Loading

Anki vs. Hack Chinese vs. HSK Lord: Which SRS Wins for Chinese?

The bottom line: Anki is free, infinitely customizable, and ugly. Hack Chinese is polished, curated, and expensive. HSK Lord is aligned tightly to HSK 3.0 exam vocabulary. If you're committed long-term and willing to invest 10 hours learning the tool, Anki. If you want serious SRS without setup overhead, Hack Chinese. If your goal is HSK certification specifically, HSK Lord. Most learners end up using one primary plus Anki for personal sentence mining.

Spaced repetition is non-negotiable for Chinese. You have to retain 3,000+ characters, 11,000+ HSK 3.0 vocabulary items, and an ever-growing list of idioms and collocations. Without SRS, you'll re-learn the same 500 words every six months for a decade.

Three apps dominate the Chinese SRS market in 2026: Anki, Hack Chinese, and HSK Lord. I've used all three extensively. Here's how to pick.

Quick Verdict Table

Dimension Anki Hack Chinese HSK Lord
Price Free (Android/desktop), $25 iOS ~$18/mo or ~$144/yr Free tier + paid plan
Algorithm FSRS (best-in-class) Proprietary Proprietary
Setup time 5-10 hours 30 min 10 min
Pre-made Chinese decks Thousands Curated HSK + topic decks HSK 1-9 complete
Custom decks Unlimited Limited No
HSK 3.0 alignment Depends on deck Updated Fully aligned
UI Dated Modern, clean Minimal, functional
Mobile experience Clunky Excellent Excellent
Learning curve Steep Shallow Very shallow
Long-term scalability Infinite High Exam-focused

Anki: Ugly, Free, Unbeatable

Anki has been the gold standard for language-learning SRS since 2006. The interface looks like it was designed in 2005 because it was. None of that matters.

What matters:

The cost is time. The first 10 hours with Anki are brutal. You're learning the interface, configuring settings, picking decks, setting review limits, installing add-ons. Most people quit before Anki becomes useful.

Pay the cost. A year in, Anki is the most valuable language-learning tool on your phone.

Best for: Long-term serious learners. People who will study Chinese for 5+ years. Anyone who wants to sentence-mine from native media.

Hack Chinese: Premium SRS Done Right

Hack Chinese is what Anki would be if someone redesigned it from scratch for Chinese learners. Clean interface, curated HSK vocabulary lists, smart defaults, and you can start studying productively within 30 minutes.

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Best for: Learners with 1-3 year timelines who want SRS that works without setup. People who value design and polish. Anyone whose time is worth more than the subscription cost.

HSK Lord: The Exam Specialist

HSK Lord is built specifically for HSK vocabulary mastery. Zero-setup SRS with full coverage from HSK 1 through HSK 9 using the updated 2026 vocabulary lists.

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Best for: Learners with HSK certification deadlines. Students applying to Chinese universities. Anyone whose explicit goal is test scores.

The Actual Recommendation

For most learners, the answer is one primary plus Anki for personal mining.

If you're exam-focused

HSK Lord as your primary. Anki for any word you encounter in the wild that isn't on the HSK list.

If you're long-term focused (speaking fluency, immersion)

Hack Chinese as your primary if budget allows. Anki as your primary if it doesn't. In both cases, Anki for sentence mining from real content.

If you're doing both (exam + fluency)

Hack Chinese for daily volume, HSK Lord for the month before each test. Anki optional but useful.

The FSRS Question

A meaningful detail: Anki's FSRS algorithm is measurably more efficient than the proprietary algorithms in Hack Chinese and HSK Lord. This matters most over long timelines.

Over one year of study, the difference is maybe 10-15% fewer reviews for the same retention. Over five years, it compounds. If you're in Chinese for the long haul, Anki's algorithm advantage adds up.

Hack Chinese and HSK Lord are both probably within 80-90% of FSRS efficiency. Good enough that the UX and convenience gains outweigh the algorithm loss for most people.

The Mistake Most Learners Make

Picking the wrong one isn't the problem. Running two SRS apps in parallel is the problem.

I've watched learners try to do HelloChinese's built-in SRS plus Anki plus Hack Chinese, spending 90 minutes a day on flashcards and still not progressing. Spaced repetition works because you see cards at mathematically optimal intervals. Running two systems breaks the math because the same words compete for review slots.

Pick one primary. Add Anki only for personal sentence mining (words the primary doesn't cover). Don't run three.