HelloChinese review: what Premium and Premium+ actually get you (video)
Our HelloChinese review: the HSK 3.0 course, now 2,500+ words, its speaking drills, 1,000+ graded stories and every plan's price, checked October 2026.
Chapters
- 0:00Start
- 0:19The short answer
- 0:44Strong for reading, weak for talking
- 1:08The course runs past HSK 4
- 2:17Speaking means repeating
- 3:13Stories and writing
- 3:53Plans and prices
- 4:45Older reviews are out of date
- 5:13Who it's for, and alternatives
- 6:10What to do next
Transcript
Start
Ask a chatbot which app to learn Chinese with, and two times in three, it names HelloChinese. But most of the reviews behind that advice describe a course that changed in August. From SayMei Guides, by Mei Lin: our HelloChinese review. What Premium and Premium Plus actually get you.
The short answer
The short answer. Yes, if you're a beginner who wants a structured course and plenty to read. It teaches pinyin, characters and grammar step by step, and since August the course runs to more than 2,500 words. The catch? Its speaking practice is mostly repeating set lines, and the free part ends early. Premium costs $69.99 a year.
Strong for reading, weak for talking
So where is it strong? We scored each part from its listing, its release notes and learner threads. A gentle start from zero, reading at your level, and writing characters: all strong. Listening, tones, and anything past HSK 4: partly. And real conversation? Missing. If you want to talk, plan on a second tool from day one.
The course runs past HSK 4
In August the main course grew again. HelloChinese says it now covers more than 2,500 words and 430 grammar points. That's more than the new HSK 4 list, at 2,000 words, and less than HSK 5, at 3,600. One caveat. The team says the course follows the 2021 HSK standard, and the new exam uses smaller lists. So treat its HSK labels as a guide, not as exam levels. How does a unit work? A content unit teaches a handful of new words and grammar, then drills them. Then comes a pit stop, the clever part: a chapter of one running story, written with the words you just learned, a speaking lesson, and a spaced review of older words. The flip side is repetition. Several learners say every level runs the same exercise types. Teacher Talks explain what drills can't, and some practice rounds target the mistakes English speakers make. Take the sentence: the restaurant isn't at the front. Chinese uses 在, to be at, for where something is. So 是, to be, is the trap.
Speaking means repeating
Now, speaking. You say a set line into the microphone, and each character turns green or red. One learner adds that you can play your recording next to the model's. In a July thread, a Premium Plus user called it pronunciation practice and shadowing. Nothing asks you to form your own sentences. Its App Store images now promise more, yet one shows the same read-aloud drill, with one character marked red. One Premium user reported conversation lessons in the first unit, which you can skip. We found no page that says what has shipped. We also found no public test of how well it judges tones. Speech recognition guesses the most likely word, so a slip can pass. Say sugar, 糖, with a level tone, and you've said soup, 汤. A review of 15 studies found this kind of practice helps individual sounds a lot, but pitch only a little.
Stories and writing
And the best part? The graded stories. Short stories at your level, with audio, and HelloChinese says it has more than 1,000. One learner who read almost all of them counted about 900, in 70 series from HSK 1 to HSK 5, and called the library worth every cent. The catch: the full library comes with Premium Plus, which costs about twice as much a year. Writing is built in too. You trace each character stroke by stroke on a grid. In one experiment with adult learners, writing characters by hand built memory for their shape and meaning, while typing pinyin built only their sound.
Plans and prices
So what do you pay? After a short free start, there are two plans. Premium opens the course: $11.99 a month, or $69.99 a year. Premium Plus adds every story and the Characters course: $19.99 a month, or $149.99 a year. Those are US App Store prices, checked in October. Now add up a year of Premium. Paying monthly, it's $143.88. Paying yearly, $69.99, less than half. In a sale, $48.99, and learners report sales around Chinese New Year and Black Friday. Two more things. There's no lifetime plan. And purchases through Apple or Google are final, its terms say.
Older reviews are out of date
Why do so many reviews miss this? HelloChinese has changed more since 2025 than its reviews have. April 2025: the new main course. October 2025: speaking lessons in every pit stop. August 2026: the course passes 2,500 words. When we searched for reviews, none of the top results mentioned the August course. Two of them quoted $8.99 a month.
Who it's for, and alternatives
So who should use it? Pick HelloChinese if you're starting from zero, you want to read and write, and you study on your phone. Skip it, or pair it with something else, if you want to speak soon, you're already past HSK 4, or you want something free. Not the right fit? SuperChinese is a longer course with more speaking, at $59.99 a year. Duolingo is free, though weak on tones. Du Chinese has more than 3,000 stories and articles. And an italki tutor costs about $20 an hour. And SayMei? It's built for the part HelloChinese leaves out: talking. Mei Lin, SayMei's teacher, asks you questions out loud and corrects your tones as you reply. We'll be plain: it loses on plenty. It runs in a browser, with no app and no offline mode, and its handwriting practice is printable worksheets. Many learners would do best with both.
What to do next
So, what next? Start with the free lessons; a few days will show whether the pace suits you. Pay yearly, or wait for a sale. Buy Premium Plus only if you'll read. Practise talking somewhere else. And plan your next step after HSK 4. You can practise speaking with Mei Lin, SayMei's teacher, in a short spoken lesson at your level. The full guide, with every source, is on the page at saymei dot app.