Hack Chinese
Vocabulary and flashcards: Chinese words and characters on spaced-repetition flashcards in the browser, with each character's parts explained.
Prices checked 17 Oct 2026 · How we check
Is Hack Chinese worth it?
Yes, if you are learning Chinese seriously, from reading, a class or a tutor, and want the words you meet kept in your memory on a schedule, with each character's parts explained.
What it costs. A year costs $144 ($12 a month); month to month is $18.
What's free. No free tier; a 21-day free trial with no card, then refunds within 30 days under its refund policy.
Skip it if you want a course that teaches you to speak, an app from the App Store or Google Play, or to write characters by hand: Hack Chinese is flashcards in the browser, and its own page says it is not meant to be used on its own.
$144 a year $12 a month, billed yearly · Hack Chinese
In our comparison: strongest on trial and refund terms, weakest on speaking practice.
- Annual plan
- $144 a year ($12/mo)
- Monthly plan
- $18
- Lifetime plan
- —
- Free tier
- Free trial
None - Languages
- 1
- Speech recognition
- —
- Live tutoring
- No
- Offline mode
- —
- Placement test
- Yes
- CEFR levels
- —
- Refund or trial
- A 21-day free trial with no card, then refunds within 30 days under its refund policy.
- Platforms
- Web
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Links to the app makers' own sites earn us nothing. Commissions never affect which apps we recommend. Affiliate disclosure and how the data is collected.
How a Hack Chinese lesson works
- What you do
- Pick a list, from Hack Chinese's own, your imports or the words you saved in Du Chinese or The Chairman's Bao, and review its words as flashcards: see the Chinese and recall the sound and meaning, or see the English and recall the Chinese. Each character's parts are explained, and words come back less often as you remember them, until they stop.
- What comes back
- Automatic: its flashcards check whether you recall each word, from the Chinese or from the English. No person checks your work.
- Not included
- A live teacher or stated CEFR levels.
How a lesson works in a vocabulary app
Plans and prices
Every consumer plan on Hack Chinese's own pricing page or app-store listing, in US dollars unless marked. Per month is the plan price divided by its term. Each price is what the seller was charging on the day we checked it. When a plan was on sale, its regular price is shown under the sale price; a crossed-out figure that is only a comparison, such as a year at the monthly rate, is in the plan's note.
| Plan | Billing | Price | Per month | Covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hack Chinese, yearlyHack ChineseIts page gives $12 a month billed annually, which is $144 a year. | Annual | $144 | $12/mo | everything |
| Hack Chinese, monthlyHack Chinese | Monthly | $18 | $18/mo | everything |
What will Hack Chinese cost you?
Total billed over 12 months
$72.00 less on annual billingOne yearly payment of $144.00.
What each plan covers. Monthly: everything. Yearly: everything.
Before subscribing, compare trial, cancellation and refund terms, including how purchases through an app store differ.
What Hack Chinese says about itself
| Feature | What Hack Chinese says |
|---|---|
| CEFR levels | — |
| What it is | Vocabulary and flashcards. Flashcards for Chinese words and characters on a spaced-repetition schedule, in the browser: it first estimates the words you already know, then teaches new ones from its own lists, your imports or the lists it syncs from Du Chinese, The Chairman's Bao and Maayot, testing recall both ways (Chinese to English and English to Chinese) and explaining each character's parts with Outlier Linguistics' functional components. |
| Languages offered | 1: Chinese |
| Free tier | None |
| Platforms | Web |
| Offline mode | — |
| Speech recognition | — |
| Live tutoring | No |
| Placement test | Yes |
| Refund or trial | A 21-day free trial with no card, then refunds within 30 days under its refund policy. |
| Company | Hack Chinese, Ltd |
How Hack Chinese compares
Hack Chinese is strongest on trial and refund terms, weakest on speaking practice. Each criterion is scored out of 5 from what each app says about itself and from independent reviews, to compare apps that do the same job; it is not a review of the app. How we score.
| Feature | Score (of 5) | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Teaching depth | 2 | Chinese words and characters on spaced-repetition flashcards in the browser, with each character's parts explained |
| Speaking practice | 1 | — |
| Language coverage | 1 | 1 language |
| Free tier | 1 | A free trial rather than a free tier |
| Price per month | 3 | $144 a year $12 a month, billed yearly · Hack Chinese |
| Trial and refund | 5 | A 21-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee |
| Offline use | – | — |
| Staying power and bugs | – | Not available |
Languages you can learn on Hack Chinese
1 language as listed by Hack Chinese.
How far its courses go
- Hack Chinese: level not stated. Chinese characters, recalled and typed in pinyin; no handwriting.
Compare Hack Chinese
- Best app to learn Chinese (Mandarin): every app that teaches it, compared
- Best vocabulary and flashcard apps, compared
- Best apps to learn Chinese vocabulary, compared
- Hack Chinese against any other app, side by side
- What Hack Chinese will cost you for the months you study
- All 99 apps in one table
References
- Hack Chinese: pricing and questions (checked 16 Oct 2026)
- Hack Chinese: home page (checked 16 Oct 2026)