About HanziCoverage
Quick answer
Who makes HanziCoverage and why should I trust it?
I build and maintain HanziCoverage on my own. I am not affiliated with HSK, Hanban, or Chinese Testing International. The tools run entirely in your browser, every reading-coverage figure I cite is sourced and dated, and the one app I recommend is one I built myself, which I say plainly rather than hide.
HanziCoverage is a free set of tools that estimate how much of a piece of Chinese you can already read and which words would help most next. It is built for self-studying learners and for teachers choosing reading materials.
Who runs it
I do. I'm an independent software developer, and HanziCoverage came out of wanting a straight answer to "can I actually read this yet?" for my own Chinese reading. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or administered by HSK, Hanban, or Chinese Testing International. I describe the HSK levels for reference; I do not certify anyone. You can reach me through the Urban Algorithm contact page.
How the tools handle your text
The analyzer, the difficulty grader, and the coverage curve all run entirely in your browser. Your pasted text is segmented and scored on your own device and is never uploaded or transmitted. I receive only anonymous, aggregate statistics, such as a coarse text-length band and a coverage band, never the text itself and no accounts or identifiers. The full detail is on the privacy page.
Editorial standards
- Honest estimates, no false precision. Coverage is a word-recognition estimate, not a comprehension guarantee, and every result says so. I do not publish a segmenter accuracy percentage unless it is measured and dated.
- Sourced facts. The reading-comprehension thresholds I cite come from the reading-acquisition literature, attributed on the guides, not asserted as my own findings. The vocabulary and frequency data ship with their sources.
- No hidden endorsements. The one app I recommend, Wordbrush, is one I built myself, and I say so plainly on the recommended app page. The tools here are free and always will be, whether or not you install anything.
Data sources
The HSK vocabulary and the frequency and coverage figures are built from public, openly-licensed datasets, attributed on-site with their licenses. HanziCoverage does not claim ownership of the underlying corpora; the tools are the original work.
Why two HSK schemes
China's HSK exam was restructured in 2021 from the older six-level HSK 2.0 word lists to a nine-level HSK 3.0 structure with a much larger combined vocabulary. Many learners, textbooks, and older graded readers still reference HSK 2.0, and the current exam reports on HSK 3.0, so HanziCoverage computes coverage against both schemes side by side rather than forcing a single answer that would be wrong for half its readers.
What HanziCoverage does not do
The tools measure word recognition, not comprehension, grammar, listening, or speaking, and they do not grade you against an exam or issue any certificate. A high coverage number means the vocabulary is familiar, not that every sentence will make sense. Use the results to decide what to read next and what to study next, not as a substitute for practicing with real texts or, for exam prep, an actual HSK-format test.