There is no single best flashcard app for learning Chinese. That answer frustrates people who want a clean recommendation, but it is the honest one because the requirements shift dramatically depending on where you are in your study journey and what your actual goal is.
If you are a total beginner working through HSK 1 and 2, almost any app will do the job. The vocabulary is manageable, the characters are relatively simple, and the tones you need to internalize are limited in number. Quizlet, Anki, and Gridually can all get you through this stage. The differences between them matter less when you are working with 150 words.
But Chinese at intermediate and advanced levels is a different animal. You are dealing with characters that share radicals in ways that create false memories, tone sandhi rules that change pronunciation in context, and classical vocabulary that shows up in written Chinese but almost nowhere else. The app that gets you through HSK 2 may actively slow you down at HSK 5. This guide is honest about that difference and tries to match tools to stages rather than pick a single winner.
For beginners, Gridually's spatial grid format and Quizlet's large deck library both work well. The grid format helps beginners because visual placement creates an extra memory anchor alongside the phonetic and written forms. For intermediate learners pushing through HSK 3 and 4, Anki with a well-curated shared deck is hard to beat on pure scheduling efficiency. The algorithm is genuinely strong. For advanced learners focused on reading fluency or exam prep for HSK 5 and 6, Pleco's integrated dictionary and flashcard system has an edge because you can look up an unknown word and add it to your review queue in one tap, which is exactly how reading-based vocabulary acquisition works.
No standard flashcard app handles character radicals and stroke order well. That is a genuine gap. Skritter is the dedicated tool for learners who want to learn handwriting alongside recognition, and it is genuinely good at that specific job. The tradeoff is price and scope. Skritter is expensive relative to the alternatives and it focuses specifically on Chinese and Japanese writing practice. If handwriting is not your priority and you just want to read and type, you do not need Skritter. But if you have any ambition to write by hand or if you find that writing practice improves your character recognition, it is the best tool for that narrow job and nothing else comes close.
For most Chinese learners, the best setup is Anki or Gridually for core vocabulary drilling plus Pleco as your dictionary for reading practice. Skritter only if handwriting matters to you. Quizlet's free tier is genuinely not enough for serious study, and the paid tier is hard to justify when free alternatives are this capable. Gridually's spatial encoding is based on memory research from the University of Chicago, University of Bonn, and Macquarie University.
For Chinese characters, Gridually's spatial grids help with radical pattern recognition by placing related characters near each other. Skritter specializes in character writing practice. Pleco is the best Chinese dictionary app with built-in flashcards. Anki has extensive HSK decks but requires significant setup for Chinese-specific features.
Focus on the radical system. Chinese characters are built from about 200 common components that carry meaning and pronunciation hints. Spatial grids let you group characters by shared radical so you see these patterns visually - much more effective than memorizing characters one at a time.
Yes. Gridually imports Anki .apkg files. Your HSK vocabulary becomes spatially organized grid items where radical relationships and character component patterns become visually apparent.