Memrise Review 2024: Does it Work? Can It Make You Fluent?

Bus, is Memrise any good?

In this Memrise language app review we’ll explain how the app works, what a premium subscription costs, and tell you why Memrise is a good tool for learning languages - and why it’s not. In the end you’ll understand how to learn a foreign language on Memrise and whether or not it’s worth purchasing a subscription.

What is Memrise?

Memrise is a language learning mobile app and website that focuses its content on real-life situations. There are video clips of native speakers engaging in everyday conversations and lots of audio recordings with every lesson, so users are seeing and hearing the language they are learning every step of the way.

The app is available on iOS and Android devices, or learners can access a learning dashboard from their computer’s web browser, which we’ll discuss here. There’s also free and paid subscription options, which we’ll also explain in detail.

How to use Memrise:

To get started with Memrise, users will choose the language they will want to learn - Memrise offers 22 languages in total - and enroll in the course.

Users need to complete all of the lessons in each course before the next lesson gets unlocked. If a user already has some experience with the language they’re learning, they will need to guess their skill level and start with the appropriate course if they want to avoid the more basic lessons.

Note that users can enroll in as many courses as they want. That means there’s the option to learn more than one language at once if someone is feeling particularly ambitious, but it’s probably wise to stick with one at a time to avoid getting overwhelmed.

Throughout the learning experience on Memrise, users get both written and audio instruction. Be ready to do a lot of listening as the app includes quite a bit of audio and video content to help learners hear how words and phrases are pronounced.

If a user wants to take a break from language lessons, there are also culture and history lessons that focus on the region where the language they are learning is used.

What is the Memrise app?

The Memrise app is available to download on iOS and Android mobile devices.

From the app, users can learn new words and phrases as well as important grammar concepts. There are review exercises that drill users on what they've already learned, tools to help users memorize difficult words, and recordings so users can practice their listening skills. The app will also ask for access to a user’s mobile device’s camera, which allows them to take pictures of objects and learn the word for those objects in the language they are learning.

Some languages also have a “Learn with Locals” feature that includes videos of real-life dialogue spoken by native speakers. The app also has an offline feature that allows users to download lessons to their devices so they can learn from anywhere at any time.

Some language courses are created by Memrise linguists, while other courses are submitted by users. Memrise-created courses offer a robust selection of learning and review features, while community-created courses may not have all of those features or rise to the same quality as the official courses through the company. App features may vary depending on which language a user chooses to learn.

Although the Memrise app features most of the same features that a learner would get from the web version, users can only view their learning statistics from the webpage. So, if a user wants to track his or her learning progress, they will want to log in from a computer once in awhile to view those stats. 

Memrise methods and how they’re unique

Memrise focuses on three language learning steps: Basic translation, building understanding, and receiving feedback. 

Memrise is devoted to making language learning fun so users feel motivated to keep going. The primary feature that sets Memrise apart is its heavy use of videos, plenty of audio, and flashcards to help learners get exposed to the language as much as possible in several different formats. 

Read relevant Do Language Learning Apps Truly work?  

Mobile app users can take photos of objects around their home and the app will show them the word for the objects in the photo in the language they are learning. This can be particularly useful if someone is traveling and needs to quickly get the correct word for something.

The app also uses spaced repetition, so learners will always be reviewing content they already learned to help solidify their understanding.

Here’s how Memrise works

From the home page, a can view his or her learning progress and daily goals. They can decide to learn either vocabulary or grammar or explore other features of the app, such as the “Learn with Locals” tab that features videos of native speakers.

Memrise lets its users set their own daily learning goals depending on how many words they want to learn each day. The Memrise app will prompt users with notifications to remind them to hop on the app and hit their daily goal. Memrise allows users to schedule the notification to pop up at certain times depending on what time of day they plan to study.

Daily practice is extremely important when learning a new language, and with so much content on Memrise, users likely won’t run out of things to learn any time soon. The platform also uses a spaced repetition method that has learners constantly review and use the material from previous lessons as they advance through the courses.

Course structure

Memrise offers 22 languages including French, Spanish (Spain/Mexico), German, Arabic, Korean, Japanese, Turkish, Chinese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese (Portugal/Brazil), Swedish, Russian, Norwegian, Polish, Danish, Icelandic, Japanese, Mongolian, Slovenian, and Yoruba. 

Memrise official courses have a serious of 7 parts that contain smaller lessons in each part. Community-created courses will vary in terms of how many parts and lessons are included. Learners can also submit their own tips that they use to remember a certain word or phrase.

Community-created courses are Chinese, Slovenian, Japanese, Yoruba, Icelandic, and Mongolian.

Can Memrise be used offline?

A premium Memrise membership allows users to access offline mode through the mobile app. Offline access isn’t available for people using the free version.

Memrise PRICE: How much does Memrise cost?

It’s free to set up a Memrise account, so new users won’t have to worry about canceling their free trials before their credit cards start getting billed. A user can get free access to some Memrise content, but a subscription offers more access to learning features.

There are different subscription plans available for premium access to Memrise language courses including monthly, annual, and lifetime plans.

A monthly plan is $8.99 per month.

An annual plan is $7.50 per month.

A lifetime plan is a one-time payment of $139.99.

What does a Memrise subscription do?

A Memrise subscription will give users access to all of the features on all of the Memrise-created courses that they are currently learning, or plan to learn in the future. That means there’s no need to purchase another subscription if a user wants to learn yet another language. Note that this is only true for Memrise-created courses and community-created content may still have extra features users will need to pay for.

A subscription to Memrise also gives you access to offline access through the mobile app, which is convenient for language learners who are on-the-go or want to be able to study without using up their cellphone data.

Memrise Free vs. Paid

The free version of Memrise is pretty good for learners who are just starting out, but they will likely run out of free options as they practice regularly and advance. The free version gives users enough access to understand how the app works and whether or not it’s a tool that will help them learn a language.

Can Memrise make you fluent?

Memrise cannot make a learner completely fluent in a foreign language, but it can get beginners to an intermediate or advanced learning level with regular practice. Memrise is a good tool if a learner is just getting started, or if he or she wants some extra help studying another language in school.

What level does Memrise get you to?

Although Memrise won’t make anyone fluent in a new language, most courses can get users to an upper intermediate/advanced level.

Each Memrise official course has seven parts. Courses 1, 2, and 3 are a beginner level. Courses 4 and 5 are intermediate. Courses 6 and 7 are upper intermediate or advanced.

Memrise effectiveness is judged by how well students can understand and use a new language. The courses will get progressively more complex, so beginners can start knowing absolutely nothing about a new language and eventually have an intermediate or advanced proficiency. That means they’ll likely be able to understand the main idea of a conversation, talk about topics they’re familiar with, and get through most social interactions relatively smoothly.

Memrise Pros and Cons

Trustpilot users gave Memrise 3.3 out of 5 stars among 30 reviews. Users also noted several Memrise advantages and disadvantages they observed while using the app.

Most common things people like about Memrise

- The content is entertaining and the app is addicting to use

- Memrise is good for learning and practicing vocabulary

- The videos feature native speakers, which is helpful for some learners

- Customer service is friendly and responsive

Most common things people don't like about Memrise

- Some community-created courses do not meet the same quality as Memrise-created content

- Some say Memrise is bad because it’s difficult to cancel a Premium subscription later on

- Some report bugs or glitches with the app and website

Memrise Alternatives:

Is Memrise worth using and paying for premium access?

Learning with Memrise is easy and affordable, especially if you’re just beginning to learn a new language. Memrise is certainly a well-structured app that makes accessing its robust library of content easy on mobile devices as well as desktop computers.

The downside to Memrise is that its content quality tends to vary depending on whether or not the courses were created by Memrise, or by community members. Users can always start with the free version and subscribe to Memrise later if they like it.

Memrise also offers occasional deals and discounts, so a learner can dip his or her feet into the water as they wait for a deal to come along.

Although Memrise is a great learning tool, it won’t teach you everything you need to know to be considered fluent in a new language. It’s great for auditory learners since there is so much audio and video content, and it can save students lots of time creating flashcards and studying for language courses they may be taking in school.