We make Mandarin Hero, so keep that in mind. We’ve tried to be fair: every app below is genuinely good at something, and several of them work well together.
Most Mandarin apps are built to teach you about Chinese. Fewer are built to get you speaking everyday Mandarin, the way people actually talk in a taxi, at a restaurant or on WeChat. This comparison looks at the popular options with that one goal in mind.
At a glance
| App | Best for | Speaking practice | Everyday, colloquial phrasing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mandarin Hero | Real-life conversations, beginners up | Role-play out loud in every lesson | Core focus |
| HelloChinese | A structured start for beginners | Speech recognition scores your pronunciation | Some |
| Duolingo | A daily, game-like habit | Short repeat-after-me exercises | Limited |
| Anki | Reviewing anything, fully customisable | None built in | Depends on your deck |
| Pleco | Looking things up | None (a dictionary) | — |
| A tutor (italki, Preply) | Free conversation | Real conversation | Yes |
Mandarin Hero
Best for: learners who want to speak the Mandarin people actually use.
Every lesson is a real situation: ordering food, a taxi, the airport, the doctor, chatting with a friend on WeChat, KTV. First you learn its key words, then its handy phrases. Then you hear the conversation as people really have it, and play your part out loud in a role-play. Spaced repetition brings every word and phrase back right before you’d forget it. The lines use the particles and set phrases natives use (好啊, 加个微信吧, 还差得远呢), not textbook phrasing. There are 29 lessons, plus all HSK 1 to 6 vocabulary for extra practice, and the whole app is in English or Dutch.
Weaker at: it doesn’t score your pronunciation, so you compare yourself with the audio. And it’s a younger, smaller app than the big names.
HelloChinese
Best for: complete beginners who want a guided, step-by-step course.
Made specifically for Mandarin, with a clear path through pinyin, tones and characters. Its speech recognition gives feedback on your pronunciation, which is great early on. It also has handwriting practice and video lessons.
Weaker at: the course feels like a well-made textbook, so there’s less of the casual, spoken register.
Duolingo
Best for: making Chinese a daily habit.
The streaks, leagues and bite-sized lessons are hard to beat for motivation, and it’s good at drilling character recognition.
Weaker at: speaking. Sentences are often textbook-style or a bit odd, and you rarely practise a whole natural conversation. Many learners outgrow it once they want to talk.
Anki
Best for: disciplined learners who want full control over spaced repetition.
The original flexible flashcard app: free on desktop, Android and the web, paid on iPhone. You can review anything, with any card layout.
Weaker at: it’s a tool, not a course. You have to find or build good decks yourself, and nothing tells you what to learn next or gets you speaking.
Pleco
Best for: looking up words. Almost every serious learner has it.
An excellent Chinese dictionary with example sentences, stroke orders and audio. Paid add-ons include flashcards and reading text through the camera.
Weaker at: it’s a reference, not a teacher. Use it next to whatever course you pick.
A tutor (italki, Preply)
Best for: turning what you know into free conversation.
Nothing replaces talking with a real person. Once you know a few hundred words and phrases, even a weekly half hour makes a big difference.
Weaker at: it costs more per hour, and it’s slow going from absolute zero.
Which should you pick?
- “I want to talk with people, from zero.” Start with Mandarin Hero, keep Pleco for lookups, and add a tutor once the first lessons feel easy.
- “I want gentle structure and pronunciation feedback.” HelloChinese, and later Mandarin Hero for everyday conversations.
- “I just need a daily habit.” Duolingo, but add a conversation-focused app once you want to speak.
- “I love building my own system.” Anki plus Pleco.
- “I’m studying for the HSK exam.” You need exam-style practice and reading. A conversation app helps you remember the words, but it isn’t exam prep.
Whatever you choose, the formula behind speaking is the same: hear natural Mandarin, say it out loud, and review it spaced over days, a few minutes every day.