Comparison

Sumigo vs Bunchuu

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

Head to head
About

Sumigo

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Study Japanese your way with an offline dictionary, adaptive flashcards, focused learning paths, quick games, and classic stories—no account or ads required. Japanese dictionaries are good at telling you what a word means. They are not always as good at explaining when to use it. Sumigo helps with both. Alongside definitions, many entries include practical usage notes covering nuance, formality, similar words, and common mistakes. When you find a word you want to remember, save it and study it with the built-in spaced-repetition system. DICTIONARY • More than 200,000 Japanese–English dictionary entries • Search using kanji, kana, romaji, or English • Draw unfamiliar kanji directly in the search field • View furigana and complete conjugation tables for verbs and adjectives • Learn how words are actually used through detailed usage notes and examples FLASHCARDS AND LEARNING PATHS Review saved vocabulary with adaptive flashcards, or start with First 100 words in five small groups. Study kanji, grammar, and kana in separate paths. Choose what to practice, track progress, and set the length of each session. GAMES Practice your selected words, kanji, and kana in quick games. Catch the matching word, find the kanji missing from a Japanese word, or test your kana recognition. Build combos and see your score at the end of each session. KANJI • Explore more than 13,000 kanji with readings, meanings, and JLPT levels • Follow animated stroke-order diagrams • Practice writing kanji with a guide and optional writing grid • Study complete groups by school grade or JLPT level GRAMMAR Browse more than 800 grammar points from N5 to N1. Each entry includes its meaning, formation rules, explanations, and example sentences. EXAMPLE SENTENCES Read tens of thousands of Japanese sentences with furigana and English translations. Tap any word in a sentence to open its dictionary entry. JAPANESE STORIES Read classic folk tales such as Momotaro and Urashima Taro. Follow the Japanese text with line-by-line audio, word lookup, and English translations. MADE FOR FOCUSED STUDY Choose focused reviews when you want a quiet study session or optional games when you want a change of pace. Core study content works offline, and handwriting recognition works offline after a one-time model download. No account or ads are required.

About

Bunchuu

This app enhances language learning by providing real-world context for vocabulary and kanji. It offers customizable study sessions, offline access, and seamless synchronization with an existing learning platform. Enjoy a visually appealing and private study experience.

Highlights
  • Vocabulary in context with furigana
  • Customizable study and review sessions
  • Offline access and progress syncing
  • Visual progress tracking
  • Private study with no tracking
  • Dark mode support
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Bunchuu is a beautiful, fast, native companion app for WaniKani. Do your lessons and reviews anywhere — then go further, and meet every kanji where it lives: in real sentences. VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT Real context sentences for every vocabulary item. Furigana readings and plain-English grammar notes, one tap away. Translations stay veiled until you ask, so you can test yourself first. YOUR STUDIES, YOUR PACE Hand-pick exactly which radicals, kanji, and vocabulary to learn next. Review in batches, choose the ordering, and ask meaning and reading back to back — or far apart. Typo tolerance, your own synonyms, an automatic kana keyboard, and a leech threshold you control. WANIKANI'S SRS, SYNCED Works fully offline — lessons, reviews, and every mnemonic are cached on your device, and progress syncs when you're back online. Your progress lives in your WaniKani account, so you can switch between Bunchuu and the website at any time. Accuracy, streaks, and review history for every item. WATCH YOUR PROGRESS RISE Every level and every SRS stage, at a glance. Get notified the moment reviews are ready. A DELIGHTFUL PLACE TO STUDY A watercolor world, from the radicals to the snack breaks. Beautiful enough to make reviews feel like a treat. Full dark mode. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No Bunchuu account, no analytics, no tracking. Your study data syncs directly between your device and your WaniKani account. Bunchuu requires an active WaniKani account (wanikani.com). WaniKani's free trial covers its first three levels, so you can try both together. Bunchuu is an unofficial third-party app and is not affiliated with WaniKani or Tofugu, LLC.

Screenshots

Sumigo4 screens
Bunchuu4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Bunchuu at 15.0 against Sumigo's 17.0. On price, update cadence, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Sumigo versus Bunchuu: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSumigoBunchuu
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size757 MB54 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperLion KnocheFour Skills Labs, LLC

In-app purchases

None

Sumigo

No in-app purchases

None

Bunchuu

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sumigo free?
Sumigo is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Bunchuu free?
Bunchuu is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Sumigo or Bunchuu have ads?
Neither Sumigo nor Bunchuu shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sumigo or Bunchuu?
Sumigo ships an update every 2 weeks, and Bunchuu every 2 weeks. Most recently, Sumigo was updated on November 5, 2026 and Bunchuu on October 31, 2026.

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