronounce French accents covers each one.
How does Speechling's audio sound?
Clear. Every sentence we heard came in a male and a female version, and Speechling says it uses "Professional vocal talent, both male and female". The French sounded to us like standard metropolitan French, and the Spanish like neutral Latin American Spanish, which fits each course. The clips were clean, with no background noise, and the English translations play separately. Our two listens disagreed on whether most clips were recorded or generated, so we'll leave it at Speechling's description.
We did notice a few slips in the text. The French card A l'aide ! drops the grave accent on À. Two Spanish dictation answers have no final full stop, and También estoy preocupado is masculine although it's served in the female voice. Me lo hice en un accidente. is glossed "I got in an accident.", which reads to us as a loose translation of "I did it to myself in an accident".
If you want to hear single French words said clearly, our test of French audio dictionaries shows where to find good recordings.
How much does Speechling cost?
Speechling Unlimited costs $29.99 a month on the monthly plan, $23.99 a month on the 3-month plan or $19.99 a month on the yearly plan, as shown on its upgrade page. The pricing page sums it up as "Plans from $19.99/month." Prices checked November 13, 2026.
| Plan | Speechling's label | Price per month |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | Most Flexible | $29.99 |
| Every 3 months | Most Popular | $23.99 |
| Yearly | Best Value | $19.99 |
Speechling lists these Unlimited features: "Unlimited, personal, 1-on-1 coaching on our entire sentence collection.", "Full access to our offline premium resources." and "Increase your recording limit by 2.5x to 25 seconds." The yearly plan costs a third less per month than paying monthly, so it's the one to pick once you know you'll use the coaching.
Is Speechling worth it?
It's worth it as a free daily sentence drill, and as a paid plan if a human coach's ear is what you're after and you don't mind waiting for it. Here's how our test adds up:
Pros
- A free account with no card, and no daily cap on the drills in our session
- 10 free coaching sessions a month in Latin American Spanish
- Clear sentence audio in a male and a female voice, with an accent that sounded to us right for each course
- Hard, Okay and Easy spaced repetition on the Speak cards, plus a slow-playback switch
Cons
- No free coaching in French (Speechling's pricing page also excepts English, Chinese and German from the 10 free sessions)
- No automatic feedback on your speech; only a human coach gives feedback, and none had arrived by the end of our session
- Dictation hides the right word and never explains a mistake
- Dictation ignored missing accents and the opening ¿
- Free recordings stop at 10 seconds
Speechling suits you if you're learning Latin American Spanish and want a free daily habit of hearing and saying sentences, with a coach listening to a few recordings each month. It also suits learners with a good ear who can hear their own mistakes when they compare waveforms.
Skip it if you're learning French and want coaching without paying at least $19.99 a month, or if you want to know right away how a line sounded.
What are the best alternatives to Speechling?
It depends on what you're missing. For a broader daily course, our guides to the best apps to learn French and the best apps to learn Spanish compare the main options. If you want to talk with real people, see our picks of apps and websites for French conversation practice and our guide to Spanish conversation practice.
If you want feedback on your speaking the moment you say a line, Copycat Cafe is built for that: you hear an everyday conversation, say each line aloud with a 0–100 pronunciation score on every word, then use it with Copy, your AI conversation partner. It costs $14.50 a month billed as $174 a year, or $29 a month, with a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee on your first payment.
Frequently asked questions
Is Speechling free?
Yes. A free account needs no card, and its Speak, Dictation and Flashcards drills ran without a daily cap in our session. Free coaching is up to 10 sessions a month, except in English, French, Chinese and German. In the French course our account showed 0 free sessions, and in the Latin American Spanish course it showed 10. Free recordings stop at 10 seconds.
How much does Speechling Unlimited cost?
Speechling Unlimited costs $29.99 a month on the monthly plan, $23.99 a month on the 3-month plan or $19.99 a month on the yearly plan, as shown on its upgrade page on November 13, 2026.
Does Speechling check your pronunciation automatically?
No. After you record, it shows your waveform next to the native one, and the only feedback comes from a human coach if you save the recording for coaching. In our test, the Spanish recordings we saved still said "No feedback yet." at the end of the session.
Can you get free Speechling coaching in French?
No. Speechling's pricing page excludes French from the free coaching sessions, and in the French course our account showed "You have used 0 of your 0 free monthly coaching sessions." Save for Coaching opened the upgrade page.
Is Speechling good for Latin American Spanish?
It's one of its better fits. Speechling has separate courses for Latin American and Spain Spanish, the Latin American audio sounded to us like neutral Latin American Spanish, and the free plan includes 10 coaching sessions a month in that course.