GraphChinese vs Yoyo Chinese for learning Chinese
Twelve months of Yoyo Chinese cost $107.88 on its cheapest plan, Watch billed yearly. Annual billing ("40% discount"): Watch $8.99/mo, Learn $11.99/mo (source, checked Oct 2026). Lifetime Learner: $299 one-time payment, lifetime access to everything in Learn (source, checked Oct 2026). Says it overlaps well with HSK prep though it was not made specifically for the HSK (source, checked Oct 2026). GraphChinese is $49 once for lifetime access and runs from HSK 0 to HSK 6 on 829 topics, each mapped to an HSK level.
Which should you choose?
- Choose GraphChinese if you are working toward an HSK level and want a route that says so: 829 topics from the four tones to HSK 6, each mapped to an HSK level and served after what it rests on, with stroke-order writing, reviews that bring back what you are losing, and 102 narrated graded readings.
- Choose Yoyo Chinese if you learn best when a teacher explains things on video, and a big flashcard and quiz bank around those lessons suits you more than an exam route.
- Switching is not worth it if Yoyo Chinese already has you watching and practising most days, and you are not studying for an HSK exam date. A routine that works is worth more than switching to a better map.
Yoyo Chinese is a structured video course with a practice app: lessons you stream, with flashcards and quizzes on the Learn plan. GraphChinese is a course from HSK 0 to HSK 6 that orders everything by what depends on what and maps every topic to an HSK level.
Yoyo Chinese and GraphChinese side by side
| Yoyo Chinese | GraphChinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Watch: $14.99/mo, billed monthly; Learn: $19.99/mo, billed monthly; Annual billing ("40% discount"): Watch $8.99/mo, Learn $11.99/mo; Lifetime Learner: $299 one-time payment, lifetime access to everything in Learn (source, checked Oct 2026, archived) | $49 once, yours for life |
| Trial and refund | Free account: full Learn access to roughly the first 30 lessons; 75+ free video lessons, 750+ free quiz questions (source, checked Oct 2026); 7-day money-back guarantee on the initial purchase made on yoyochinese.com; no refunds for renewals; App Store purchases refunded via Apple (source, checked Oct 2026, archived) | Not for you? Email and we refund it (source, checked Oct 2026) |
| HSK alignment | Says it overlaps well with HSK prep though it was not made specifically for the 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) |
| Spaced repetition | Learn plan: "25,000+ dual-audio SRS flashcards" and "10,000+ handwritten quiz questions" (source, checked Oct 2026) | flashcards are scheduled by FSRS; course topics come back on a mastery-review schedule (source, checked Oct 2026) |
| Format | Video streaming only, no downloads of lesson videos ("only available via streaming") (source, checked Oct 2026, archived) | — |
| Recent change | Pricing FAQ announces an upcoming "Advanced Conversational Chinese course" (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 | |
|---|---|---|
| Yoyo Chinese | $107.88: $107.88 per 12 months, US list price, before tax (source, checked Oct 2026) | $215.76: 2 × $107.88 per 12 months = $215.76, US list price, before tax (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 Yoyo Chinese does well
- There is a lot to try before paying. Free account: full Learn access to roughly the first 30 lessons; 75+ free video lessons, 750+ free quiz questions (source, checked Oct 2026).
- The Learn plan comes with a large practice bank. Learn plan: "25,000+ dual-audio SRS flashcards" and "10,000+ handwritten quiz questions" (source, checked Oct 2026).
- You can pay once instead of renewing. Lifetime Learner: $299 one-time payment, lifetime access to everything in Learn (source, checked Oct 2026).
- It is honest about the exam. Says it overlaps well with HSK prep though it was not made specifically for the HSK (source, checked Oct 2026).
- The course is still growing. Pricing FAQ announces an upcoming "Advanced Conversational Chinese course" (source, checked Oct 2026).
Where Yoyo Chinese does not help
- It was not built for the HSK. Says it overlaps well with HSK prep though it was not made specifically for the HSK (source, checked Oct 2026). GraphChinese maps every topic to an HSK level and has 195 grammar points from HSK 1 to HSK 6.
- The videos need a connection. Video streaming only, no downloads of lesson videos ("only available via streaming") (source, checked Oct 2026).
- The refund window is short. 7-day money-back guarantee on the initial purchase made on yoyochinese.com; no refunds for renewals; App Store purchases refunded via Apple (source, checked Oct 2026).
- Monthly billing adds up. Watch: $14.99/mo, billed monthly (source, checked Oct 2026). Learn: $19.99/mo, billed monthly (source, checked Oct 2026). The table above puts two years of each side next to each other.
Lessons in a line versus a graph
A good teacher on video makes a new idea clear, and Yoyo Chinese is built on that. What a list of lessons does not show is what each one rests on.
A knowledge graph makes that explicit: every one of the 829 topics lists its prerequisites, the course serves it after those, and reviews bring back topics that are fading before they get in the way of what comes next.
Everyone heads to the same place, from the four tones through HSK 6 grammar, at their own pace. You can jump ahead or claim a topic you already know, and reviews then check the claim. One caveat: most HSK 6 vocabulary topics are alphabetical slices of the word list rather than a dependency order.
If you are switching from Yoyo Chinese
- Take the free placement test and start at your level.
- Check your renewal date first. 7-day money-back guarantee on the initial purchase made on yoyochinese.com; no refunds for renewals; App Store purchases refunded via Apple (source, checked Oct 2026).
- Bring Anki decks if you have them: GraphChinese imports
.apkgfiles with their audio and images. Review history does not come across, so those cards start fresh. - Take the placement test so you start at your frontier instead of at lesson one.
Frequently asked questions
Is Yoyo Chinese or GraphChinese better for learning Chinese?
Yoyo Chinese is a video course with flashcards and quizzes on its Learn plan, and it says it was not made specifically for the HSK. GraphChinese is a course from HSK 0 to HSK 6 built on a dependency graph of 829 topics, with stroke-order writing, 102 narrated readings, course reviews on a mastery-review schedule and FSRS for flashcard decks. If video lessons keep you going, Yoyo Chinese; if an ordered route to an HSK level is the goal, GraphChinese.
How much does Yoyo Chinese cost?
Its pricing page lists these plans. Watch: $14.99/mo, billed monthly (source, checked Oct 2026). Learn: $19.99/mo, billed monthly (source, checked Oct 2026). Annual billing ("40% discount"): Watch $8.99/mo, Learn $11.99/mo (source, checked Oct 2026). Lifetime Learner: $299 one-time payment, lifetime access to everything in Learn (source, checked Oct 2026). 7-day money-back guarantee on the initial purchase made on yoyochinese.com; no refunds for renewals; App Store purchases refunded via Apple (source, checked Oct 2026). GraphChinese is $49 once for lifetime access.
Does Yoyo Chinese prepare you for the HSK?
Says it overlaps well with HSK prep though it was not made specifically for the HSK (source, checked Oct 2026). GraphChinese maps every topic to an HSK level, runs from HSK 0 to HSK 6 and has a public grammar reference of 195 points from HSK 1 to HSK 6.
Can a beginner start Chinese with GraphChinese instead?
Yes. The course assumes no Chinese, starts at HSK 0 with the tones and pinyin, and continues through HSK 6. Before paying you can try the interactive demo on the home page, take the placement test, and use the dictionary, the grammar reference and the HSK word lists without an account.
How this comparison was made
Written by Carson, who makes GraphChinese, the product being compared. 10 facts about Yoyo Chinese, checked 15 October 2026: all 10 from Yoyo Chinese’s own pages and store listings. Archived copies of price pages are linked where we have them. The sheet behind this page is public at /data/compare/yoyo-chinese.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