The best apps to learn Japanese

Japanese asks you to learn three things at once: two syllabaries and a few thousand kanji, a grammar that runs back to front for English speakers, and a spoken language that sounds little like the textbook. No app covers all three. The sensible approach is one tool per job, and this list is grouped that way: kana and kanji, grammar, dictionary, reading, vocabulary, listening, speaking.

Every entry was checked in November 2026: the official site is live and the app or service is still being updated. Prices appear only where the official site shows them, and they are a snapshot.

The Japanese app stack at a glance

App	Job	Best at	Level	Price seen on the official site
WaniKani	Kanji	A fixed path through about 2,000 kanji	Beginner to advanced	First three levels free, then subscription
Skritter	Kanji writing	Handwriting with stroke feedback	All	US$14.99 a month, US$99.99 a year
Bunpro	Grammar	Grammar drilled with spaced repetition	N5 to N1	US$5 a month, US$150 lifetime
Renshuu	All-round study	Free quizzes for kanji, words and grammar	All	Free core
Duolingo	Habit and kana	Getting started	Beginner	Free with limits
Jisho	Dictionary (web)	Searching by anything, including drawn kanji parts	All	Free
Takoboto	Dictionary (Android, web)	Fast offline lookups	All	Free
Shirabe Jisho	Dictionary (iPhone)	Offline lookups and handwriting	All	Free
Yomitan	Pop-up dictionary	Hover lookups in the browser	Intermediate up	Free
Satori Reader	Reading	Graded stories with explanations	Upper beginner to intermediate	US$9 a month, US$89 a year
NHK News Web Easy	Reading	Real news in simple Japanese	N4 up	Free
Anki	Vocabulary and SRS	Free flashcards	All	Free, iPhone app paid once
Migaku	Video immersion	Learning from anime, drama and YouTube	Intermediate up	Subscription
LingQ	Reading and listening	Importing your own content	Intermediate up	€14.99 a month, €119.99 a year
Pimsleur	Listening and speaking	Audio drills	Beginner	Subscription
italki	Speaking	Paid one-to-one tutors	All	Pay per lesson
HelloTalk	Speaking and writing	Free exchange with Japanese speakers	Elementary up	Free core, paid VIP

Kana and kanji: WaniKani, Anki or Skritter

Learn hiragana and katakana before anything else. It takes one to two weeks with any app, including Duolingo, and the kana page has the charts.

WaniKani is best at taking the decisions away. It teaches radicals, then kanji, then vocabulary that uses them, with mnemonics and a fixed review schedule over 60 levels. The first three levels are free, which is enough to know whether the style suits you. Weakness: the pace is set by the system, so you cannot hurry, and the full course takes well over a year.

Anki is the free alternative: the same spaced repetition idea with decks you choose yourself. It suits learners who want control and do not mind setup. Weakness: nobody stops you from adding 50 new cards a day and burying yourself.

Skritter is for writing kanji by hand, with stroke-by-stroke correction. It has a separate Japanese app. The site lists US$14.99 a month or US$99.99 a year, with a seven-day trial. Weakness: costly for a skill many adult learners never need.

Kungfucius's view: choose WaniKani or an Anki kanji deck, not both. Two kanji systems at once means double the reviews and half the progress. The background is on the kanji page.

Grammar: Bunpro and Renshuu

Bunpro applies spaced repetition to grammar. Each point has a short explanation, example sentences with audio and fill-in reviews, ordered by JLPT level or by your textbook. Its pricing page lists US$5 a month or US$150 for lifetime access, and every new account gets 30 days of Premium free. Weakness: typing the missing word tests recognition of a pattern more than free production.

Renshuu is the generous one. The core, with quizzes for vocabulary, kanji, grammar and sentences plus a built-in dictionary, is free on the web and in the apps. It suits learners on a budget and people who like to tinker with schedules. Weakness: so many options that beginners can spend the first week in the settings.

Neither replaces a textbook or a course that explains grammar in order. They make what you have studied stick.

Dictionaries: Jisho, Takoboto, Shirabe Jisho and Yomitan

Jisho is the standard free web dictionary. You can search in English, romaji, kana or kanji, look up a kanji by its parts, and paste a whole sentence to have it split into words. Weakness: it is a website with no official app, and the entries come from community dictionary files, so nuance between near-synonyms is thin.

Takoboto is the offline dictionary Kungfucius suggests on Android, also usable on the web. Shirabe Jisho does the same job on iPhone, with handwriting input. Both are free. Weakness of both: they rely on the same underlying data as Jisho.

Yomitan is a free browser extension: hold a key, hover over a Japanese word on any web page, and the reading and meaning pop up. It suits intermediate learners who read online. Weakness: you install dictionaries yourself, and constant pop-ups can become a crutch.

More options are on the dictionaries page.

Reading: Satori Reader and free graded material

Satori Reader is best at the awkward stage after the textbook. It offers serial stories written for learners, with audio, and every sentence can be opened for a translation and a note on the grammar. Free accounts get selected episodes. Pro is US$9 a month or US$89 a year. Weakness: little for true beginners, and nothing once you read native books comfortably.

NHK News Web Easy is the public broadcaster's news in simplified Japanese with furigana, free. It suits learners from about N4. Weakness: news vocabulary, and only a few articles a day.

The non-profit Tadoku group also publishes free graded books from absolute beginner level, which is the cheapest way to start reading at all.

Vocabulary, listening and immersion

Anki again does the vocabulary work. Use a sentence-based core deck with audio, then add words from what you read and watch. See sentence mining for the method.

Migaku is strongest in Japanese, the language it was first built for: interactive subtitles on Netflix and YouTube, pitch and reading information, one-click flashcards. Weakness: wasted on beginners, and a subscription.

LingQ imports text and audio and tracks your known words. Premium is shown at €14.99 a month or €119.99 a year. Weakness: splitting Japanese into words is hard for software, and LingQ sometimes cuts in odd places.

Pimsleur trains your ear and mouth with audio only. Weakness: polite textbook Japanese, small vocabulary, no kanji.

For free listening, YouTube is the best library there is. Kungfucius's picks are on the list of best YouTube channels for Japanese.

Speaking: italki and HelloTalk

italki gives you a tutor who will make you produce sentences, which is the one thing self-study apps let you avoid for years. Weakness: lessons cost money and tutors vary.

HelloTalk has many Japanese users learning English. It is good for short written posts and corrections. Weakness: Japanese partners are often too polite to correct you unless you ask.

Is Duolingo good for Japanese?

It is good for kana, for a first few hundred words and for showing up every day. It is weak on grammar explanation and slow to bring in kanji. Duolingo on its own leaves most learners at basic level. Combine it with a kanji tool and a grammar source, or move on after the first two months.

What is the best free app for Japanese?

A free stack: Renshuu or Anki for kanji, words and grammar review, Jisho plus Takoboto or Shirabe Jisho for lookups, Tadoku books and NHK News Web Easy for reading, YouTube for listening and HelloTalk for practice. It costs nothing and it works. The paid tools mainly save you time and decisions.

Further reading: All Japanese All The Time

Not an app, but the blog that shaped how a generation of self-taught learners use these apps: All Japanese All The Time (AJATT), Khatzumoto's account of learning Japanese through constant immersion and sentence cards. Read it for the attitude, then pick your tools from the list above. The method is discussed under sentence mining.

What to install this week

1. Learn kana in the first two weeks, with any app.
2. Install one dictionary for your phone and bookmark Jisho.
3. Choose one kanji route, WaniKani or Anki, and one grammar route, Bunpro or Renshuu alongside a textbook.
4. From about N5, read one Tadoku book or Satori Reader episode a day.
5. Book a tutor or start writing on HelloTalk within the first three months, not the first three years.
6. If you are aiming for an exam, check the JLPT levels before you choose decks.