Duolingo virtual numbers for SMS verification

Buying a Duolingo number, in practice

A Duolingo number is in stock in 3 countries right now, 247K lines in total, and the entry price is $0.14 in Netherlands. The price gap between countries is not arbitrary: it follows what the local networks charge and how often they actually deliver, which is why the table above shows both next to each other.

Price is not the only thing that separates those 3 countries. Local networks recycle their lines at different speeds, so the number of free lines moves through the day — the figures above are read at the moment you load the page, not cached from this morning. And nothing is charged until the code actually arrives, so a country that turns out not to work costs you a wait, not money.

Nothing is charged until the Duolingo code lands. The price is held against your balance while the number is live and released automatically if the window closes empty, so the cost of being wrong about a country is a wait rather than money. Balances are topped up in crypto, $20.00 minimum, with nothing added on top.