Skritter Review (2026): How I Learned 2,500+ Chinese Characters

Updated August 2026. I started using Skritter in 2011 and eventually learned more than 2,500 Chinese characters with it. That is still the most important fact in this review: I used it heavily, for a long time, and it worked.

Skritter has changed considerably since I first used it with an external writing tablet. The core idea has not: it makes you actively produce Chinese characters or Japanese kanji, checks your strokes, and schedules reviews so you keep seeing the characters you are close to forgetting.

Skritter review: my verdict

If you genuinely want to learn to write Chinese characters or Japanese kanji, Skritter is still the app I would pay for. It is much more focused than a general language app, and that is why it works. You are not collecting points for tapping the correct translation. You are repeatedly recalling and writing characters.

I would not buy it if your goal is only basic spoken Mandarin for travel, or if you have decided you only need character recognition. Writing thousands of characters by hand is a serious time investment. Skritter makes that work more efficient; it does not make the work disappear.

What Skritter does

Skritter is a handwriting-focused spaced-repetition system for Chinese and Japanese. You write on a phone, tablet or computer and get immediate feedback on the character, stroke order and individual strokes.

It also includes pronunciation, definitions, example vocabulary, prebuilt study lists and textbook lists. You can study simplified or traditional Chinese, build your own lists, and use the same account for Chinese and Japanese.

Why it worked so well for me

The biggest benefit was active recall. Looking at a character and thinking “yes, I know that” is completely different from seeing the English meaning and having to produce the character from memory. Skritter exposed that gap constantly.

Writing also made similar characters much easier to distinguish. Once I had physically produced a character hundreds of times, the components stopped looking like a dense square of lines and started feeling like a structure I understood.

Stroke order mattered more than I expected. It made handwriting faster and more natural, but it also gave me another memory cue. I was not simply memorising the final image; I was memorising how the character was constructed.

Skritter is best as part of real Chinese study

I learned those characters while also taking Chinese lessons nearly every day and using the language. That context mattered. A character I saw in messages, menus and lessons stuck much more easily than an obscure character I only encountered in the app.

This is still my main criticism of any spaced-repetition tool: the algorithm cannot perfectly know which words matter in your life. Use Skritter to reinforce the Chinese you are actually reading and hearing rather than treating its database as a syllabus you have to complete.

What I don’t like

First, it can become its own hobby. I like watching the review count go down and seeing statistics improve. That can trick me into spending an hour maintaining flashcards when I would get more from reading, talking to somebody or doing a lesson.

Second, handwriting is less essential than it was when I began learning Chinese. Phones let you type with pinyin, handwriting input or voice, and many learners can meet their real goals with strong recognition and only modest handwriting ability.

Third, Skritter is specialised enough that the subscription feels expensive if you use it casually. I only think it is good value when you actually intend to practise several times a week.

Skritter pricing in 2026

Skritter currently costs US$14.99 for one month, US$59.99 for six months, or US$99.99 for a year. New subscriptions include a seven-day free trial, so I would use the trial to find out whether you actually enjoy the writing workflow before paying for a long plan.

The annual plan makes much more sense if you are committed. Learning enough characters to read comfortably is a many-month project, not a weekend sprint.

Skritter vs Anki

Anki is much more flexible and basically free on desktop. I still use and recommend it for general language study. But reproducing Skritter’s handwriting workflow inside Anki takes more effort and does not give you the same stroke-level feedback.

If I only wanted to memorise vocabulary and recognise characters, I would use Anki. If writing characters accurately is part of the goal, I prefer Skritter.

Skritter vs Pleco

Pleco is the Chinese app I would install before Skritter because it is an exceptional dictionary and general reference tool. Its flashcards can also handle character review. But I have never liked Pleco’s flashcard interface as much as Skritter’s dedicated writing workflow.

I use the two for different jobs: Pleco to understand Chinese; Skritter to make myself remember how to write it.

Who should use Skritter?

I recommend Skritter to serious Mandarin students, people studying traditional Chinese in Taiwan, Chinese-language students preparing for courses or exams, and Japanese learners who want to write kanji rather than only recognise them.

I would skip it if handwriting is not important to your goals. Spend that time listening, reading and speaking instead.

Would I use Skritter again?

Yes. If I decided tomorrow that I wanted to rebuild my Chinese handwriting, I would reopen Skritter rather than invent a new system. It already did the job for me once.

For the broader toolkit, see our Chinese learning resources and our guide to learning Chinese from scratch.