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.

Feature	Pleco	DimSum
Overall Score	N/A	N/A
Primary Category	Education & Reference	News & Books

Product Overview

Pleco

Description: 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.

DimSum

Description: 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.

Key Features Comparison

Pleco Features

• 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

DimSum Features

• Save articles, videos, and more for later reading
• Categorization and tagging
• Full-text search
• Archiving
• Encryption

Pros & Cons Analysis

Pleco

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

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

Pricing Comparison

Pleco

• Freemium

DimSum

• Open Source