Comparison

ChinesePod vs Hanly

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

Head to head
About

ChinesePod

Access over 4,000 Mandarin Chinese lessons on your mobile device. Study offline, filter by skill level, and utilize multiple audio tracks for comprehensive learning. Features native speaker audio, word-by-word translations, and integrated dictionary lookup.

Highlights
  • Over 4,000 Mandarin lessons
  • 200+ video lessons
  • Five skill levels
  • Offline lesson downloads
  • Filter by bookmark, level, or download
  • Three audio tracks per lesson
  • Grammar notes and vocabulary review
Features
Read full description

ChinesePod’s Official App gives you the freedom to study more than 4,000 Mandarin lessons in the palm of your hand. Select a lesson, plug in your headphones, and start studying -- on the train, while doing the laundry, when at the gym, wherever! The world is now your classroom. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- We have a lesson for that. -- Over 4000+ lessons available (the largest lesson library of any Mandarin E-Learning Platform!) -- 200+ video lessons to watch -- Five levels of Mandarin lessons, with over 300 lessons per level: Newbie, Elementary, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate and Advanced Study Mandarin in the sky… on a boat… or on the road.... -- Download lessons onto your device so you can listen offline No more searching through a textbook to find what you need. -- Easy-filter feature allows you to find the lessons you need -- Filter by Bookmarked Lessons, Skill Level, or Downloaded Lessons Everything you need, all in one place. -- Three audio tracks for every lesson: listen to the full show, isolate the dialogue, or listen to the audio vocabulary review -- Complete lesson review activities including grammar notes, expansion sentences, vocabulary lists and dialogue breakdowns -- Audio from native speakers are provided for every sentence, as well as each vocabulary word -- word-by-word translations in Traditional & Simplified Chinese, Pinyin and English -- Look up words and sentences in Pleco Dictionary ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Read our reviews and see why people love learning Mandarin with ChinesePod: "When I was learning Mandarin, ChinesePod was my favourite resource by far. It was essential in getting me up to basic conversational level in just a few months. I recommend it to everyone learning Chinese!" Benny Lewis "The Irish Polyglot", Language expert, bestselling author and blogger; Fluentin3months.com "ChinesePod has a vast scope of topics and diversity in levels, which makes it extremely convenient to progress, never-mind the entertaining hosts, great top-down approach and super useful additional content!" Niel de la Rouviere, Language Blogger and Developer at Buffer ConfusedLaowai.com "ChinesePod is an incredible resource for mastering spoken Chinese - a vast library of entertaining lessons from a great collection of teachers, all short and friendly enough to squeeze into a busy schedule." Mike Love, Creator of Pleco Chinese Dictionary Pleco.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To access all features of the app, you need to purchase an in-app premium subscription (monthly/recurring). In-app purchase info: – Title: Premium Membership – Length: 1 month (monthly auto-renew) – Price: $29.99 (price many vary depending on territory) Purchasing Notes: - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase – Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period – Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal – Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase – Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable For further info, please refer privacy policy and terms & conditions. Privacy policy https://chinesepod.com/privacy/ Terms & conditions https://chinesepod.com/terms/ For any questions please contact http://support.chinesepod.com/

About

Hanly

Learn thousands of Chinese characters efficiently by understanding their structure and origin. This app uses visual breakdowns, engaging stories, and interactive elements to build an intuitive grasp of characters and aid memorization. It focuses on frequently used vocabulary and offers a structured learning progression.

Highlights
  • Character etymology and mnemonics
  • Interactive component exploration
  • Structured learning progression
  • Spaced repetition system
  • Extensive character dictionary
  • Stroke order animations
Features
Read full description

Chinese characters are not just random shapes - learn 1000 characters in months by understanding their structure and origin! Through visual breakdowns and engaging stories, Hanly helps you develop an intuitive grasp of Chinese characters and to efficiently remember them. Hanly starts with simple components and quickly builds up to complex characters, while focusing on the most frequently used vocabulary. CARDS THAT MAKE CHARACTERS COME ALIVE Etymology, memorable illustrations, mnemonics: we will provide the most helpful information to get a character to come alive in your imagination and stick in your memory for good. INTUITIVE INTERACTIVE UI Play with characters like they’re Lego blocks! Explore radicals, components, compound words, and character relationships - all just one click away! CAREFULLY OPTIMIZED LEARNING PROGRESSION Start with simple building blocks and naturally progress to complex characters. Our carefully designed levels introduce the most frequent characters early while maintaining coherent, meaningful themes. EXTENSIVE CHARACTER DICTIONARY & SEARCH Search by character, pinyin or meaning to find: - Character meanings and pronunciations - Usage in compound words and characters - Frequency and HSK level - Radical forms - Stroke order animations - Character evolution history SPACED REPETITION ENGINE INTEGRATED WITH THE UI Built-in spaced repetition helps you review characters at the perfect time, with review schedule optimized for how well you know a given character. Character progress is deeply integrated with the UI, so that you can spot the characters you are learning on any page. AND MANY MORE FEATURES! - Detailed learning statistics - Character etymology stories & fun facts - Explore characters & radicals sorted by their frequency - Personal note-taking system - Easily mark characters you already know Terms of use: https://www.hanlyapp.com/terms-of-use Privacy policy: https://www.hanlyapp.com/privacy-policy Contact us: We’d love to hear from your feedback about Hanly! Please send us an email with your thoughts and suggestions at tutu@hanlyapp.com

Screenshots

ChinesePod4 screens
Hanly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Hanly at 99% against ChinesePod's 16%. Hanly also leads on rating (4.9 vs 2.3) and monetization model (free vs subscription). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. ChinesePod sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $29.99 per month and Hanly sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Hanly holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hanly has 403 ratings behind it against 27, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 16% of ChinesePod's written reviews are positive against 99% of Hanly's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ChinesePod ships an update every 2 months, Hanly every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
ChinesePod versus Hanly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChinesePodHanly
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.3 (27 ratings)4.9 (403 ratings) — better
Positive reviews15.8% of reviews99.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings27403 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size51 MB241 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperChinesepod LimitedArtur Gorokh

Customer experience

ChinesePod

All ratings27 ratings
Positive25.9%
Neutral14.8%
Negative59.3%
Written reviews114 reviews
Positive15.8%
Neutral11.4%
Negative72.8%

Hanly

All ratings357 ratings
Positive99.2%
Neutral0.3%
Negative0.6%
Written reviews229 reviews
Positive99.1%
Neutral0.4%
Negative0.4%

Bugs and requests

ChinesePod

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Hanly

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • No known major bugs reported

Requested features

3 requests
  • Addition of writing practice for characters
  • Inclusion of example sentences for each character
  • Expansion of content to cover more advanced vocabulary

In-app purchases

3 purchases

ChinesePod

Subscriptions3
  • Monthly plan$29.991 Month
  • Quarterly plan$78.993 Months
  • Annual plan$249.991 Year
1 purchases

Hanly

Subscriptions1
  • Hanly Premium$5.991 Month

Questions

Is ChinesePod free?
ChinesePod is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hanly free?
Hanly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ChinesePod or Hanly?
Hanly is rated higher. ChinesePod averages 2.3 out of 5 from 27 ratings, while Hanly averages 4.9 from 403 ratings.
Do ChinesePod or Hanly have ads?
Neither ChinesePod nor Hanly shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ChinesePod or Hanly?
ChinesePod ships an update every 2 months, and Hanly every 2 weeks. Most recently, ChinesePod was updated on October 24, 2026 and Hanly on October 24, 2026.

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