7 English conversation apps: our picks by type and free limits

Our first picks are Speak for responding to AI, Native Camp for talking to a tutor, and Cake for starting with free short phrases. Choose SpeakGain when you already have a sentence you want to save and repeat. SpeakBuddy is a course-led option if you read Japanese; ELSA Speak focuses our choice on pronunciation feedback, and Speechling on comparing your recording with a model.

SpeakGain is our own product. We recommend another app first if you want spontaneous AI replies or a human teacher. We judge ours by the same criteria: speaking partner, task, feedback, language support, free access and ongoing cost.

If you are starting tutor-led online lessons, use the beginner format guide and first-10-lesson plan to choose support and prepare one useful sentence.

To combine tools without paying, see our guide to free English learning apps and websites for skill-based choices, ads, limits, trials and a free-only week.

Compare the speaking task before the subscription

Checked 10 October 2026, Japan time, using official sites/stores and a dedicated Android capture environment. We did not register third-party accounts, buy subscriptions or take tutor lessons. Where registration or a purchase screen stopped us, the images are clearly credited developer examples. We have not measured scoring accuracy, teacher quality or long-term gains.

Prices below are Japan-market evidence unless marked US dollars, not your local checkout. Do not treat a Japanese interface or course as support for your language. Check your store’s region, teaching language, total charge and renewal date. A free download, an ongoing free tier and a timed trial are three different promises.

App	Type / partner	Feedback	Language / own text	Free speaking boundary	Checked price	OS / date
Speak	AI conversation; respond to AI	Expression/grammar feedback and pronunciation coach advertised; accuracy untested	Japanese courses/hints; your own topics	7-day all-feature trial; not unlimited forever free	JP help: Premium ¥3,800/mo or ¥19,800/yr; Plus ¥5,800/mo or ¥29,800/yr. Web offers differ	Android/iOS; 10 Oct
SpeakBuddy	AI plus structured course	Pronunciation/grammar and conversation review advertised	Japanese-oriented; supplied scenes plus free talk	Initial 3-day trial; paid ongoing access	JP current FAQ: ¥3,980/mo or ¥28,400/yr	Android/iOS; 10 Oct
Native Camp	Human tutors; live replies	Teacher feedback, not a uniform automatic score	Japan service/interface; discuss your topic with a tutor	Initial 7-day trial needs payment details; charges follow	JP ¥7,480/mo incl. tax; annual-discount option ¥6,800/mo. Reservations/add-ons separate	Android/iOS; 10 Oct
Cake	Repeat video/audio phrases	AI pronunciation check advertised; criteria untested	Japanese support checked; supplied content	Free material with hearts/ads/Plus boundaries	Japan Apple lists Plus ¥1,500/¥8,500 etc.; listing names do not establish duration	Android/iOS; 10 Oct
ELSA Speak	Pronunciation plus AI conversation	Pronunciation/stress and conversation coaching advertised	Japanese site; Study Sets save sentences	Limited free lessons/AI/role-play; Premium trial 7 days	Japan NOVA web offer: ¥7,960/yr or ¥6,440/3 months incl. tax; not in-app price	Android/iOS; 10 Oct
Speechling	Repeat supplied sentences	Listen to model and your recording; human coaching by plan	Japanese support language available; supplied sentences	Curriculum/comparison free with account. English excluded from 10 free monthly coaching sessions	Unlimited from US$19.99/mo; month-to-month checkout unverified	Android/iOS; 10 Oct
SpeakGain — ours	Your sentence with generated audio	Recording/pronunciation-check entry; no spontaneous replies	Meaning/structure explanations; your own English card	Japan public offer: initial 2-week trial, not a permanent free library	Japan ¥980/mo or ¥9,800/yr incl. tax	Android/iOS; Android Dev reached; 10 Oct

Official sources 1, Official sources 2, Official sources 3, Official sources 4, Official sources 5, Official sources 6, Official sources 7, Official sources 8, Official sources 9, Official sources 10, Official sources 11, Official sources 12, Official sources 13, Official sources 14

Step 1: decide who supplies the next turn

Answering an AI question and repeating a supplied sentence both use your voice, but train different decisions. One asks what to say next; the other asks how to say a known sentence. Choose AI for trying a response, a tutor for asking why a phrase works, a model for starting with one manageable line, or your own text for a recurring request.

If you cannot understand the question yet, return to a short lesson with support you can read. If you know simple English but cannot keep a conversation going, repeating the same line alone will not give you unexpected replies to handle.

Speak: our first pick for replies beyond a script

Verdict: choose it when simple English makes sense but you freeze in a reply. Suits: practising travel/work scenarios without another person watching, then revisiting expressions. Skip it: if you need a human explanation or permanently free unlimited conversations.

Checked 10 October 2026: the official Japanese site describes AI conversations, immediate feedback, guided speaking and pronunciation courses. The 7-day trial covers all features. Help lists Premium at ¥3,800/month or ¥19,800/year and Plus at ¥5,800/month or ¥29,800/year in Japan; monthly purchase is described as in-app only. Official sources 1, Official sources 2, Official sources 3

A short purpose such as changing an order is more useful for a first trial than a difficult debate. Keep one correction you understand and can reuse. The separate official Web offer shows ¥12,800/year and ¥26,800/year, so we do not present either page’s price as universal. Check the purchase route and renewal terms. We reached account creation, stopped without registering, and did not measure the AI’s correction accuracy.

SpeakBuddy: a learning sequence for Japanese readers

Verdict: consider it before Speak when choosing each day’s task is the main burden and you read Japanese. Suits: beginners who want vocabulary, listening and speaking arranged into a course. Skip it: if Japanese support is unusable to you, free ongoing access is essential, or you only want your own topics.

Checked 10 October 2026: Play advertises vocabulary, listening, conversation, composition, free talk and pronunciation/grammar feedback. Current FAQ lists an initial 3-day trial, ¥3,980/month and ¥28,400/12 months in Japan. New sales of the old six-month plan ended in early June 2025; old ¥3,300 comparisons are not our current price source. Official sources 1, Official sources 2

Our reason to choose it is the sequence, not a guarantee that AI removes all nerves. We stopped at the profile-creation form rather than register. Play says no charge follows the three days unless you start a subscription; do not assume it has the same payment-registration rules as another app’s seven-day trial.

Native Camp: choose a tutor when interaction is the point

Verdict: our human-tutor pick for responding to a person and asking what your wording means to them. Suits: learners who want short sessions when time opens up. Skip it: if you need free solo practice, the same tutor reserved without extra cost, or an annual commitment you are unlikely to use.

Checked 10 October 2026: Japan’s Premium price is ¥7,480/month including tax, or ¥6,800/month with the annual-discount option. Immediate lessons are advertised as reservation-free and unlimited; reserved lessons may require coins and native-speaker options cost extra. The initial 7-day trial requires a payment method and is followed by billing. Official sources 1, Official sources 2

Unlimited does not mean every teacher, reservation and option is included. We installed from Play, reached sign-in, and did not enter payment details or take a lesson, so we make no firsthand claim about tutors or booking availability. Prepare one phrase and one question, then bring a useful expression home after a lesson.

Step 2: separate the three meanings of free

For ongoing free short-sentence practice, start with Cake’s free material or Speechling’s recording comparison. Neither promises unlimited spontaneous conversations with a teacher. First ask whether you can install free, then whether the speaking task is free, then what happens after a limit or trial ends.

Check accounts, hearts, ads, restricted lessons and automatic renewal. An annual price divided by twelve is not a monthly contract: SpeakBuddy’s Japan ¥28,400/year averages about ¥2,367/month, but you do not pay that amount month by month. Finish one practice session and see whether you can return to it before committing.

Cake: a free entry into saying one short phrase

Verdict: our starting point if you are not ready to commit to a monthly price. Suits: short everyday phrases with a support language you understand. Skip it: if hearts/ads frustrate you, you need arbitrary work text, or you only want unexpected conversational replies.

Checked 10 October 2026: Play describes free video/audio material, speaking, AI pronunciation checks and sentence saving. Plus extends access with unlimited hearts, no ads and exclusive material. Japan Apple lists Plus purchases including ¥1,500 and ¥8,500, but their names do not identify the term; we do not claim a ¥1,500 monthly plan. Official sources 1, Official sources 2

We selected English with Japanese support and reached registration-free sentence quizzes. A Plus purchase offer appeared, so we stopped without buying. The device’s VND offer is not Japan pricing evidence, and we did not measure speaking scores. Choose one line rather than watch endlessly: say it with subtitles, then without them, and imagine using it in your own situation.

ELSA Speak: choose feedback about how you sound

Verdict: useful when you have a sentence but need pointers on pronunciation. For conversation alone, compare Speak first. Suits: revisiting sounds or word stress and linking this to speaking. Skip it: if you only chase 100 points, require unlimited free features, or need a person’s judgment every time.

Checked 10 October 2026: Play advertises pronunciation, grammar and conversation coaching, stress feedback and Study Sets. Japan’s NOVA Web page gives limited free lesson/AI/role-play access and a Premium offer of ¥7,960/year or ¥6,440/three months including tax. These are Japan Web campaign prices, not global or in-app prices. Official sources 1, Official sources 2

We used guest onboarding in Japanese and stopped when a seven-day trial purchase offer appeared; we did not buy or score a speaking sample. A purchase screen does not prove no free guest material exists. Use a specific hint to choose the next attempt, rather than compare scores from different apps as one scale. We did not feed synthetic speech into a microphone and call that a human test.

Speechling: compare your recording with supplied audio

Verdict: our choice for repeating a short sentence and listening to your own voice beside a model. Suits: learners willing to register and repeat supplied material. Skip it: if you need registration-free speaking, instant AI points, generated audio for any text, or free English coaching.

Checked 10 October 2026: pricing lists the curriculum, male/female professional recordings and voice comparison as free. Ten free monthly coaching sessions exclude English, French, Chinese and German. Unlimited is advertised from US$19.99/month. The guide explains recording after login and playing the model and your voice. Official sources 1, Official sources 2

The app’s account-free Toolbox is separate from speaking practice. We did not register or submit coaching; the recording image is from official Play. Listen for skipped words or a long pause, then choose one thing to change. If you cannot hear the difference, seek suitable help rather than assume the free comparison is a complete diagnosis.

Step 3: bring one useful sentence back from the conversation

Keep one moment where you stopped: you could not ask someone to repeat, or could not make a request. Our shared practice sentence is Could you say that again more slowly? It means asking someone to repeat at a slower pace.

Listen once, say it, then look away from the English and say it again. Finally try it when you genuinely need to interrupt an unclear conversation. Repetition prepares a useful turn; it does not replace handling the reply.

SpeakGain: save the sentence you will actually use

Verdict: choose it for your own sentence, audio and later review. Suits: recurring requests or phrases you failed to say. Skip it: if you want a large ready-made syllabus, spontaneous AI conversation, human tutoring or a permanently free library. It is our own product, and custom text alone does not make it universally best.

Checked 10 October 2026: we used normal Create for Could you say that again more slowly?, saw its Japanese meaning/structure, generated Viking audio once and reached recording. Standard study is listen → guess → reveal, not AI questions responding to you. Japan’s public price is ¥980/month or ¥9,800/year including tax, with an initial two-week trial. Official sources 1, Official sources 2

The shared screenshot shows the English practice sentence in Japanese UI, not a localized explanation. Its caption explains the recording step. We stopped recording by leaving the screen without requesting scoring; no meaningful assessment result was obtained. The paid Dev account is not evidence of permanently free access. If choosing your sentence is still hard, start with Cake or a course you can read.

The audio says Could you say that again more slowly? One Viking generation is shared across all locales. It is generated character audio for practice, not a human tutor’s judgment or a professionally recorded voice.

Other apps we considered

Duolingo: a candidate for vocabulary and short basic lessons. Free courses are not the same as Max’s paid Video Call. We did not add a broad basic-learning app merely to lengthen the speaking list. Official sources 1

HelloTalk: the official FAQ describes free voice/video calls, but your partner is a language-exchange participant, not a booked tutor. It suits learners who can find a partner and share time between languages. It cannot promise an immediate English turn or correction; we did not register or contact users. Official sources 1

PORO conversation material: a candidate for listening to supplied dialogues and repeating lines. It is not a spontaneous partner. We already separate Cake’s free entry and Speechling’s recording comparison, so more similar libraries do not improve this seven-app decision. Official sources 1

Frequently asked questions

Which English conversation apps stay free?

For short phrases, consider Cake’s free content or Speechling’s recording comparison. HelloTalk offers free exchange calls but requires finding a partner. Speak’s seven days, SpeakBuddy’s three, Native Camp’s seven and SpeakGain’s two weeks are timed trials, not permanent unlimited access.

Which app should a beginner start with?

Try Cake for short phrases before choosing a monthly price. SpeakBuddy is a structured option if you read Japanese. Choose Speak when you can form simple lines but struggle to reply. If choosing your own English is burdensome, SpeakGain need not be your first app.

Should I choose AI conversation or a tutor?

Choose AI to repeat a scenario alone; choose a tutor to ask questions and explain your intention to another person. Treat AI feedback as something to examine, not automatically correct, and lesson time as practice rather than proof of progress.

Can an app alone make me speak English?

It can create practice opportunities, but installation does not promise fluency. Check repeating a known line, answering a question and asking someone to repeat separately. Add replies from AI or a person when repetition is your only task.

Is a pronunciation score enough for conversation practice?

No. How you sound and what you choose to say are different tasks. Speechling helps with listening comparison, ELSA offers pronunciation pointers and Speak lets you practise selecting a reply. Different apps’ scores are not a common scale.

Should I buy an annual plan because it is cheaper?

Not before the practice fits. Finish one session and return the next day. Check term, total charge and renewal: a monthly equivalent can involve paying for a year, and trials have different payment conditions.

To choose a tool for vocabulary study, our English vocabulary app comparison separates the purpose, free limits and practice for saying a usable sentence.

Our final editorial choice

Speak for AI replies, Native Camp for human conversation, Cake for a free short-phrase entry, and SpeakGain for sentences you choose and revisit. Use SpeakBuddy for a Japanese learning sequence, ELSA for pronunciation pointers and Speechling for recording comparison. Start with one job and check whether you actually said a sentence you understood. Our own app fits when the next useful sentence is known; it does not replace the conversation partner.

To place this practice in a wider study plan, compare the study-method guide, sentence-building apps, shadowing apps and the roadmap to speaking English below. How to study English: choose by your goal and what stops you, 5 English sentence-building apps: our picks and free limits, 6 English shadowing apps: our picks, free limits and prices, How to learn to speak English: a self-study roadmap you can use

For feedback on sounds, see our pronunciation app comparison; to carry phrases from a teacher into your next lesson, use our online lesson review guide.