Speak trains your mouth. Immersed plans the input that gives it something to say.
Speak is a speaking-first course app: short lessons where you say every line out loud, roleplays, and an AI tutor that talks back and gives feedback on pronunciation and phrasing. Immersed is a language immersion tracker and planner: a free plan built from your answers, then a daily timeline for the shows, podcasts and books you learn from, and reports of your hours. Immersed has no AI conversation and teaches no lessons. It plans and records your immersion, Speak time included.
Free. About two minutes. No account, no card.
The short version
Checked October 24, 2026.
Something out of date? Tell me.
If you freeze when you have to talk and want a patient, private place to practise saying things out loud, Speak is built for exactly that, and the beginner course is well made. Immersed does not do conversation practice.
If you want a plan for the hundreds of hours of listening and reading that make speaking possible, and one record of all of it, Speak sessions included, that is Immersed. Speak is a tool you choose when you want output. Immersed fits it into your week.
Hours alone say little. Immersed shows what yours were made of, Speaking and Shadowing next to the listening and reading behind them, so you can see the mix that is moving you forward.
01What each one is for
Practice speaking with an AI, and the hours around it.
Speak follows a learn, practise, apply loop: a lesson teaches a phrase, you repeat it aloud, then use it in a roleplay or a free conversation with Speak Tutor, its AI. Feedback comes in real time on pronunciation and phrasing. For English speakers it teaches Spanish, French, Korean, Japanese, Italian and Mandarin Chinese, and it teaches English to speakers of many other languages. It counts 15 million+ downloads.
Ten or twenty minutes of Speak a day is a small slice of your week. Immersed covers the rest: a daily routine built around your life, milestones for your first months, what to watch and listen to at your level, and a record of everything.
- Speak: speaking lessons, roleplays, an AI tutor, streaks and leagues
- Immersed: a free blueprint, a daily timeline, nine kinds of session, reports, and free listening games with leaderboards
02Do you need to speak yet
Speaking practice is a tool you can choose, not a gate you must pass.
I learned Korean mostly through immersion, from my room in Maryland. My view: you don't need to start by speaking. Many learners spend their first months listening and reading, and when they start talking, they have much more to say.
Speak earns its place when you want it: you have a trip or a call coming, you are nervous to talk to a person, or you just like saying things out loud. The Fluency Checklist has a last stage, Speaking & writing, for when you get there, and Speaking and Shadowing are among the nine activities you can track from day one.
03What users say
Strong for beginners, thinner as you climb.
Reviewers praise the natural voices, the speech recognition and the polished beginner course. It takes away the blank-page fear of opening your mouth.
The common criticisms: at intermediate and advanced levels the lessons get repetitive, feedback can be brief, the recognition can be lenient enough to let mistakes slip, and the two paid tiers are confusing and not cheap. Listening to real speech at full speed is not its focus. That is the gap Immersed plans for.
04Planning and logging
Log Speak as Speaking, next to your input.
Immersed's timeline holds your day from Wake up to Wind down. Put a Speak lesson in the gap after lunch as a repeating task, and a podcast on the commute. When you start Speak, press play in Immersed and pick Speaking, or Shadowing for repeat-after-me drills. Log it afterward if you forgot.
The Growth page then stacks your hours by activity, so Speaking sits next to Active Listening, Reading and the rest, with comprehension over time and links to your top shows and channels. A hundred hours that are mostly Speak drills and a hundred that are mostly podcasts build different skills. If most of your hours are Speaking and few are input, you will see it in the chart.
05Staying with it
Speak has streaks and leagues. Immersed has Aim, dressed in your hours.
Speak keeps you coming back with streaks, leagues and reminders, and it works. Immersed rewards the habit too, but only for time in the language, wherever you spend it: a show, a podcast, a call, a Speak lesson.
Aim, Immersed's pink mascot, wears outfits you earn by immersing: Hour Marks at 1, 5 and 10 hours, a ladder from 25 to 1,200 hours in a language, and outfits for habits like a 7-day streak or 20 dawn sessions. Nothing is sold. You try them on in the Fitting Room with a free account, and Aim wears your outfit on reminders, share cards and the games.
- Ten Profile badges that level up from grey to gold, from Hours to Night Owl
- Monthly Sprints (Pro): a Mission plus daily quests; finish them and you keep the month's medallion and the month's Aim outfit
- Free listening games in 12 languages with an all-time top 10 per game and language; no hours leaderboard
Side by side · checked October 24, 2026
Immersed and Speak, feature by feature.
Speaking
Speaking lessons and drills
Immersed · No
Speak · Yes, you say every line out loud
Conversation with an AI tutor
Immersed · No
Speak · Yes, Speak Tutor
Feedback on pronunciation
Immersed · No
Speak · Yes, in real time
Teaches grammar and vocabulary
Immersed · No
Speak · Yes, inside the course
Languages taught
Immersed · None taught; tracks any, Library in 22, hand-picked Toolkit in 11
Speak · 6 for English speakers, plus English
Planning
A plan built for your day and goals
Immersed · Free blueprint from your answers
Speak · A course path set to your level
Immersion milestones for your first months
Immersed · Yes, on the free blueprint
Speak · No
Daily planner
Immersed · Timeline from Wake up to Wind down
Speak · Reminders
What to watch, listen to and read
Immersed · Immersion Library and Discover
Speak · Inside the course only
Tracking
Tracks time in the app
Immersed · Logged as Speaking or Shadowing
Speak · Yes, streaks and progress
Tracks input across every app and platform
Immersed · Yes, nine activities
Speak · No
Comprehension rating per session
Immersed · Yes
Speak · No
Output next to input
Immersed · Hours stacked by activity, Speaking beside listening
Speak · No
Rewards for showing up
Immersed · Outfits for Aim, badges, monthly Sprint medallions
Speak · Streaks and leagues
Leaderboards
Immersed · Game leaderboards (top 10 per game and language); no hours leaderboard
Speak · Leagues
Export your history
Immersed · PDF, Excel, CSV
Speak · Not that I found
Apps and price
Phone and computer
Immersed · Web app that installs on both; Android app in testing for Google Play
Speak · iOS and Android apps
Free plan
Immersed · Blueprint, games with leaderboards, Discord, sample app
Speak · 7-day free trial, then paid
Price
Immersed · $60 a year or $9.99 a month
Speak · Premium $83.99 a year or $17.99 a month (US App Store)
Credit where it's due
Both are good. At different things.
What Speak does well
- Gets you speaking out loud from the first lesson, with no person watching
- Speak Tutor, an AI you can talk with any time, with no booking and no nerves
- Real-time feedback on pronunciation and phrasing
- Natural voices and good speech recognition, by most reviews
- A polished, well-paced beginner course for its six languages
- Streaks, leagues and reminders that build a daily habit
What Immersed does that Speak doesn't
- Builds a plan from your time, goals and level, with milestones for your first months
- Plans your Speak lessons into a daily timeline alongside the input that feeds them
- Tracks every hour in the language, not only one app: shows, podcasts, YouTube, books, SRS
- Suggests what to watch, listen to and read for your language, with a Discover feed that counts
- Shows Speaking next to input in your reports, so you see the balance week by week
- Rewards immersion anywhere with outfits for Aim, badges that level up and monthly Sprint medallions
- Costs less: about $5 a month on the yearly plan
Pick Speak if
- You are learning Spanish, French, Korean, Japanese, Italian or Mandarin and want to start talking now
- Speaking to a real person makes you freeze and you want private practice first
- You have a trip coming and need useful phrases you can say out loud
- You want feedback on your pronunciation without booking a tutor
Pick Immersed if
- You want to build understanding through input before, or alongside, speaking
- You can say the phrases but still can't follow a show or a podcast
- You want a plan that fits your actual day and one record of all your time in the language
- You learn a language Speak doesn't teach
Use both, or move over
Speak with Speak, plan and track it in Immersed
Put a short Speak lesson on the timeline as a repeating task, surround it with listening and reading from the Library, and log it as Speaking. Your report then shows output and input side by side, and you can see whether the balance matches the plan.
If you are early on, input does most of the work. Build a base of listening and reading, watch your comprehension climb on the Growth page, and add Speak when you want to start talking. Immersed keeps the record the whole way through.
If you want a person to guide the immersion itself, I keep a 1-on-1 coaching waitlist on the coaching page, five people at a time.
Pricing · checked October 24, 2026
What each one costs.
Immersed
- Free: the blueprint for one language (with the Toolkit, Library picks and the Fluency Checklist's Foundations), the listening games in 12 languages with their leaderboards, Aim Runner, the Discord and the sample app. A free account also gets the Fitting Room's day-one outfits, Hour Marks and badges from game time.
- Immersed Pro: $60 a year (starts with a free week, about $5 a month) or $9.99 a month. Timeline, sessions, Discover, Library, Growth and reports, monthly Sprints, more languages.
Speak
- A 7-day free trial, then a subscription.
- Speak Premium: $17.99 a month or $83.99 a year on the US App Store.
- Speak Premium Plus: $39.99 a month or $164.99 a year. Adds lessons made for you, a lesson creator where you set the topic, and unlimited review built from your mistakes.
Prices from the US App Store listing on 2026-10-24. Speak's site says prices vary by plan, region and promotion, and shows the current price in the app. Immersed costs about $5 a month on the yearly plan.
FAQ
Questions people ask.
Is Immersed a Speak alternative?+
No. Speak is a course app for speaking practice with an AI tutor. Immersed has no AI conversation and no lessons; it plans, tracks and shows your immersion, and you can log Speak time in it as Speaking. They do different jobs.
How much does Speak cost?+
After a 7-day free trial, Speak Premium is $17.99 a month or $83.99 a year on the US App Store, and Premium Plus is $39.99 a month or $164.99 a year. Prices vary by region and promotion.
Which languages does Speak teach?+
For English speakers: Spanish, French, Korean, Japanese, Italian and Mandarin Chinese. It also teaches English to speakers of many other languages. Immersed tracks any language.
Is an AI tutor enough to become fluent?+
It helps you practise speaking, but understanding fast, real speech comes from hearing a lot of it. Most learners need hundreds of hours of listening and reading alongside any speaking app. Immersed plans those hours.
How do I track Speak in Immersed?+
Press play in Immersed when you open Speak and pick Speaking, or Shadowing for repeat-after-me drills. Log it afterward if you forget. Immersed doesn't read your Speak history or your viewing history, so a Speak session always starts with a press. The Discover scroll and the free listening games are what log themselves.
Speak or a human tutor?+
Speak is cheaper per hour, always available and less stressful. A tutor on italki or Preply gives deeper corrections and a real conversation. Many learners start with Speak and add a person later. Immersed logs both as Speaking.
More comparisons
Stop guessing. See what your hours add up to.
Answer a few questions and Immersed builds your plan: a daily routine that fits your life, milestones for your first months, and things to watch at your level. Free, about two minutes, no account needed.
The plan is free and stays free. No card.
Checked October 24, 2026 against published product information. Prices and features change; if something here is out of date, tell me on Discord and I'll fix it.