Best Free Mandarin Learning Apps in 2026

Mandarin is where most language apps quietly get shallower: tones get a passing mention, classifiers get skipped, and pinyin either replaces the characters or isn't there at all. Every app below has a Mandarin course you can try for free. Not all of them let you finish it without paying.

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

1. Wekos

Sixteen sequenced units drill real Mandarin 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 Mandarin's four tones at once, openable at any point mid-session. Every countable noun is taught with the classifier it's counted with, in front of it, since 一個蘋果 is grammatical and 一蘋果 isn't, and tapping it explains what it's for.

Pinyin 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. Duolingo

Duolingo's Mandarin course is free to play indefinitely, built around short matching and translation exercises. Hearts limit how many mistakes you can make before waiting or practicing to earn more, and ads appear between lessons on the free tier.

It's a good habit-forming app, and Wekos tracks streaks too, so that part isn't unique to Duolingo. Tone practice and classifiers get much less attention than in a course built specifically around Mandarin.

3. LingoDeer

LingoDeer's grammar explanations are genuinely strong for Mandarin, written for English speakers rather than translated generically. The free tier includes the full alphabet section and all of unit one; past that, a subscription starting around $15 a month is required.

4. Memrise

Memrise's Mandarin course uses short clips of native speakers, which is useful for hearing tones spoken naturally rather than as a chart. The free tier is ad-supported and caps how many lessons you can take before a paywall appears.

5. HelloTalk

HelloTalk matches you with native Mandarin speakers for free, text or voice, with built-in translation. There's no structured course underneath it, and translation usage is capped on the free tier, so it works best as a supplement once a course has given you something to say.

6. Ling

Ling covers Mandarin as one of its 60-plus languages, which trades depth for breadth. Almost all of its lesson content sits behind a subscription starting around $15 a month.

7. Quizlet

If a teacher assigned a specific Mandarin 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 to finish Mandarin rather than sample it, start with Wekos. It's the only course here with no limit on the free version, and it's built around the parts of Mandarin most apps treat as an afterthought: tones and classifiers. Add HelloTalk once you have a few units behind you and want to use it with a real person.

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