Brilliant is the better app overall, scoring 8.6 to 7.9. Brilliant wins on 5 of the 5 scores, Speak on 0.
Curious adults and teens who want to understand math and science by solving problems
Learners who understand a language but freeze up when it is time to speak
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Brilliant | Speak |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Learning | Learning |
| Category rank | #4 of 8 | #8 of 8 |
| Developer | Brilliant.org | Speakeasy Labs |
| Pricing | Free + paid plans | Subscription |
| Usable for free | Yes | No |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | ✓ |
| Web | ✓ | — |
Strengths and weaknesses
Brilliant
- Learn-by-doing lessons build intuition, not rote memory
- Beautiful design makes hard topics approachable
- Lessons are short enough for a daily habit
- Free plan is capped at a couple of lessons a day
- No certificates and little help for school exams
Brilliant teaches math, science, data and coding by making you solve things, not watch things. Each lesson is a short run of interactive puzzles that build real intuition, and the design is excellent. The free plan caps you at a couple of lessons a day with ads, so Premium is where it makes sense. Get it if you learn by doing. Skip it if you need exam prep or credentials.
Full Brilliant review
Speak
- Gets you speaking out loud from the first lesson
- Open-ended AI chats feel close to a real tutor
- Low-pressure practice without a human audience
- Little free use beyond a trial
- Weak on reading, writing and long-term vocabulary review
Speak is built for the hardest part of learning a language: actually talking. You repeat phrases, then hold open conversations with an AI tutor that corrects your pronunciation and phrasing. It is great for getting past the fear of speaking. The catch: there is little free use, the course gets repetitive at higher levels, and reading and vocabulary review are thin. Pair it with a structured course.
Full Speak review
