Best Apps to Learn Welsh in 2026

When Duolingo froze development of its Welsh course in 2023, many learners lost an actively maintained daily-learning tool. The course remains accessible, but it no longer receives content updates or bug fixes.

Welsh learning is supported by the Cymraeg 2050 strategy, National Centre courses, Welsh-medium education, and a growing range of independent tools. The options below serve different goals rather than forming a single direct replacement.

Here's every significant option for learning Welsh in 2026, what each one actually does, and who it's best for.

SaySomethingInWelsh (SSiW)

Best for: Getting you speaking Welsh quickly through audio-only challenges.

SSiW is an established Welsh learning platform. You hear English, pause to formulate Welsh, then hear the answer. Its method is audio-led, without grammar tables or a reading component.

Strengths: Focuses on active speaking, has an established community and forum, and offers Northern and Southern Welsh tracks.

Weaknesses: Deliberately avoids grammar explanation. The philosophy is "absorb patterns naturally." No mutation drilling. No reading or writing component. If you want to understand why a mutation happens, SSiW won't tell you.

Price: Some introductory access is free, with paid access for more content. Check SaySomethingin's linked first-party page for current plans and pricing.

blas.

Best for: Adults who want structured grammar, mutation drilling, and comprehensive learning with spaced repetition.

blas. covers grammar, vocabulary, mutations, graded reading, conversation practice, and writing. All scheduled with FSRS spaced repetition. It's built specifically for the Celtic languages, not adapted from a generic language template.

Strengths: Systematic Welsh mutation drills with SRS, explicit grammar lessons, graded reading, conversation practice with grammar feedback, and a placement test.

Weaknesses: Newer app. Less brand recognition than SSiW. Covers the Celtic languages only, not world languages like Spanish or French.

Price: Free access includes the first two stages and core practice. Premium unlocks the remaining curriculum and additional sessions and tools. Current options are shown before purchase.

Duolingo (Mothballed)

Best for: Existing users who understand that the Welsh course is frozen and may contain unresolved errors.

Duolingo stopped development and maintenance of its Welsh course in 2023. The course remains accessible, but reported content errors and rejected regional forms are no longer being actively corrected.

Strengths: Free. Still technically accessible. Some of the original content was well-designed before the freeze.

Weaknesses: Frozen and unreliable. Known bugs in the content. No grammar explanation. No mutation drilling. Will never be updated. You cannot trust which answers are correct and which are errors.

Price: The frozen Welsh course remains available through Duolingo's free access. Check Duolingo's linked first-party page for current plan details.

National Centre for Learning Welsh (Dysgu Cymraeg)

Best for: Structured classroom learning with qualified tutors.

The government-funded programme offers courses from entry level through to proficiency, both in-person and online. Tutors are trained and quality is consistent. It's the closest thing to formal education for adult Welsh learners.

Strengths: Professional, structured, tutor-led courses covering reading, writing, listening, and speaking, with subsidised options available for some learners.

Weaknesses: Course-based. Fixed schedule, term dates, pace set by the class. No on-demand drilling of weak areas. Gaps between terms leave learners without structured practice.

Price: Course fees and subsidies vary. Check the National Centre's linked first-party page for current course pricing.

Glossika Welsh

Best for: Intermediate learners who want mass sentence exposure.

Glossika offers Welsh for free (one of its supported minority languages). The method is sentence-based: you hear and repeat thousands of sentences, building patterns through sheer volume. The spaced repetition scheduling is solid.

Strengths: Free for Welsh. Thousands of natural sentences with audio. Builds pattern recognition through repetition. Good for listening comprehension.

Weaknesses: No grammar explanation at all. Sentences are presented without context or structure. Mutations appear but are never taught or drilled. Can feel repetitive. Not ideal for beginners. You need some Welsh foundation to benefit.

Price: Glossika currently describes Welsh access as free; check its linked first-party page for current terms.

Clwb Cwtsh

Best for: Complete beginners, especially parents of Welsh-medium school children.

Run by Mudiad Meithrin, Clwb Cwtsh is a short Welsh taster designed especially for parents and carers connected to Welsh-medium early years education.

Strengths: Welcoming, low-pressure, community-based introduction with practical value for families using Welsh-medium education.

Weaknesses: Introductory scope rather than a full progression pathway. Learners will need another resource afterwards.

Price: The programme is described as free; confirm current eligibility and availability with Mudiad Meithrin.

Clozemaster

Best for: Vocabulary building through fill-in-the-blank sentences.

Clozemaster presents Welsh sentences with one word removed. You fill the gap. It has thousands of sentences ordered by word frequency, so you learn the most common words first. The SRS scheduling is competent.

Strengths: Large sentence database. Words learned in context, not isolation. Free tier is generous. Good for building reading speed.

Weaknesses: Cloze only. No grammar explanation, no speaking, no conversation. No mutation drilling. Interface is functional but basic. Machine-translated sentences can be unnatural.

Price: Free and paid access are available. Check Clozemaster's linked first-party page for current limits and pricing.

Anki

Best for: Self-directed learners who want full control over their flashcard decks.

Anki is a free, open-source flashcard app with a powerful SRS algorithm. Community-made Welsh decks cover vocabulary and some basic grammar, and learners can build decks from their own course materials.

Strengths: Free on desktop and Android. Powerful SRS, extensive customisation, and compatibility with self-built decks.

Weaknesses: Steep learning curve. You source or create all content yourself. No structure. Welsh decks are fewer and smaller than for major languages. The iOS app is sold separately.

Price: Free on desktop and Android; the official iOS app is a separate purchase. Check Anki's linked first-party page for the current iOS price.

Feature Comparison

Which One Should You Use?

If you're a complete beginner:

Start with Clwb Cwtsh if you're a parent, or blas. if you want to start immediately on your own. SSiW's first course is also free and gets you speaking from day one. Don't start with Duolingo. The frozen course will teach you errors.

If you were using Duolingo and need a replacement:

Use blas. with the placement test to skip past what you already know. Your Duolingo vocabulary is real. You need a tool that builds on it with proper grammar and mutation drilling, not one that starts you from zero.

If speaking is your priority:

SSiW is an established choice for Welsh speaking practice. Combine it with blas. for explicit grammar and mutation work if you want both audio-led production and structured explanation.

If you want a classroom experience:

The National Centre courses are excellent and often free. Use blas. between terms to keep practising. The spaced repetition ensures you don't lose what you learned in class.

The Gap in Welsh Learning Tools

The Duolingo mothballing exposed a dependency. Hundreds of thousands of learners had no backup plan because no other app offered a comparable breadth of Welsh content. SSiW is excellent for speaking but doesn't teach grammar. Glossika and Clozemaster are supplementary tools, not primary ones. The National Centre courses are structured but time-bound.

What Welsh learners need (and what didn't exist until recently) is a comprehensive app that handles grammar, mutations, reading, vocabulary, and conversation with spaced repetition tying it all together. That's the gap blas. was built to fill.