# 大辞林 vs Nihongo

The clearest difference is price: Nihongo at Free against 大辞林's $18.99. Nihongo also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (1.9K vs 18). 大辞林's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 6). On rating, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Nihongo is free to download; 大辞林 costs $18.99 up front. Nihongo sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. 大辞林 asks for nothing beyond the download.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for 大辞林 against 4.8 for Nihongo. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Nihongo has 1.9K ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 71% of 大辞林's written reviews are positive against 91% of Nihongo's.

大辞林 ships an update every 2 months, Nihongo weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | 大辞林 | Nihongo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $18.99 | **Free** |
| Rating | [4.8 (18 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/id299029654/reviews) | [4.8 (1.9K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/nihongo-japanese-dictionary/id881697245/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | 18 | **1.9K** |
| Positive reviews | 71.3% of reviews | **91.3% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Weekly** |
| Monetization | — | Freemium |
| Size | 243 MB | 493 MB |
| Requires iOS | **17.0** | 18.6 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [物書堂](https://appshunter.io/developer/284350529) | [Serpenti Sei Japan](https://appshunter.io/developer/1767544234) |

## What reviewers say

### 大辞林

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/id299029654)

**In-app purchases:** none


### Nihongo

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/nihongo-japanese-dictionary/id881697245)

This app is an offline Japanese study tool that functions as a dictionary, translator, and flashcard creator. It helps users learn Japanese by analyzing text from their surroundings, such as signs and menus, and creating personalized study materials.

**Highlights:** Offline Japanese dictionary, Picture-to-text translation (OCR), Automatic flashcard creation, Reading assistant with furigana/romaji, Spaced repetition flashcards, Search in English, Japanese, or romaji

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (5)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Nihongo Pro (Monthly) | $4.99 | per month |
| Nihongo Pro (3 Months) | $11.99 | per 3 months |
| Nihongo Pro (Annual) | $49.99 | per year |
| Pitch Accents | $9.99 | one-time |
| Nihongo Pro (Lifetime) | $179.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Excellent dictionary
- 👍 Comprehensive features
- 🔒 Offline compatibility
- 👍 Helpful example sentences
- 👍 Intuitive interface

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
- 💰 Subscription model could be expensive
- 🔍 Difficult to manage flashcards

**Reported bugs**

- Freezing issues when tapping on kanji
- Font size problems
- Inconsistent OCR and translation accuracy

**Requested features**

- Handwriting input support
- Customizable flashcard settings
- Monolingual dictionary feature
- Improved backup and sync functionality
- Statistics and progress tracking


## Frequently asked questions

### Is 大辞林 free?

大辞林 costs $18.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Nihongo free?

Nihongo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, 大辞林 or Nihongo?

大辞林 and Nihongo are both rated 4.8 out of 5 on the App Store, from 18 and 1.9K ratings respectively.

### Do 大辞林 or Nihongo have ads?

Neither 大辞林 nor Nihongo shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, 大辞林 or Nihongo?

大辞林 ships an update every 2 months, and Nihongo weekly. Most recently, 大辞林 was updated on October 19, 2026 and Nihongo on October 21, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*