Comparison

JiShop Plus vs Nihongo

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

JiShop Plus

This app serves as a comprehensive Japanese language learning tool, offering extensive kanji and word dictionaries with powerful search capabilities. It provides detailed information on kanji structure, meaning, and radicals, along with interactive learning features.

Highlights
  • Kanji and word dictionaries
  • Element-based kanji search
  • Compound word search
  • Animated stroke order diagrams
  • Customizable study groups
  • Interactive kanji decomposition
Features
Read full description

JiShop is your portable Japanese tutor. Great for pros or students of the language, this powerful tool contains accurate Japanese-English kanji and word dictionaries, incredible search capabilities and an easy to use interface. Click “...More” to learn why you should download this App. Learning Japanese can be a complicated yet exciting course of study. That’s why it’s so important to have access to accurate, reliable help. You need a source of extensive kanji information and definition, including structure and meaning. A table of radicals is essential and you could use as many clarifying cross-references as you can get your hands on. JiShop can provide you with all the resources you need for learning, researching or translating Japanese kanji. With 6000 kanji listings, you’ll find what you’re looking for and fast, thanks to the app’s awesome search capabilities. Lookups are element based, using the original system of 632 basic visual elements. No need to count strokes, JiShop’s radical-based dictionary does the work for you. The table of radicals allows you to fully specify any kanji. There’s lots of dictionary help in JiShop. In fact the whole app is one enormous, thorough and accurately compiled dictionary. It amalgamates the best of Japanese-English lexicography and introduces unique features found in no other dictionary of its kind. For example, JiShop does double duty with characters and phonics. It only takes seconds to find compound words by their kanji structure, reading or meaning. Each kanji in every window is a clickable link to its dictionary entry, where you’ll find lots of cross-references for kanji forms, variants and synonyms. JiShop Features: * Suitable for beginners or professionals * Fast kanji search: - by elements (up to 4) - by reading (optionally with wildcards) - by meaning (optionally with wildcards) - by stroke count Compound word search: - by kanji (up to 4) - by reading - by meaning * Internal hyperlinks * Kanji, kana, and word drill * Store custom groups of favorite kanji or words * Download preset study groups * Interactive kanji decomposition * Individual radical information * Animated stroke order diagrams * 2136 kanji listed * Easy to use interface offers full flexibility JiShop is perfect for both the beginner and the professional. It’s multifunctional and universal, ideal for learning, quick reference, translation or research. If you’re involved with the beautiful Chinese characters used in Japanese, known as kanji, you are not going to want to wait one more second before downloading this comprehensive app. It’s the only one you’ll ever need or want. Free Concise edition (1006 kanji) and premium Advanced edition (6355 kanji) are also available.

About

Nihongo

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
Read full description

Nihongo is an offline Japanese dictionary, picture-to-text translator, flashcard app, and reading assistant. Our app helps you learn Japanese naturally, using the words you encounter in daily life—on menus, signs, manga, emails, books, and more. In addition to the dictionary, you can take a picture of Japanese text or paste it from any source. Nihongo will then translate the text, add furigana or romaji, and create flashcards so you can study and steadily build your vocabulary. Here are the complete features of the app: DICTIONARY * Over 200,000 words, 205,000 example sentences, and 6000 kanji entries. * Every word clearly marked as common, uncommon, or rare. * Add your own notes to any dictionary entry. * Quickly identify transitive/intransitive word pairs. * Audio pronunciations of words and example sentences (Requires Nihongo Pro) PHOTO LOOKUP (OCR) [Pro] * Look up words just by taking a picture. * Uses Google Cloud Vision to provide high-quality text recognition. * Just tap on a word to look it up. CLIPPINGS (READING ASSISTANT) [Pro] * Adds furigana or romaji to text pasted into the app. * Tap on any word to see its definition without leaving the clipping. * Flashcard deck automatically created so you can study the new words in a clipping. * Display text horizontally or vertically. * Have Nihongo read any clipping out loud. FLASHCARDS [Pro] * Flashcards automatically generated from words you lookup in the dictionary or paste into the app. * Nihongo learns what words you know, and won't bother you again with words you've mastered. * Built-in kanji flashcard decks up through Middle School. * Intuitive spaced repetition flashcard system for vocabulary and kanji drawing. * Level up flashcards by studying every day. * No penalty for missing a day of study, come back anytime. SEARCH * Search using English, Japanese, or romaji. * Supports searching for conjugated words in both English and Japanese. * Search for kanji using radicals and stroke counts. SAFARI EXTENSION [Pro] * Add furigana or romaji to webpages. * Tap on words to see definition within Safari. Nihongo Pro Terms of Use Read our full Terms of Service at https://nihongo-app.com/terms_of_use.html. This app is only possible because of the JMDict (edrdg.org) and Tatoeba (tatoeba.org) projects. I highly encourage you to support these incredible projects that make apps like Nihongo possible!

Screenshots

JiShop Plus4 screens
Nihongo4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Nihongo at Free against JiShop Plus's $1.99. Nihongo also leads on ratings volume (1.9K vs 1) and update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks). JiShop Plus's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.8) and review sentiment (100% vs 91%). On ads, in-app purchases and device support 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 is free to download; JiShop Plus costs $1.99 up front. JiShop Plus sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Nihongo sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

JiShop Plus holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Nihongo has 1.9K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of JiShop Plus's written reviews are positive against 91% of Nihongo's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

JiShop Plus ships an update every 2 weeks, Nihongo weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
JiShop Plus versus Nihongo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJiShop PlusNihongo
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.8 (1.9K ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better91.3% of reviews
Number of ratings11.9K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB492 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJISHOP SoftwareSerpenti Sei Japan

Customer experience

JiShop Plus

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Nihongo

All ratings1,869 ratings
Positive95.6%
Neutral2.5%
Negative2.0%
Written reviews265 reviews
Positive91.3%
Neutral4.5%
Negative4.2%

Bugs and requests

JiShop Plus

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Nihongo

Reported bugs

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

Requested features

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

In-app purchases

2 purchases

JiShop Plus

One-time2
  • License Transfer$6.99
  • JISHOP Advanced License$14.99
5 purchases

Nihongo

Subscriptions3
  • Nihongo Pro (Monthly)7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Nihongo Pro (3 Months)7 Days trial$11.993 Months
  • Nihongo Pro (Annual)7 Days trial$49.991 Year
One-time2
  • Pitch Accents$9.99
  • Nihongo Pro (Lifetime)2 variants$179.99

Questions

Is JiShop Plus free?
JiShop Plus costs $1.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Nihongo free?
Nihongo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, JiShop Plus or Nihongo?
JiShop Plus is rated higher. JiShop Plus averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Nihongo averages 4.8 from 1.9K ratings.
Do JiShop Plus or Nihongo have ads?
Neither JiShop Plus nor Nihongo shows ads.
Which is updated more often, JiShop Plus or Nihongo?
JiShop Plus ships an update every 2 weeks, and Nihongo weekly. Most recently, JiShop Plus was updated on October 16, 2026 and Nihongo on October 24, 2026.

Other comparisons