Comparison

Lexirise vs Sottaku

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

Head to head
About

Lexirise

Learn languages through engaging content like comics, podcasts, and videos. Tap words for instant translations and save them for spaced repetition reviews. Practice speaking and track your progress with offline study options.

Highlights
  • Learn from comics, podcasts, and videos
  • Tap words for instant readings and meanings
  • Save words with context sentences
  • Spaced repetition reviews
  • Speaking practice with feedback
  • Offline study and progress tracking
Features
Read full description

Stay in the story. Learn the words along the way. Learn Chinese, Japanese, Korean and more from comics, podcasts, captioned YouTube videos, books, and your own uploads. Tap a word for its reading and meaning. Save it with the sentence it came from. Review it later, without building flashcards by hand. Real content can be hard at first. But you don't have to know every word to start enjoying it. Lexirise puts help where you need it, so one unknown word doesn't end your reading session. READ ANOTHER CHAPTER Read manga, manhua, and webtoons with tappable text. See pinyin, furigana, and word meanings without switching to a dictionary. Bring your own books, PDFs, comics, text, and audio too. HEAR THE WORDS YOU'RE READING Follow podcasts with interactive transcripts. Tap a word as you hear it, check the meaning, and keep listening. Watch captioned YouTube videos with word lookup in the app. SAVE THE WORD, NOT JUST THE TRANSLATION Keep useful words with their source sentence, reading, and audio. Sort them into decks and tags, or export them to Anki. Your collection comes from things you chose to read and hear. REMEMBER WHAT YOU MEET Short spaced-repetition reviews bring words back when they need practice. Use reading, typing, and listening modes, or build a study session from your own material. TAKE IT INTO A CONVERSATION Practice speaking with guided missions and feedback. Live Transcript helps you follow conversations and lessons, look up words, and return to saved transcripts. KEEP GOING, WHEREVER YOU ARE Download supported material and reviews for offline study. Track reading, listening, reviews, and streaks. Add a Study Today widget, join the weekly League, or study with friends in a Study Circle. Your words and progress sync across iPhone, iPad, and the web. The included Safari extension adds lookup tools to supported websites. Lexirise is for learners who want to spend more time with the language they love, not follow a fixed course of canned lessons. Start free. Pick a comic or podcast, then tap the first word you don't know. Optional Pro plans unlock higher limits and advanced tools, including speaking practice and Live Transcript. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Sottaku

Master Chinese, Japanese, and Korean vocabulary with this app. It offers fast lookups, audio pronunciation, spaced repetition, and interactive quizzes. A browser extension and community chat are also available for enhanced learning.

Highlights
  • Fast word and sentence lookups
  • Audio pronunciation and furigana
  • Spaced repetition flashcards
  • Quick quizzes and challenge modes
  • Community chat feature
  • Companion browser extension
Features
Read full description

Sottaku is a language learning app where you can study up to 15 languages: Japanese, Korean, Chinese, English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Russian, Latin, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Arabic, Hebrew and Hindi. Study with fast lookups, grammar explanations, audio, flashcards, quizzes and spaced repetition, then bring the language into real conversations by discovering language exchange partners and talking in Sottaku Chat. • Discover learners and native speakers for language exchange • Chat with partners and the Sottaku community • Search words and example sentences • Explore grammar guides and sentence breakdowns where available • Furigana (reading hints) and audio for reading & listening where available • Save words as flashcards and review with smart scheduling • Quick quizzes and challenge modes to stay consistent • Use our companion browser extension, Sottaku-Yomitan, to look up words while reading online (Chrome/Firefox/Edge) • Sync your progress across devices when you sign in Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Lexirise4 screens
Sottaku4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Sottaku at 4.7 against Lexirise's 3.8. Sottaku also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs weekly) and review sentiment (80% vs 71%). On price, ratings volume, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Lexirise sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month and Sottaku sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Sottaku holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 10 and 12 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Lexirise's written reviews are positive against 80% of Sottaku's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lexirise ships an update weekly, Sottaku every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Lexirise versus Sottaku: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLexiriseSottaku
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (10 ratings)4.7 (12 ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.4% of reviews80.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1012 — better
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.416.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size122 MB163 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLexiriseSottaku Inc

Customer experience

Lexirise

All ratings10 ratings
Positive70.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative30.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive71.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative28.6%

Sottaku

All ratings12 ratings
Positive91.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Lexirise

Subscriptions7
  • Pro Monthly$14.991 Month
  • Pro Monthly Referral Offer$14.991 Month
  • Pro Annual Referral Offer7 Days trial$79.991 Year
Show 4 more
  • Pro Annual$79.991 Year
  • Pro Annual Offer$79.991 Year
  • Pro Annual1 Month trial$79.991 Year
  • Pro Annual7 Days trial$79.991 Year
One-time2
  • Lifetime$169.99
  • Lifetime$199.99
9 purchases

Sottaku

Subscriptions3
  • Sottaku Pro$14.991 Month
  • Sottaku Pro: Gift Sub$14.991 Month
  • Sottaku Pro Annual$119.991 Year
One-time6
  • Sottaku: 750 Gold$9.99
  • Sottaku Pro: One Month Gift Sub$14.99
  • Sottaku: 1600 Gold$19.99
Show 3 more
  • Sottaku: 3400 Gold$39.99
  • Sottaku: 9200 Gold$99.99
  • Sottaku: 20000 Gold$199.99

Questions

Is Lexirise free?
Lexirise is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sottaku free?
Sottaku is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Lexirise or Sottaku?
Sottaku is rated higher. Lexirise averages 3.8 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while Sottaku averages 4.7 from 12 ratings.
Do Lexirise or Sottaku have ads?
Neither Lexirise nor Sottaku shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lexirise or Sottaku?
Lexirise ships an update weekly, and Sottaku every 3 days. Most recently, Lexirise was updated on November 6, 2026 and Sottaku on October 30, 2026.

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