---
title: "The 8 best apps to learn Chinese in 2026 (free and paid)"
description: "Eight apps to learn Chinese, ranked, with what each is best for and what it costs: Mandarin The Wild, HelloChinese, Pleco, Du Chinese, Duolingo, SuperChinese, Anki and Skritter."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/guides/best-apps-to-learn-chinese"
published: "2026-10-28"
updated: "2026-10-28"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

# The best apps to learn Chinese (2026)

No one app teaches all of Chinese. Here is the best one for each job, and what it costs.

By Mandarin The WildUpdated 28 October 20266 min read

We make Mandarin The Wild. Everything we say about the other apps comes from their own pages, with each source listed below.

The short answer

The best app to learn Chinese in 2026 depends on the job. To start from zero, HelloChinese, a full beginner course on your phone. From your first hundred words on, Mandarin The Wild, free: graded stories from HSK 1 to 9 with recordings, the meaning of any word on any web page, YouTube video or book you read, and review of the words you keep. Add Pleco as a phone dictionary and Anki if you like making your own flashcards.

## The list at a glance

| App | Best for | Price |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1. Mandarin The Wild | Getting from lessons to real Chinese: graded stories, then any web page, YouTube video and book, with review | Free to look up, read the Library and review1 |
| 2. HelloChinese | A complete beginner course on your phone, with speech checks and handwriting | Free to start; Premium $11.99 a month, $25.99 for three months or $69.99 a year3 |
| 3. Pleco | A phone dictionary, with a reader and flashcards as paid add-ons | Free dictionary; add-ons are paid7 |
| 4. Du Chinese | Graded lessons in six levels on your phone | Some lessons free; premium from $14.99 a month9 |
| 5. Duolingo | A free daily habit for your first months | Free, with ads and an energy limit10 |
| 6. SuperChinese | A structured course to HSK 5 with speaking practice | Limited free course; PLUS $11.99 a month, $69.99 a year or $139.99 once13 |
| 7. Anki | Flashcards you make yourself, on a schedule | Free on computers and Android14; $24.99 once on iPhone15 |
| 8. Skritter | Writing characters from memory every day | $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year after a 7-day trial16 |

## How to put them together

- **Months 0 to 3:** a course for the sounds, tones and first 300 words. HelloChinese, or Duolingo if it has to be free.
- **From about 300 words:** read graded stories every day, then real Chinese with a word card on it. Readers follow a text on their own at about 98% of its words.17 Graded stories get you there; real pages and videos keep you going.
- **All the way through:** one place where the words you look up come back to you, by sight and by sound.

## 1. Mandarin The Wild

We make it, so judge this one hardest. It is for the step every course leaves you at: real Chinese. [The Library](https://mandarinthewild.com/library) has more than 250 graded stories and articles from HSK 1 to 9, each with a recording in two voices. With [the extension](https://mandarinthewild.com/extension) in Chrome or Edge, point at any word on a web page or in YouTube captions and its card shows the meaning it has in that sentence, its pinyin as it is read there, its parts and its sound.

这个中文课程我每天学十分钟。

“I study this Chinese course for ten minutes every day.”

课kè程chéng

Noun

course; curriculum

Also written 課程

It has no step-by-step course for complete beginners: pair it with one of the courses below for your first months. Looking up, the Library and Review are free, and no account is needed to look words up. [Open the Library](https://mandarinthewild.com/library).

- **Every page and every video.** The same card on any web page and in YouTube captions, in Chrome or Edge. The video keeps playing, and Previous, Replay and Next sit in the player. On Netflix, Disney+ and Viki, the Chinese subtitle line is ours too: point at a word and the video waits while you read its card.
- **Captions when a video has none.** On a Chinese YouTube video with no captions, sign in and press Make captions: we make them from its sound.
- **Backpack and Review.** Press M and the word is kept with its sentence and the page or video moment it came from. Review brings it back by sight and by sound, on every device you sign in on.
- **[The Library](https://mandarinthewild.com/library).** More than 250 graded stories and articles from HSK 1 to 9, each with a recording in two voices, free.
- **Look a word up here.** [How to say it in Chinese](https://mandarinthewild.com/in-chinese) for an English word and [What does it mean in Chinese?](https://mandarinthewild.com/meaning) for a Chinese word or its pinyin, each with toned pinyin, its characters and a real sentence, free with no sign-up.
- **Immersion for your own Chinese.** Links, Google Docs, EPUB, PDF and Word files, and recordings with their subtitles or a transcript made from their sound, every word ready to explain.
- **Your phone, offline.** Add the site to your home screen: Review, [the reader](https://mandarinthewild.com/read), and the chapters and sources you keep work with no signal.
- **Your words, in and out.** Bring in a Pleco or Anki list, and download your words for Anki whenever you like.

## 2. HelloChinese

A phone app that teaches Chinese from zero in short lessons, with reading, writing, speaking, words and grammar in one place. It checks your pronunciation with speech recognition, has handwriting practice and more than 2,000 videos of native speakers, and brings words back with spaced repetition.2 Premium is $11.99 a month, $25.99 for three months or $69.99 a year in the App Store.3 Its help stays inside its own lessons. [Is HelloChinese worth it?](https://mandarinthewild.com/compare/hellochinese)

## 3. Pleco

The standard Chinese dictionary for iPhone, iPad and Android, with no browser extension.4 The dictionary is free; its file reader, graded readers and flashcards are paid add-ons.5, 6 You look a word up and choose from its entries. [See how the two compare](https://mandarinthewild.com/compare/pleco), or [the best Pleco alternatives](https://mandarinthewild.com/guides/pleco-alternatives).

## 4. Du Chinese

Graded lessons in six levels for iPhone, Android and the web, each with native-speaker audio, a tap-for-definition dictionary and flashcards.8 Some lessons are free; premium is $14.99 a month, $79.99 for six months or $119.99 a year.9 It works inside its own lessons only. [See how the two compare](https://mandarinthewild.com/compare/du-chinese).

## 5. Duolingo

Free, with every course free, and the easiest way to make Chinese a daily habit.10 By Duolingo’s own count its Chinese course covers HSK 1 to 3 and about half of level 4.11 The free plan has ads and a limit on energy; the App Store lists Super Duolingo purchases from $9.99 to $119.99, with 14 days free.10 [Is Duolingo worth it for Chinese?](https://mandarinthewild.com/compare/duolingo) and [what to do after it](https://mandarinthewild.com/guides/after-duolingo-chinese).

## 6. SuperChinese

A course in eight levels, from complete beginner to content equivalent to HSK 1 to 5, in lessons of about ten minutes on real-life topics, each with words, grammar, a dialogue, a quiz and speaking practice.12 Free gives limited access to the main course; PLUS unlocks all eight levels for $11.99 a month, $69.99 a year or $139.99 once.13 [Is SuperChinese worth it?](https://mandarinthewild.com/compare/superchinese)

## 7. Anki

A flashcard app that schedules each card for the day you are about to forget it. It is free on Windows, Mac and Linux, and AnkiDroid for Android is free.14 AnkiMobile for iPhone is $24.99 once.15 It teaches only what you put in it, so most learners use shared decks or cards made from words they met. Mandarin The Wild downloads your kept words, with their sentences, for Anki.

## 8. Skritter

Daily practice writing characters from memory, with spaced repetition, in the browser and on phones. $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year, each after a 7-day free trial.16 To learn handwriting for free, see [the best tools for Chinese handwriting](https://mandarinthewild.com/guides/chinese-handwriting-tools).

## How to choose

- **Pick by the job, not the brand.** A course, a dictionary, reading, flashcards and writing are different jobs. Most learners need two or three apps, not eight.
- **Free first, pay for what you open daily.** Every pick here has a free way in. Pay for the one you are still opening after two weeks.
- **Leave the course early.** A course teaches a word in a drill and moves on. Reading and listening to real Chinese, with help on each word, is what gets you to fluent.

## Questions

### What is the best app to learn Chinese?

From zero, HelloChinese, a full beginner course. From your first hundred words, Mandarin The Wild, free: graded stories from HSK 1 to 9 with recordings, and the meaning of any word on any web page or YouTube video. Pleco is the standard phone dictionary, and Anki the standard flashcard app.

### What is the best free app to learn Chinese?

Duolingo for a free beginner course, and Mandarin The Wild for free graded stories, look-ups on any web page and video, and review. Pleco’s dictionary and Anki on computers and Android are free too.

### Is Duolingo or HelloChinese better for Chinese?

HelloChinese is built only for Chinese, with speech checks, handwriting practice and native-speaker videos; Premium is $11.99 a month, $25.99 for three months or $69.99 a year. Duolingo is free and best for a daily habit; its course covers about HSK 1 to 3.

### Can an app make you fluent in Chinese?

A course app alone will not: Duolingo’s course stops around HSK 3. Fluency comes from reading and listening to a lot of real Chinese you mostly understand, which is what graded stories and a word card on real pages and videos are for.

### Is Mandarin The Wild free?

Looking words up, the Library with its recordings, and Review are free. Looking up needs no account; a free account keeps your words.

## Sources

Checked on 28 October 2026. Prices and features change; tell us if one has.

1. [Mandarin The Wild: Chrome Web Store listing](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/mandarin-the-wild-underst/gkfkjbdhlbedlgnicdefdpmppabplhii)
2. [HelloChinese](https://www.hellochinese.cc/)
3. [HelloChinese: App Store listing (United States), its in-app purchases and description](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hellochinese-learn-chinese/id1001507516)
4. [Pleco: platform FAQ](https://www.pleco.com/support/faq/)
5. [Pleco: iOS reader manual](https://iphone.pleco.com/manual/30200/reader.html)
6. [Pleco: add-on store](https://store.pleco.com/products.php)
7. [Pleco: iOS pricing and bundles](https://www.pleco.com/products/pleco-for-iphone-ipad/pricing-bundles/)
8. [Du Chinese](https://www.duchinese.net/)
9. [Du Chinese: pricing](https://www.duchinese.net/pricing)
10. [Duolingo: App Store listing (United States), its in-app purchases and description](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/duolingo-language-lessons/id570060128)
11. [VentureBeat (15 November 2017), Duolingo now helps you learn Chinese: the course’s HSK coverage, as Duolingo described it at launch](https://venturebeat.com/business/duolingo-now-helps-you-learn-chinese)
12. [SuperChinese](https://www.superchinese.com/)
13. [SuperChinese: PLUS plans and what Free includes](https://www.superchinese.com/plus)
14. [Anki: downloads and platforms](https://apps.ankiweb.net/)
15. [AnkiMobile Flashcards: App Store listing (United States)](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ankimobile-flashcards/id373493387)
16. [Skritter: plans on its home page](https://skritter.com/)
17. [Hu and Nation (2000), Unknown vocabulary density and reading comprehension, Reading in a Foreign Language 13(1)](https://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/item/43)

## Keep exploring

- [Guide故事Best apps for reading Chinese](https://mandarinthewild.com/guides/chinese-reading-apps)
- [Guide词典Pleco alternatives](https://mandarinthewild.com/guides/pleco-alternatives)
- [Guide流利How to learn Chinese](https://mandarinthewild.com/guides/how-to-learn-chinese)

Less going through the motions. More getting the meaning.

## The world is talking.
Go get the meaning.

[Add to Chrome](https://mandarinthewild.com/go/chrome) [Try the reader](https://mandarinthewild.com/read)

Chrome and Edge on a computer. The reader works on any device.

Bring your curiosity.We’ll meet you in the wild.