HelloChinese Review (2026): Is Premium Worth It?

HelloChinese is the best all-round course app for a complete beginner in Chinese, and Premium is worth paying for if you'll use it most days for a few months. The free version, with ads, is a taster: you can start the course, but the paywall comes early. Premium unlocks the whole main course for $11.99 a month or $69.99 a year on the US App Store (£9.99 a month in the UK), and Premium+ adds graded stories and a characters course for $19.99 a month or $149.99 a year (prices checked 8 November 2026). The main course stops at about 2,500 words, roughly HSK 3 to 4 on the new HSK scales or HSK 5 on the old one, so it gets you to lower intermediate, not beyond.

A word on bias: we make Mandarin Mosaic, a competing Chinese app, and Chunking Chinese is our sister app. HelloChinese isn't ours and we earn nothing from it. Prices are from the US and UK App Store listings, and course facts from HelloChinese's store listing, its website and its release notes, all checked on 8 November 2026. Most reviews that rank for HelloChinese quote prices from 2021 to 2024 and predate its rebuilt course, so check the price in the app before you pay.

HelloChinese at a Glance

What HelloChinese Is and How a Lesson Runs

HelloChinese is a Chinese-only learning app from HelloChinese Technology Co., Ltd. Its website claims over 20 million users. Like Duolingo, it's a course: you work through short lessons in a fixed order and the app decides what comes next. Unlike Duolingo, everything in it was designed for Chinese.

• Pinyin first. A separate pinyin course covers initials, finals and tones before the main course starts.
• Short, game-like lessons. Each lesson mixes vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, reading and writing exercises, with short grammar notes along the way. Units come with Pit Stops, which have included speaking lessons since 2025.
• Speech recognition. You say words and sentences into the microphone, and the app marks your pronunciation. FluentU's review found it caught deliberate mispronunciations easily.
• Handwriting. You write characters on the screen in stroke order, mostly by tracing them.
• Review. Spaced repetition brings back the words you've learned; Premium adds a Train section of review games.
• Extras. Over 1,000 graded stories, over 2,000 short videos of native speakers, Teacher Talk lessons and main-course stories.

The main course was rebuilt in 2025 as Main Course 2.0, which HelloChinese's release notes say took three years and is based on the new HSK standard. A January 2026 update added 23 HSK 2 units, and the notes said the course "now fully covers New HSK Levels 1-2 (equivalent to the old HSK 1-4)". In August 2026, the App Store release notes announced upper-intermediate sections, bringing the full course to "430+ grammar and 2,500+ words".

HelloChinese doesn't say which HSK level the new sections end at. For scale, 2,500 words is a little more than levels 1 to 3 of the 2021 HSK standard (2,245 words) and about the size of the old HSK 5 list (2,500); our HSK vocabulary list compares the versions. That makes HelloChinese a course to lower intermediate. There's nothing in it yet for the upper levels.

Free vs Premium: What's Locked and What It Costs

The app is free to download, and the free version shows ads. HelloChinese doesn't publish a list of what's free, and the free share seems to have shrunk: a 2024 review on All Language Resources described about 50 free units, but a reader comment under it says the free course now stops at unit 5. Treat the free version as a trial of the teaching, not a course.

There are two paid tiers. HelloChinese doesn't compare them outside the app; this split is from FluentU's review (last updated January 2025), whose prices still match the store's:

• Premium: the whole main course, Teacher Talk lessons, the native-speaker videos and the Train review games.
• Premium+: everything in Premium, plus the graded stories, the Chinese Characters course, the immersion lessons and Premium+ customer support.

Prices checked 8 November 2026. Sources: the purchase lists on the US and UK App Store. The Premium lengths are from the US listing's own description; the Premium+ lengths aren't shown there, so they're from FluentU's review, whose prices match today's. The US list also shows Premium at $48.99 and Premium+ at $104.99 and $62.99 without saying what they are, which usually means other plan lengths or offers. We couldn't load Google Play's purchase list, so we haven't quoted Android prices; check them in the app.

Is Premium worth it? At $69.99 a year it's one of the cheaper ways to get a complete beginner course for Chinese, and at £9.99 a month in the UK it's cheaper than SuperChinese's PLUS plan (£11.99 a month when we checked in October). Premium+ is harder to justify: it more than doubles the yearly price, mainly for the stories and the characters course. Start with a month of Premium, and pay for Premium+ only if you find you want more reading than the course gives you.

Strengths and Weaknesses

What it does well

• Built for Chinese. It has lessons on tones, pinyin, characters and measure words that a multi-language app doesn't.
• All four skills in one place. Listening, speaking, reading and writing are all practised from the start, so beginners don't skip any.
• Simplified or Traditional. It teaches Traditional characters as well as Simplified, which few course apps do.
• Grammar is explained. Short notes tell you why a pattern works, not just that it does.
• A lot of extra material. The stories and videos give you reading and listening beyond the lessons, if you pay for them.
• Good value on a yearly plan. About $6 a month for the whole course.

Where it falls short

• A small free tier. The paywall comes within the first units, and the free version has ads.
• Two paid tiers. The graded stories, one of its best features, are only in the dearer Premium+.
• Handwriting is mostly tracing. FluentU found the writing exercises mainly have you trace shapes, without much on components or later review. If writing by hand matters to you, read how to learn Chinese characters.
• Speaking means repeating. The speech recognition checks lines you've just heard. It doesn't ask you to build your own sentences, which is what conversation needs.
• Short videos. FluentU found many of the immersion clips under 30 seconds and rather staged.
• A ceiling at lower intermediate. At about 2,500 words, the course ends where many learners hit the intermediate plateau.

How HelloChinese Compares

Against Duolingo, HelloChinese is the better course and Duolingo the better free app; our HelloChinese vs Duolingo comparison goes through it feature by feature. Against SuperChinese, its closest paid rival, HelloChinese is cheaper by the month and has Traditional characters and handwriting, while SuperChinese has more speaking in every lesson and runs to about HSK 5; see our SuperChinese review.

HelloChinese vs ChineseSkill

ChineseSkill, from Yiyan Technology, is the app most like HelloChinese: short game-style lessons, speech recognition that checks your tones, handwriting practice and offline lessons, all based on HSK levels. It has 4.8 out of 5 from 15K ratings on the US App Store. The differences that matter:

• Price. ChineseSkill Premium is $11.99 a month, $25.99 a quarter or $59.99 a year on the US App Store, and its purchase list also includes lifetime memberships ($159.99 and $399.00), which HelloChinese doesn't offer.
• Other varieties of Chinese. ChineseSkill adds courses in Taiwanese Mandarin (Traditional characters and zhuyin), Cantonese and Hokkien. HelloChinese teaches Mandarin only, though in either character set.
• Size. HelloChinese publishes how big its course is (2,500+ words) and has more extra material: 1,000+ stories and 2,000+ videos. ChineseSkill's listing doesn't say how far its Mandarin course goes.

Pick ChineseSkill if you'd rather pay once, or you want Taiwanese Mandarin, Cantonese or Hokkien. Pick HelloChinese for the bigger, better-documented Mandarin course. Both have free lessons, so try each for a few days. Prices checked on 8 November 2026.

How to Cancel a HelloChinese Subscription

You pay for HelloChinese through Apple or Google, so you cancel there, not in the app. Deleting the app doesn't cancel anything. HelloChinese's listing says plans renew unless you turn off auto-renewal at least 24 hours before the end of the period, so cancel a day early.

• iPhone or iPad: open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions, choose HelloChinese and tap Cancel Subscription (Apple's steps). If there's no button, it's already cancelled.
• Android: open the Play Store, tap your profile picture, then Payments & subscriptions, Subscriptions, HelloChinese and Cancel subscription (Google's steps).

You keep Premium until the end of the period you've paid for. Refunds are handled by Apple or Google, not HelloChinese; for other account problems, HelloChinese gives [email protected] as its Premium support address.

What to Use After HelloChinese

When you finish HelloChinese, or stall near the end, you know the basics but not enough words to read freely, and you can repeat sentences better than you can make your own. Another course won't fix either, because courses add words slowly. What helps is a lot of vocabulary in real sentences, longer reading, and speaking practice.

• Vocabulary in sentences. Mandarin Mosaic, our app, teaches through whole sentences that each bring in one new word where they can, with audio and spaced repetition. Pick your level when you start and the app counts the words up to it as known, then its HSK lessons carry on from there, from HSK 1 to 6 and the New HSK 7–9 band, in Simplified or Traditional characters. Every built-in sentence is checked by a native speaker. It doesn't teach speaking, handwriting or grammar, so it's what you use after a course, not instead of one. There's a limited free plan, and at the time of writing Premium is about £12 a month, less on the yearly plan, with the first month free. Our Mandarin Mosaic review lists its limits too.
• Graded reading. Readers such as Du Chinese and The Chairman's Bao give you articles and stories sorted by HSK level; our Du Chinese vs The Chairman's Bao comparison helps you choose. Mandarin Mosaic's Chinese Articles reader does the same job inside the app. Our guide to comprehensible input explains why level matters.
• Saying your own sentences. HelloChinese mostly has you repeat lines. Chunking Chinese, our sister app, gives you an English prompt, has you build the Chinese from chunks and say it, then scores the sound and tone of every character. It covers HSK 1 to 5 and costs $30 a month after a 7-day free trial, with a waiting list; try the fluency trainer, or find a tutor on italki or Preply.

For a wider view, see our list of Duolingo alternatives for Chinese and our round-up of the best Mandarin learning apps.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is HelloChinese Free?

Partly: the app is free to download and you can start the course with ads, but the paywall comes within the first units. The full main course needs Premium, and the graded stories and characters course need Premium+.

How Much Does HelloChinese Premium Cost?

On the US App Store, Premium is $11.99 a month, $25.99 for three months or $69.99 a year, and Premium+ is $19.99 a month or $149.99 a year, at the time of writing (8 November 2026). In the UK, Premium starts at £9.99 a month and Premium+ at £15.99, and there's no lifetime plan.

Can HelloChinese Get You to HSK 4?

In vocabulary, roughly: its 2,500+ words are more than the old HSK 4 list (1,200 words) and HSK 4 on the 2025 exam syllabus (2,000), though fewer than level 4 of the 2021 standard (3,245). It isn't exam practice, though, so add past papers and plenty of reading before you sit the test.

Is HelloChinese Premium+ Worth It?

Only if you'll use the graded stories or the characters course often, because it more than doubles the yearly price. Most beginners are better off with Premium and a separate graded reader.

Can You Become Fluent With HelloChinese?

Not on its own: it takes you to lower intermediate, and fluency needs many more words, much more reading and real conversation. Use it as your foundation, then move on to sentences, reading and speaking practice.

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