zzHanzi vs Compounds!
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Learn characters with pictures
- Chinese handwriting support
- Real-time writing check
- Thematic game missions
- Offline support
- Over 3000 Chinese words
- HSK support
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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.
Compounds!
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Learn to read and write Chinese characters in the order that makes the most sense. Compounds helps you master the most common simplified Chinese characters with a focused, research-backed learning path. Instead of throwing random characters at you, the app introduces them in an order designed to improve retention and reduce frustration, combining character frequency with structural relationships so new characters build naturally on ones you already know. Each study session is designed to help you: Learn high-value characters first Practice writing from memory Reinforce pronunciation and meaning Review at the right time so you remember more with less effort Compounds is built for learners who want a smarter way to study Chinese characters, whether you are starting from scratch or filling in gaps in your reading and writing. Why this order works: Compounds is inspired by research on efficient Chinese character learning strategies, especially work showing that character frequency and structural relationships can be combined to create a more effective progression. Optimal learning order based on: K. Zhao, D. Zhao, J. Yang, W. Ma and B. Yu, “Efficient Learning Strategy of Chinese Characters Based on Usage Frequency and Structural Relationship,” 2019 IEEE 4th International Conference on Big Data Analytics (ICBDA), Suzhou, China, 2019, pp. 351-355, doi: 10.1109/ICBDA.2019.8713245. Subscription A subscription is required for full access to all features. Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: zzHanzi at weekly against Compounds!'s monthly. 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
Both are free to download. zzHanzi sells 9 one-off in-app purchases and Compounds! sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
zzHanzi ships an update weekly, Compounds! monthly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | zzHanzi | Compounds! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (15 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 87.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 15 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 381 MB | 239 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Dalian Xuewujing Software Co., Ltd | Parotid AB |
In-app purchases
zzHanzi
- 168 coins$0.99
- 568 coins$1.99
- 1688 coins$3.99
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- 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
Compounds!
- Pro Monthly$14.991 Month
- Pro Yearly3 Days trial$49.991 Year
Questions
Is zzHanzi free?
Is Compounds! free?
Do zzHanzi or Compounds! have ads?
Which is updated more often, zzHanzi or Compounds!?
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