Comparison

Dot Languages vs Glotary

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

Head to head
About

Dot Languages

Master Mandarin Chinese with engaging texts tailored to your skill level, from beginner to advanced. Practice reading, listening, and writing with daily new content covering diverse topics. Share and discover texts with a community of learners.

Highlights
  • Learn Mandarin Chinese texts
  • HSK 1-9 level categorization
  • Daily new text additions
  • Custom text creation and sharing
  • Reading, listening, and writing practice
  • Progress tracking
Features
Read full description

Dot Languages is a complete Chinese learning app: lessons carefully written and crafted by humans, advanced exercises powered by AI — all built around a structured curriculum aligned to HSK 3.0 (2021 and 2025) and TOCFL 2.0 (2023), with personalised practice. Learn at your own pace through a dynamic HSK-aligned learning path with 11,000+ lessons covering vocabulary, grammar, and reading. Read new articles daily, refreshed for every HSK level, and look up any word in a comprehensive Chinese-English dictionary with character components. Practice that adapts to you: spaced repetition for vocabulary retention, animated stroke-order character writing, speech recognition for pronunciation, multiple choice, matching, sentence arrangement, flash cards, and AI-evaluated open-ended questions. Stay motivated with awards, streaks, learning milestones, leaderboards, and social profiles. Track your performance with weekly progress charts. Bring your own content — add private articles from any source and generate study material from text you paste in. More features: family plans, teacher classroom tools, grammar with sentence-structure analysis, and variable-speed audio narration of articles.

About

Glotary

Features
Read full description

Absorb, maintain and improve languages by reading books. Glotary tracks your vocabulary and creates flashcards for the words you want to learn or repeat. See words highlighted based on your personal learning progress and get deep insights on any word - including audio pronunciation and rarity. Read our publicly available books or import your own epubs. At the moment we offer English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Portuguese. More languages will follow very soon :) Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Dot Languages4 screens
Glotary4 screens

Verdict

The call

Dot Languages and Glotary are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Dot Languages sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $9.00 per month and Glotary sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Dot Languages ships an update every 5 days, Glotary every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Dot Languages versus Glotary: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDot LanguagesGlotary
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (55 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews72.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings55 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.515.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size200 MB66 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperDot Languages ApSnuna studios UG (haftungsbeschraenkt)

Bugs and requests

Dot Languages

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • App closes every time after signing up
  • App not opening
  • App crashes on startup
  • Articles disappear when hitting back icon
  • Return button partially visible after lesson
Show 7 more
  • Bug where leaving and re-entering a story counts as two reads
  • App freezes and never works again
  • Login screen freezes
  • App doesn't load at all
  • Kicks out of login every time app is opened
  • Streak and articles read does not carry across devices
  • Button of 'open more stories' doesn't work

Requested features

9 requests
  • Add Korean and Japanese language options
  • Add stories in addition to articles
  • Option for lifetime subscription
  • Speaking exercises
  • More vibrant colors and backgrounds
Show 4 more
  • Pictures to help remember words
  • Way to practice tones for each character
  • Option to switch to traditional characters
  • App for Cantonese

Glotary

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Dot Languages

Subscriptions5
  • Standard Monthly7 Days trial$9.001 Month
  • Dot Premium - Monthly7 Days trial$18.491 Month
  • Standard Yearly7 Days trial$72.001 Year
Show 2 more
  • Dot Premium - Yearly7 Days trial$135.991 Year
  • Dot Premium - Family Plan7 Days trial$339.001 Year
5 purchases

Glotary

Subscriptions5
  • Glotary Pro Early Access Monthly7 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Glotary Pro Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Glotary Premium$4.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Glotary Pro Early Access Annually7 Days trial$9.991 Year
  • Glotary Pro Annually7 Days trial$24.991 Year

Questions

Is Dot Languages free?
Dot Languages is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Glotary free?
Glotary is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Dot Languages or Glotary have ads?
Neither Dot Languages nor Glotary shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Dot Languages or Glotary?
Dot Languages ships an update every 5 days, and Glotary every 9 days. Most recently, Dot Languages was updated on October 27, 2026 and Glotary on October 24, 2026.

Other comparisons