Can You Learn Estonian on Duolingo? (What to Use Instead in 2026)

It’s the first thing almost everyone tries: open Duolingo, search “Estonian”, and… nothing. If you’ve landed here frustrated, you’re not imagining it.

Why don’t Duolingo and Babbel teach Estonian?

It comes down to market size. Estonian has roughly 1.1 million native speakers. Building and maintaining a full course is expensive, so the big consumer apps prioritise languages with tens or hundreds of millions of learners. Estonian — like Latvian, Lithuanian and many smaller European languages — simply never made the cut.

That’s a real problem, because the people who need Estonian often need it: residents working toward the A2 or B1 state exam, partners of Estonians, returning heritage speakers, and newcomers who want to belong rather than just get by in English.

So how do you actually learn Estonian?

The good news: the options that do exist are, for Estonian specifically, often better than a generic Duolingo tree would be. Here are the main ones in 2026.

Keeleklikk & Keeletee (free, government-funded)

Keeleklikk is a free web course that takes complete beginners to around A2, funded in part by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research. Keeletee continues to B1–B2. They’re thorough and authoritative — if a little dry, and light on game-style motivation.

Speakly & Lingvist (Estonian-built apps)

Both are polished, Estonian-made tools focused on vocabulary through spaced repetition and native audio. Great for raw word count; lighter on explicit grammar and exam structure.

Selgeks (story-driven, exam-aligned)

Selgeks — the app this site is for — was built specifically because Duolingo never showed up for Estonian. It wraps a verified A1→A2 course in a story you actually want to return to: a grandmother’s unfinished song, a villain who erases forgotten words, and Pääsu the swallow guiding you across the real map of Estonia. Crucially, every word is fact-checked against Estonia’s official dictionary and the content is mapped to all four skills the state exam tests.

Which should you pick?

• Want it free and official? Start with Keeleklikk.
• Want pure vocabulary volume? Speakly or Lingvist.
• Want to stay motivated and aim at the exam? Try Selgeks — it’s free to start with no account.

Most successful learners mix two or three: a structured course for backbone, a vocabulary trainer for breadth, and real listening for the ear. See our full comparison of Estonian apps for the details.