Migaku vs NihonDojo.ai
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Migaku
This app helps you learn languages by making content interactive. Click words in subtitles or text to get definitions, create flashcards, and personalize study sessions. It focuses on high-frequency words for efficient learning.
- Interactive subtitles for YouTube
- One-click media-rich flashcard creation
- Personalized study sessions
- Data-driven courses for beginners
- Word frequency-based vocabulary learning
- AI sentence breakdown and explanations
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Learning languages is actually pretty simple: if you consume content you enjoy, and you understand that content, you will make progress. Period. Migaku (and its Chrome browser extension) enables you to do that: 1. Our courses take you from zero to 80% comprehension in ~6 months (10 cards/day) 2. We make text interactive: click words in your phone's YouTube subtitles to see what they mean 3. We let you make media-rich flashcards out of those words with one click 4. We make personalized study sessions out of the flashcards you create 5. Repeat! Whether you're learning Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, Spanish, Italian, German, Cantonese, Portuguese, English, French or Vietnamese, Migaku equips you with the tools you need to make real progress. Migaku requires a paid subscription to access its courses, features, and AI tools. Migaku – AI Language Learning Tool ■ How languages are really learned: If you want to watch movies in other languages, then you need to learn languages with movies. If you want to read books in other languages, then you need to learn languages by reading. As you spend more time doing the things you enjoy doing in the language you're learning, you'll build the unique skills you need to more easily do those things. Unfortunately, it's difficult to read books and watch movies in another language as a beginner. And that's where Migaku comes in ■ Data-driven courses for beginners The problem with most apps and textbooks is that they teach you what someone else thinks language learners need to know, and those things may not reflect what you actually need to learn to do the things that are important to you. This matters because not all words are used equally often: while a college-educated native speaker knows ~30,000 words, you only need to know ~1,500 words to recognize 80% of the words in modern media. Our flashcard-based courses teach you these ~1,500 words—the ones that are useful to everyone, no matter their goals—plus a few hundred basic grammar points. What makes our courses special is that every "next" flashcard contains only one new word, making Migaku's learning curve super smooth. You're always learning something new, but never overwhelmed. It's a fluent language learning approach. Migaku courses are currently available for Japanese, Mandarin, and Korean. ■ Turn subtitles and text into interactive language learning opportunities Migaku makes texts interactive: just click on words to see what they mean. You can also hear audio recordings from native speakers, reference images of the term, check example sentences, get an AI explanation of what the word means in context, have AI break sentences down for you word-by-word, or see a translation of the sentence that your word appears in. Basically, Migaku lets you consume content in another language as if you knew as many words as a native speaker. Our mobile app supports YouTube, manually pasted content, and physical content like books or street signs. Our Chrome extension supports web pages and several popular streaming websites. ■ Create custom study cards or import language flashcards Find a useful looking word while consuming content? Turn it into a high-quality flashcard with one button, and Migaku's spaced repetition language practice algorithm will create personalized study sessions for you. You'll be nudged to review these flashcards periodically, ensuring you remember them. Decks designed for the Anki flashcard app can be converted for use with Migaku, too. ■ Study anywhere, even offline Migaku's courses and any flashcards you make are available offline and automatically sync between all of your devices. ■ Learn multiple languages at once A single Migaku subscription gives you access to all of Migaku's languages and lets you use all of Migaku's features and AI language learning tools as much as you want. - - - Immerse → enjoy → improve
NihonDojo.ai
This app focuses on efficient Japanese language acquisition through rigorous spaced repetition and context-based learning. It prioritizes fluency over gamified engagement, offering structured grammar, cultural insights, and kana practice to prepare users for real-world conversations.
- Spaced repetition system (FSRS)
- Contextual sentence generation
- Formality switching
- Guided writing practice
- Structured grammar lessons
- Cultural context integration
- Kana practice minigame
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Stop wasting time on apps that treat you like a child. While other Japanese learning apps busy themselves with cartoon mascots and meaningless streaks, we built something that actually works. Nihon Dojo doesn't care about making you feel good about yourself. We care about making you fluent in one of the hardest possible languages imaginable in two years or LESS! Most Japanese learning apps are designed to keep you subscribed, not to make you fluent. They feed you bite-sized "lessons" that feel productive but teach you nothing useful. They celebrate your "progress" when you've learned to say "I like apples" for the 47th time. We're different. And you'll probably hate us for it. REAL SPACED REPETITION THAT HURTS Through our use of the tried-and-true FSRS algorithm, we will make you review words until you hate them, even if you do learn them a week later. No participation trophies. Here is the twist: we generate sentences using only words you've already learned (revolutionary concept, we know). No more example sentences filled with 20 different N1 words you've never seen before. By giving you context clues that are targeted in real-time at your knowledge, we not only reinforce language in a natural way, we allow you to learn the meanings of new words even when you are seeing them for the first time. Not only that, but our built in formality switching teaches you how Japanese people ACTUALLY talk— learn to be "hip" OR turn so textbook you be start saying させていただきます in your sleep. For the cherry on top, every time you review a word, we will guide you how to write it. If you can call that chicken scratch of yours "writing," that is. Don't worry, we smooth it out for you. GRAMMAR AND CULTURAL THAT MAKES SENSE In addition to shoving words down your throat until you are begging us to stop, we provide structured grammar and culture lessons that build on each other. We're not just here to teach you how to conjugate. We also teach you why Japanese people say what they say. We cover the social rules other apps pretend don't exist, and prepare you for real conversations. You can't learn a language without learning the culture, they are one and the same. KANA PRACTICE FOR VETERANS AND BEGINNERS ALIKE If you're new, there is no easy way to learn and memorize Japanese kana, nor is there a shortcut (except our app, hah). At the very least, we make it sort of less painful to do. With both a rapid-fire minigame and our guided writing practice, you could get kana down in a week or two if you're serious! It's not hard (just tedious), and it works. THE GUARANTEE THAT'LL SCARE YOU Use this app every day for two years. Follow the system. Do the reviews. If you're not (almost) fluent, we'll refund every penny. Most apps won't make this promise because they know their cute gamification doesn't work. We will, because we built tools that do. WHO THIS IS FOR You should use NihonDojo if you want to actually speak & read Japanese. If you're tired of apps that waste your time with pointless games. If you can handle being challenged instead of constantly praised. If you want personalized training that adapts to your actual progress. If you're willing to do work that might not be "fun" but gets results. Don't download this if you want an app that makes you feel good about doing nothing. If you think learning a language should be "effortless." If you need constant validation and cartoon characters cheering you on. If you're looking for a magic bullet that requires zero effort. FREE FIRST Believe it or not, making an app like this is a ton of work, and it only exists due to many long nights, fueled solely by a hate for Anki. While this app is free first (with no ads EVER because I HATE THEM), it costs money to generate sentences and continue to develop new features. Your support is everything to me! HERE'S THE DEAL No BS. Just the tools you need to actually learn Japanese. Download if you're serious. Skip if you want to play games.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Migaku at 4.4 against NihonDojo.ai's 4.1. Migaku also leads on ratings volume (371 vs 9). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and 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
Both are free to download. Migaku sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $14.00 per month and NihonDojo.ai sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $6.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Migaku holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Migaku has 371 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of Migaku's written reviews are positive against 67% of NihonDojo.ai's.
Migaku ships an update weekly, NihonDojo.ai every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Migaku | NihonDojo.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (371 ratings) — better | 4.1 (9 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 72.9% of reviews — better | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 371 — better | 9 |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.9 GB | 298 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Migaku Inc. | D Everett Hinton |
Customer experience
Migaku
NihonDojo.ai
Bugs and requests
Migaku
Reported bugs
3 issues- Unable to create new accounts in the app
- Broken kanji course with empty cards
- Inconsistent behavior when switching between apps
Requested features
4 requests- Offline mode for learning on the go
- Expanded support for more languages
- Better integration with Anki and other SRS apps
- More customization options for flashcards and reviews
NihonDojo.ai
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Migaku
- Migaku Standard2 variants$14.001 Month
- Migaku Standard7 Days trial$14.001 Month
- Early Access2 variants$21.001 Month
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- Early Access7 Days trial$21.001 Month
- Migaku Standard$136.991 Year
- Migaku Standard7 Days trial$136.991 Year
- Early Access$179.991 Year
- Early Access7 Days trial$179.991 Year
- Lifetime$214.99
- Lifetime$289.00
- Lifetime$344.99
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- Lifetime$359.00
- Lifetime$719.00
NihonDojo.ai
- NihonDojo Pro Monthly$6.491 Month
- NihonDojo Expert Monthly$12.951 Month
- NihonDojo Pro Annual$64.991 Year
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- NihonDojo Expert Annual$129.991 Year









