VerbamorDuolingo Russian review: free, popular, and left out of the B2 update
Duolingo's Russian course is free and has 7.89 million learners, so it's a fair start. But when Duolingo took nine courses to B2 content in April 2026, Russian wasn't one of them. Whatever you use, learn the 33 letters first: the Russian flashcards guide explains why.
Verbamor records your lesson and turns what your tutor taught into cards that come back on schedule.
Duolingo's Russian course is a fair free start, with 7.89 million learners by Duolingo's count. But it missed Duolingo's B2 update. On 22 April 2026 Duolingo took nine courses to CEFR B2 content, and Russian wasn't one. So when a review says "Duolingo now teaches to B2," that line doesn't cover Russian.
I sell a paid app that teaches Russian vocabulary, so I'm not neutral. I'll still tell you to start on Duolingo if you have no tutor and no budget.
Russian wasn't one of the nine courses Duolingo took to B2
Duolingo's post of 22 April 2026 lists the expanded courses by name: "English Spanish French German Italian Portuguese Japanese Korean Chinese." Learners of those nine "can now learn through B2 on the CEFR scale, or a Duolingo Score of 129."
Before the update, Duolingo says, most learners of those courses "could only complete content up to A2 (Duolingo Score 59)." Russian sat outside the update, so I can't tell you its ceiling. Duolingo didn't state one on any page I read.
Russian isn't a small course, either. Its 7.89 million learners put it ahead of Portuguese, at 4.63 million, which did get the update. So size alone doesn't explain it, and Duolingo hasn't said what does.
What it means for you is simple. Read any Duolingo review with a date in mind, and ignore claims about "Duolingo" levels when the review is about Russian.
Learn the 33 Cyrillic letters before you lean on any course
Russian is written in Cyrillic, and the alphabet has 33 letters. You can pick them up inside a course. I'd learn them on purpose first, because every later lesson is faster when you can read the words.
The tricky letters are the ones you think you know. Р is an r sound. Н is an n sound. В is a v, and С is an s. They look like English letters and sound different, so your eye keeps reading them wrong for weeks.
Duolingo's Russian course page didn't mention the alphabet when I read it on 13 October 2026. It says "Learn Russian in just 5 minutes a day," like every course page. My Cyrillic alphabet guide has the order I'd learn the letters in, and it's free.
In Russian, the letters that look familiar are the ones that trip you up longest.
Is it possible to learn Russian on Duolingo?
Yes, the basics. You'll get common words, simple sentences and a daily habit, all free.
The harder part comes later. Russian has six grammatical cases, so a noun changes its ending depending on its job in the sentence. You learn that by producing the forms, many times, under some pressure.
Duolingo's speaking exercises mostly put the sentence on screen before you say it, by Duolingo's own description of them. That's useful for pronunciation. For cases, that means the ending is already on screen when you say it.
So use Duolingo to get moving, and expect to add something that makes you produce Russian with no text to copy.
For a beginner, free Duolingo still beats paying anyone
I'll be plain about where Duolingo beats my app.
- Price. The core Russian course is free, with ads and an Energy limit. Mine has no free tier.
- A path. Duolingo gives you units in order. Mine has no course and no grammar lessons.
- Devices. Duolingo runs on the web, iPhone and Android. Mine is iPhone and iPad only.
Super Duolingo, the paid tier, removes the ads and the Energy limit, with a 14-day trial on the US App Store. Apple lists six Super prices between $9.99 and $119.99 with no term attached; I've laid them out in How much is Super Duolingo.
You have no tutor and no budget yet
Learn the alphabet, start the free course, and see if Russian sticks for a couple of months. Nothing I sell helps you more than that does at the start.
Add a tutor once it feels easy, and keep what they teach
A tutor is where case endings start to stick, because you have to produce them in real sentences. On 21 September 2026, the first 20 one-hour Russian rates on italki had a median of $23.50. The best app to learn Russian guide compares every option I could price.
Then keep the words, or most of them fade before the next lesson. That's the part Verbamor does. For Russian it starts with a scheduled Cyrillic deck of all 33 letters, and it runs before your first words.
After the letters, you record a lesson or type a phrase into Translate, and it builds Russian cards with an example sentence, generated audio and an image. A starter deck of about 650 common Russian words comes with it.
It's $19.99 a month or $129.99 a year, US prices, with the 7-day trial on the yearly plan only. If you're not taking lessons or talking Russian with anyone yet, you don't need it.
Duolingo Russian questions, answered short
Is it possible to learn Russian on Duolingo?
You can learn the basics of Russian on Duolingo, for free: common words, simple sentences and a daily habit. It won't make you fluent on its own. Russian grammar, its six cases above all, takes a lot of production practice, and Duolingo's exercises mostly show you the sentence before you say it. Add a tutor once the lessons feel easy.
How good is the Duolingo Russian course?
It's good enough to start with, and 7.89 million learners use it by Duolingo's count in October 2026. It's also outside Duolingo's April 2026 expansion: the nine courses Duolingo took to CEFR B2 content didn't include Russian. So treat any review that says Duolingo Russian reaches B2 with suspicion.
What level does Duolingo Russian reach?
Duolingo hasn't said, on the pages I read on 13 October 2026. Its April 2026 post names nine courses whose content now runs through B2, and Russian isn't in the list. Before that update, most learners of those nine could only finish A2 content. I won't guess the Russian ceiling.
Should I learn the Cyrillic alphabet before Duolingo Russian?
Yes. There are 33 letters. Some letters look like English ones and sound different, so Р is an r sound and Н is an n sound. Knowing them first makes every later lesson faster, whichever app you use.
Sources
What Duolingo publishes
- Duolingo Blog, 22 April 2026. Our top courses now teach advanced content. Read 13 October 2026. Source for the list of nine courses, which doesn't include Russian, and for the B2, Score 129 and A2 figures.
- Duolingo, Courses for English speakers. Read 13 October 2026. Source for the 7.89M Russian and 4.63M Portuguese learner counts.
- Duolingo, Learn Russian course page. Read 13 October 2026. No mention of the alphabet.
- Duolingo Blog. Duolingo's approach to speaking skills. Source for the speaking exercise types.
- Apple App Store, Duolingo US listing, read 24 September 2026, for the trial and the six Super prices.
Prices
- italki Russian directory, the first 20 listed one-hour rates, read 21 September 2026. Median $23.50.
- Verbamor's prices are read off the app's own plan definitions on 21 September 2026. US prices; other App Store regions differ.
Start Russian with the 33 letters, then keep the words.
Verbamor opens Russian with a scheduled Cyrillic deck, then turns your lessons and translations into word cards. Paid, on iPhone and iPad.
Start 7 days freeThe 7-day free trial is on the yearly plan.