When I first started learning Spanish, one of the biggest factors I had to consider was my budget. But I was determined to do whatever it took to learn the language. So, I bought courses, subscribed to apps, and even signed up for Patreon memberships. Then, by chance, I came across SpanishDict.com while looking for a free Spanish dictionary. Little did I know, it was so much more than that. Honestly, I’d say it’s the best free Spanish learning app out there.
What is SpanishDict.com
SpanishDict.com is one of the most popular tools for anyone learning Spanish. It basically began as a simple Spanish-English and English-to-Spanish dictionary but has grown into a full learning platform with grammar lessons, conjugation charts, vocabulary practice, and more. It’s available both as a website and an app.
Register at SpanishDict.com freeDownload SpanishDict.com app for Android or iOS
Here’s a breakdown of what it offers:
Free Version
1. Spanish-English Dictionary – with definitions, example sentences, and audio pronunciations
9. Search History – tracks what you’ve looked up (when logged in)
Paid Version
1. Ad-Free Experience: Enjoy learning without any annoying ads. 2. Advanced Translation Tools: Translate speech, images, and documents—not just text. 3. Writing Coach: Get personalized tips to improve your grammar and spelling. 4. Pronunciation Practice: Practice speaking with voice recognition and get personalized feedback on your pronunciation. 5. Exclusive Resources: Access more exclusive stuffs like grammar guides, conjugation help, and extra learning materials.6. Regional Phrasebooks: Learn local slang and idioms from different Spanish-speaking regions.
Pricing for Paid Version
1 month – $12.99 / month 6 months – $6.67 / month12 months – $4.99 / month
Pros and Cons
If you’re looking for a quick rundown of what I like and don’t like about this app, here’s a simple list. But if you want the full scoop, just keep reading the next section of the blog!
Pros
- Has a really good Spanish-English and English-Spanish dictionary
- Lessons are beginner- and intermediate-friendly (A1 to B1)
- Covers useful everyday topics like how to introduce yourself or order food
- Super helpful grammar breakdowns with easy-to-follow explanations
- Includes pronunciation drills with native speakers
- You can save words and phrases for later
- Great for reviewing conjugations and sentence structure
- Handy as a free tool — you get a lot without paying
- Easy to use and doesn’t feel overwhelming
Cons
- Speaking practice is limited — no real conversational drills
- Some lessons feel too long and a bit repetitive
- Doesn’t clearly show your overall Spanish level or progress (no CEFR tracking)
- Answer explanations could be more direct — you have to dig through articles
- Might feel too structured or academic if you prefer games or fast learning
- Has ads in the free version
What I like about SpanishDict.com (Free Version)
1. Tailored for A1 upto B1 Learners
- For Beginners to Intermediate Learners: What I appreciate is how the lessons are clearly designed with beginners and intermediate learners in mind. It starts with the basics—simple vocabulary, present tense, and everyday expressions—and then gradually builds up to more advanced grammar like past tenses, subjunctive moods, and complex sentence structures.
- Good Pacing: The pacing feels natural, so you’re not overwhelmed, and each step adds something useful to your understanding. As you move through the levels, you don’t just memorize words—you actually get to see how they work in full sentences, how they change through conjugation, and how they fit into real conversation. It’s a steady, layered way to grow your Spanish without skipping the fundamentals.
Quick break! Ever heard of CEFR? It’s super helpful to know your level if you’re learning Spanish. Not sure what your CEFR level is? This blog explains what it is and why it matters: The Ultimate CEFR Language Levels Guide: What Adult Spanish Learners Need to Know
2. Great Grammar Help
- Clarity of Grammar Explanations: The app does a great job of explaining grammar. It breaks down rules in a way that’s easy to digest, using examples and exercises to reinforce your understanding.
- Understanding vs. Memorization: Instead of just having you memorize grammar rules, the app focuses on helping you truly understand them. By repeating grammar patterns in different lessons and drills, it makes it easier to internalize what you’ve learned.
3. Lesson Quality
- In-Depth Lessons: Lessons typically take 15–20 minutes, and some advanced ones can go longer—but that’s what makes them effective. They don’t just scratch the surface. Each one walks you through a theme or grammar point step by step, with enough time to actually absorb what you’re doing.
- Drill-Based Practice: The app leans into effective repetition, and honestly, it works. You’ll go over the same concepts in different formats—matching, fill-in-the-blank, translations—which really helps lock in vocab and grammar without feeling overly repetitive.
- Detailed Explanations: Each lesson provides in-depth explanations of vocabulary and conjugations, accompanied by practical tips and sample conversations. This approach not only clarifies the usage of words but also helps you understand their application in real-life contexts, improving both comprehension and retention.
4. User Experience (UX)
- Interface & Feel: The design is clean and simple, without distractions. It’s structured to focus on learning, making it ideal for those who prefer clarity and simplicity over flashy extras.
- Navigation: Easy to navigate. The app is intuitive and quick to set up.
- Ads and Popups: The ads are minimal (5-10 seconds), and while present in the free version, personally, they never bothered me.
5. Customizable Vocabulary Lists
- You have the option to save words and create personalized lists, so you can easily keep track of the vocabulary that matters most to you. This makes it simpler to focus on what you’re learning and review it when needed.
6. Audio Options
- SpanishDict lets you hear both Latin American and Spain Spanish pronunciation, so you can get a feel for different accents and sounds. It’s a great way to adapt to the variety of Spanish you’ll encounter.
7. It´s FREE
- Surprisingly Complete for a Free Tool: For a free resource, SpanishDict.com covers a lot. It’s a dictionary with sentence examples, and it also includes grammar lessons, vocabulary practice, tense explanations, and conjugation drills — super useful whether you’re just getting started or already know the basics.
What I don´t like about SpanishDict.com (Free Version)
1. Not Gamified
The user interface and structure are solid, but it’s not the kind of app that makes things “fun.” It is not a gamified language learning app, so if you’re the type who needs that kind of motivation, it might feel a bit flat.
2. Might Feel Lengthy and Repetitive
Honestly, I wasn’t sure whether to place this as a pro or a con. The lessons can feel long, and the drills do get repetitive (though effective)—which at times makes it harder to stick to a daily routine. Personally, I’ve gotten used to it and even find the repetition helpful now. But it really depends on your schedule, patience, and how you like to learn.
3. Speaking Practice Is Limited
The app covers pronunciation drills for common words, diphthongs, and useful phrases, which is great if you’re just starting out or want to work on your accent. But it doesn’t go beyond that—there are no open-ended speaking exercises to help you build real conversational skills. It’s a solid starting point, but not enough if speaking fluently is your main goal.
4. Answer Explanations Could Be Clearer
When you make a mistake, the app shows you the correct answer, but not exactly why you got it wrong. There’s a “See explanation” button, but it takes you to a full article, so you have to dig through it to find the part that actually explains your mistake. It breaks the flow when it could be just more direct and specific.
5. Progress Tracking Feels Basic
You can see which lessons you’ve finished and review words and phrases you’ve learned, but there’s no clear sense of your overall level. Without CEFR progress or a skill breakdown, it’s hard to tell how much you’ve improved or where you stand in your Spanish journey.
Who It’s Best For
This app is great for beginners to intermediate students, especially adults learning Spanish on a budget.
According to neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, kids can learn languages passively just by being around them—but adults can’t. For adults (like me), learning a new language takes focus, alertness, and understanding how a language actually works—how to form sentences, how grammar functions, and how everything fits together. SpanishDict is built exactly for that kind of learning.
Recommended Read: The Science of Learning a Language as an Adult: How Adults Can Succeed in Spanish
It starts with the basics like how to introduce yourself, order in a restaurant, or talk about what you like and don’t like—which makes it super beginner-friendly. But it doesn’t stop there. Even if you’re already at an intermediate level, you’ll still benefit from it because the lessons go up to B1 level. You’ll find material on more advanced grammar, vocabulary, and conjugations that keep building on what you’ve already learned.
The fact that it’s completely free makes it even better. You get access to full grammar lessons, conjugation practice, vocabulary drills, pronunciation help, translation with examples—and honestly, not many apps offer that much without a subscription.
It’s also a handy pick for travelers. If you need quick access to everyday phrases or just want to translate something on the go, the built-in dictionary and sentence examples make it super practical.
I wouldn’t recommend this for kids, though, since the app´s user interface and grammar-focused lessons might end up boring them pretty quickly.
My Experience: How SpanishDict.com Helped Improve My Spanish
Here’s how I personally use SpanishDict and why I keep going back to it:
- Started as a dictionary need: I first downloaded the app because I just needed a simple Spanish-English dictionary—something quick to help me look up words or phrases I didn’t understand. That’s really all I was looking for. But once I started exploring, I realized it’s way more than just a translating tool. It actually includes full lessons, grammar tips, conjugation drills, and vocab practice. Totally unexpected, but in a good way.
- Been using it since 2022: I’ve had this app on my phone since 2022, and I still have it now. I don’t use it as my main study tool, but it’s one of those apps I always keep coming back to. For me, it’s like a sidekick. I open it when I want to review a bit of grammar, do a few drills, or check my saved vocab. Most of the time, I use it to translate words and phrases I come across in real life that I don’t understand right away. It’s just super handy—especially when I want a quick explanation that actually makes sense.
- Did it help me improve my Spanish?: Absolutely—though not in an overnight kind of way. It’s been a slow, steady progress. Since I live in Spain now and try to talk to locals as much as possible, I still come across lots of unfamiliar words during conversations, or even when I’m watching, listening, or reading in Spanish. Every time that happens, I look the word up in the app and save it to my vocab list. Later, when I’m studying, I review those words until they stick—and I start using them in my own conversations.
- I also keep going back to the grammar lessons. They help me reinforce the structure of the language, so I’ve got the grammar theory in my head, and then I try to put that theory into practice whenever I get the chance.
- I can’t give all the credit to this app for my improvement—because honestly, I’ve used a bunch of other apps and bought a few courses too—but I can definitely say this one helped me a lot.
- And the best part? It’s free. For what it offers, that’s pretty amazing.
- PS I only use the Free Version: Just to be clear, I’ve never purchased the premium subscription for this app. The free version offers more than enough for me to help improve my Spanish. If you’ve tried—or are thinking about trying—the premium version, I’d love to hear about your experience! Feel free to drop a comment or send me a message to share how it went and whether it helped you.
Conclusion: The Best Free Spanish Learning App I’ve Tried
I downloaded SpanishDict thinking I’d just use it as a quick dictionary—and I still do—but it turned out to be way more useful than I expected. Between the grammar lessons, vocab lists, audio, and conjugation tools, it’s become one of the apps I keep going back to.
It’s not flashy or gamified, but if you’re serious about understanding Spanish (especially grammar and sentence structure), this one really delivers—without asking you to pay for a subscription.
If you’re looking for something that’s practical, easy to use, and free (or a handy Spanish dictionary), I seriously say give it a shot.
You can register for free at SpanishDict.com and download the app—it’s available on both Android and iOS.
Not sure where to start as a beginner learning Spanish? This blog breaks it down for you—what to focus on and why it matters: What You Need to Learn as an A1 Spanish Learner