17 Best Chinese Flashcard Websites and Apps in 2025

For Chinese learners , check 17 Best Flashcards websites & apps for practicing Mandarin.

Learning Chinese logographic characters Hanzi and understanding how to use and pronounce them is a long quest for fluency. After all, Mandarin is a complex language.

With thousands of such characters, success demands time, effort, and great resources. Yet, it is inevitable since mastering new words is vital for any language, including Mandarin Chinese.

But the good thing is that there are ways to make it easier. Today, you can find a wide range of Chinese learning apps.

One such famous technique is flashcards. These tools help you learn and remember vocabulary, phrases, and grammar.

Flashcards are available in both paper and digital versions. Although both formats have advantages, digital is more user-friendly and boosts productivity. So, you will have total control over your studying.

So, what exactly are flashcards? Why and how can it help you improve your Mandarin? I will also review the best Chinese flashcard websites and apps to help you learn effectively.

Table of Contents

What are flashcards for learning Chinese?

Chinese language flashcards

Flashcards use spaced repetition, which helps develop memory, recall, and self-testing. They make learning Chinese fun and interactive.

Flashcards help you engage in the unique features of Mandarin Chinese. They focus mainly on characters like Hanzi, vocabulary, and grammar.

Today, there are many good Mandarin learning apps. Some include photos, audio, and videos to enhance your learning experience.

Flashcards come in various types. But usually, it has two sides.

  • The front side shows a Chinese character, word, phrase, question, or sentence. It can be in Mandarin, English, or other languages.
  • The backside reveals the meaning, definition, or translation. The answer may or may not have context, pronunciation, explanations, and sentences with contextual examples.

A deck is a collection of cards for a particular topic, theme, or purpose.

You can add as many cards to your deck to concentrate on specific topics instead of trying to learn everything at once. You can customize the deck settings and how frequently you can review intervals and add new cards.

This structured method helps you focus on the most essential parts of Chinese. The digital flashcards on websites and apps make it easy to study anywhere, anytime.

In short, you’re in charge of your study schedule, strategies, and style.

How can a flashcard help you learn Chinese?

Flashcards for Chinese learners

Flashcards mostly use the Spaced Repetition System (SRS). This method is common in apps like Anki, Brainscape, Quizlet, and Memrise.

The SRS technique helps you review at the right times. It shows difficult cards more frequently and easier ones less often.

This strategy helps you focus on tricky words and improves your long-term memory and skills in Chinese.

Text and images on flashcards facilitate learning Chinese characters, words, and phrases. It also teaches basic grammar, verbs, tenses, and sentence formation.

As an outcome, you can learn to use these in reading, speaking, writing, and listening.

Many popular flashcard apps have audio and video. So, you can listen to native speakers to learn correct pronunciation.

Irrespective of your purposes, flashcards benefit all Chinese learners. They can help with hobbies, study in China, find Chinese-related jobs, or prepare for the HSK.

Digital flashcards on smartphones or laptops make studying effortless. Students often prefer them over paper cards because they are more accessible and user-friendly.

A flashcard can make studying a language enjoyable and compelling. It mixes games and rewards, allows progress tracking and synchronization across devices, and keeps users engaged.

One primary importance of learning Chinese through flashcards is that they are adaptable. Whether you are a visual learner or have definite goals, you can create a study plan that best suits you.

In summary, flashcards are valuable for all Chinese learners, regardless of their learning goals and style.

Practical tips and tricks for using flashcards

Flashcards for Chinese characters

Start with small steps.

To prevent feeling overwhelmed, you can begin with brief and simple flashcards. Focus more on elemental vocabularies, like greetings and common expressions.

Regular practice is crucial. Rather than studying for several hours once a week, dedicate 10-20 minutes each day. This process allows you to maintain focus and reinforces your learning.

As you advance, you can extend the time you spend reviewing flashcards. Most tools will do this automatically for you.

Avoid limiting yourself to a single topic. To keep your sessions engaging, try studying various subjects on different days.

You should give more time to challenging cards. To help explain things, you can add pictures, sounds, and example sentences to get the actual context.

Merely using flashcards will not suffice for learning Chinese. You should pair them with other resources. It applies courses, apps, Chinese learning podcasts, books, dictionaries, audio lessons, and videos.

Top Flashcards to Practice Mandarin in 2025

You can improve your Chinese language skills with many flashcard apps and websites.

I reviewed dozens of flashcards for learning Chinese to save you time and picked my top 17. These are some of the best and most notable ones worth mentioning!

Check out these fantastic flashcard apps to enhance your Chinese language skills in 2025.

How to make Chinese flashcards

1. Anki — A powerful and Best Flashcard

Anki is a popular tool for learning Chinese because of its flexibility and impressive features. It is outstanding for its Spaced Repetition System, which helps your study time by scheduling reviews based on how well you recall items.

Anki reviews more complex material more frequently than easier content.

The customizable flashcards let you include words, sounds, definitions, and example sentences. You can also enrich your memory by adding pictures and videos.

Anki offers a variety of Chinese flashcard decks covering vocabulary and grammar. It covers all levels, from HSK exam levels of 1 to 9. This helps learners focus on specific areas of their Chinese studies.

The app provides audio files to practice listening and pronunciation. For native-like pronunciation, you can use text-to-speech (TTS). Anki also syncs your progress across devices for consistent learning.

Although other apps may have a more appealing design or additional features, I prefer Anki because it is straightforward and effective.

Platforms: Android | iOS | Mac | Web | Windows | Linux

Pricing: The Anki is free on all platforms except iOS, which costs $24.99.

2. Memrise — A suitable Chinese flashcard

If you want to learn Chinese using flashcards, try Memrise. It has a simple design and useful learning tools.

Memrise does not include grammar lessons. The app offers many courses with thousands of words, phrases, audio and video clips covering various aspects of the language.

Memrise tracks how much you study and how many questions you get right. It uses a spaced repetition system (SRS) to help you practice and remember what you’ve learned.

Platforms: Android | iOS | Web

Pricing: You can use the key features for free. If you upgrade to Pro, you will remove ads and gain access to native video libraries. You can choose from different subscription plans: monthly for $8.49, half-yearly for $19.99, yearly for $29.99, or lifetime for $119.99.

Is it worth the cost? Most users will find the free version sufficient. For more details, check out my full review — Is Memrise Good?

Chinese flashcards apps

3. Quizlet for Readymade Chinese flashcards

Quizlet is a helpful tool for studying Chinese. It makes learning enjoyable through interactive methods.

The app offers flashcards, games, and quizzes to help you learn words, phrases, and grammar.

The app offers hundreds of flashcard decks created by millions of users. You can also mix text, audio, and images to elevate your learning.

Quizlet has fun learning modes and practice tests. You can play timed matching games and create custom quizzes in the games and quizzes section.

Platforms: Android | iOS | Web

Pricing: Quizlet offers many free features. The premium one entitles you to access more study decks and tools, like offline access and progress tracking. You also get all the games and the Q&A library. The cost is $7.99 per month or $35.99 per year.

4. Pleco — A mix of flashcards and Mandarin Dictionary

Pleco is another app that combines the features of a flashcard app with an English-Chinese dictionary. You can use either pinyin or characters to look up words in the dictionary.

You can readily look up words when needed and use flashcards in your free time to help you learn the language.

Pleco has photos and handwriting recognition. It enables you to identify unknown words or translate content from other apps on your phone. You can also see how to write Hanzi using stroke order diagrams.

The flashcard segment of Pleco is also pretty extensive. You can import your word list and test yourself using SRS and exercises like fill-in-the-blank.

Platforms: Android | iOS | Web

Pricing: Though the free app is limited, the premium is worth its cost. Its features include various Chinese dictionaries, audio, document readers, text-to-speech, stroke order diagrams, enhanced handwriting, and optical character recognizers.

There are two Pleco bundles: Basic for $29.99 and Professional for $59.99. For various price tags, you can also buy one of the hundreds of additional add-ons, such as e-books, audio, and dictionaries.

Chinese flashcards for beginners

5. Brainscape — An adaptable Chinese Flashcard

Brainscape is an app that helps you learn Mandarin Chinese using flashcards. It uses spaced repetition to review each card repeatedly based on how well you remember it.

You can choose from pre-made decks with words, phrases, and grammar. You can also create decks with Chinese characters, such as sentences, translations, and pronunciations.

After each card, you rate how confident you feel about it. The app then changes your review times based on your ratings so you can focus on what you need to practice more.

You can study with the Brainscape app or on the website. Your progress syncs across all your devices, and the simple design makes learning easy.

Platforms: Android | iOS | Web

Pricing: You can use Brainscape for free with text.

With the Pro upgrade, you get image and sound uploads, a broader range of flashcards, and unlimited study sessions. The pricing tiers are $19.99 monthly, $59.94 for six months, $95.88 annually, and $199.99 for lifetime access.

6. Cram for Organized Chinese Studies

Cram is an online platform with millions of flashcards you can access through your browser. It also works well on mobile devices.

When you visit the site for the first time, you will find many words and lists available. Like other flashcard apps, you can change or create new cards to meet your needs.

You can use Cram to learn new words. In “memorize” mode, the words you have already learned are hidden. Use “cram” mode to repeat your learning and fortify your memory.

While using the flashcards, you may notice that Cram has several buttons and controls. The site also includes many ads so that an ad blocker can improve the experience.

Platforms: Android | iOS | Web

Pricing: Most features are free. You can enjoy ad-free access and advanced formatting and font options for a small monthly fee.

7. TrainChinese to learn new words

TrainChinese is an ideal learning setup for Mandarin learners. You can make a list of words from their big dictionary with examples of sentences. You can listen to audio recordings, either traditional or simplified Chinese.

Like Google’s search engine, TrainChinese predicts what you want to learn and shows relevant results. When you begin typing, it shows results and suggestions if you misspell a word.

The flashcard system has character animations and audio and lets you categorize cards into decks. You can even add study notes to them.

You can switch between modes to focus on characters or vocabulary by displaying cards in Chinese, pinyin, or English. To practice writing, you can compare your character writing to the animations in TrainChinese!

Your progress, decks, and notes are saved on your device and sync with the website. This allows you to continue learning from where you left off, regardless of location.

You can master the vocab with their unique interactive flash cards. You can also hold words fresh in your memory with educational quizzes and games.

Platforms: Android | iOS | Web | Mac | Windows

Pricing: You can start with a free one. As you advance, consider buying in-app for all dictionaries, lists, and extra features. The cost varies from $11.99 to $49.99, depending on 3,6, 12 months, or lifetime. You can also purchase various add-on lists of words.

Chinese flashcards for HSK

8. Language Drops: Learn Chinese through Games

Drops is a popular app for learning Chinese vocabulary. Instead of focusing on grammar and conversation, it helps you remember words.

The app offers over 2,000 Chinese words and uses graphic aids to show the meanings of these words. Once you learn the words, you can practice and test your knowledge.

Drops work quickly and include games and quizzes to make learning enjoyable. You get immediate feedback to fix mistakes right away.

The app has a friendly design and fun lessons. You can use it for 5 to 20 minutes each day. Drops follow the idea that you can put in a small amount of effort and see significant results.

Platforms: Android | iOS | Web

Pricing: You can study for free for 5 minutes each day. If you want more study time, pick one of three paid plans: $13/monthly, $69.99/yearly, or a one-time payment of $159.99 for a lifetime. You can also try a 7-day demo before you decide to buy.

9. StudyStack to Learn Chinese

This app helps you learn Chinese vocabulary. It has groups, customizable flashcards, and practice sessions using spaced repetition.

When you log into StudyStack, the flashcards you saved will be where you left them. You can find your cards right where you return.

You can retry, restart, shuffle, auto-play, and change links to enhance your Chinese learning.

StudyStack users have created millions of flashcards. You can search for these flashcards at the top of the page. The flashcards include images and example sentences to help you learn more vocabulary.

Platforms: Android | iOS | Web

Pricing: This service is free. To remove ads, subscribe to PRO, which costs $1.50 per month or $10 per year. The PRO Teacher subscription, which costs $20, also removes teacher and student ads.

Chinese flashcards for vocabulary

10. Clozemaster — A Mandarin Vocabulary Fill-in-the-blank

If you want to learn Chinese quickly, Clozemaster can help you. It teaches words in real situations for beginner to intermediate Mandarin learners.

Instead of just focusing on single words, Clozemaster uses complete sentences with missing words. This way, you will understand how to use a word by seeing it in context.

The app helps you speak more fluently by showing you how to use words naturally. It has an extensive collection of examples from Tatoeba covering thousands of sentences and translations.

Platforms: Android | iOS

Pricing: You can sign up for free on Clozemaster. The free version has many tools to help you learn Chinese.

The Pro version gives you extra features. With it, you can access all 50 languages, get more context, listen to audio, and use custom settings. You can also see your user stats, manage review queues, mark favorites, and use Google Translations.

The subscription costs $12.99 per month or $69.99 per year. You can also pay $159.99 once for lifetime access.

11. Reword — Learn Chinese words

The ReWord app helps you learn Chinese using flashcards. It has thousands of words to help you improve your language understanding and prepare for the HSK exam.

Each flashcard shows example sentences explaining how to use a word. You can add, edit, delete, or import your own terms, allowing the app to adjust to your learning speed.

The app also includes interactive quizzes and fun games to make studying enjoyable. You can listen to audio pronunciations and get automatic translations from different sources.

With ReWord, you can create your own decks, focus on specific topics, and track your learning progress. You can also save your favorite flashcards for later!

Platforms: Android | App Gallery | iOS

Pricing: While the app is free, a premium subscription unlocks a broader range of features.

12. CleverDeck Chinese

CleverDeck is a popular app for learning Chinese using flashcards. It includes nearly 3,000 common Chinese words.

The app offers excellent features, including audio in English and Chinese, translations, images, and example sentences.

CleverDeck helps you study more quickly and remember information longer. You can import flashcard lists, study offline, and sync your progress across devices.

You can also create cards with others and make three-sided cards.

Linguists and educators designed the content to make learning Chinese feel real. The app uses standard Chinese sounds and word choices instead of different Chinese dialects.

Platforms: Apple iOS

Pricing: The basic parts are free. The monthly subscription for CleverDeck Pro is $2.99, while the annual subscription is $26.99.

Chinese flashcards websites

13. VocApp for Chinese vocabulary

Do you want to learn and remember new Chinese words quickly? Then, use VocApp.

VocApp helps you learn a meaningful list of vocabulary terms, everyday phrases, travel, business, and law. It also offers courses for the Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language and HSK.

You can use the app offline by printing course PDFs or making your own flashcards.

You can download MP3s of vocabulary from each lesson and read in both Chinese and English. You can browse topics, answer questions (with or without help), test your knowledge, and take quizzes.

Platforms: Android | iOS | Web

Pricing: There are no fees for introductory lessons. The premium has no restrictions and includes all features. You can create flashcards and listen to unlimited audio recordings.

The cost varies based on how long you need it, ranging from $4.99 to $119.99.

14. MosaLingua: A Flashcard-Based Chinese App

MosaLingua’s app helps you learn Chinese using effective methods and flashcards.

It is suitable for all learners and provides words and phrases for everyday conversations along with cultural tips.

The app includes many ready-made decks organized by topics like travel, work, daily conversations, and HSK-level tests. You can set specific goals, such as learning business Chinese or focusing on culture.

MosaLingua has native audio to improve your pronunciation and understanding of different accents. It also features speech recognition to help you practice and enhance your spoken Chinese.

The app shows how often words are used and uses repetition to aid learning. To learn quickly, spend 10–20 minutes on it each day. Check my review: Is MosaLingua worth it?

Platforms: Android | iOS | Web

Pricing: You can choose from premium plans priced at $9.49 monthly or $59.90 annually. They also offer regular discounts, so do check the current offering. The plan includes a virtual tutor for 300 minutes, and after the limit, you have to pay for extra time.

Before you sign up, a 7-day free trial is available. You can also buy MosaTraining for $91.00 to $231, depending on if you choose a single or include premium or other plans.

15. StickyStudy for Mandarin HSK vocabulary

StickyStudy is a useful SRS-based algorithm for learning how to write Chinese. It features animations that show the correct stroke order and includes a large set of Hanji from a knowledgeable source.

The app offers thousands of Hanzi and an extensive library. It can also translate articles and materials into study cards. You can switch between simplified and traditional, as well as pinyin accents and numbers.

The site also includes 8000 audio words and 1600 audio pinyin samples spoken by native speakers using standard Chinese pronunciation.

The stroke-order animation is helpful if you want to understand how to write Chinese by hand. The app has ten thousand entries from levels 1 to 9 of HSK and TOCFL.

The app also has many great features. It comprises customization options, filter and search, a rolling progress chart, and the ability to import data. You can also add, move, edit, and delete stickies.

Platforms: Apple iOS

Pricing: The free version offers many features. For a reasonable charge, you gain complete access.

Mandarin flashcards online

16. HSK Test 1-6 Flashcards

Do you want to learn Chinese characters for HSK effortlessly and never forget? If so, HSK Hero is ideal and popular among Mandarin learners globally.

The Hero Method enables you to quickly master Chinese characters by promoting a recall and recognition process. This is vital for long-term memory.

This app has six parts per the six levels of the HSK exam.

The HSK 1 Hero covers the 150 most necessary words in Mandarin. This is based on the Chinese level 1 proficiency exam (HSK 1). As you progress, you can master more words. The HSK 6 comprises nearly 5,000 words.

If you don’t want to install 6 apps, you can use combined HSK flashcards HSK, which have all words from levels 1 to 6.

This app supports both simplified (mainland China) and traditional (Hong Kong, Taiwan) Chinese characters. You can also access the native audio with a simple tap.

Platforms: Apple iOS

Pricing: The free version offers many HSK words. You can subscribe to access the entire list of vocabularies with other paid features. One level costs $19.99, and the complete six levels cost $29.99.

17. ChineseSkill

Learning Mandarin takes time. That is why ChineseSkill is a valuable app for beginners in Mandarin Chinese. It has over 2,000 words, phrases, Chinese characters, sentence patterns, and grammar points.

The app features over 500 fun and engaging mini-lessons that cover everything from Pinyin to Chinese grammar. It helps you develop your listening, writing, speaking, and reading skills.

The core curriculum, designed by professional teachers, helps you learn Mandarin Chinese. The program focuses on the grammar and vocabulary you need to pass the HSK 3-4 exams.

The ChineseSkill app helps you learn Mandarin Chinese using three main features: automatic speech assessment, handwriting practice for Chinese characters, and pinyin tone animations.

These tools make learning easier, more fun, and more effective. This app is perfect for beginners who can learn Mandarin step by step and quickly reach a level where they can converse.

Platforms: iOS

Pricing: The free version offers some free lessons. A premium plan lets you access the word list and many other features.

Full access costs $12.99/month, $29.99/quarterly, $79.99/year, and $159.99 for a lifetime membership.

Final Words on Learning Chinese with Flashcards

Flashcards for learning Mandarin

You will explore China’s rich history and modern culture when you study. Flashcards can help you learn the Chinese language more effectively.

Flashcards are an engaging and interactive way to learn vocabulary, pronunciation, and cultural insights. They suit learners at all levels, from beginners to advanced students.

Flashcards are one of many tools available to aid learning. While fruitful, you must combine them with other methods to achieve your Chinese language goals.

Your success with flashcards largely depends on how you create them. Even the best app won’t be effective if the content isn’t practical and tailored to your needs.

These flashcards can help you achieve your Chinese language dreams. Whether you aim to pass HSK, have reasons to study in China, or want to improve your speaking skills, there is something for everyone.

Many apps are available to enhance your Chinese skills. It ranges from customizable options, like Anki, to pre-made sets on Quizlet and other gamified applications.

Experiment with different apps to find the one that best suits your needs. If an app provides more value than the free versions, consider paying for it.

Do you have any questions? I’d love to hear your thoughts and favorite Chinese flashcards in the comments!

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Vikash Gupta
Vikash Gupta

I’m a linguist, lifelong learner, blogger, and fun-loving guy. I write at studyfrenchspanish.com, languagenext.com, joyofjapanese.com, joyofchinese.com, joyofkorean.com, joyoffrench.com, and joyofspanish.com.

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