CANTONESE HEAD TO HEAD
Choose between Glossika Cantonese and Canto School by the practice you want, the price you actually pay, and what you need alongside it.
Published by Canto School, the maker of one of the apps compared here. Our picks are editorial recommendations. See sources and method.
For an English-speaking beginner who wants a practical daily phone course, our pick is Canto School. Choose Glossika Cantonese when its specific strengths below matter more to you.
Documented features are separated from what we could not verify. A lower price is not evidence that an app supplies the same service as a tutor, a dictionary or a larger content library.
| What matters | Canto School | Glossika Cantonese |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free browser course; optional US$7.99 / month native Full Course | Basic US$19.99 / month |
| Billing | No subscription for the browser course or public audio library. The optional native Full Course is a monthly subscription: three monthly payments total US$23.97; twelve total US$95.88. Those are sums of monthly payments, not annual-plan offers. Stores show local prices and renewal terms. | One-language Basic; annual equivalent displayed US$16.58/month, annual lump sum not verified. Pro US$39.99/month covers multiple languages. |
| Try before paying | The full browser course and published Cantonese audio library are free. The native app is a separate offer: free download and starting lesson, plus free Build with available exact recordings. Native Full Course adds all course stages, full Vocabulary, flashcards, Review and Theory. | Seven-day full trial without a card; it does not automatically start billing. |
| Main practice | A free browser Cantonese course with recorded listening, meaning checks, replies and sentence-building practice. The native app adds its phone lesson path, Build, vocabulary, flashcards and review. | The learner practices progressively harder whole sentences with native audio and scheduled repetition; placement testing or starting from zero is offered. |
| Pronunciation notation | Traditional Chinese, Jyutping with tone numbers and English support. | Public Cantonese demo shows Traditional Chinese and numbered Jyutping-form romanization. |
| Offline study | The browser course and web audio need an internet connection. Native app lessons and available recordings are included for offline study. Purchases, restores and subscription checks can need internet; this is not a promise of indefinite offline subscription access. | Basic download allowance: 100 sentence pairs. Pro: 500 per language. |
| Speaking and feedback | Exercise answer feedback and record-and-compare speaking practice. Supported iPhones can check recognized words; Android does not. Neither is a pronunciation or tone grade. | Sentence practice and recording; not an individual teacher correcting your tones. |
Glossika’s sentence-based routine can suit a learner who wants to hear and retrieve many complete examples. Its Cantonese demo includes Traditional Chinese and romanization, and its paid product advertises native-speaker recordings. It should not be dismissed as a word-list app.
Canto School is our pick when the learner wants a more varied daily session, with several response formats, a visible lesson path, Build and review decks. The recommendation is about a manageable study routine; we have not run a comparative learning-outcome experiment.
Glossika’s seven-day trial needs no card and does not automatically charge. Basic is US$19.99 per month for one language; Pro costs more and covers its wider catalogue. The annual page displays a rounded monthly equivalent, so we do not turn it into an invented exact annual invoice.
Basic permits 100 sentence pairs downloaded for offline practice, and Pro permits 500 per language. Canto School bundles its available course media for ordinary offline study, with internet still needed for some subscription operations. If offline study matters to you, compare those actual access conditions.
Try a free Canto School browser lesson and an appropriate sample or lesson from Glossika Cantonese. Compare whether you understand the instructions, can follow the sound support and know what to do next. Choose the routine you can repeat. For personal pronunciation correction, seek a suitable Cantonese teacher rather than treating an exercise score as a tone assessment.
Check the full cost guide and study-budget planner, or read our suggested learning approach.
HEAD TO HEAD
A beginner who likes guided listening and speaking during a commute or walk, and can regularly make time for audio recall.
Read the comparison ↗HEAD TO HEAD
A visual learner who enjoys quick vocabulary practice, or a learner adding vocabulary games alongside a broader Cantonese course.
Read the comparison ↗HEAD TO HEAD
A beginner who wants a familiar app lesson path, games, dialogue practice and access to multiple languages; less suitable if automatic speaking lessons or writing lessons are essential.
Read the comparison ↗Our competitor price research uses official product pages, pricing pages, help centres and app-store listings checked on 22 October 2026. Canto School’s free browser-course access was updated on 2 November 2026; the Duolingo course-audience answer carries its own check date. The comparison considers Cantonese availability, fit for English-speaking learners, practice format, pronunciation notation, offline access, feedback and the actual billing commitment. We have not independently tested every resource or measured learning outcomes. External links are source links, not affiliate links.
Prices are snapshots, not checkout quotes. Currency, tax, storefront, promotions and platform can change the amount. A prepaid yearly or two-year plan is labelled as such. We do not treat a monthly equivalent as a cancel-any-month price. A missing verified price is marked rather than guessed.
This page compares advertised access and study formats; we have not bought every plan or independently evaluated every recording. Current price and availability are controlled by the relevant provider.
Our overall recommendation favours a practical daily Cantonese course that combines guided practice and review. Different goals lead to different choices. We publish Canto School, so this is a disclosed product comparison, not an independent award or a scored laboratory review. Report a correction through Support.
