Duolingo alternatives for Chinese: the best fix for each gap (video)
Duolingo alternatives for Chinese, by the gap you hit: speaking, characters, reading, grammar or the HSK. Plus Speak vs Duolingo, with prices checked Oct 2026.
Chapters
- 0:00Start
- 0:24The short answer
- 1:03Speaking
- 2:01Speak vs Duolingo
- 2:26Characters
- 3:15Reading
- 3:59Grammar
- 4:47The HSK
- 6:02Where SayMei fits
- 6:26What to do next
Transcript
Start
In five Duolingo lessons we counted, 21 of 25 answers were picked from options or built from word tiles. Only 2 asked you to read a line aloud. So most people who quit Duolingo's Chinese course haven't quit Chinese. They've hit a gap. From SayMei Guides, by Mei Lin: Duolingo alternatives for Chinese, the best fix for each gap.
The short answer
The short answer: no single app beats Duolingo at everything, so pick the one that fixes your gap. For speaking, Speak or a tutor. For handwriting, Skritter. For reading, Du Chinese. For grammar or the HSK, a course built on HSK levels, like HelloChinese or SuperChinese. And keep Duolingo if it gets you studying daily. Here's the map, with prices checked on 16 October 2026. Most picks cost under $15 a month. SayMei makes one of the options, so we'll also show where it loses. And if you can only fix one gap, fix speaking.
Speaking
Why speaking? In our count, 11 answers meant picking one option, and 10 meant ordering word tiles. Just 2 had you read a line aloud. Those lessons were French and Korean, which use the same exercise types as Chinese. And a button lets you skip most speaking items. Three ways to make yourself talk. Speak is best for a speaking-first course, if you'll pay: it added Chinese in June 2026, at $17.99 a month or $83.99 a year. SayMei is best for open conversation at your level, for less. That's us. And a human tutor is best for correction from a trained ear: about $20 an hour on italki. One caveat. No tutor app, Speak and SayMei included, has published how accurately it judges tones. And a review of 15 studies found speech-recognition practice helps pitch, which carries tones, only a little.
Speak vs Duolingo
So is Speak better than Duolingo? They're built for opposite jobs. Duolingo gets you studying daily for free. Speak gets you talking from the first lesson, after a 7-day trial. Duolingo says its Chinese runs through B2; Speak launched at B1. Choose Speak if speaking is your goal and you'll pay. Choose Duolingo if cost or habit matters more.
Characters
Characters next. Duolingo's words use about 2,100 different characters, but we found no handwriting practice, and typing goes through pinyin. Writing by hand builds memory for shapes in a way typing doesn't. Take 谢谢, thank you. You'll know it on sight, but writing the first one from memory means 12 strokes in order. And the new HSK lists 1,200 characters to write by hand. Skritter is best for handwriting, stroke by stroke, at $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year. SayMei Characters, ours, is best for free handwriting practice for the HSK: watch, trace, then write from memory. And Pleco is best for looking up every character you meet; the dictionary is free.
Reading
What about reading? Every Chinese screen we checked showed a single sentence, and Duolingo's reading page lists Stories for seven other languages, but not Chinese. It has promised advanced Stories for Chinese; until they show up, read elsewhere. Volume builds reading: a review of 49 studies found a medium-sized gain from reading lots of easy text. Du Chinese is best for graded stories with audio, at every level: some lessons are free, and plans start at $14.99 a month. Graded readers are best for whole books at your level. And SayMei Stories, ours, is best for long stories with pinyin over every word. The first two chapters of every book are free.
Grammar
Grammar. Get a Duolingo answer wrong, and the free app shows you the right answer, but not the reason. Say you write 我没吃了饭. The app shows you 我没吃饭, without the rule behind the fix. That rule is the useful part. In a review of 40 studies, feedback that explained the answer helped more than feedback that only showed it. HelloChinese is best for a Duolingo-style course that explains grammar, at $11.99 a month or $69.99 a year. The Chinese Grammar Wiki is best for free explanations, with 2,125 articles sorted by level. And LingoDeer is best for grammar-first lessons with notes. If grammar is why you're leaving, switch courses rather than add a tool.
The HSK
Duolingo's vocabulary goes further than its reputation. Against the official HSK 3.0 lists, it misses just 289 of 1,978 words up to HSK 4. Up to HSK 6, it misses 1,607 of 5,334. So Duolingo can carry your vocabulary to about HSK 4. Past that, the gap grows fast. And words aren't the whole exam. Under HSK 3.0, speaking is compulsory from HSK 3, and HSK 4 ends with a short essay. We found no practice for either in Duolingo. SuperChinese is best for a long course up to HSK 5, at $11.99 a month or $59.99 a year. HelloChinese is best for a gentler HSK course. And official papers are best for free practice. Love Duolingo's game-like lessons? HelloChinese, SuperChinese and ChineseSkill keep the format, teach only Chinese, and add handwriting and pronunciation scoring. ChineseSkill is the one for Taiwan Mandarin or Cantonese. None of the three says its whole course is free, the way Duolingo's is.
Where SayMei fits
Where does SayMei fit? It's built for speaking: a spoken conversation with Mei Lin, SayMei's teacher, at your HSK level, in your browser. Premium is $5.99 a month for 200 minutes, about 3 cents a minute. Where it loses: there's no phone app and no pronunciation score, and minutes are capped, so long daily sessions need a top-up.
What to do next
So, what next? Name your gap. Try one fix at a time, using free versions before you pay for a year. Keep Duolingo if it keeps you going. Speak out loud every week. And if you're sitting the HSK, study for the new format. You can practise speaking with Mei Lin, SayMei's teacher, in a short spoken lesson at your level. The full guide, with every source and every price check, is on the page at saymei dot app.