Top pick · highest health
Gibbon
Flexible school management platform designed to make life better for teachers, students, parents and leaders.
PHP
Learning and Courses
Open source alternatives to Duolingo
We track 3 open-source Duolingo alternatives, of which 1 currently score 70 or above on Repoly's GitHub health scale and 1 ship a Docker image. Gibbon leads on health at 77/100 with 80 commits in the last 90 days; across all 3 projects you are choosing between GPL-3.0, MIT.
updated Oct 2026 3 alternatives best health 77 ★ 646 combined 249 commits / 90d 1 with Docker
Top picks to replace Duolingo
Showing 3 of 3 tools
All 3 Duolingo alternatives, ranked by health
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Helium
Color-coded student planner for classes, homework, grades, and notes with smart notifications and multi-device sync.
DockerPython -
Moodle
Learning and courses platform with one of the largest open source communities worldwide.
PHP
Duolingo alternatives compared
Gibbon edges Helium 77 to 59, and most of the difference is release recency: v30.0.01 from 9 months ago against no tagged release. Helium is the busier codebase, though, with 169 commits in 90 days to 80. Gibbon also has the largest following, at 635 stars.
The most recent release is Gibbon v30.0.01, published 9 months ago. Helium publishes no tagged releases, which costs up to 25 of the 100 points. None of the measured options scores under 40. By stack, PHP (2) and Python (1) are the most common. Helium is permissively licensed; Gibbon and Moodle are copyleft. Moodle is not hosted on a forge Repoly can read, so it has no measured score yet.
| Tool | Health | Stars | Licence | Last commit | Docker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gibbon Up 9 points since 11 Sep, no release for 8 months | 77 | 635 | GPL-3.0 | today | No |
| Helium Steady at 59 since 11 Sep, no tagged release | 59 | 11 | MIT | today | Yes |
| Moodle | 10 | 0 | GPL-3.0 | unknown | No |
Duolingo alternatives: common questions
What is the most maintained open source alternative to Duolingo?
Gibbon scores highest at 77/100, with 80 commits in the last 90 days, 635 stars on GitHub and its latest release (v30.0.01) published 9 months ago. Helium has the most raw commit activity at 169 commits in 90 days.
Which Duolingo alternatives use a permissive licence?
1 of 3 are permissively licensed (MIT, Apache, BSD or similar): Helium (MIT). 2 use copyleft licences such as GPL or AGPL, which require you to publish changes if you distribute a modified version.
Which Duolingo alternatives run in Docker?
1 of 3 publish a Docker image or Compose file: Helium. Docker support contributes 10 of the 100 available health points, because it is the clearest signal that self-hosting is a supported path rather than an afterthought.
Is Gibbon or Helium the better Duolingo alternative?
On measured health Gibbon leads, 77 to 59. Gibbon has 80 commits in 90 days, 635 stars and v30.0.01 from 9 months ago; Helium has 169 commits in 90 days, 11 stars and no tagged release. Pick Helium if licensing matters: it is MIT, while Gibbon is GPL-3.0.
Are the Duolingo alternatives still maintained?
1 of the 2 measured options score 70 or above. Every measured option had commits in the last 90 days. None scores under 40.
What languages are the Duolingo alternatives written in?
PHP: Gibbon and Moodle. Python: Helium. The stack matters if you plan to extend or patch the tool yourself.
