GraphChinese vs Duolingo for Chinese and the HSK
Duolingo's Chinese course is free. Duolingo says almost all learners of nine courses, Chinese included, can now learn through CEFR B2 (Duolingo Score 129); previously most could only complete content up to A2 (score 59). Announced April 22, 2026 (source, checked Oct 2026). Its word list holds about 96% of the HSK 2.0 words for levels 1 to 4, 79% of HSK 5 and 30% of HSK 6 (the measurement and its method), so for the HSK the gap is grammar in the order the levels test it, handwriting, exam pace and the HSK 5 and 6 words. GraphChinese is one course from HSK 0 to HSK 6 on 829 topics, $49 once for lifetime access.
Which should you choose?
- Choose GraphChinese if you are preparing for an HSK exam, or you have finished Duolingo's course and want to know what the exam still needs. GraphChinese is organised by HSK level from the four tones to HSK 6, 829 topics each served after the topics it rests on, with grammar taught in the order the levels test it and stroke-order writing for the paper exam. Its placement test starts you where Duolingo left you.
- Choose Duolingo if free matters more to you than an exam date, and a daily habit is what you need most. App Store listing: 'Every course is free'; Super adds 'Unlimited Energy', monthly streak repair and no ads (source, checked Oct 2026).
- Switching is not worth it if you have no HSK exam planned, you use Chinese to read and chat rather than to certify it, and Duolingo still gets you studying every day. Its vocabulary already holds about 96% of the HSK 1–4 words, so a second product pays off when an exam or HSK 5 reading is the goal.
The course costs nothing, and up to HSK 4 words are not where it falls short.
The gaps are the parts of the exam that are not a word list: knowing which HSK level you are at, grammar in the order the levels test it, writing characters by hand, exam pace, and from HSK 5 the words themselves.
Duolingo and GraphChinese side by side
| Duolingo | GraphChinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Every course, including Chinese, is free; Super is an optional paid upgrade (source, checked Oct 2026); US App Store in-app purchase list shows 'Super Duolingo' at $9.99, $12.99, $83.99, $95.99 and $119.99; the listing does not say which is monthly, annual or family, and prices may vary by account/test (source, checked Oct 2026, archived) | $49 once, yours for life |
| Free tier | TechCrunch reports the new B2-level content is offered free, across nine languages including Chinese; added Advanced Stories and DuoRadio (per techcrunch.com, checked Oct 2026); App Store listing: 'Every course is free'; Super adds 'Unlimited Energy', monthly streak repair and no ads (source, checked Oct 2026) | A free 28-question HSK placement test, no signup (source, checked Oct 2026); Free without an account: a demo with real lessons, the dictionary, the grammar reference, HSK word lists, free tests and tools (source, checked Oct 2026) |
| Trial and refund | App Store listing: 'try Super Duolingo for 14 days free' (source, checked Oct 2026) | Not for you? Email and we refund it (source, checked Oct 2026) |
| Levels | Duolingo says almost all learners of nine courses, Chinese included, can now learn through CEFR B2 (Duolingo Score 129); previously most could only complete content up to A2 (score 59). Announced April 22, 2026 (source, checked Oct 2026) | One course from HSK 0 (tones, pinyin, stroke order, radicals) through HSK 6 (source, checked Oct 2026); Most HSK 6 vocabulary topics are cut alphabetically, not by theme or dependency (source, checked Oct 2026) |
| HSK alignment | Duolingo's Chinese course is not organised by HSK level; Duolingo's own B2 announcement does not mention HSK (source, checked Oct 2026, archived) | 195 grammar points from HSK 1 to HSK 6, public, each with the pattern, worked examples and the topics it rests on (source, checked Oct 2026) |
| Characters and writing | Duolingo's 2020 post on improving its Chinese course covers showing pinyin in hints, phonetic speech grading and opt-in keyboard typing; we found no Duolingo source describing handwriting practice (source, checked Oct 2026, archived) | Stroke-order writing practice, on by default for learners who start from zero and switchable for everyone else (source, checked Oct 2026) |
| Speaking | Video Call with Lily is a Duolingo Max feature; Duolingo's posts list it for English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese and Korean. No Duolingo source checked lists Chinese, so Video Call for Chinese is unverified (source, checked Oct 2026, archived) | Speaking practice built on the comment + question method; there is no live tutor or person to speak with (source, checked Oct 2026) |
| Spaced repetition | — | flashcards are scheduled by FSRS; course topics come back on a mastery-review schedule (source, checked Oct 2026) |
| Import and export | — | Imports Anki .apkg decks with their audio and images, scheduled by the same FSRS engine; review history is not carried over (source, checked Oct 2026) |
| Content | — | 829 topics in prerequisite order; jump ahead or claim one, and reviews check it (source, checked Oct 2026); 102 narrated graded readings, Foundations to HSK 6 (source, checked Oct 2026); 38 built-in flashcard decks (source, checked Oct 2026) |
| Platforms | Duolingo runs on iOS, Android and web, according to a competitor comparison dated Oct 2, 2026 (per hskuniversity.com, checked Oct 2026) | Runs in the browser on phone and desktop; there is no app to install (source, checked Oct 2026) |
| Recent change | Unofficial tracker: Chinese 4th section (60 units, A2) launched A/B Oct 6 2025 and to everyone Oct 30 2025; Chinese B1 to all (not A/B) Feb 10 2026; Chinese B2 (1030 units) to all from English Mar 30 2026 (per duolingodata.com, checked Oct 2026) | — |
| Also | Duolingo renamed 'Chinese' to 'Chinese (Simplified)' around June 2026; Chinese-related courses are built by Duolingo's China division (per duolingodata.com, checked Oct 2026); Duolingo reported 52.7M daily active users and 12.2M paid subscribers in its Q4 2025 earnings (per techcrunch.com, checked Oct 2026) | An adaptive placement test starts you at your frontier (source, checked Oct 2026); A free Chinese-English dictionary with 124,727 entries and 66,178 example sentences, no signup (source, checked Oct 2026) |
— means our research sheet has no sourced fact for that row, not that the product lacks it.
Same learner, 12 and 24 months
| 12 months | 24 months | |
|---|---|---|
| Duolingo | $0: free (source, checked Oct 2026) | $0: free (source, checked Oct 2026) |
| GraphChinese | $49: $49 one-time, US list price, before tax | $49: $49 one-time, US list price, before tax |
US list prices before tax, cheapest published path to that much access.
What Duolingo does well
- It costs nothing. App Store listing: 'Every course is free'; Super adds 'Unlimited Energy', monthly streak repair and no ads (source, checked Oct 2026).
- Its vocabulary is bigger than most people expect from a free app: about 96% of the HSK 1–4 words and 79% of HSK 5 (how we measured it).
- The new advanced content is free too. TechCrunch reports the new B2-level content is offered free, across nine languages including Chinese; added Advanced Stories and DuoRadio (per techcrunch.com, checked Oct 2026).
- Short lessons and streaks get people studying daily, and showing up is the hardest part for most learners.
What the HSK asks that Duolingo does not train
- It does not tell you your HSK level. Duolingo's Chinese course is not organised by HSK level; Duolingo's own B2 announcement does not mention HSK (source, checked Oct 2026). With an exam date, you have to work out yourself which level you are ready to sit.
- Writing characters by hand. Duolingo's 2020 post on improving its Chinese course covers showing pinyin in hints, phonetic speech grading and opt-in keyboard typing; we found no Duolingo source describing handwriting practice (source, checked Oct 2026). The HSK 3.0 handwriting list starts at level 2 with 100 characters, and the paper exam is written by hand.
- Grammar in exam order. HSK reading and writing questions are built on each level's sentence patterns (the grammar reference lists them by level). Knowing 把 and 被 as words is not the same as handling the patterns built on them.
- Exam pace. The reading section is timed, and from HSK 3 each listening recording plays once (the exam format).
- The HSK 5 and 6 words. Duolingo's list holds 79% of the HSK 5 words and 30% of the HSK 6 words, so past HSK 4 vocabulary becomes a gap as well.
Words against the exam
A word list is the easiest part of the HSK to measure, and on that measure Duolingo does well up to HSK 4.
The exam tests what you can do with the words: read a passage on the clock, catch a recording played once, put scrambled words into a correct sentence and, on the paper exam, write the characters.
Duolingo names its levels on the CEFR scale, not the HSK one, so it does not tell you which HSK skill you are missing.
GraphChinese holds all 829 topics, from the four tones through HSK 6 grammar, in one dependency graph with every topic tagged by HSK level, and the course serves each topic after the topics it rests on. You can jump ahead or claim a topic you already know, and reviews then check the claim.
HSK 6 is the exception: most of its vocabulary topics are alphabetical slices of the word list rather than a dependency order. Coming from Duolingo, the placement test marks the topics you already hold, so the time goes to the grammar, writing and reading the graph finds missing rather than to words you know.
If you are switching from Duolingo
- Take the free placement test and start at your level.
- Read your level's row in the Duolingo HSK measurement first: up to HSK 4 your vocabulary is probably not the gap.
- GraphChinese imports Anki
.apkgdecks, not Duolingo progress, so the placement test is how what you know comes across. Imported Anki cards bring their audio and images; review history starts fresh. - Keep the streak if it keeps you studying. Duolingo is free, and ten minutes a day there costs nothing next to the course.
Frequently asked questions
Is GraphChinese or Duolingo better for learning Chinese?
For a free daily habit, Duolingo. TechCrunch reports the new B2-level content is offered free, across nine languages including Chinese; added Advanced Stories and DuoRadio (per techcrunch.com, checked Oct 2026). For an HSK exam, GraphChinese: it is organised by HSK level from HSK 0 to HSK 6 on a graph of 829 topics, serves each topic after the ones it rests on, and teaches stroke-order writing. Duolingo's vocabulary already covers about 96% of the HSK 1–4 words, so the difference is mostly HSK structure, grammar order, writing, exam pace and the HSK 5 and 6 words. GraphChinese is $49 once for lifetime access.
Does Duolingo teach you to write Chinese characters?
Duolingo's 2020 post on improving its Chinese course covers showing pinyin in hints, phonetic speech grading and opt-in keyboard typing; we found no Duolingo source describing handwriting practice (source, checked Oct 2026). GraphChinese teaches writing in stroke order, on by default when you start from zero and switchable for everyone else. The HSK 3.0 handwriting list starts at level 2 with 100 characters.
How far does Duolingo's Chinese course go?
Duolingo says almost all learners of nine courses, Chinese included, can now learn through CEFR B2 (Duolingo Score 129); previously most could only complete content up to A2 (score 59). Announced April 22, 2026 (source, checked Oct 2026). Duolingo's Chinese course is not organised by HSK level; Duolingo's own B2 announcement does not mention HSK (source, checked Oct 2026). Measured against the HSK 2.0 word lists, its vocabulary holds about 96% of the HSK 1–4 words, 79% of HSK 5 and 30% of HSK 6.
What should I study after finishing Duolingo Chinese?
Start from a test rather than a word list: the free HSK placement test on this site takes about ten minutes and needs no account. Then work on the parts of the exam a word list does not cover: the grammar patterns for your level, reading and listening at exam pace, writing characters if you sit the paper exam, and from HSK 5 the vocabulary.
How this comparison was made
Written by Carson, who makes GraphChinese, the product being compared. 13 facts about Duolingo, checked 15 October 2026: 8 from Duolingo’s own pages and store listings, 5 from third parties and labelled as such. Archived copies of price pages are linked where we have them. The sheet behind this page is public at /data/compare/duolingo.json; tell us if anything is out of date at /contact.
See the whole path instead of reading about it. The demo on the front page runs real lessons from the course, and the placement test, dictionary and grammar reference are free, no signup. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.
Try the free demo