Tomyo or Anki: which to choose for Chinese
Anki and Tomyo rely on the same principle of spaced repetition and the same underlying SM-2 algorithm. The difference is not in the algorithm but in what you get on day one: Anki gives you a universal tool and complete freedom to configure it, Tomyo gives you a pre-built HSK programme. The first costs you preparation time, the second limits your choice of material.
| Anki | Tomyo | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A universal flashcard builder | A Chinese course with a ready programme |
| Review algorithm | SM-2, optionally FSRS | SM-2 |
| Material | Your own cards or shared decks | HSK 1–6 vocabulary, grammar, radicals |
| Subject | Any | Chinese only |
| Interface language | Chosen in the preferences | Russian and English |
| Setup before you start | Required | Not required |
| Flexibility | Complete: card types, templates, scheduling | Limited: pace and level |
| Offline use | Fully offline | Needs a connection |
| Price | Free except on iOS ($24.99) | Free plan, Plus from 399 RUB/month |
The main difference
Anki knows nothing about Chinese. It is a flashcard program in general: you decide what to learn, in what order, and what a card looks like. The official manual explicitly advises building your own deck and warns that other people’s ready-made decks work better alongside your own material than instead of it.
That is a strength if you know what you want, and a burden if you are only starting. At the beginning of Chinese you do not yet know which words to take first, how many of them belong in a day, or whether to learn a whole character or its components first. Anki does not answer those questions, and it should not: it is a tool, not a curriculum.
Tomyo answers them for you: word order follows the HSK levels, grammar and radicals are mixed into the same session, handwriting runs on a schedule of its own. The flip side is that this order cannot be overridden. If what you need is not HSK but the vocabulary of a particular field or textbook, a ready programme gets in the way instead of helping.
The algorithm is the same in both
Both are built on SM-2 — the same algorithm, developed for SuperMemo. Anki additionally lets you switch on FSRS, which schedules reviews more precisely; it is off by default.
The dividing line does not run through the algorithm. It runs through who assembles the material.
What it costs
Anki is free on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android. Only the official iOS app is paid — AnkiMobile: a one-off purchase of $24.99 according to the App Store on 13 August 2026; the price depends on the store country and may change. For an iPhone owner that is a single payment, and over time it works out cheaper than any subscription, Tomyo’s included.
In Tomyo the free plan has no time limit: one session a day with reviews is always available. Plus removes the limit and opens every kind of material — it is a subscription, that is a recurring payment rather than a one-off purchase.
Can you use both
Yes, and it is a perfectly normal setup. Tomyo runs the main HSK programme, while Anki is a good place for everything outside it: the vocabulary of your field, words from a TV series, phrases from your teacher. There is no shared progress between them — these are two independent schedules, and you will have to keep both in mind.
When Anki is the better choice
- Free on the desktop and on Android — you only pay for the iOS app.
- Not limited to Chinese: the same program serves a language, anatomy, law or anything else.
- Fully configurable: card types, fields, styling templates, limits and scheduling can all be changed.
- Works entirely offline and keeps your data locally, with no mandatory tie to somebody else’s server.
- A huge ecosystem of add-ons and shared decks built up over years.
When Tomyo is the better choice
- The programme is already assembled: word order by HSK level, with grammar and radicals wired into the same sessions — no deck to find and configure.
- Interface and material translations in Russian and English.
- Handwriting runs on its own schedule, separate from recognising the word.
- Several exercise formats for the same word: recognition, pinyin, handwriting, sentence building, dictation.
- Dialogues and texts adapt to the words you already know.
- Payment by Russian card, with apps in the App Store, Google Play and RuStore.
Frequently asked questions
Anki is free and Tomyo is paid — why pay?
If you are happy assembling the material yourself, there is nothing to pay for: Anki is free on the desktop and on Android, and over a long stretch it costs less than a subscription. The difference lies elsewhere: in Anki you spend your own time building and maintaining the deck, in Tomyo the material is already assembled and ordered by HSK. Tomyo also has a free plan with no time limit — one session a day.
Can I move my Anki deck into Tomyo?
There is no Anki deck import. Words can be added to the Tomyo dictionary by hand — your own words are supported on equal terms with programme words and then follow the same review schedule.
Is the review algorithm in Tomyo better than in Anki?
No. Both rest on SM-2, the same algorithm. Anki additionally lets you switch on FSRS, which schedules more precisely. The difference between the products is not the algorithm but the fact that Anki requires you to assemble the material while Tomyo hands you a ready programme.
What should a Chinese beginner choose?
If you are starting from zero and do not want to spend the first weeks configuring things, a ready programme is more convenient: word order, handwriting and grammar are already aligned with each other. Anki is justified when you know exactly which material you need and are prepared to build it yourself.
Does Anki have handwriting practice for characters?
Anki is not tied to any particular exercise: card types and their templates are configurable, so a writing card can be built like any other — and the community has add-ons for it. In Tomyo handwriting is a separate kind of practice with its own schedule, independent of the word-recognition schedule, and it needs no setting up.
Does Tomyo work without an internet connection?
No, studying needs a connection, both on the website and in the mobile apps. Anki is built differently in this respect: it stores the collection locally and works fully offline, and syncing is only there to keep several devices in the same state.
What are the alternatives to Anki for learning Chinese?
Anki is replaced by tools where the Chinese material is already assembled: Tomyo runs a programme by HSK level, HelloChinese is a lesson-based course with speech recognition, Skritter is a character-writing trainer. To make sense of an unfamiliar text people reach for the Pleco dictionary instead of flashcards. All of them, unlike Anki, work with Chinese only.