Duolingo vs Learn Chinese for Beginners
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Bite-sized language lessons
- Speaking, reading, listening, writing practice
- Math skills development
- Music reading and playing
- Chess strategy and gameplay
- Progress tracking and rewards
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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
Learn Chinese for Beginners
This app offers a fun and easy way for children and beginners to learn Chinese. It includes interactive lessons, exercises, and tests across 36 topics and 3 levels, covering vocabulary with images and audio.
- Interactive lessons and exercises
- Reading, writing, and speaking practice
- 4 activities and exams per topic
- 36 topics across 3 levels
- 500 words with images and audio
- Taiwanese accent audio
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Learn Chinese its a game for kids and beginners ● Free ● Lessons and exercises for children and dummies to practice ( read, write and speak ) this language by yourself ●4 activities and exam - test for each topic. ● 36 topics and 3 levels Basic: Alphabet letters , Numbers , Colors , Verbs , Food … Intermediate: Week Days , Animals , Clothes , Body … Advanced : Sports , House , Christmas , Music , … ● 500 words with image and audio , to study vocabulary ● Accent from Taiwan Learning Chinese fast at home with our course in your mobile / tablet You will not need an English Chinese translation or a dictionary anymore! One of the best games to learn languages
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Duolingo at weekly against Learn Chinese for Beginners's every 2 months. Duolingo also leads on ratings volume (5.5M vs 132) and rating (4.7 vs 4.4). Learn Chinese for Beginners's advantage is review sentiment (93% vs 65%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). 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
Both are free to download. Duolingo sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Learn Chinese for Beginners sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Duolingo holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Duolingo has 5.5M ratings behind it against 132, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 65% of Duolingo's written reviews are positive against 93% of Learn Chinese for Beginners's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Duolingo ships an update weekly, Learn Chinese for Beginners every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Duolingo | Learn Chinese for Beginners |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (5.5M ratings) — better | 4.4 (132 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 64.6% of reviews | 93.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 5.5M — better | 132 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #1 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 489 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Duolingo | Hector Gonzalez Linan |
Customer experience
Duolingo
Learn Chinese for Beginners
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
Learn Chinese for Beginners
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Duolingo
- Super Duolingo7 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Super Duolingo7 Days trial$12.991 Month
- Super Duolingo14 Days trial$12.991 Month
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- 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
- Chest of Gems$0.99
- Barrel of Gems (1200)$4.99
- Chest of Gems (1200)$4.99
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Cart of Gems (3000)$9.99
- Barrel of Gems (3000)$9.99
- Cart of Gems (6500)$19.99
Learn Chinese for Beginners
- Remove Ads$3.99
Questions
Is Duolingo free?
Is Learn Chinese for Beginners free?
Which has better reviews, Duolingo or Learn Chinese for Beginners?
Do Duolingo or Learn Chinese for Beginners have ads?
Which is updated more often, Duolingo or Learn Chinese for Beginners?
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