In 2027, Duolingo is shutting down Duolingo for Schools, its free classroom tool that helped teachers track student progress and assign lessons.
Coursera did the same thing last year, ending free course previews. It seemed sudden, but the signs were there. Class Central tracked the Duolingo for Schools shutdown too. And this time, the signs were all across social media platforms.
Why the Shutdown?
Duolingo for Schools was launched in 2015. Within a week, more than 10,000 teachers and 25,000 students had signed up. Costa Rica and Guatemala governments even ran pilots in their public schools. Tutors depended on it for dashboard management, customized assessment, and lesson plan development.
Duolingo gave two reasons for the shutdown. The first came from its own forum:
“We regularly evaluate our products to ensure they align with how learners and educators use Duolingo today. As part of this, we’ve made the decision to sunset Duolingo for Schools and focus on improving the core learning experience.” — Duolingo for Schools Forum
The second came in a note sent to teachers: while the main app is growing, Duolingo for Schools never reached that level of use. The team and resources, the company said, can’t improve the app and keep a free tool running at the same time.
Some instructors on Reddit expressed disappointment. But one user pointed out that the feature cuts had already started: “They removed the ability for teachers to assign topics and lessons. All teachers can assign now, are XP targets.”
I explored this further, and it checks out.
A thread on the forum on January 1, 2024 confirmed that several dashboard features had been removed. The company said that the removed features created conflicted when students and teachers in the same classroom were on different versions of the app. Still students and teachers continued to have an ad-free and hearts-free experience.
Before the feature removal, Duolingo for Schools had started and paused its Youtube channel in the same year (2023).
The shutdown aligns with Duolingo’s 2026 strategy, which Class Central covered last month. A sub-strategy is growing its non-language subjects: Math, Music, and Chess. While Chess got seven million users in its first year, Math and Music just had three million combined, a year into their launch.
Math is the most relevant here. Duolingo recently launched Math content for students from Grades 2 through 12. Currently, it’s in English, but CEO Luis von Ahn wants to expand it to other languages.
Still, Duolingo said in its FAQ that it’s continuing to explore ways to support educators, including through new K12-aligned subjects like the Math course. It didn’t mention how yet, but currently, the company’s focus, as von Ahn said in the Q4 2025 earnings call, was making the product.
In the same call, when an analyst asked CEO Luis von Ahn whether Duolingo would offer its Math course to Duolingo for Schools, he said it would be more like Kumon (a paid, parent-facing program). Duolingo’s goal seems to be converting parents into subscribers, not offering it free to classrooms.
Duolingo’s business model is built on the consumer side; subscriptions, ad revenue in-app purchases, and more. A teacher dashboard needs roster management, assignment workflows, progress reports aligned to different curricula, compliance, and more.
Both are fundamentally different products with different roadmaps. And Duolingo’s already letting go of $50M in bookings to grow its app DAUs without its usual monetization pushes. And they are increasing.
But the share of paying subscribers has slightly dropped. So Duolingo for Schools, a free tool with limited scale, is an added investment with no potential bookings.
What Happens Next?
Duolingo for Schools will end on July 31, 2027. Until then, educators and students can continue using the platform as usual, giving educators time to plan and adjust.
Existing users can create new classrooms, add students to existing classrooms and create accounts for them. No new Duolingo for Schools accounts or classrooms can be created going forward. However, students and teachers can use the app independently.
The post Duolingo is Shutting Down Its Only Classroom Tool appeared first on The Report by Class Central.
