Comparison

Chineasy vs Duory

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

Head to head
About

Chineasy

Learn Chinese characters and vocabulary through visual aids and a unique building block method. This app breaks down the language into manageable lessons, making it easy to understand and remember, while also exploring Chinese culture. Suitable for all levels, it offers games and SRS reviews for efficient learning.

Highlights
  • Visual learning of Chinese characters
  • Building block vocabulary method
  • Bite-sized lessons
  • SRS review mechanism
  • Cultural insights
  • Interactive games
Features
Read full description

Finalist of Apple Design Awards 2022 Proudly featured on App of the Day, Apps We Love, and Editor’s Choice. SAY GOODBYE TO CHALLENGING CHINESE CHARACTERS Picture makes it Chineasy. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So we figured: “Why not let you see the beauty of the Chinese language for yourself? “Chineasy is Alphabet of the Chinese Language” - Journal du design “Have six minutes to spare? Plenty of time to learn 40 Chinese characters!” - TED “A Brilliant Way to Learn Chinese Through Pictures” - WIRED ANYONE CAN DO IT Our unique approach breaks down each character into simple illustrations and groups them by their frequency of usage, making it easy to learn and remember new characters. By learning with our "building block" method, you’ll be able to SEE the language and advance quickly from picking up simple characters to initiating engaging conversations, while exploring Chinese history, customs, and current trends. “A Fast Way to Start Reading Chinese” - The Wall Street Journal “How Clever Design Can Help You Learn Chinese” - Slate “Learn Mandarin the Chineasy Way” - Financial Times THE TOP CHOICE OF LEARNERS, EDUCATORS, AND MEDIA Don’t just take our word for it - see for yourself why thousands of learners are using and loving Chineasy. Join your fellow teammates, take your first step, embrace the journey and have fun with it! MODERNIZE YOUR LEARNING EXPERIENCE WITH OUR APP FEATURES ◉ Breaking down the language into manageable chunks. ◉ Easy understanding of Chinese characters through visual aids. ◉ Expanding your vocabulary quickly with the use of our building block method. ◉ Understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture through rich information. ◉ Making use of bits-and-pieces of time anywhere with a variety of games to remember. ◉ Accessible to Chinese language learners of all levels. ◉ Regularly updated to ensure up to date information. ◉ Hundreds of bite-sized lessons and efficient SRS review mechanism. ◉ It goes both ways. Switch between Simplified and Traditional Chinese as you wish. CHINEASY APP PREMIUM USD $12.99 per month USD $49.99 per year USD $149.99 lifetime The price varies by location. Subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless cancelled at least 24 hours prior to the end of the current subscription period. You will not be able to cancel the subscription once it has been renewed. You can manage your subscriptions in Account Settings after purchase. ———— If you enjoy the Chineasy app, please take a minute to rate it and let us know your experience. We’d love all of you to witness the appeal of Chineasy across each other’s reviews! Have questions? Shoot us an email at hello@chineasy.com and we’ll happily sort things out for you! Come play with us on social media! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShaoLanChineasy/ X: https://x.com/Chineasy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chineasy Privacy Policy and Terms of Use: https://www.chineasy.com/privacy/

About

Duory

This app helps you study, practice, and journal in your target languages. It centralizes your language notes, vocabulary, and phrases, offering hands-free practice and journaling features. Capture phrases from anywhere and reinforce learning with widgets.

Highlights
  • Organize notes for multiple languages
  • Hands-free practice
  • Journaling in target languages
  • Capture phrases from various sources
  • Vocabulary browsing from notes
  • Home and Lock Screen widgets
  • On-device language tasks
Features
Read full description

Save time and stay focused—no more bouncing between translation apps, Google search and your notes. Study, practice, and reflect with dynamic language notes. Why Duory? • Duory is the smartest way to take language notes on your phone. • Duory lets you keep and organize notes for all your target languages in one place. • Save time and stay focused — no more bouncing between Google Search and your notes. • Practice hands-free while doing boring chores. • Improve your output by journaling in your target languages. • Capture interesting phrases from anywhere! • Browse vocabulary from your own notes in a focused, immersive way. • Make them stick with Home and Lock Screen widgets. • Duory supports 40 target languages. NOTES • Duory is designed to perform language tasks on-device thanks to Apple’s language APIs and other offline language tools. • To perform translations, iOS needs to download language dictionaries for each language pair. This only happens once for each pair. • Duory requires access to your microphone for you to record pronunciation of phrases and your camera for scanning text. FREE FOREVER Get started for free with these features: • Create notes and journals in one target language. • Enhance your language journals with Apple Journaling Suggestions. • Capture phrases from your physical textbooks, Duolingo sessions, images, or RTF/PDF documents. • Use a handy widget to reinforce recently learned words and phrases. • In-app translation and transliteration, including Hiragana and Pinyin. • Record and play back your phrases (no playlists on the free plan). • Access notes you create during your free trial or subscription – forever! Important: If you create notes in target languages outside of the initial language during an active subscription, they will become read-only when your subscription expires (the notes you create in your oldest target language will remain editable forever) DUORY PLUS PLANS Unlock the full power of Duory with a subscription: • Create notes and journals in multiple languages. • Turn your phrases into playlists for hands-free practice. • Control playback from your lock screen or Control Center. • Turn plain notes into memorable ones with stickers and pictures. • Sync your notes and journals to iCloud. Plans are available on a monthly or annual basis. Your payment is charged to your iTunes account. Subscriptions auto-renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can turn off auto-renewal at any time by going to your Account Settings on the App Store after purchase. Start your journey with a 14-day free trial on annual plans—cancel anytime to avoid charges. You will always have permanent access to notes created during the trial period or while your subscription was active. However, an active subscription is required to create new notes or edit existing ones in languages other than the first target language you added in Duory. Notes created in the first target language you add to Duory remain editable forever with or without an active subscription. LANGUAGE TRANSLATION SUPPORT ** Duory uses Apple’s Translation API for on-device translation. Here’s the full list of supported languages: • Arabic • Chinese (Mandarin, Simplified) • Chinese (Mandarin, Traditional) • Dutch • English • French • German • Hindi • Indonesian • Italian • Japanese • Korean • Polish • Portuguese (Brazil) • Russian • Spanish (Spain) • Thai • Turkish • Ukrainian • Vietnamese PRIVACY Duory is designed with your privacy in mind. We don’t track your data or store your information. Privacy Policy: https://duory.alewa.co/privacy.html Terms of Service: https://duory.alewa.co/terms.html

Screenshots

Chineasy4 screens
Duory4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Chineasy at 77% against Duory's 0%. Chineasy also leads on rating (4.8 vs 1.0) and ratings volume (9.4K vs 1). Duory's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs fortnightly). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Chineasy sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month and Duory sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Chineasy holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chineasy has 9.4K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of Chineasy's written reviews are positive against 0% of Duory's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chineasy ships an update fortnightly, Duory every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Chineasy versus Duory: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChineasyDuory
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (9.4K ratings) — better1.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews77.2% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings9.4K — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size591 MB148 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChineasyAdegboyega Dada

Customer experience

Chineasy

All ratings9,367 ratings
Positive96.4%
Neutral2.2%
Negative1.4%
Written reviews740 reviews
Positive77.2%
Neutral7.6%
Negative15.3%

Duory

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bugs and requests

Chineasy

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between traditional and simplified characters
  • Occasional app crashes and performance issues

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add writing practice and stroke order demonstrations
  • Implement spaced repetition and personalized review system
  • Provide option to focus on either traditional or simplified characters
  • Include more advanced grammar and sentence structure lessons

Duory

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Chineasy

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly Premium$12.991 Month
  • Premium plan for 1 month3 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Annual Premium$49.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Premium plan for 1 year7 Days trial$49.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$149.99
4 purchases

Duory

Subscriptions4
  • Duory Plus (Monthly)$2.991 Month
  • Duory Family Plus (Monthly)$4.991 Month
  • Duory Plus (Annual)14 Days trial$29.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Duory Family Plus (Annual)14 Days trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Chineasy free?
Chineasy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Duory free?
Duory is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chineasy or Duory?
Chineasy is rated higher. Chineasy averages 4.8 out of 5 from 9.4K ratings, while Duory averages 1.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Chineasy or Duory have ads?
Neither Chineasy nor Duory shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chineasy or Duory?
Chineasy ships an update fortnightly, and Duory every 5 days. Most recently, Chineasy was updated on October 22, 2026 and Duory on October 12, 2026.

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