Comparison

Numbiro Premium 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

Numbiro Premium

Practice recognizing spoken Japanese numbers in everyday conversation. Choose number ranges from single digits to billions and test your skills with Japanese counters. The premium version offers an ad-free experience and advanced features.

Highlights
  • Listen to spoken Japanese numbers
  • Identify numbers in conversation
  • Select custom number ranges
  • Practice Japanese counters
  • Timed challenges
  • Preset management
Features
Read full description

Learning to say numbers is one thing. Understanding them in real conversation is another. With Numbiro, you listen to numbers spoken in one of 29 languages and identify what you hear. Practice anything from single digits to millions or even billions, and improve your speed and accuracy under pressure. Japanese learners can also practice counters, with 20 included in the free version. Challenge yourself to see how many answers you can get right in one minute. Supported languages include Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Cantonese, Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Welsh. Numbiro is ad-supported. Premium removes ads and unlocks additional features, including preset management and advanced Japanese counters, available with either a one-time purchase or subscription.

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

Numbiro Premium4 screens
Nihongo Lessons4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Nihongo Lessons at Free against Numbiro Premium's $1.99. Nihongo Lessons also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.0) and ratings volume (126 vs 2). Numbiro Premium's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 13) and device support (3 vs 1). On ads 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

Nihongo Lessons is free to download; Numbiro Premium costs $1.99 up front. Nihongo Lessons sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Numbiro Premium asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Nihongo Lessons holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Nihongo Lessons has 126 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Numbiro Premium's written reviews are positive against 85% of Nihongo Lessons's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Numbiro Premium ships an update every 3 months, Nihongo Lessons every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 1 level
Numbiro Premium versus Nihongo Lessons: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNumbiro PremiumNihongo Lessons
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating4.0 (2 ratings)4.8 (126 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews84.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2126 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS13.0 — better17
Further details — not scored
Size67 MB258 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSulisoft LimitedSerpenti Sei Japan

Customer experience

Numbiro Premium

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
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

Numbiro Premium

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

None

Numbiro Premium

No in-app purchases

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 Numbiro Premium free?
Numbiro Premium costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Nihongo Lessons free?
Nihongo Lessons is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Numbiro Premium or Nihongo Lessons?
Nihongo Lessons is rated higher. Numbiro Premium averages 4.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Nihongo Lessons averages 4.8 from 126 ratings.
Do Numbiro Premium or Nihongo Lessons have ads?
Neither Numbiro Premium nor Nihongo Lessons shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Numbiro Premium or Nihongo Lessons?
Numbiro Premium ships an update every 3 months, and Nihongo Lessons every 3 weeks. Most recently, Numbiro Premium was updated on October 5, 2026 and Nihongo Lessons on October 17, 2026.

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