HelloChinese vs SuperChinese (2026): Which App Is Better?

Pick HelloChinese if you want Traditional characters, handwriting practice, grammar explained in more detail, or lots of extra stories and videos. Pick SuperChinese if speaking matters most to you: it has you record yourself in every lesson, follows the HSK levels from HSK 1 to 5, offers an AI conversation tutor in its top plan, and is the only one of the two with a lifetime plan. Both cost $11.99 a month on the US App Store, SuperChinese is cheaper by the year, and neither has much of a free version, so try each one's free lessons for a few days before you pay.

A word on bias: we make Mandarin Mosaic, and Chunking Chinese is our sister app. Neither HelloChinese nor SuperChinese is ours, and we earn nothing from either. Prices are from the US App Store purchase lists (in US dollars), with UK prices where they differ, and features are from each app's store listing, website and release notes, all checked on 12 November 2026.

HelloChinese vs SuperChinese at a Glance

Each App in One Paragraph

HelloChinese is the best all-round course app for a complete beginner. It practises listening, speaking, reading and writing from the start, explains its grammar, and lets you switch the whole app to Traditional characters. Its weak points are a small free tier and a second, dearer tier for the graded stories, one of its best features. Our HelloChinese review goes through what each plan unlocks and whether Premium is worth it.

SuperChinese is a structured course built around the HSK levels and around speaking, which starts in the first lesson. Learners like its clear path; the complaints are an early paywall, pronunciation scores that some find unreliable, and an AI tutor that costs about twice as much as the main plan. Our SuperChinese review covers the course, CHAO and the common complaints in detail.

Course Content: How Far Each One Goes

On forums you'll often read that HelloChinese stops at about HSK 3 or 4 and SuperChinese goes higher. That's partly true, but the two apps measure themselves differently, so here's what each one actually says.

HelloChinese rebuilt its main course in 2025 on the new nine-level HSK standard. A January 2026 update said it "now fully covers New HSK Levels 1-2 (equivalent to the old HSK 1-4)", and the App Store release notes from August 2026 added upper-intermediate sections, bringing the course to over 2,500 words and 430 grammar points. It doesn't say which HSK level the course now ends at. By word count, it's a little more than levels 1 to 3 of the 2021 standard (2,245 words) and about the size of the old HSK 5 list (2,500).

SuperChinese says plainly that its main course "covers HSK1 to HSK5 across 8 levels of 24 units each", and that an HSK vocabulary course in its Discover section "continues to HSK 7 to 9". It doesn't say whether that's HSK 5 on the old six-level exam or the new one, or how many words the main course teaches. If it's the old HSK 5, that's also about 2,500 words. Its US store listing describes the course as over 400 lessons in 9 levels.

So what we could confirm: SuperChinese labels its course up to HSK 5 and has vocabulary practice beyond it, while HelloChinese gives a word count rather than a level. What we couldn't confirm is that SuperChinese's main course teaches more words than HelloChinese's; on the published figures they may be close. Some SuperChinese reviewers also say the content thins out at the higher levels. Either way, both end at intermediate, not advanced. Our HSK vocabulary lists show how many words each level needs on each version of the exam.

The way the courses are built differs too. HelloChinese mixes vocabulary, grammar, speaking and handwriting exercises in each lesson, with a separate pinyin course first. SuperChinese builds each unit around a real situation, like ordering food or seeing a doctor, with an optional pinyin course and a free placement test if you already know some Chinese. SuperChinese's pacing is stricter: some reviewers complain they can't skip lessons they already know.

Speaking and AI Features

This is where the two differ most. SuperChinese asks you to say lines out loud in every lesson, records you, and scores you straight away, colouring in the characters you got wrong. Reviews are mixed on how reliable the scoring is: some learners find it accurate, others say it marks correct pronunciation wrong. It tells you which character was wrong, but not whether it was the tone or the sound.

Its AI tutor, CHAO, holds role-play conversations about situations like ordering bubble tea or checking into a hotel. In SuperChinese's own words, "you speak without a script, CHAO replies in turn, and it then explains what sounded unnatural and why." It's only in the CHAO plan, at about twice the price of PLUS.

HelloChinese uses speech recognition to mark your pronunciation, and since 2025 each unit's Pit Stop has included speaking lessons. It asks you to speak less often than SuperChinese does. We found no AI tutor or AI conversation feature in its store listing or on its website when we checked.

Both apps mostly have you repeat lines you've just heard, which is good pronunciation practice but not the same as building your own sentences. If conversation practice is what you're after, compare CHAO with the general AI voice chats in our guide to AI speaking practice for Chinese before paying for the top tier.

Free Tier, Paywall and Price

Neither app is a free course. HelloChinese lets you start the course in order, with ads, but the paywall comes within the first units. SuperChinese keeps "a selection of lessons from the Main Course and from Discover" free for good, but several users say they hit the paywall within the first lesson or two. Treat both free versions as a trial of the teaching.

On price, they're closer than most comparisons suggest:

• By the month, they're the same in the US: $11.99. In the UK, HelloChinese is cheaper, at £9.99 against SuperChinese's £11.99.
• By the year, SuperChinese is cheaper: its US list shows yearly PLUS at $42.99, $57.99 and $59.99, which usually means different offers shown to different people, against $69.99 for HelloChinese Premium. In the UK, yearly PLUS is listed from £25.49 to £52.99.
• Once and for all, only SuperChinese has a lifetime plan: PLUS Lifetime, $139.99 or £139.99. HelloChinese has none.
• The top tiers add different things. HelloChinese Premium+ ($19.99 a month, $149.99 a year) is for reading: graded stories and a characters course. SuperChinese CHAO ($24.99 a month, $109.99 a year) is for speaking: the AI tutor.

Prices are from the HelloChinese and SuperChinese US App Store purchase lists and their UK equivalents, checked 12 November 2026. HelloChinese's plan lengths are from its listing and our review; SuperChinese names its plans in the list. We couldn't check Google Play prices, so check the price in the app on Android. Both apps renew automatically until you cancel in your Apple or Google account.

Which One Suits You?

• Choose HelloChinese if you need Traditional characters (for Taiwan or Hong Kong), you want to practise writing characters by hand, you like grammar explained, or you want plenty of graded stories and videos alongside the course.
• Choose SuperChinese if you want to speak from day one, you're working towards an HSK level and like seeing your progress in HSK terms, you want AI conversation practice, or you'd rather pay once for a lifetime plan.
• Already know some Chinese? SuperChinese's placement test starts you at your level. Either way, expect to go quickly through the early units.
• On a tight budget? Neither is the answer; Duolingo's Chinese course is free all the way through. Our HelloChinese vs Duolingo comparison covers that choice.

Paying for both at once rarely makes sense. They teach much the same beginner material, so the second subscription mostly repeats the first. You'll get more from one course plus a tool that does something different, like reading or open speaking practice.

What to Use After Either App

Both apps are courses, and both end at intermediate. When you finish, or stall near the end, you know the basics but not enough words to read freely, which is where many learners hit the intermediate plateau. Another course won't fix that, because courses add words slowly. What helps is far more vocabulary met in real sentences, and reading at your level.

That's what Mandarin Mosaic, our app, is for. It teaches through whole sentences that each bring in one new word where they can, with audio, spaced repetition and HSK-levelled lessons, and its Chinese Articles reader gives you graded stories and news at your level, 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 alongside or after HelloChinese or SuperChinese, not instead of them. It's on iPhone and Android only, it starts on a free plan, and Premium's first month is free through the store. Our Mandarin Mosaic review lists its limits too.

For graded reading in general, our guide to comprehensible input explains why level matters. For other course apps, see our round-up of the best Mandarin learning apps and our list of Duolingo alternatives for Chinese.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is SuperChinese Better Than HelloChinese for HSK?

For following the HSK levels, yes: SuperChinese labels its main course HSK 1 to 5 and has an HSK vocabulary course up to HSK 7–9, so you always know where you are. HelloChinese is built on the new HSK standard but gives a word count (2,500+) rather than a level. Neither is exam practice; SuperChinese's maker has a separate app, SuperTest, for that.

Which Is Cheaper, HelloChinese or SuperChinese?

On the US App Store at the time of writing, both are $11.99 a month. SuperChinese is cheaper by the year ($42.99 to $59.99 against $69.99) and is the only one with a lifetime plan ($139.99). In the UK, HelloChinese is cheaper by the month (£9.99 against £11.99).

Can I Use Both HelloChinese and SuperChinese?

Yes, and trying both free versions is a good way to choose. Paying for both is rarely worth it, though: they cover much the same beginner material. Pick one course and add something different, such as a graded reader or speaking practice.

Does Either App Teach Traditional Chinese?

HelloChinese does: you can switch the whole app to Traditional characters. SuperChinese's main course is Simplified; a 2026 update added Traditional characters to its AI lessons only. Our guide to learning Traditional Chinese explains the differences.

Which Is Better for Speaking?

SuperChinese. It has you speak and scores you in every lesson, and its CHAO plan adds unscripted role-play with an AI tutor. HelloChinese checks your pronunciation too, but less often, and has no AI conversation feature that we could find.

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