Comparison

HelloChinese vs zzHanzi

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

HelloChinese

This app offers a fun and effective way to learn Mandarin Chinese from beginner to conversational levels. It combines game-based lessons, stories, videos, and speech recognition to help you master pronunciation, characters, and practical conversations while exploring Chinese culture.

Highlights
  • Game-based learning
  • Graded stories
  • Immersive lessons
  • Video lessons
  • Speech recognition
  • Character handwriting
  • HSK level courses
Features
Read full description

HelloChinese is the best Mandarin Chinese learning app for beginners! Featured on the App Store in New Apps We Love and Notable Education Apps! Designed in a fun and highly effective manner, HelloChinese helps you rapidly learn Mandarin Chinese from scratch to a conversational level. With HelloChinese, learners can "learn the Chinese language, explore Chinese culture" – you will not only learn Mandarin Chinese but also enjoy the process of delving into the culture intertwined with the language. Features: ◉ Game-based Chinese learning: You will never get bored. ◉ 1000+ graded stories: read engaging stories at your level! ◉ Immersive lessons help you to have real-life, practical conversations quickly. ◉ Over 2,000 videos - all featuring authentic Chinese speakers! ◉ Innovative self-adaptive learning games that incorporate Chinese cultural education. ◉ Speech recognition corrects your pronunciation and makes speaking Chinese a breeze. ◉ Handwriting specially designed to learn Chinese characters at a faster rate. ◉ Systematic courses based on HSK levels. ◉ A well-designed Pinyin (pronunciation) course for newbies. ◉ Bite-sized curriculum to fortify your Chinese listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. ◉ Simplified and traditional Chinese(Mandarin) are both supported. ◉ Offline accessibility: Once a course is downloaded, no internet connection is required. ◉ Study progress tracking across multiple devices. With these tools at your disposal, nothing can stop you from mastering Chinese. Start on your path to fluency today! HelloChinese Premium offers: One-month subscription for $11.99 Three-month subscription for $25.99 Twelve-month subscription for $69.99 The above prices are for U.S. customers. Pricing in other countries may vary, and charges may be converted to your local currency depending on your country of residence. Once purchased, subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off in your iTunes Account settings at least 24 hours before the end of the payment period. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HelloChineseApp/ Privacy Policy: https://www.hellochinese.cc/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://www.hellochinese.cc/terms.html Premium users can always reach us at premium@hellochinese.cc if they need any help.

About

zzHanzi

Master Mandarin Chinese characters and their meanings through engaging games. This app is designed for beginners, offering a fun and easy way to learn with visual aids, handwriting practice, and thematic missions. Enjoy offline access and a vast vocabulary to support your learning journey.

Highlights
  • Learn characters with pictures
  • Chinese handwriting support
  • Real-time writing check
  • Thematic game missions
  • Offline support
  • Over 3000 Chinese words
  • HSK support
Features
Read full description

zzHanzi is a learning app that makes learning Chinese fun through games. 1. A joyful experience like playing games. While learning Chinese, you can continuously earn coins. Multiple game types provide a rich learning experience. The courses are carefully designed, clear and rigorous, making the learning process both enjoyable and simple. 2. Abundant teaching resources. It includes almost all major Chinese textbooks available on the market, complete with full vocabulary lists. You can not only study independently but also follow the Chinese textbooks used in schools. HSK word lists for all levels and categorized Chinese word lists are all available. Whether you are studying at a Confucius Institute or preparing for the HSK exam, it is convenient to use. Vocabulary lists from mainstream Chinese learning apps are also included. 3. Original Chinese courses. Our character courses allow every single character to be learned from scratch. The lessons are easy to understand yet broad and profound in content. Each character lesson enables students to progress from beginner level to native-level comprehension. We delve deeply into each character and the Chinese culture it embodies, helping you build a Chinese way of thinking. Characters are the foundation of Chinese. From HSK Level 1 to HSK Level 6, you will master all knowledge related to each character in a systematic and comprehensive manner. 4. High-quality Chinese reading materials. A large number of classic Chinese reading materials are built-in. Every character can be looked up in a dictionary, and pinyin can be displayed. All reading content comes with translations. The app also supports looping playback of articles. These classic Chinese stories are well-known to Chinese people. While reading, you can also establish cultural connections with Chinese people and better learn Chinese wisdom. The wisdom passed down over five thousand years becomes easily accessible. 5. Detailed and patient character teaching. Writing Chinese characters becomes very easy here. The strokes, pronunciation, and components of each character are broken down and demonstrated step by step. You will progress from tracing each stroke to writing characters freely and quickly. Memorizing character writing is also a gradual process. Learning Chinese writing becomes simple. No longer will you only be able to speak Chinese without being able to write it. 6. Flexible and convenient review. We offer two review arrangements. You can freely choose what to study, or simply follow our arranged review without any extra thought. Everything is clear and organized. You can also add unfamiliar words to your own custom vocabulary notebook. 7. Focus on pronunciation difficulties. We have compiled a large number of Chinese pronunciation exercises specifically targeting the common difficulties faced by foreigners, accompanied by specialized pronunciation training. Targeted practice makes speaking accurate Chinese much easier. 8. Flexible content creation. Even if your course materials are not included in our collection, you can easily create flashcards to assist your Chinese learning. You can also share them with your teacher or students so they can learn together. This app fully supports offline learning — no internet connection required.

Screenshots

HelloChinese4 screens
zzHanzi4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: HelloChinese at 23K against zzHanzi's 15. HelloChinese also leads on chart position (#93 vs unranked). zzHanzi's advantage is iOS requirement (9.3 vs 14.1). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. HelloChinese sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $11.99 per month and zzHanzi sells 9 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for HelloChinese against 4.9 for zzHanzi. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: HelloChinese has 23K ratings behind it against 15, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 95% of HelloChinese's written reviews are positive against 88% of zzHanzi's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HelloChinese ships an update every 6 days, zzHanzi weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and August 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
HelloChinese versus zzHanzi: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHelloChinesezzHanzi
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (23K ratings)4.9 (15 ratings)
Positive reviews94.8% of reviews — better87.5% of reviews
Number of ratings23K — better15
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#93 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.19.3 — better
Further details — not scored
Size102 MB449 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHelloChinese Technology Co., Ltd.Dalian Xuewujing Software Co., Ltd

Customer experience

HelloChinese

All ratings23,059 ratings
Positive97.8%
Neutral0.9%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews3,648 reviews
Positive94.8%
Neutral2.0%
Negative3.2%

zzHanzi

All ratings15 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral6.7%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive87.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

HelloChinese

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Occasional login issues
  • Inconsistent performance on older devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • More advanced lessons beyond HSK3
  • Option to toggle pinyin on a per-word basis
  • Improved review system with more customization
  • Addition of traditional Chinese characters
  • More real-life conversation practice

zzHanzi

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

13 purchases

HelloChinese

Subscriptions10
  • HelloChinese Premium$11.991 Month
  • HelloChinese Premium+$16.991 Month
  • HelloChinese Premium+$19.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • HelloChinese Premium$25.993 Months
  • HelloChinese Premium$48.991 Year
  • HelloChinese Premium+$62.996 Months
  • HelloChinese Premium$69.991 Year
  • HelloChinese Premium+$89.996 Months
  • HelloChinese Premium+$104.991 Year
  • HelloChinese Premium+$149.991 Year
One-time3
  • 300 coins$4.99
  • 750 coins$9.99
  • 1650 coins$19.99
9 purchases

zzHanzi

One-time9
  • 168 coins$0.99
  • 568 coins$1.99
  • 1688 coins$3.99
Show 6 more
  • pay 1 month fee$4.99
  • pay 3 month fee$6.99
  • 5888 coins$6.99
  • pay 1 year fee$12.99
  • Fee for 3 years$24.99
  • Russian Lesson for HSK 1$39.99

Questions

Is HelloChinese free?
HelloChinese is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is zzHanzi free?
zzHanzi is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, HelloChinese or zzHanzi?
HelloChinese and zzHanzi are both rated 4.9 out of 5 on the App Store, from 23K and 15 ratings respectively.
Do HelloChinese or zzHanzi have ads?
Neither HelloChinese nor zzHanzi shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HelloChinese or zzHanzi?
HelloChinese ships an update every 6 days, and zzHanzi weekly. Most recently, HelloChinese was updated on September 24, 2026 and zzHanzi on August 28, 2026.

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