HSKLord vs Pleco: Dictionary + Flashcards Compared (2026)

Why This Comparison Is Different

Pleco is legendary in the Chinese learning community. If you have spent any time studying Mandarin, you have almost certainly heard someone say “just look it up in Pleco.” It has been the Chinese dictionary app for over two decades, and for good reason — it is extraordinarily well-built, comprehensive, and deeply loved by learners at every level from absolute beginner to professional translator.

This comparison is not about declaring a winner. HSKLord and Pleco are fundamentally different tools that solve different problems. Pleco is a dictionary with optional study features. HSKLord is a study platform with no dictionary functionality. Comparing them head-to-head on every feature would be misleading. Instead, this guide explains what each app does best, where they overlap, and how to get the most out of both.

We want to be upfront: we have enormous respect for Pleco and what Michael Love and his team have built. Many of us on the HSKLord team use Pleco daily. This comparison is written honestly, acknowledging Pleco's clear strengths and being transparent about what HSKLord does not do.

Pleco as a Dictionary: The Gold Standard

There is no diplomatic way to say this: Pleco is the best Chinese dictionary app ever made. It has held that position for years and there is no serious competitor threatening it. If you are learning Chinese and you do not have Pleco installed, stop reading this article and go download it right now. It is free. We will wait.

What makes Pleco exceptional as a dictionary is the depth and breadth of its entries. The free version ships with the CC-CEDICT dictionary, which covers the vast majority of words a learner will encounter through HSK 6 and well beyond. Each entry includes the simplified character, traditional character, pinyin with tone marks, and English definitions. Many entries include multiple definitions that cover different contexts and usage patterns.

Beyond the base dictionary, Pleco offers premium dictionary add-ons that are genuinely world-class. The PLC (Pleco-branded) dictionaries provide detailed example sentences, usage notes, and contextual information that rivals what you find in expensive print dictionaries. For advanced learners and professional translators, the availability of dictionaries like the ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary and the New Century Chinese-English Dictionary within a single app is transformative.

Pleco's search functionality is also remarkably flexible. You can look up words by typing pinyin (with or without tones), by entering Chinese characters directly, by drawing characters with your finger using the handwriting recognition engine, or by pasting text from other apps. The app also features a powerful character decomposition tool that breaks down complex characters into their component radicals and explains the structure — invaluable for learners trying to understand how characters are constructed.

One of Pleco's most celebrated features is its OCR capability (a paid add-on). Point your phone camera at any Chinese text — a restaurant menu, a street sign, a page in a novel — and Pleco will recognize the characters in real time and let you tap any word for an instant dictionary lookup. For learners living in China or Taiwan, this feature alone is worth the price. The document reader extends this further, letting you import entire documents or web pages and tap any word for a definition as you read.

Pleco's Flashcard System: Functional but Not Its Focus

Pleco offers a flashcard system as a paid add-on (included in the Basic Bundle). The system provides a functional spaced repetition algorithm that tracks which words you know and schedules reviews accordingly. You can create flashcard decks from your dictionary history, import pre-made word lists, or build custom decks manually.

The flashcard system supports multiple card types: you can test yourself on character recognition (seeing the character and recalling the meaning), pinyin recall (seeing the character and recalling pronunciation), or reverse cards (seeing the English and recalling the character). There are also options for fill-in-the-blank and tone practice. The customization options are extensive — you can configure scoring algorithms, card ordering, session length, and more.

However, Pleco's flashcard system has limitations that reflect its origin as a dictionary add-on rather than a dedicated learning platform. The SRS algorithm is relatively basic compared to purpose-built spaced repetition systems. The interface is functional but not visually engaging — it uses the same utilitarian design language as the rest of the app, which is excellent for dictionary lookup but can make extended study sessions feel dry. There are no progress dashboards, no streak tracking, no visual indicators of your overall mastery level, and no structured learning paths that guide you through vocabulary in a logical sequence.

The biggest practical issue is the lack of structure. Pleco's flashcard system does not know what order you should learn words in, which words belong to which HSK level (unless you import a specific list), or how to build your vocabulary systematically from beginner to advanced. It is a blank canvas — powerful in the hands of someone who knows exactly what they want to study, but potentially overwhelming for learners who need guidance.

That said, Pleco's flashcard integration with the dictionary is a genuine strength. When you look up a word you want to remember, you can add it to a flashcard deck with a single tap. This creates a natural workflow where your study material grows organically from your real encounters with Chinese text. For advanced learners who are reading extensively and want to capture unfamiliar vocabulary, this dictionary-to-flashcard pipeline is excellent.

HSKLord's Approach: Dedicated Vocabulary Learning

HSKLord takes a fundamentally different approach. Rather than starting as a dictionary and adding study features, HSKLord was built from the ground up as a structured vocabulary learning platform specifically designed for Chinese learners targeting the HSK exam system. Every design decision, from the SRS algorithm to the user interface, is optimized for one thing: helping you learn and retain HSK vocabulary as efficiently as possible.

HSKLord ships with the complete vocabulary for HSK 1 through HSK 6, plus the updated HSK 3.0 word lists, all built directly into the app. You do not need to find, download, or import word lists. You do not need to decide what order to study words in. You select your target HSK level, take a placement test if you already have some knowledge, and the app handles the rest.

The spaced repetition algorithm in HSKLord is purpose-built and continuously optimized for Chinese vocabulary acquisition. Unlike generic SRS implementations, it accounts for the specific challenges of learning Chinese characters — the visual similarity between certain characters, the tonal nature of Mandarin pronunciation, and the way meaning is often composed from individual character components. The algorithm adapts to your individual learning patterns, presenting difficult words more frequently and gradually spacing out words you have mastered.

Visual progress tracking is a core part of the HSKLord experience. You can see at a glance how many words you have mastered in each HSK level, which words are due for review, and how your overall vocabulary is growing over time. This visibility serves both a practical purpose (knowing what to study next) and a motivational one (seeing concrete evidence of your progress). For learners preparing for a specific HSK exam, the ability to see exactly what percentage of the target vocabulary you have mastered is invaluable for planning your study timeline.

The interface is modern, clean, and designed for extended study sessions. Cards are presented with clear typography, consistent layout, and smooth animations that make the review process feel polished rather than utilitarian. These may sound like superficial concerns, but when you are reviewing hundreds of flashcards per week, the quality of the interface directly affects your willingness to maintain a consistent study habit.

Here is a preview of the kind of vocabulary you will encounter at the intermediate level. These are real HSK 3 words from the HSKLord system:

Feature-by-Feature Comparison

The following table provides a direct comparison of the two apps across the features that matter most to Chinese learners. Keep in mind that these apps serve different primary purposes, so a “weakness” in one area often reflects a deliberate design choice rather than a shortcoming.

Where Pleco Excels

There are several areas where Pleco is simply unmatched, and it would be dishonest to suggest otherwise. These are the things Pleco does better than any other Chinese learning tool on the market.

Dictionary Depth and Quality

Pleco's dictionary is not just good — it is the reference standard. The free CC-CEDICT dictionary is comprehensive enough for most learners, and the premium dictionaries add layers of nuance, example sentences, and cross-references that are genuinely useful for advanced study and professional translation. No other mobile app comes close to this level of lexicographic depth. HSKLord does not attempt to compete here because building a dictionary of this quality would take years and would distract from the core mission of vocabulary learning.

OCR and Camera-Based Lookup

Pleco's OCR feature is transformative for learners immersed in a Chinese-language environment. Whether you are reading a restaurant menu in Beijing, deciphering a rental contract, or browsing a bookstore in Taipei, the ability to point your camera at text and instantly get dictionary definitions is extraordinarily useful. The OCR engine handles various fonts, sizes, and even moderately degraded text with impressive accuracy. This is a feature that directly improves your daily life as a Chinese learner in ways that a flashcard app simply cannot.

Handwriting Recognition

When you encounter a character you do not recognize and cannot type, Pleco's handwriting input lets you draw it with your finger to look it up. The recognition engine is forgiving of imperfect strokes and works well even with messy handwriting. This is particularly valuable for beginners who have not yet developed the ability to quickly identify radicals or use component-based lookup methods. It is also useful when you see a character in print that you cannot figure out how to decompose for a text-based search.

Document Reader

Pleco's document reader (a paid add-on) lets you import Chinese text — articles, stories, textbook passages, web pages — and read them with instant tap-to-define functionality on every word. This turns Pleco into a powerful reading companion that makes Chinese text accessible far above your current unaided reading level. For learners practicing extensive reading, this feature dramatically reduces the friction of encountering unknown words and makes the reading experience more enjoyable and productive.

Where HSKLord Excels

While Pleco dominates the dictionary and reference space, HSKLord is purpose-built for the other half of vocabulary acquisition: the systematic learning and long-term retention of specific word sets. Here is where HSKLord's focused design pays off.

Structured Learning Paths

HSKLord does not present you with a blank canvas and expect you to figure out what to study. The entire HSK vocabulary framework — from HSK 1's 150 foundational words through HSK 6's 5,000+ word mastery level — is organized, sequenced, and ready to study from the moment you sign up. The app introduces new words at a pace calibrated to your learning speed and intersperses them with reviews of previously learned material. This structured approach eliminates the decision fatigue that plagues open-ended study tools.

Optimized Spaced Repetition

HSKLord's SRS algorithm is its core technology, not an afterthought add-on. The algorithm is specifically tuned for Chinese vocabulary, accounting for common confusion pairs (characters that look or sound similar), tonal recall challenges, and the unique memory patterns that emerge when learning a logographic writing system. Review intervals are calculated based on your individual performance history with each word, and the system continuously refines its model of your knowledge to optimize the timing of every review. The practical result is that you retain more vocabulary with less total study time compared to a generic SRS implementation.

Visual Progress Tracking

HSKLord provides clear, visual dashboards that show your progress across every HSK level. You can see the total number of words mastered, words in active learning, words due for review, and your overall readiness for each HSK exam. This visibility is particularly valuable for learners working toward a specific exam date, as it provides an honest assessment of where you stand and how much work remains. Pleco's basic card statistics offer some of this information, but not in a consolidated, visually intuitive format tied to specific HSK milestones.

HSK-Specific Content Organization

Every word in HSKLord is tagged by HSK level (both the current 2.0 system and the upcoming 3.0 framework), categorized by topic, and annotated with frequency data. This means you can filter your study sessions by level, focus on specific topic areas (food, travel, business, etc.), or prioritize the highest-frequency words within each level. If you are preparing for HSK 3, you see exactly the words you need for HSK 3 — no more, no less. This level of organization is not something Pleco provides out of the box, even with imported word lists.

Modern User Experience

Pleco's interface is functional and efficient for dictionary use, but it was designed in an era when mobile app design conventions were different. HSKLord features a contemporary design with smooth animations, clear visual hierarchy, dark mode support, and an interface that makes daily study sessions feel engaging rather than tedious. When you are committing to 15-30 minutes of vocabulary review every day for months, the quality of the experience matters more than you might expect. Small details — the feel of flipping a card, the satisfaction of a progress animation, the clarity of the typography — compound over time into a significantly different relationship with your daily study habit.

The Best Approach: Use Both Together

Here is the honest recommendation that serves you best as a learner: use Pleco and HSKLord together. They are not competing products — they are complementary tools that address different parts of the Chinese learning workflow. Trying to use Pleco as your primary study tool is like trying to use a dictionary as a textbook. Trying to use HSKLord as a dictionary would be equally misguided (and impossible, since it is not one).

The ideal workflow looks like this: use HSKLord for your daily structured study sessions. Open the app, review your due cards, learn new words at the pace the algorithm sets, and track your progress toward your target HSK level. This is your disciplined, systematic vocabulary building — the core engine of your Chinese learning.

Use Pleco for everything else. When you encounter an unfamiliar word while reading, watching a show, or talking to someone, look it up in Pleco. When you need to check the exact meaning or usage of a word, Pleco is your reference. When you are reading Chinese text and want to tap-to-define, use Pleco's document reader. When you see a sign or menu in Chinese, use Pleco's OCR. Pleco is your real-time reference companion for navigating the Chinese language in the wild.

This division of labor plays to each app's strengths. HSKLord handles the planned, systematic part of vocabulary acquisition — the deliberate practice that builds your foundation. Pleco handles the reactive, reference part — the on-demand lookup and exploration that supports your real-world encounters with the language. Together, they cover the full spectrum of how you actually interact with Chinese vocabulary in your daily life.

Many of the most dedicated Chinese learners we know use exactly this combination. They have their HSKLord review scheduled as a daily habit (often in the morning or during a commute) and keep Pleco ready as their always-available dictionary throughout the day. The two apps do not overlap in functionality, so there is no redundancy — each one does something the other cannot.

From a cost perspective, the combination is also reasonable. Pleco's core dictionary is free, and you can add paid features selectively as you need them. HSKLord offers a 30-day free trial so you can experience the full structured learning system before committing to a subscription. If you decide you need Pleco's OCR for daily life in China or Pleco's premium dictionaries for advanced reading, those are separate investments that serve separate purposes. You are not paying twice for the same functionality.

Frequently Asked Questions