Duolingo · B2C · language learning app
Keep AI features in a pricier top plan; give basic users a taste
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What they did
Basic plan gets non-AI features and a limited taste of AI; full/unlimited AI (e.g. Duolingo Max's voice role-play with Lily) requires a higher Pro/Max tier, to cover compute costs. Also seen at Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, ElevenLabs, Tolan.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · 12 AI Growth Lessons for Subscription Apps – Phil Carter, Elemental Growth“So you're seeing this with Duolingo with their Duolingo Max product, which is their new immersive language learning tool that allows you to talk to Lily and do role plays all using voice, not just text.”
Related topics
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More from Duolingo
All 32 Duolingo tactics- Cut the free trial from 14 days to 7More conversions overall and experiment results twice as fast
- Sell a one-time ad-free month at $3, $5 or $10 to test demandUptake far above expectations; led to the subscription
- Tell users on the paywall you'll remind them on day 5 of a 7-day trialWon A/B tests by easing fear of subscription traps
- Change the buy button to say 'Try for $0.00'Beat 'Try for free' on both trial starts and trial-to-paid
- Let trial users pick which day they get the reminder before being chargedTested; added friction but built trust and delayed cancel decisions. No numbers given
- Ask new users in onboarding if they want to learn with or without adsSignificantly higher uptake; one of the biggest wins of the year
More from this episode
- Tolan: Quiz new users, match them to an AI friend, then start a voice chatAdvisor credits it as a big part of their success; no numbers
- Tolan: Show a shareable card of how the AI character's personality maps to yoursAdvisor calls it a viral artifact people share; no numbers
- Runna: Target serious runners with training plans that adapt after every runWon the race-training niche; later bought by Strava
- Wispr Flow: Put a small always-visible widget or calendar reminder where users already workGuest now uses voice nearly as much as typing; no company numbers
- StudyFetch: Ship many AI study features fast and show each one on TikTok and DiscordNo results shared
- Runna: Use AI tools to go from tens to 400+ ad concepts a month400+ concepts/month; said to lower CAC and speed up learning
- Film a real person once, then use AI for 30 languages and music variantsAdvisor's standing advice to clients; no numbers
- Photoroom: Show the AI background remover in the first 6 seconds of every adLower CAC, higher conversion; opened Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia
- Gamma: Let the decks and sites users make get shared and show up in searchGrew with very little paid acquisition; valued at $2B+
- Gamma: Use cheaper, faster AI models where the output is good enoughProfitable 6 months after launch; faster product and lower compute costs
- Notion: Get early-adopter creators to post tutorials and templates for your new AI featureDrove organic adoption of Notion AI and better new-user retention; no numbers
- Replace the hard paywall with a free plan plus a 7-day trial of the best version+75% LTV per user (other pricing changes made at the same time)
- Switch from a hard paywall to a free planSubscriber conversion fell 50%+; reverted after a couple of weeks
- Tolan: Start with a 7-day free trial, then tune trial length to limit AI costs