Sagase vs Ordinary Japanese Dictionary
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sagase
This app offers a comprehensive Japanese-English dictionary with over 200,000 vocabulary entries and 13,000 kanji. It features smart flashcards, handwriting recognition, and text analysis to help users learn and explore the Japanese language.
- Extensive Japanese-English dictionary
- 200,000+ vocabulary entries
- 13,000+ kanji with stroke order
- Handwriting recognition search
- Smart flashcards with spaced repetition
- JLPT and Jouyou vocabulary lists
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Sagase is a Japanese-English dictionary and learning app. Explore the Japanese language using intuitive search of 200,000+ vocab, 13,000+ kanji, and 600+ grammar points. Develop your skills with smart flashcards by using the included and custom vocab and kanji lists. Search • Use romaji, kana, and kanji • Find any character using handwriting recognition • Analyze Japanese text to find all of its words and meanings Vocab • Definition, alternative forms, frequency, and other basic info • Tens of thousands of example sentences • Conjugation forms • Pitch accent Kanji • Meaning, reading, stroke count, and other basic info • Stroke order diagram • Radical and component breakdown • List of vocab using the kanji Grammar • Definitions • Example sentences Flashcards • Spaced repetition and random order settings • Front display customization • Performance insight • Detailed spaced repetition customization Lists • JLPT vocab, kanji, and grammar • Jouyou • Jinmeiyou • Grade school kanji • Kanji Kentei • Kanji radicals and their use Customization • Light mode and dark mode • Choose from different Japanese font styles
Ordinary Japanese Dictionary
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A Japanese dictionary for reading and studying offline. Features: - Search and read with no internet connection - Search any way you like: kanji, kana, romaji, or a word in English or Russian - Understands word forms: type 食べた, find 食べる - Reader: paste any text and tap any word to look it up - Furigana and pitch accent - Audio pronunciation for the most common words - Text recognition (OCR) — offline - Handwriting input — offline - Voice search - Built-in English (JMdict) and Russian (Warodai) dictionaries - Import custom dictionaries in an open format — you can even ask an AI to generate one for you - Search history with CSV export — feed it to your favorite AI assistant to build flashcards - Quick links to jisho.org, www.wanikani.com and other popular resources - Appearance settings: color themes, Japanese fonts, text sizes The dictionary is built from open-data projects and is completely free.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Ordinary Japanese Dictionary at weekly against Sagase's every 3 months. Sagase's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.5 vs 17.0). On price, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Sagase ships an update every 3 months, Ordinary Japanese Dictionary weekly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Sagase | Ordinary Japanese Dictionary |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.5 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 116 MB | 414 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hampus Hammarlund | Anton Saraev |
In-app purchases
Sagase
No in-app purchases
Ordinary Japanese Dictionary
No in-app purchases
