HelloChinese vs SuperChinese (and where Duolingo fits) (video)
HelloChinese or SuperChinese? Prices, HSK levels, speaking and tone feedback, AI tutors and reading, checked in October 2026, plus where Duolingo fits.
Chapters
- 0:00Start
- 0:20The short answer
- 0:42Same price, until you pay yearly
- 1:34Both reach about the old HSK 5
- 2:17SuperChinese for speaking
- 3:06No app has proven its tone scores
- 3:46HelloChinese is the better reader
- 4:28A game or a textbook?
- 5:08Use Duolingo as a free extra
- 5:37What to do next
Transcript
Start
Ask a chatbot to choose between HelloChinese and SuperChinese. In 17 answers we sampled, 14 treated HelloChinese as the shorter course. Since August, that's out of date. From SayMei Guides, by Mei Lin: HelloChinese versus SuperChinese, and where Duolingo fits.
The short answer
The short answer: pick HelloChinese for a gentle start and plenty of reading, in Simplified or Traditional characters. Pick SuperChinese for speaking practice and the HSK. Want a conversation tutor? Add its Chao plan. Both cost $11.99 a month. And Duolingo is free, so keep it as a daily extra.
Same price, until you pay yearly
So which one's cheaper? Month to month, neither: both are $11.99. The gap opens on yearly plans. SuperChinese Plus is $59.99 a year, about $5 a month. HelloChinese Premium is $69.99. Each app also sells a pricier tier. HelloChinese Premium Plus unlocks the full story library, and SuperChinese Chao adds the tutor. And only SuperChinese sells a lifetime plan: $139.99. That pays for itself in a little over two years of Plus. Not sure you'll stay? Pay monthly first. Neither free version takes you far, either. SuperChinese says its free sample is not the whole course, and learners report that HelloChinese's paywall now arrives early in HSK 1.
Both reach about the old HSK 5
Here's what the chatbots missed. In August, HelloChinese's main course grew to more than 2,500 words and over 430 grammar points. That's the size of the old HSK 5 word list. SuperChinese says its eight-level course covers HSK 1 to 5, without saying which version of the exam it means. So the two courses now go about as far. Aiming at the exam itself? SuperChinese keeps the edge. Its Discover tab lists HSK words up to levels 7 to 9, and a separate app, SuperTest, is built for exam practice. HelloChinese's team says its new course follows HSK 3.0, the version that starts in December.
SuperChinese for speaking
For speaking, SuperChinese gives you more. In every lesson, you say the lines out loud and get a score, colour-coded down to the characters you got wrong. HelloChinese uses speech recognition too. But a learner who finished its whole course described the drills as repeating set sentences. Then there's Chao. It runs role-plays, and gives you feedback on your wording and grammar while you talk. So which SuperChinese plan should you buy? Plus unlocks the whole eight-level course, the Discover lessons and the pronunciation scores. Chao includes all of that, and adds the tutor. It costs about twice as much, and reviews are mixed. One user who'd had Chao for a year switched back to Plus in April. So start with Plus, and add Chao for a month if you find you want open conversation.
No app has proven its tone scores
But can you trust those scores? Both apps say they check your pronunciation. Neither publishes how accurate those checks are, and we found no public test of either. Here's the problem. Speech recognition writes down the most likely words. Say 买, buy, with a falling tone, and you've said 卖, sell. A recognizer that leans on context may accept it anyway. And a review of 15 studies found that speech-recognition practice helps learners' individual sounds a lot, but their stress and pitch only a little. Tones are pitch. So treat a good score as encouragement, and check your tones another way.
HelloChinese is the better reader
For reading, HelloChinese wins. Its graded stories are short stories written at your level, with audio. One learner who read nearly all of them counted about 900 stories, in 70 series, from HSK 1 to HSK 5. The catch? The full library comes with Premium Plus, though some stories are free. SuperChinese's reading mostly comes inside its lessons, as dialogues and short stories. HelloChinese also teaches Traditional characters, the script of Taiwan and Hong Kong. SuperChinese added them to its chatbot lessons in April, but its pages don't say the main course comes in Traditional. And both apps teach you to write characters by hand.
A game or a textbook?
The two apps also feel different. Learners who've used both describe HelloChinese as gentle and playful, and SuperChinese as denser and faster. SuperChinese builds each unit around one situation, like a trip to the supermarket. Its first lesson is 介绍自己, introducing yourself. One reviewer found SuperChinese too much like an HSK textbook. Another called it the longest, most detailed course, with the most speaking. Both teams say teachers write their lessons. So if you've quit apps before because they felt like homework, start with HelloChinese. If you like a clear syllabus, SuperChinese will suit you.
Use Duolingo as a free extra
And Duolingo? Its Chinese course is free, and bigger than its reputation: its word list covers about 4 in 5 HSK 4 words. But when we checked it screen by screen, three gaps stood out. Most answers are picked: you choose from options more often than you produce Chinese. No screen we found trains tones. And it's Simplified only, with no HSK levels. So keep it for a few minutes a day, alongside either app.
What to do next
So, what next? Try both free versions for a week: a few lessons will tell you which mood suits you. Pick by your main goal. Reading points to HelloChinese; speaking and the HSK point to SuperChinese. Pay yearly once you're sure. Train your ear separately. And add real conversation, because repeating lines isn't talking. Want to practise speaking today? You can talk with Mei Lin for free: your first lesson is 10 minutes, with no account and no card. SayMei won't replace a course app, so pair it with either one. The full comparison, with every source, is on the page at saymei dot app.