Comparison

trainchinese vs Mencius

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

Head to head
About

trainchinese

Learn Chinese with a comprehensive dictionary, flashcards, and OCR. Access example sentences, audio, and character animations. Supports both Simplified and Traditional Chinese, with customizable phonetic input.

Highlights
  • Comprehensive Chinese dictionary
  • Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
  • Spaced Repetition flashcard system
  • Character animations and handwriting training
  • Support for Simplified and Traditional Chinese
  • Multiple phonetic input options (Pinyin, Zhuyin)
Features
Read full description

Learn Chinese with an amazing dictionary (plus OCR) and flash card system. trainchinese will teach you Chinese, with a free and complete dictionary, thousands of vocab lists, example sentences, audio recordings, measure words, character animations and Optical Character Recognition — not to mention a powerful flash card training system that even includes handwriting training! • Our dictionary prioritises commonly-used words and phrases above the obscure and obsolete, while example sentences and measure words (classifiers) provide crucial context to help you decide which Chinese word is the most appropriate translation. Other dictionaries just leave you guessing! • We've got Optical Character Recognition (OCR) too. Spotted some Chinese you can't read? Capture a photo of some Chinese text from a menu, book or sign, and the app identifies and translates the characters for you. • Search for words by part of speech • Mistyped a word? Helpful spelling suggestions get you to the right results fast. • Words feature both example sentences and measure words for nouns. It's time to move beyond "个"! And best of all it's all connected: tap examples and measure words to open them as full dictionary entries. • trainchinese is great for students: it includes more than a thousand vocabulary lists covering topics from International Relations to American Football Teams and more. Feel like something's missing? Users often get in touch to ask for lists on the topics they're studying, and we're happy to oblige! You'll also find lists containing HSK-level words (both old and new standards), plus TOCFL lists for students in Taiwan! • Highlight words with your finger for super-fast access to character animations, related searches and more! • Whether you're studying the Simplified (mainland China and Singapore) or Traditional (Hong Kong and Taiwan) variants, we've got you covered! Easily switch between them or choose to display both in dictionary results and on flash cards. Even better, you can use the phonetics you're comfortable with - choose from Pinyin with tone marks, Pinyin with tone numbers or even Zhuyin characters (from the BoPoMoFo system used in Taiwan). • Create flash cards with audio and animation from dictionary entries. Organise them into lists, and share them with friends (or students). • Our Spaced Repetition system ensures you'll memorize words for good. • Train your way: each card is available in four different modes to test different aspects of Chinese study. See Chinese, Pinyin or English and get tested on translation, and even compare your handwriting to a stroke-order animation side-by-side, synchronized! Or if you prefer, there's multiple choice training too (for a real challenge, try it in "Dictation" mode!). • Flash cards are saved on your device and synchronized with trainchinese.com, where you can also train with them and find more great content. • Add study notes to your flash cards - they're saved and backed up at trainchinese.com. Don't forget to check out our other apps (tap our company name in the App Store for more info): - Chinese Writer - Chinese Audio Trainer - Pinyin Trainer - Number Trainer - Chinese Challenges

About

Mencius

Master essential Chinese characters and vocabulary through spaced repetition and interactive exercises. Learn to read everyday Chinese with frequency-based lessons, writing practice, and real-world reading materials. Offers a free tier with core features and a premium subscription for advanced learning.

Highlights
  • Frequency-based character learning
  • Spaced repetition system
  • Interactive writing practice
  • Real-world reading passages
  • HSK level customization
  • Offline functionality
  • Home and lock screen widgets
Features
Read full description

Learn the 3,000 most frequently used Chinese characters, enough to read 99% of everyday written Chinese. LEARN IN THE ORDER THAT MATTERS Characters are introduced by real-world frequency, so the first ones you learn are the ones you'll actually see most. No wasted effort on rare characters. WHY MENCIUS • Smart scheduling: the same spaced-repetition system as Anki, so you remember more in less time. • Translate: scan or paste any Chinese text to get pinyin over every character and English underneath • Built for learning: every character comes with pinyin, a clear definition, example sentences, the common words it appears in, and its etymology. • Learn to write: every character animates stroke by stroke, and writing practice grades your finger strokes as you trace or write from memory. • Make it a game: memorize characters by racing the brush. • Study your way: follow the raw frequency list, or pick exact HSK levels for characters AND vocabulary, and switch whenever your goal changes. • Real reading at any level: 2,900+ short stories, folk tales, interesting facts - each written only with characters you've already learned. • Browse everything: the 成语 idiom collection and 9,000+ HSK words are free to explore. • Your own words: add anything you meet in the wild; pinyin and meaning fill themselves in. • A few minutes a day: set your own pace, from a relaxed 1 new character a day to an intense 12. • Home & lock screen widgets: discover characters, preview your next words, or keep a review prompt on your lock screen. • Works offline: everything lives on your device, and no account is required (progress backed up on your iCloud account). FREE TO START Free home and lock screen widgets. Master your first 100 characters and words completely free. Reading passages at every level. 3 free translations a day. Writing practice for 10 characters a day. All characters, words, and idioms browsable. GO PREMIUM Learn all 3,000 characters and study the full HSK vocabulary, with unlimited writing practice, unlimited translations, exact-level HSK decks, custom words, streak repairs, pro review controls, detailed progress stats (activity heatmap, recall trends, and projected mastery) and every theme. Try Premium free for a week. Privacy Policy: https://mencius.app/privacy.html Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

trainchinese4 screens
Mencius4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Mencius at none against trainchinese's shown. Mencius also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7). trainchinese's advantage is ratings volume (2.4K vs 1). On price, update cadence, 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. trainchinese sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Mencius sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Mencius holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: trainchinese has 2.4K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

trainchinese ships an update fortnightly, Mencius every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
trainchinese versus Mencius: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParametertrainchineseMencius
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (2.4K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings2.4K — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size328 MB60 MB
Age rating4+12+
Developertrainchinese B.V.Nathan Zhang

Customer experience

trainchinese

All ratings2,367 ratings
Positive92.5%
Neutral3.6%
Negative3.8%
Written reviews225 reviews
Positive76.4%
Neutral7.6%
Negative16.0%

Mencius

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

trainchinese

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes when trying to move or add words to lists
  • Audio playback not working for some words
  • Writing recognition feature is unreliable
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between app and website

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add option to learn on multiple languages (e.g. English and Russian)
  • Improve organization and navigation of word lists
  • Implement more engaging learning games and activities
  • Allow users to easily add their own custom words and phrases

Mencius

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

trainchinese

One-time10
  • OCR Feature$4.99
  • 3 months$11.99
  • 3 months + 10 lists$15.99
Show 7 more
  • 6 months$19.99
  • 6 months + 10 lists$23.99
  • 3 months + 30 lists$25.99
  • 12 months$34.99
  • 6 months + 30 lists$34.99
  • 12 months + 10 lists$37.99
  • 12 months + 60 lists$54.99
3 purchases

Mencius

Subscriptions2
  • HanziHunter Premium$9.991 Month
  • HanziHunter Premium7 Days trial$59.991 Year
One-time1
  • HanziHunter Lifetime$199.99

Questions

Is trainchinese free?
trainchinese is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Mencius free?
Mencius is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, trainchinese or Mencius?
Mencius is rated higher. trainchinese averages 4.7 out of 5 from 2.4K ratings, while Mencius averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do trainchinese or Mencius have ads?
trainchinese shows ads; Mencius does not.
Which is updated more often, trainchinese or Mencius?
trainchinese ships an update fortnightly, and Mencius every 9 days. Most recently, trainchinese was updated on November 10, 2026 and Mencius on October 31, 2026.

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