How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- There is no single best app for Japanese, because the language splits into separate skills: most serious learners end up pairing a course app with a kanji system and a grammar system.
- Duolingo is the best free habit builder, LingoDeer is the best structured course for beginners who want grammar explained properly, and WaniKani at 9 dollars a month owns kanji.
- Bunpro at 5 dollars a month covers grammar from beginner to advanced with spaced repetition, and Pimsleur builds speaking and listening through audio alone.
- Order matters in Japanese: learn hiragana and katakana first, meet kanji gradually inside words, and expect formality levels, because the polite Japanese apps teach first is a starting dialect, not the whole language.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Duolingo | Free daily habit and first steps | Free | Yes |
 LingoDeer | Structured beginner course with grammar | $14.99 per month | No |
 WaniKani | Kanji and vocabulary by spaced repetition | $9 per month | Yes |
 Bunpro | Grammar study from N5 to N1 | $5 per month | Yes |
 Pimsleur | Speaking and listening by audio | $19.95 per month | No |
 Anki | Long term vocabulary retention | Free | Yes |
 Busuu | Course with feedback from native speakers | See website | Yes |
 italki | Real conversation with a tutor | $4 per lesson | No |
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The best apps to learn Japanese
#1Duolingo
Best for: Free daily habit and first steps4.5/5 on
G2 (145 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit duolingo.com
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
What we like- Duolingo's Japanese course is the most used starting point for a reason: bite sized lessons, a kana chart that teaches hiragana and katakana through practice, streaks and reminders that genuinely build a daily habit, and a free tier that covers the opening stretch without a card. Super at about 13 dollars a month removes ads and limits. For the first two or three months, when consistency matters more than depth, it is the easiest recommendation in this guide.
Watch out for- Duolingo's Japanese has long been criticised for thin grammar explanation, unnatural example sentences, and slow kanji coverage, and speaking practice is limited to reading aloud into a microphone checker. Learners typically plateau at a tourist plus level and need LingoDeer, Bunpro, or a tutor to go further. The free tier's energy system interrupts exactly the long study sessions serious learners want.
Starting price$14.99 per month
Free planNo
What we like- LingoDeer was built for Asian languages rather than adapted to them, and it shows: lessons explain grammar points in plain language before drilling them, sentences use native recorded audio, and kana, kanji, and vocabulary arrive in a deliberate order aligned broadly with JLPT beginner and lower intermediate levels. At 14.99 dollars a month with annual and lifetime options, it is the course most often recommended to beginners who found Duolingo's Japanese too shallow. Offline downloads suit commuters.
Watch out for- Content runs out around lower intermediate level, so committed learners graduate to Bunpro, WaniKani, and native material within a year or two. Speaking practice is sentence repetition rather than conversation. Pricing promotions vary, so check the current offer rather than a review's figure.
Starting price$9 per month
Free planYes
What we like- WaniKani solves the kanji problem as a system: radicals first, then kanji built from them with memorable mnemonics, then vocabulary that uses each character in real words, all scheduled by spaced repetition across 60 levels covering the roughly 2,000 kanji of daily literacy. It costs 9 dollars a month, 89 dollars a year, or 299 dollars lifetime, with the first three levels free. Learners who finish it can read
- That is not a claim any course app here can make.
Watch out for- WaniKani teaches reading only: no grammar, no listening, no speaking, and its pace is deliberately gated, so reviews arrive when the system says, not when you want a binge session. The mnemonics are vivid and occasionally crude, which suits some memories and offends others. It must be paired with a course and grammar study to become Japanese ability rather than kanji knowledge.
Starting price$5 per month
Free planYes
What we like- Bunpro is the grammar counterpart to WaniKani: every grammar point from JLPT N5 to N1, explained with structure notes and example sentences, then drilled through fill in the blank reviews on a spaced repetition schedule that resurfaces points as you forget them. At 5 dollars a month it is the cheapest specialist here, and a free tier covers a starting set. Learners moving past textbook beginnings use it to make grammar cumulative instead of a chapter they once passed.
Watch out for- Bunpro assumes you can already read kana and some kanji, so true beginners need a course app first. Drilling grammar points in isolation can outpace your ability to use them in speech, which only conversation fixes. The interface is functional rather than friendly, and the discipline of daily reviews is the product, for better and worse.
#5Pimsleur
Best for: Speaking and listening by audio4.3/5 on
G2 (2 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit pimsleur.com
Starting price$19.95 per month
Free planNo
What we like- Pimsleur's Japanese is 30 minute audio lessons built on listen and respond: you hear a conversation, repeat phrases at spaced intervals, and answer prompts aloud, which trains pronunciation and listening with no screen at all. Premium runs 19.95 dollars a month in current price guides, with a 7 day trial. For commuters and anyone whose study time is a drive or a walk, it builds an ear and a speaking reflex that screen apps neglect, and it teaches polite, usable Japanese from the first lesson.
Watch out for- Pimsleur teaches almost no reading or writing, so kana and kanji must come from elsewhere. Vocabulary coverage is narrower than course apps, and the scripted exchanges cannot prepare you for an unscripted answer. Reviewers praise the method while criticising the company's billing and renewal handling, so set a calendar note for the trial's end and check the subscription terms at signup.
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
What we like- Anki is the spaced repetition engine under half the serious Japanese study on earth: free on desktop and Android, 25 dollars one time on iOS, with shared decks covering core vocabulary, kanji, and mined sentences from media you consume. Its scheduling algorithm is the reference standard, and anything you meet in the wild, a word in a novel, a line in a show, can become a card in seconds. Learners who use it daily simply forget less.
Watch out for- Anki is a tool, not a course: no lessons, no explanations, and an interface that rewards people who enjoy configuring systems. Shared deck quality varies and a bad deck teaches bad habits at scale. The discipline is unforgiving, since missed days return as a review mountain, which is the honest price of the retention it delivers.
#7Busuu
Best for: Course with feedback from native speakers4.4/5 on
G2 (71 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit busuu.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
What we like- Busuu's Japanese course adds the feature the drill apps lack: exercises corrected by native speakers in its community, so your written and spoken Japanese gets human feedback inside a structured course that runs from beginner upward with placement testing. A free tier covers opening lessons and Premium pricing is published in its app listings. For a learner without a tutor budget, community correction is the closest substitute.
Watch out for- Feedback quality depends on which community members answer, and detailed correction is luck compared with a paid teacher. The course depth for Japanese trails Busuu's European languages. Premium pricing varies by platform and promotion often enough that see website is the honest field here.
#8italki
Best for: Real conversation with a tutor3.8/5 on
G2 (19 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit italki.com
Starting price$4 per lesson
Free planNo
What we like- Italki is not a course but a marketplace of Japanese tutors and teachers for one to one video lessons, starting from about 4 dollars a lesson for conversation practice and rising with qualifications. It is the only entry here where you speak with a human who answers back, corrects your formality level, and notices what you actually get wrong. Serious learners use it as the speaking layer over an app stack, weekly, once the basics hold.
Watch out for- Quality and structure vary by tutor, and finding your teacher takes a few trial lessons. Per lesson pricing means costs scale with how much you practise, as they should, and conversation exposes gaps that drills politely hid, which is the point and also the discomfort. italki provides the person
- The curriculum discipline remains yours.
How we chose
We selected the products Japanese learners actually combine: two course apps for the main path, the kanji and grammar specialists, the audio method, the retention engine, a feedback course, and the human layer. Prices are October 2026 published and guide checked figures, with note made where a vendor's own page does not print a clean price. We judged Japanese specific quality, kana and kanji handling, grammar explanation, politeness coverage, rather than generic language app features, since that is where Japanese courses differ from Spanish ones.
How to choose the right app to learn Japanese
Assemble a stack by goal and timeline. For a trip in two months: Pimsleur daily for speaking and listening, Duolingo or LingoDeer for kana and basics, and a translation app with the offline Japanese pack downloaded for the trip itself. For long term fluency or JLPT goals: LingoDeer or Busuu as the course, WaniKani started early because kanji compounds over years, Bunpro once kana is automatic, Anki for vocabulary you meet in real material, and a weekly italki lesson from the point where you can hold five minutes of conversation, because speaking is the skill no drill installs.
Work in the right order whatever you choose: hiragana until it is boring, katakana alongside real words, kanji inside vocabulary rather than as a pre study project, and grammar steadily rather than in bursts. Expect the politeness ladder to take time: the polite forms the apps teach will carry you through travel, work introductions, and service encounters respectfully, and the plain and honorific registers arrive with exposure and a teacher's correction. The research consensus behind every app here is unglamorous: time on task predicts progress better than features, and the best app is the one still open on your phone in month six. Prices are October 2026 figures.
Frequently asked questions
Can I learn Japanese with one app only?
For a trip or a hobby, yes: Duolingo or LingoDeer alone will give you kana, survival phrases, and basic sentences. For reading, exams, work, or real conversation, no single app covers kanji depth, grammar, listening, and speaking together, which is why the standard advice is a stack: a course, WaniKani for kanji, Bunpro for grammar, and a human for speaking. The stack costs roughly 15 to 25 dollars a month in subscriptions plus lessons, less than one month of classes.
What order should I learn hiragana, katakana, and kanji?
Hiragana first, to automatic recognition, usually two to four weeks of daily practice. Katakana next, since signs, menus, and loanwords use it constantly. Kanji from early on but gradually, inside words you are learning, ideally through a system such as WaniKani that orders them by components. Learning all kanji before starting the language is the classic beginner trap: 2,000 characters of pre study with no Japanese attached, and most people quit inside it.
How long until I can hold a conversation?
With thirty to forty five minutes a day, most learners handle scripted basics, introductions, shopping, directions, in three to six months, and unscripted conversation takes a year or more of steady work including real speaking practice. JLPT N5, roughly 100 kanji and basic grammar, is a realistic six to twelve month target part time. Apps accelerate the input side; conversation hours decide the speaking side, which is why tutors appear in this guide.
Do I need to learn keigo and formality levels?
You need the polite default first, which every course here teaches, and awareness that Japanese changes verbs and vocabulary by relationship and setting. Keigo proper, the honorific and humble system used in business and service roles, matters when you work in Japanese or serve Japanese customers, and it is normally learned after the basics with a teacher. Speaking politely everywhere marks you as a courteous foreigner; speaking casually to a manager marks you as something else, so the ladder is worth respecting as you climb it.
Are the free tiers enough?
Duolingo's free course, WaniKani's first three levels, Bunpro's starter set, and Anki in full give a beginner months of real study at no cost, enough to know whether Japanese is your project. The limits bite in predictable places: speaking feedback, content depth past beginner level, and review volume. Spend the first subscription money on the gap you actually feel, a tutor hour for speaking, WaniKani for kanji, rather than upgrading everything at once.
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Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.