Comparison

nalelu vs NihonGO Dokusho

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

Head to head
About

nalelu

Master essential Japanese grammar through a variety of exercises and receive instant feedback. This app aims to make Japanese grammar feel natural through dedicated drilling.

Highlights
  • Japanese grammar exercises
  • Instant feedback
  • Natural grammar acquisition
  • Progressive learning
Features
Read full description

Nalelu offers a variety of exercises and instant feedback to help you master essential Japanese grammar points. The concept of nalelu is to drill Japanese grammar so that it will become natural to you.

About

NihonGO Dokusho

Features
Read full description

Read your way to Japanese fluency. NihonGO Dokusho is a story reader built for intermediate learners: real, natural Japanese — and every word, kanji, or grammar point you don't know is one tap from its card. —— READ —— Original stories in natural Japanese, written for learners who've finished a beginner course. Turn furigana on or off. Turn per-sentence English on or off. Open a word-by-word breakdown behind any sentence. Three text sizes, plus day and night themes. Every chapter and scene is titled in English, so you always know exactly where you are in the story. —— TAP —— Every underlined word is a card, drawn from a library of 7,700 vocabulary words, 2,200 kanji and 600 grammar points. In vocabulary mode, tap a word for its meaning, reading, and example sentences — which link on to their own cards. Switch to kanji mode to open any character with its stroke order, radicals, and a memory hint. Grammar points open from the sentence breakdown. Conjugated words resolve to their dictionary form automatically. —— LISTEN —— Every sentence and every scene is read aloud in a clear, natural-sounding Japanese voice — real recordings that download with each book and play offline, not a robotic device voice. Listening Mode plays hands-free with full controls on your lock screen and Control Center — skip, pause, and play from your headphones like a podcast. —— REMEMBER —— Every vocabulary word you tap is saved to your study notebook — the word, its reading, and its meaning. The notebook shows just the words due for review: clear one you already knew and it spaces out over days; reveal one you'd forgotten and it comes back soon — until it's simply known. —— YOUR LIBRARY —— A complete original novel — 25 chapters across five free parts — plus two companion editions of the same story: a plain Japanese edition with no study aids, and a full English translation. Read the study edition first, graduate to the plain Japanese, or check the English when you must. Each book downloads with a single tap and works fully offline. Your reading position, settings, and notebook sync across your devices through your own iCloud. —— PRIVATE BY DESIGN —— No ads, no accounts, no tracking, no analytics. Nothing leaves your device except the books you choose to download. Part of the NihonGO family, alongside NihonGO Dominos (the vocabulary game) and NihonGO Manabi (the textbook course) — three apps, one shared, frequency-built card library, so what you learn in one is what you meet in the others.

Screenshots

nalelu4 screens
NihonGO Dokusho4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: nalelu at every 5 days against NihonGO Dokusho's monthly. nalelu also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.0). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

nalelu ships an update every 5 days, NihonGO Dokusho monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
nalelu versus NihonGO Dokusho: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameternaleluNihonGO Dokusho
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB669 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNelson SamayoaJUERGEN WOLFGANG HAMMER

In-app purchases

None

nalelu

No in-app purchases

None

NihonGO Dokusho

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is nalelu free?
nalelu is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is NihonGO Dokusho free?
NihonGO Dokusho is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do nalelu or NihonGO Dokusho have ads?
Neither nalelu nor NihonGO Dokusho shows ads.
Which is updated more often, nalelu or NihonGO Dokusho?
nalelu ships an update every 5 days, and NihonGO Dokusho monthly. Most recently, nalelu was updated on October 5, 2026 and NihonGO Dokusho on October 11, 2026.

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