SuperChinese review: worth it for the course; the AI tutor is optional (video)
SuperChinese reviewed: the 8-level course, the CHAO AI tutor, speaking scores and every PLUS, CHAO and lifetime price, checked 11 October 2026.
Chapters
- 0:00Start
- 0:21The short answer
- 0:43An eight-level course
- 1:26Every line gets a score
- 2:10CHAO talks back
- 2:59PLUS or CHAO
- 3:21What it costs
- 4:08Lifetime
- 4:26What 500 reviews say
- 4:49Older reviews are dated
- 5:07Where it falls short
- 5:26Cheaper alternatives
- 5:46Where SayMei fits
- 6:09Who should buy it
- 6:28What to do next
Transcript
Start
SuperChinese has 4.9 stars on the App Store. Yet of 16 learners we found on Reddit who'd tried its paid tutor, CHAO, 12 said it wasn't worth it. So which part is worth paying for? From SayMei Guides, by Mei Lin: our SuperChinese review. Worth it for the course, and the tutor is optional.
The short answer
The short answer: yes, for the course. SuperChinese PLUS is a structured phone course that has you speaking from the first lesson, for $59.99 a year on the US App Store. CHAO, the tutor, costs about twice as much, and most learners we read said PLUS was enough. And if you study in a browser, skip it.
An eight-level course
So what do you get? Eight levels of 24 units, and SuperChinese says it covers HSK 1 to HSK 5. Each unit is built around a real situation, like a trip to the supermarket, rather than a grammar point. Lessons take about 10 minutes, and there are over 1,000 of them. Learners like the structure and the grammar notes. One credited it with explaining 我想, I'd like, against 我要, I want. The complaints are depth and reading: short grammar drills, and little to read outside the lessons. And SuperChinese doesn't say which version of the HSK it follows. Under HSK 3.0, level 5 asks for almost half again as many words.
Every line gets a score
Speaking starts in lesson one. You record each line, and SuperChinese scores it straight away, colour-coding the characters you got wrong. But how accurate is that score? No one has published a test, and learners on Reddit called it too forgiving at times, and wrong at others. Here's why. Speech recognition writes down the most likely words. Say 买, buy, with a falling tone, and you've said 卖, sell. Yet a recognizer that leans on context may accept it anyway. A review of 15 studies found this kind of practice helps individual sounds a lot, but pitch only a little. And tones are pitch. So treat the score as a nudge.
CHAO talks back
Now, CHAO: SuperChinese's tutor, sold as a separate, pricier plan. In role-plays, like ordering bubble tea, you speak without a script, CHAO replies, and then it explains what sounded unnatural, SuperChinese says. In one example, CHAO suggested 我很喜欢喝牛奶, I really like drinking milk. What it doesn't claim is to check your pronunciation. So do learners like it? On the App Store, reviews that mention it are about as glowing as the rest. On Reddit, 12 of the 16 users we found said it wasn't worth it: explanations that miss the point, speech recognition that misses words, and chatbots that do more for less. SuperChinese's team replied to one complaint: 'It is clear that we still have areas to improve.'
PLUS or CHAO
So, three tiers. Free is a small sample: learners report that only the first lesson is free in full. PLUS opens all eight levels, the HSK word lists and the scores. CHAO adds the tutor. Learners say an upgrade refunds your unused PLUS days, so start with PLUS, and try CHAO on free streak days first.
What it costs
What does it cost? Monthly, it's $11.99 for PLUS and $24.99 for CHAO, everywhere. Yearly plans are cheaper in the App Store: PLUS is $59.99 there, against $69.99 on the website, and CHAO is $109.99, against $129.99. These are US prices, checked on 11 October. Paying month by month? A year of PLUS that way costs $143.88, more than twice the yearly price. A year of CHAO comes to $299.88. And learners report sales every few weeks. So the cheapest PLUS is a yearly plan, bought in a sale.
Lifetime
Then there's lifetime: one payment of $139.99, for PLUS only. It beats monthly payments after 12 months, and App Store yearly plans after 26. So buy it only after a month or two of PLUS, if you expect to keep going for more than two years.
What 500 reviews say
We read the 500 most recent written reviews on the US App Store, and 88% give five stars. Then we read all 27 with three stars or fewer. The top complaint? Bugs, not price. Crashes, log-in or purchase bugs drove 11 of them, mostly from 2023 and 2024. The paywall or the price drove 4.
Older reviews are dated
Reading other reviews? Check the date. Level 8 arrived in summer 2025, and lifetime dropped from $149.99 that spring. So if a review quotes $149.99, or stops at seven levels, it's out of date.
Where it falls short
Where does it fall short? There's no browser or Windows version. Its HSK version is unstated. There's little to read, and nobody has shown the scores judge tones reliably. The free tier is small, and CHAO is uneven. None of this is unusual for a course app.
Cheaper alternatives
Want to pay less? The big savings come from replacing CHAO. For the course, Duolingo is free but weaker on tones and reading. For conversation, ChatGPT Go is $8 a month, Speak is $83.99 a year, and Talkpal's free plan gives you 10 minutes of chat a day.
Where SayMei fits
And SayMei? It covers one part of the job: speaking. You talk with Mei Lin, SayMei's teacher, in real time, and she corrects your tones and grammar as you go. Premium is $5.99 a month for 200 minutes. But it isn't a course app. It doesn't work offline, it has no writing course or pronunciation score, and your minutes are capped.
Who should buy it
Who should buy it? Pick PLUS if you want a clear path from zero on your phone, you want to speak from day one, or you're aiming at HSK 4 or 5. Skip it, or pair it, if you study in a browser, you mainly want to read, or you want open conversation on a budget.
What to do next
What to do next? Start with the free lessons. Buy PLUS, not CHAO. Wait for a sale. Check your tones another way. And add real conversation: a tutor, a speaking app, or a patient friend. You can practise speaking with Mei Lin, SayMei's teacher, in a short spoken lesson at your level. The full review, with every source, is on the page at saymei dot app.