Comparison

ChineseSkill vs MandarinUp

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

Head to head
About

ChineseSkill

Master Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, and Hokkien with this comprehensive learning app. Featuring game-based lessons, speech recognition, and structured courses, it takes you from beginner to conversational fluency. Learn characters, tones, and practical language skills for travel, study, or cultural understanding.

Highlights
  • Game-based learning lessons
  • Bite-sized curriculum
  • Speech recognition for pronunciation
  • Handwriting practice
  • Immersive real-life conversations
  • Personalized study paths
  • Offline accessibility
Features
Read full description

ChineseSkill is the best Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese learning app for beginners! Featured by the App Store in "New Apps We Love" and "The Best Language-Learning Apps"! Built by professional Chinese teachers with 20+ years of experience teaching Chinese as a foreign language, ChineseSkill makes learning Chinese fun, effective, and genuinely rewarding. Trusted by millions of learners since 2014, our game-based lessons take you from your very first character to real-life conversations — with structured courses, interactive practice, and real cultural context. With ChineseSkill, you can start from Pinyin, tones, and basic Chinese characters, then build listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills step by step. Whether your goal is to travel, study, pass HSK tests, talk with Chinese-speaking friends, or understand Chinese culture, ChineseSkill helps you make steady progress every day. What makes ChineseSkill different: Unlike other Chinese learning apps, ChineseSkill offers three complete, expertly-designed courses so you can learn exactly the Chinese you need: ■ Simplified Chinese – Mandarin from Mainland China (standard Putonghua) ■ Traditional Chinese – Mandarin from Taiwan ■ Cantonese – as spoken in Hong Kong Features:
 ■ Game-based Chinese learning: lessons so fun you'll never get bored. ■ Bite-sized curriculum to fortify your Chinese listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. ■ Speech recognition corrects your pronunciation and tones, making speaking Chinese a breeze. ■ Handwriting practice specially designed to learn Chinese characters at a faster rate. ■ Immersive lessons help you have real-life, practical conversations quickly. ■ Self-adaptive learning games that personalize your study path. ■ Graded stories and listening practice tailored to your level. ■ The well-designed Pinyin and Tone courses for newbies. ■ Authentic videos featuring native Chinese speakers. ■ Systematic courses based on HSK levels. ■ Study progress tracking across multiple devices. ■ Offline accessibility: once a course is downloaded, no internet connection is required.
 With these tools at your disposal, nothing can stop you from mastering Chinese. Start your path to fluency today! ChineseSkill Premium offers: ■ One-month subscription for $11.99 ■ Three-month subscription for $24.99 ■ Twelve-month subscription for $59.99 The above prices are for U.S. customers. Pricing in other countries may vary, and charges may be converted to your local currency depending on your country of residence. Once purchased, subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off in your iTunes Account settings at least 24 hours before the end of the payment period. Terms of Service: https://www.chineseskill.com/terms-conditions-html Privacy Policy: https://www.chineseskill.com/privacypolicy-html Contact Us: nihao@chineseskill.com Supported languages: English, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, French, German, Turkish, Russian, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Italian, Indonesian, Hindi, Arabic, Thai. *Videos, additional vocabulary, and Booster content are currently only available for Mandarin (Mainland).

About

MandarinUp

Learn Chinese through daily typing practice, leveraging modern technology to avoid memorizing complex characters. This app offers a flexible way to study anytime, anywhere, even offline, fitting into a busy schedule.

Highlights
  • Learn Chinese by typing
  • Avoid character memorization
  • Practice anytime, anywhere
  • Fully functional offline
  • Modern technology approach
Features
Read full description

Learn Chinese simply by typing every day! Embrace modern technology without the need to memorize complex Chinese characters. Practice anywhere, anytime, even with a busy schedule. Fully functional offline.

Screenshots

ChineseSkill4 screens
MandarinUp4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MandarinUp at none against ChineseSkill's 10. ChineseSkill's advantage is ratings volume (15K vs 1) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 4 weeks). On price, rating and ads 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. ChineseSkill sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $11.99 per month. MandarinUp asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

MandarinUp holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ChineseSkill has 15K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ChineseSkill ships an update every 5 days, MandarinUp every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
ChineseSkill versus MandarinUp: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChineseSkillMandarinUp
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (15K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews89.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings15K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 4 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size360 MB0 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperYIYAN TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Mykhailo Osekretov

Customer experience

ChineseSkill

All ratings15,398 ratings
Positive96.9%
Neutral1.3%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews1,451 reviews
Positive89.9%
Neutral4.5%
Negative5.5%

MandarinUp

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

Bugs and requests

ChineseSkill

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Issues with syncing progress across devices
  • Screen elements getting cut off on iPhone X
  • Inconsistencies in lesson content and translations

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more male voice options
  • Improve lesson navigation and progress tracking
  • Introduce gamification elements for motivation
  • Provide more flexibility in disabling English translations

MandarinUp

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

ChineseSkill

Subscriptions8
  • Premium (Monthly)$11.991 Month
  • Monthly premium subscription$12.991 Month
  • Full Access (1 month)$14.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • Premium (Annual)7 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Annual Chinese Learning Plan$79.991 Year
  • Full Access (1 Year)$79.991 Year
  • Full Access (1 Year)7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Premium+ (Annual)7 Days trial$99.991 Year
One-time2
  • Lifetime membership$159.99
  • Lifetime membership$399.00
None

MandarinUp

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ChineseSkill free?
ChineseSkill is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MandarinUp free?
MandarinUp is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ChineseSkill or MandarinUp?
MandarinUp is rated higher. ChineseSkill averages 4.8 out of 5 from 15K ratings, while MandarinUp averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do ChineseSkill or MandarinUp have ads?
Neither ChineseSkill nor MandarinUp shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ChineseSkill or MandarinUp?
ChineseSkill ships an update every 5 days, and MandarinUp every 4 weeks. Most recently, ChineseSkill was updated on November 6, 2026 and MandarinUp on November 3, 2026.

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