Comparison

SUGOI vs Nihongo Lessons

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

SUGOI

Practice speaking Japanese with interactive characters in this app. It offers a fun and easy way to learn vocabulary and phrases, providing a comprehensive Japanese learning experience without needing a real person.

Highlights
  • Practice speaking Japanese with characters
  • Learn Japanese words and phrases
  • Interactive speaking exercises
  • Fun and easy learning experience
  • Premium plan for full feature access
Read full description

"Sugoi" provides a fun and easy way to learn the Japanese speaking learning! You can practice speaking Japanese without a Real Person. You can speak Japanese with characters in the app. Also, there are features for learing words and phrases. Sugoi will provide you a great experience for learing Japanese. 【About Premium Plan】 You can use all features in the app. 【About Premium Plan Fee】 3-day free trial available. monthly subscription and automatic monthly renewal. The charge will be made to your iTunes account. 【About the auto renewal】 Unless you cancel your auto-renewal at least 24 hours prior to the end of your Premium Service membership period, your membership will be automatically renewed. Billing for auto-renewal will be done within 24 hours prior to the end of the membership period. If you start a subscription while your free trial period is still running, the remaining period will be invalidated. 【How to cancel subscription】 At least 24 hours prior to the expiration date, please follow the steps below to cancel auto-renewal. 1. Tap "iTunes Store and App Store" in the Settings app 2. Tap "Apple ID 3. Tap "Show Apple ID 4. enter your Apple ID password 5. tap "Register 6. cancel registration of "SUGOI" 【規約等】 Terms of Use: https://sites.google.com/view/sugoi-terms-of-use/%E3%83%9B%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0 Privacy Policy: https://sites.google.com/view/sugoiprivacypolicy Specified Commercial Transaction: https://sites.google.com/view/sugoispecifiedcommercialtransa/%E3%83%9B%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0

About

Nihongo Lessons

This app helps learners of all levels achieve Japanese fluency. It uses a flashcard format to teach vocabulary, grammar, and writing systems, with advanced spaced repetition for effective retention. Content is sourced from real manga for advanced learners.

Highlights
  • Learn Hiragana and Katakana
  • 7000+ handcrafted sentences
  • Professional voice actor audio
  • Advanced Spaced Repetition System (SRS)
  • Vocabulary and grammar from manga
  • Flashcard learning format
Features
Read full description

A new app for people serious about becoming fluent in Japanese, from the maker of Nihongo: a modern Japanese dictionary. Nihongo Lessons is based off the excellent Japanese Level Up (Jalup) series, and is made to help all levels of learners. * If you're a complete beginner, the app starts you off by teaching you to write the Japanese alphabets hiragana and katakana, and then quickly starts building your vocabulary and grammar fundamentals. * If you're at an intermediate level, you can jump into content that will help you grow your Japanese grammar, vocabulary, and listening skills more efficiently than ever before. * If you're an advanced learner diving into the world of native content or studying for JLPT N1, Nihongo Lessons can help fill in the gaps in your knowledge with vocabulary and grammar pulled directly from real manga. Instead of a traditional textbook, everything in Nihongo Lessons is in a flashcard format. Flashcards are easier to take in, easier to know how much to learn and how often to review, and simplify the mountain of information you need to absorb. Each flashcard introduces one new sentence for you to understand, and every new sentence introduces exactly one new word, grammar point, or concept. This keeps you constantly moving forward in your learning journey - never bored, never overwhelmed. * Learn to write hiragana and katakana, the main alphabets of the Japanese language. * Progress from beginner to fluent across 7000 handcrafted sentences, each introducing a single new word or concept. * Listen to sentences spoken out loud by a professional voice actor. * Advanced Spaced Repetition (SRS) to help you retain everything you've learned for the long-term. * Nihongo Lessons doesn’t just plop a fun game on top of the language. It engages the brain’s natural urge to solve problems by making learning the language itself the game.

Screenshots

SUGOI4 screens
Nihongo Lessons4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: SUGOI at 100% against Nihongo Lessons's 85%. SUGOI also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. SUGOI sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $2.99 per month and Nihongo Lessons sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SUGOI ships an update every 5 weeks, Nihongo Lessons every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 16, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
SUGOI versus Nihongo Lessons: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSUGOINihongo Lessons
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.8 (126 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better84.8% of reviews
Number of ratings—126 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS13.0 — better17
Further details — not scored
Size73 MB258 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStudyPeaksSerpenti Sei Japan

Customer experience

SUGOI

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Nihongo Lessons

All ratings126 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral2.4%
Negative3.2%
Written reviews33 reviews
Positive84.8%
Neutral6.1%
Negative9.1%

Bugs and requests

SUGOI

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Nihongo Lessons

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Explanation modal flashed and cannot be brought back
  • Unclear how to interact with cards (swiping direction)

Requested features

11 requests
  • Add notifications
  • Add a way to add own notecards for review
  • Add meaning and context for some words in dictionary
  • Add monthly subscriptions or lower prices
  • Add Kanji section
Show 6 more
  • Add Kanji decks
  • Add dark mode
  • Automatically play audio when flipping card
  • Teach word in context, then quiz for understanding using only the Japanese word
  • Surface Japanese definition and make user remember the word
  • Optimize for iPad

In-app purchases

1 purchases

SUGOI

Subscriptions1
  • sugoi_premium_plan3 Days trial$2.991 Month
13 purchases

Nihongo Lessons

Subscriptions2
  • All Access Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • All Access Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year
One-time11
  • Beginner Deck (Discounted)$59.99
  • Champion Deck (Discounted)$59.99
  • Expert Deck (Discounted)$59.99
Show 8 more
  • Master Deck (Discounted)$59.99
  • Intermediate Deck (Discounted)$83.99
  • Beginner Deck (Discounted)$101.99
  • Beginner Deck$119.99
  • All Decks (Discounted)$149.99
  • All Decks (Discounted)$254.99
  • All Decks$299.99
  • All Decks (Discounted)$299.99

Questions

Is SUGOI free?
SUGOI is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Nihongo Lessons free?
Nihongo Lessons is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do SUGOI or Nihongo Lessons have ads?
Neither SUGOI nor Nihongo Lessons shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SUGOI or Nihongo Lessons?
SUGOI ships an update every 5 weeks, and Nihongo Lessons every 3 weeks. Most recently, SUGOI was updated on September 16, 2026 and Nihongo Lessons on October 17, 2026.

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