Migaku vs HyperLingua
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
HyperLingua
This app focuses on practical communication for language learning, prioritizing vocabulary acquisition and pronunciation training. It utilizes techniques like active recall and shadowing to build fluency through real-world usage rather than grammar drills.
- Learn 30+ languages
- Vocabulary-first approach
- Pronunciation training with listening/repeating
- Active recall and retrieval practice
- Shadowing for fluency
- Focus on real-world communication
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Our learning flow is built by the HyperLingua team, drawing on established language learning principles and natural language acquisition techniques. The focus is on practical, real-world communication rather than grammar-heavy study. Build your vocabulary first, train your pronunciation by listening and repeating, and reinforce your memory through active recall. WHY HYPERLINGUA WORKS: Practical Over Theoretical Focus on real-world communication — not tedious grammar worksheets. Vocabulary Comes First The foundation for fluency is vocabulary, not grammar. Aim to learn at least 30 new words a day using mnemonic associations. This is the element with the greatest impact on your progress. Pronunciation Is Critical You must learn to recognize words and produce them accurately. Daily listening and repeating drills are essential for developing authentic pronunciation and rhythm. Grammar Is Absorbed, Not Studied Grammar is learned by seeing correct sentences in context and using them, instead of drilling rigid rules. Grammar "comes with" massive input and output. Active Recall & Retrieval Practice The single most powerful exercise is active recall. Translate sentences aloud from your native language into the target language, check corrections, and repeat until you make zero mistakes. Shadowing & Repetition Listening and repeating (shadowing) is the optimal method for improving fluency. Listen to native audio and repeat entire sentences aloud, matching the native speaker's cadence. Just 5-15 minutes a day makes a massive difference! LANGUAGES WE SUPPORT We are on a mission to support 40+ languages! Currently, you can learn and practice the following live languages: • US English • GB English (UK) • ES Spanish • MX Spanish (Mexico) • DE German • FR French • IT Italian • BR Portuguese (Brazil) • RU Russian • SA Arabic • TR Turkish • CN Chinese • JP Japanese • KR Korean • BA Bosnian • PL Polish • GR Greek • Basque (Euskara) For Everyone: Completely free, built for self-learners worldwide. Download HyperLingua today and start speaking from day one!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: HyperLingua at free against Migaku's free with in-app purchases. HyperLingua also leads on review sentiment (83% vs 73%). Migaku's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks) and ratings volume (371 vs 114). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. Migaku sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $14.00 per month and HyperLingua sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
HyperLingua holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 371 and 114 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of Migaku's written reviews are positive against 83% of HyperLingua's.
Migaku ships an update weekly, HyperLingua every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 14, 2026.
| Parameter | Migaku | HyperLingua |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (371 ratings) | 4.6 (114 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 72.9% of reviews | 82.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 371 — better | 114 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.9 GB | 54 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Migaku Inc. | HyperLingua LLC |
Customer experience
Migaku
HyperLingua
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
HyperLingua
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
HyperLingua
- HyperLingua Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
- HyperLingua Pro+ Monthly$16.991 Month
- HyperLingua Pro Annual$99.991 Year
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- HyperLingua Pro+ Annual$169.991 Year









