Pleco vs DimSum

Struggling to choose between Pleco and DimSum? Both products offer unique advantages, making it a tough decision.

Pleco is a Education & Reference solution with tags like dictionary, translator, chinese, mandarin, cantonese, pinyin, stroke-order, language-learning.

It boasts features such as Comprehensive Chinese-English dictionary, Stroke order animations for writing characters, Example sentences with pinyin and English translations, Flashcards for memorizing vocabulary, Optical character recognition (OCR) for looking up characters by taking a photo, Handwriting recognition for looking up characters by drawing them, Pronunciation recordings by native speakers, Text translator and text-to-speech capabilities and pros including Extensive dictionary and robust features for learning Chinese, Clean, intuitive interface, Available on both iOS and Android, OCR and handwriting recognition are very useful, Relatively affordable compared to paper dictionaries.

On the other hand, DimSum is a News & Books product tagged with articles, videos, reading-list, archiving, encryption.

Its standout features include Save articles, videos, and more for later reading, Categorization and tagging, Full-text search, Archiving, Encryption, and it shines with pros like Open source and self-hosted, Customizable to user needs, Can be integrated with other tools.

To help you make an informed decision, we've compiled a comprehensive comparison of these two products, delving into their features, pros, cons, pricing, and more. Get ready to explore the nuances that set them apart and determine which one is the perfect fit for your requirements.

Pleco

Pleco

Pleco is a popular Chinese dictionary and language learning mobile app for iOS and Android. It provides dictionary lookups, stroke order diagrams, example sentences, pronunciation, and more for studying Chinese characters.

Categories:
dictionary translator chinese mandarin cantonese pinyin stroke-order language-learning

Pleco Features

  1. Comprehensive Chinese-English dictionary
  2. Stroke order animations for writing characters
  3. Example sentences with pinyin and English translations
  4. Flashcards for memorizing vocabulary
  5. Optical character recognition (OCR) for looking up characters by taking a photo
  6. Handwriting recognition for looking up characters by drawing them
  7. Pronunciation recordings by native speakers
  8. Text translator and text-to-speech capabilities

Pricing

  • Freemium

Pros

Extensive dictionary and robust features for learning Chinese

Clean, intuitive interface

Available on both iOS and Android

OCR and handwriting recognition are very useful

Relatively affordable compared to paper dictionaries

Cons

The free version has limited content

Requires an internet connection for full functionality

Some more advanced features require in-app purchases

iOS version lacks support for third-party Chinese input methods


DimSum

DimSum

DimSum is an open-source, self-hosted alternative to Pocket. It allows you to save articles, videos, and more for later reading. DimSum features categorization, tagging, full-text search, archiving, encryption, and more.

Categories:
articles videos reading-list archiving encryption

DimSum Features

  1. Save articles, videos, and more for later reading
  2. Categorization and tagging
  3. Full-text search
  4. Archiving
  5. Encryption

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Open source and self-hosted

Customizable to user needs

Can be integrated with other tools

Cons

Requires self-hosting so need technical expertise

Lacks some features of commercial products like Pocket

Smaller user community than proprietary options