Comparison

Duolingo vs iHuman Chinese

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

Head to head
About

Duolingo

Learn languages, math, music, and chess through fun, bite-sized lessons. Build vocabulary, grammar, and real-world skills with a science-based methodology. Track progress and stay motivated with a global community.

Highlights
  • Bite-sized language lessons
  • Speaking, reading, listening, writing practice
  • Math skills development
  • Music reading and playing
  • Chess strategy and gameplay
  • Progress tracking and rewards
Features
Read full description

Learn a new language, chess & more with the world's most downloaded education app! Duolingo is the fun, free app for learning 40+ languages through quick, bite-sized lessons. Practice speaking, reading, listening & writing to build your vocabulary & grammar skills. Designed by learning experts & loved by hundreds of millions worldwide, our lessons make learning effective & fun and help you prepare for real conversations in Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian, German, English and more. And now, you can learn CHESS on Duolingo! Whether you're a total beginner or looking to level up your game, you'll love learning chess the Duolingo way. Play matches and fun chess lessons for all levels, no matter the language - chess, ajedrez, xadrez, schach, Шахматы, الشطرنج. • Chess: Learn the moves, level up your game & play matches in our Chess course. Learn the basics, solve fun chess puzzles & improve your strategy with guided lessons. Whether you're new to chess or already play, our course is designed to help you have fun and build real skills. Checkmate! • Math: Forget lectures and math worksheets! Built by learning experts, our Math course makes math feel like a game. Boost learning and fight the summer slide with standards-aligned math lessons for elementary school, middle school, and high school students. • Music: Learn how to read music & play songs in our Music course, no instrument needed! Using an on-screen keyboard, you'll learn bit-by-bit. Whether you're learning a language for travel, school, career or your brain health, you'll love learning with Duolingo. Why Duolingo? • Duolingo is fun & effective. Game-like language lessons & fun characters help you build speaking, reading, listening, & writing skills, plus enjoy fun chess & competitive online chess in one app. • Duolingo works. Designed by learning experts, Duolingo has a science-based teaching methodology proven to foster long-term knowledge retention across language lessons & chess lessons alike. • Track your progress. Work toward your learning goals with playful rewards & achievements when you make practicing language lessons or chess online part of your daily habit. • Join millions of learners. Stay motivated with competitive Leaderboards as you learn languages & play chess online alongside our global community. • Every course is free. Learn Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, Dutch, Irish, Danish, Swedish, Ukrainian, Esperanto, Polish, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian, Hebrew, Welsh, Arabic, Latin, Hawaiian, Scottish Gaelic, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, English, & even High Valyrian! And now, learn Math, Music & improve your Chess skills with fun, bite-sized lessons. What the world is saying about Duolingo: "Far & away the best language-learning app." - The Wall Street Journal "This free app & website is among the most effective language-learning methods I've tried… lessons come in the form of brief challenges, speaking, translating, answering multiple-choice questions, that keep me coming back for more." - The New York Times "Duolingo may hold the secret to the future of education." - TIME Magazine "Duolingo is cheerful, lighthearted & fun." - Forbes "I Can't Stop Playing Duolingo Chess." - Wired If you like Duolingo, try Super Duolingo for 14 days free! Learn a language fast with no ads & get fun perks like Unlimited Energy & Monthly Streak Repair. If you choose to purchase Super Duolingo, payment will be charged to your Apple account, and your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your settings in the App Store 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. Privacy Policy: https://www.duolingo.com/privacy Terms of Service: https://www.duolingo.com/terms

About

iHuman Chinese

This app makes learning Chinese characters fun and engaging for young children. It uses animations, songs, interactive activities, and original picture books to teach over 1,300 common characters and 50 idioms. Personalized learning paths and data analysis help tailor the experience to each child's needs.

Highlights
  • 1300 Chinese Characters
  • 130 Original Picture Books
  • 50 Chinese Idioms with Videos
  • 800+ Interactive Activities
  • Personalized Learning Experience
  • Character Stroke and Radical Learning
Features
Read full description

Master Chinese Characters. Start With iHuman. App Store Popular and Recommended iHuman Chinese is fun and engaging app for young children to master 1,300 common Chinese characters. Children engage with Chinese characters through animations, children’s songs, interactive activities, and 130 original leveled picture books. Learn, read, and play at your own pace with customizable content settings. iHuman Chinese has been carefully designed to provide a wide range of age-appropriate activities and content for young learners. 【Product Features】 1300 Chinese Characters We have carefully selected 1300 characters so children can explore the rich history and magical world of Chinese characters. Personalized Your Learning Experience We help you find the best way to learn. Our step-by-step content system, combined with data analysis tools, means we can create personalized settings that work best for you. 130 Original Picture Books iHuman Chinese has 130 simple books that use only the words learned on the app. Join the adventures of Little Polar Bear while practicing your reading skills! Learn the History of Chinese Idioms Explore and learn 50 commonly used Chinese idioms. Watch fun videos about idioms before saying and using them yourself. Unique and Fun Activities iHuman Chinese is jam-packed with over 800 activities designed to help you learn what characters look and sound like—all while having fun! Special Features Learn about the strokes and radicals in each character, see how characters were originally developed, use memorization methods to help you learn, and much more! CONTACT US Email:service@ihuman.com We offer 3 subscription methods: ANNUAL VIP:$47.99,valid for 1 year 3-MONTH VIP:$18.99 valid for 3 month 1-MONTH VIP:$6.99 valid for 1 month 1.All purchases will be processed and confirmed through your iTunes account. 2.Membership will be automatically renewed unless you turn off the renewal at least 24 hours prior to the end of the current subscription period. 3.Subscription fee for the next month will be charged within 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period. 4.You can manage subscriptions and turn off automatic renewal in your iTunes account settings. 5.Membership will remain active until the end of the current subscription period. 6.Privacy policy:https://www.ihuman.com/new_privacy.html?appid=1&lang=en 7.Terms of service:https://www.ihuman.com/new_terms.html?appid=1&lang=en

Screenshots

Duolingo4 screens
iHuman Chinese4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Duolingo at free with in-app purchases against iHuman Chinese's subscription. Duolingo also leads on ratings volume (5.5M vs 5.7K) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). iHuman Chinese's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and in-app purchases 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. Duolingo sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and iHuman Chinese sells 16 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Duolingo against 4.8 for iHuman Chinese. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Duolingo has 5.5M ratings behind it against 5.7K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 65% of Duolingo's written reviews are positive against 58% of iHuman Chinese's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Duolingo ships an update weekly, iHuman Chinese every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Duolingo versus iHuman Chinese: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDuolingoiHuman Chinese
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (5.5M ratings)4.8 (5.7K ratings) — better
Positive reviews64.6% of reviews — better58.1% of reviews
Number of ratings5.5M — better5.7K
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
Best chart rank#1 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size489 MB835 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDuolingoiHuman Inc.

Customer experience

Duolingo

All ratings5,464,639 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral2.4%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews29,453 reviews
Positive64.6%
Neutral9.6%
Negative25.7%

iHuman Chinese

All ratings5,691 ratings
Positive94.6%
Neutral2.4%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews210 reviews
Positive58.1%
Neutral10.5%
Negative31.4%

User reviews

Duolingo

From 5.5M App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🤩 Fun and entertaining learning experience
  • 🎉 Motivating streak and league features
  • 🎨 Cute and engaging animations
  • 📚 Effective for learning vocabulary and basics
  • 🤖 Useful AI-powered features like voice lessons

Room to improve

  • 🤖 Issues with voice recognition and pronunciation feedback
  • 🤑 Aggressive monetization tactics and paywall for key features
  • 🤯 Frustrating heart/health system that penalizes mistakes
  • 🤔 Lack of grammar explanations and focus on just memorizing phrases
  • 🤷‍♀️ Inconsistent app experience across platforms

iHuman Chinese

From 5.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Fun and engaging learning experience
  • 🚀 Effective character learning process
  • 💡 Leveled books and stories
  • 👍 Suitable for kids with zero Chinese background

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and login issues
  • 🔒 Lack of English support and options
  • 💰 Expensive subscription model
  • 📢 Excessive advertisements even for paid users
  • 🤖 Repetitive animations and game mechanics

Bugs and requests

Duolingo

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Freezing or crashing during lessons
  • Incorrect translations or answers marked wrong
  • Inconsistent behavior of certain features like leagues

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more languages, especially less common ones
  • Improve grammar lessons and explanations
  • Allow more flexibility in navigating the course content
  • Provide better feedback and corrections for mistakes
  • Sync progress and features consistently across app and web

iHuman Chinese

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Unable to log in or restore purchases
  • Progress and account data being lost or reset
  • Compatibility issues with newer device updates
  • Inability to search for specific characters

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add English language support
  • Improve customer service and account management
  • Expand character library beyond 1300 words
  • Provide more customization options for parents
  • Introduce more diverse learning activities

In-app purchases

16 purchases

Duolingo

Subscriptions10
  • Super Duolingo7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Super Duolingo7 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Super Duolingo14 Days trial$12.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • Super Duolingo2 variants$59.991 Year
  • Super Duolingo14 Days trial2 variants$79.991 Year
  • Super Duolingo14 Days trial4 variants$83.991 Year
  • Super Duolingo7 Days trial$83.991 Year
  • Super Duolingo7 Days trial4 variants$95.991 Year
  • Super Duolingo1 Month trial$119.991 Year
  • Super Duolingo7 Days trial$119.991 Year
One-time6
  • Chest of Gems$0.99
  • Barrel of Gems (1200)$4.99
  • Chest of Gems (1200)$4.99
Show 3 more
  • Cart of Gems (3000)$9.99
  • Barrel of Gems (3000)$9.99
  • Cart of Gems (6500)$19.99
16 purchases

iHuman Chinese

Subscriptions6
  • 识字+子集绘本月卡 优惠价$2.991 Month
  • 识字 + 子集绘本月卡$5.491 Month
  • 识字+子集绘本季卡 优惠价$9.993 Months
Show 3 more
  • 识字 + 子集绘本季卡$12.993 Months
  • 识字+子集绘本年卡 优惠价$29.991 Year
  • 识字 + 子集绘本年卡$30.991 Year
One-time10
  • 永久成语包$14.99
  • 子集绘本包$29.99
  • 拼音永久包(老用户专享)$29.99
Show 7 more
  • 永久识字包$59.99
  • 识字+子集绘本永久包$69.99
  • 识字+子集绘本+拼音永久包$79.99
  • 识字+拼音+幼小$79.99
  • 识字+思维永久包$89.99
  • 识字+拼音+思维永久包$119.99
  • 识字+拼音+思维+ABC永久包$179.99

Questions

Is Duolingo free?
Duolingo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is iHuman Chinese free?
iHuman Chinese is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Duolingo or iHuman Chinese?
iHuman Chinese is rated higher. Duolingo averages 4.7 out of 5 from 5.5M ratings, while iHuman Chinese averages 4.8 from 5.7K ratings.
Do Duolingo or iHuman Chinese have ads?
Duolingo shows ads; iHuman Chinese does not.
Which is updated more often, Duolingo or iHuman Chinese?
Duolingo ships an update weekly, and iHuman Chinese every 3 weeks. Most recently, Duolingo was updated on September 24, 2026 and iHuman Chinese on September 22, 2026.

Other comparisons