Best Free Cantonese Learning Apps in 2026

Cantonese gets a short list because most language apps don't teach it at all, or fold it into a generic "Chinese" course built for Mandarin. The apps below actually offer Cantonese specifically. Not all of them let you get far with it for free.

This list is ranked on the free version alone: what's included, and what starts costing money. Wekos's Cantonese course is first because nothing in it is metered.

1. Wekos

Sixteen sequenced units drill real Cantonese sentences with native audio in a male and a female voice. Every sentence breaks down into its words, then its chunks, then five variations that change one piece at a time.

An interactive tone guide lets you see and hear all six of Cantonese's tones at once, openable at any point mid-session, which is more tones than almost any other course bothers to distinguish. Every countable noun is taught with the classifier it's counted with, in front of it, and tapping it explains what it's for.

Jyutping sits beside the characters throughout, including on quiz options, so a question tests whether you know the word rather than whether you can already read the script. None of it, the tone guide, the classifiers, the conversation scenarios, sits behind a cap, a trial or a card.

It also includes, at no cost:

• Three playback modes (auto, semi-manual, manual), with repetitions adjustable from 2 to 15.
• A story every unit, read aloud in character, with comprehension questions and a translation a tap away.
• A twelve-question quiz at the end of every unit, graded on the server and mixing in questions from earlier units.
• Two spaced-review modes: one on a schedule, one that ignores it and drills whatever's catching you out.
• Resume exactly where you left off, save any unit for offline use, and one account across iOS, Android and the web.
• Streak tracking and a self-issued CEFR badge at A1, A2 and B1.

2. Memrise

Memrise's Cantonese content is community-made rather than one of its official courses, so quality and coverage vary by which deck you pick. It's free and worth a look for extra vocabulary practice, but it isn't a sequenced course you can rely on to teach the language from scratch.

3. HelloTalk

HelloTalk lets you filter for Cantonese-speaking partners specifically, which is genuinely useful given how often "Chinese" defaults to Mandarin elsewhere. There's no structured course underneath it, and translation usage is capped on the free tier.

4. Ling

Ling includes Cantonese among its 60-plus languages, which is more coverage than most apps offer it at all. Almost all of its lesson content sits behind a subscription starting around $15 a month, and depth on Cantonese specifically is thin compared to a course built around it.

5. Quizlet

If a teacher assigned a specific Cantonese word list, Quizlet turns it into flashcards in minutes, free. It has no native audio, no tone practice and no sequence of its own; it drills whatever list you give it.

Which one to actually start with

If you want an actual Cantonese course rather than a Mandarin course with the name changed, start with Wekos. It's free, complete and built around the tones and classifiers that make Cantonese Cantonese. Add HelloTalk once you have a few units behind you and want to use it with a real person.

See how Mandarin compares in our best free Mandarin learning apps roundup, or the full field in our best free language learning apps roundup.