Speak vs ELSA Speak

A side-by-side look at scores, pricing and features — with RECATOOLS' ASEAN-aware verdict for each.

Speak AI conversation tutor for language learners — talk first, drill later Visit ELSA Speak AI pronunciation coach that scores your English at the phoneme level Visit
RECATOOLS Score 7.8 / 10 7.8 / 10
Capability 8.5 8.5
Value for money 7 7
Ease of use 8.5 7.5
ASEAN readiness 7.5 9
API quality 2 6.5
Pricing Freemium Freemium
Free tier 7-day free trial with full feature access; no permanent free tier Limited daily exercises; access to a small subset of lessons; no AI tutor
Paid from Premium ~$18/mo or ~$84/yr; Premium Plus ~$40/mo or ~$165/yr Annual ~$159.99/yr list (~$13.33/mo equiv), often ~$74.99-$79.99/yr; monthly ~$11.99-$21.99/mo
Has API
Open source
Free to use
Users 10M+ registered users globally (2024); some 2026 listings cite 15M+ downloads 90M+ downloads globally as of January 2026; 195 countries
Founded 2016 2015
Maker Independent (no parent company) ELSA, Corp
Verdict

Speak's pitch holds up in the roleplay mode: dropping a learner into a coffee-shop or job-interview scenario and reacting in real time via OpenAI's Realtime API beats static flashcard apps for anyone who actually needs t...

ELSA Speak is the strongest dedicated pronunciation tool for ASEAN learners of English. Its phoneme-level AI, trained on accent data from non-native speakers across 195 countries, surfaces the exact sounds that trip up V...

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Comparisons cover up to 4 tools. Scores are RECATOOLS editorial assessments; verify current pricing on each vendor's site.