Anki vs Wanikani: Which Kanji Learning Beginner Tool Wins for 2026?

So you're trying to learn Japanese and you've hit the kanji wall. You know, that moment when you realize you need to memorize a couple of thousand characters that look like abstract art? Yeah, that's when most people start googling "best kanji learning app" and end up staring at two names: Anki and WaniKani. Let me break down exactly what each tool does, who they're best for, and how to decide which one fits your learning style.

What WaniKani actually does

You start at level 1 with basic radicals like (ichi, horizontal line) and (kuchi, mouth), and work your way up through 60 levels covering around 2,000 kanji and 6,000 vocab words.

The WaniKani approach uses three core elements:

The WaniKani community is super active too. The forums have thousands of learners sharing progress, complaining about specific kanji that keep tripping them up, and posting memes about burn reviews. There's something motivating about being part of that group.

WK costs $9 per month, $89 per year, or $299 for lifetime access. The first three levels are free, which gets you through about 100 kanji to test the waters.

How Anki works differently

Anki is free, open-source flashcard software that works for literally any subject. Medical students use Anki to memorize drug interactions. History buffs use it for dates and events. And language learners? We use Anki for everything from kanji to grammar patterns to full sentence mining.

You can make your own cards from scratch, or download one of the thousands of premade Anki decks shared by other learners. Popular kanji decks include:

The SRS algorithm in Anki is more flexible than WaniKani. You grade yourself on a scale: Again, Hard, Good, or Easy. This gives you more control over review intervals. If you kind of remember something but need to see it again soon, you can mark it Hard instead of failing completely.

Anki runs on everything: Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android, and web browsers. The desktop and Android apps are free. The iPhone app costs $24.99 one time, which funds development of the entire project.

Here's what makes Anki powerful: you can customize literally everything. Card templates, review intervals, new card limits per day, the UI, plugins that add pitch accent audio or generate cards from manga screenshots. If you can imagine a feature, someone has probably built an add-on for it.

The beginner experience: Structure vs freedom

Let's talk about what happens when you're just starting out.

With WaniKani, you log in and there's exactly one thing to do: learn your new lessons or do your reviews. The app tells you when new content unlocks. You can't skip ahead. You can't rearrange the order. You just follow the path.

For total beginners, this is actually pretty great. You're not paralyzed by choices. You're not wondering if you picked the right deck or if you should be learning vocab before kanji or what the hell a "radical" even is. WaniKani answers all those questions for you.

The downside? Some people find the rigid structure frustrating. You might already know 500 kanji from a textbook like Genki, but WaniKani still makes you start at level 1. You'll be reviewing stuff you mastered years ago just to unlock the next level.

Anki gives you complete freedom, which is amazing if you know what you want and overwhelming if you don't. New learners often ask: "Is 40 new Anki cards a day too much?" The answer is... it depends? On the deck, your schedule, your memory, whether the cards are simple vocab or complex grammar patterns.

When you use Anki for kanji, you need to make decisions: Which deck do I download? Should I suspend cards I already know? How many new words per day? Should I add my own example sentences? Do I need audio? What about pitch accent?

These are good questions to wrestle with eventually, but they can stop beginners cold.

Mnemonics and memory techniques

WaniKani's mnemonic system is baked in. Every kanji gets a story that connects the radicals to the meaning and reading. For example, (mei/akira) meaning "bright" combines (Sun) and (Moon). The mnemonic might be "the sun and moon together make things really bright."

Some people love this. The stories create hooks in your memory that pure repetition doesn't. Other people find the mnemonics distracting or silly and wish they could just brute force memorize.

Here's my take: mnemonics work better for recognition than recall. When you see 明 in the wild, remembering "sun and moon" helps you reconstruct the meaning. But when you're trying to write kanji from memory, the mnemonic doesn't tell you stroke order or exact component placement.

Anki decks vary wildly on mnemonic support. Some include full Heisig-style stories for every character. Others just show you the kanji, reading, and meaning with zero memory aids. You can add your own mnemonics in a custom field if you want, but you have to do the work yourself.

The Recognition RTK deck for Anki uses Heisig's Remembering the Kanji system, which teaches you to create your own mnemonic stories using keywords. It's powerful but requires more active engagement than WaniKani's premade stories.

SRS algorithms: How review scheduling differs

Both tools use spaced repetition, but the implementation matters.

WaniKani has five SRS stages for each item: Apprentice (4 levels), Guru (2 levels), Master, Enlightened, and Burned. Items start as Apprentice and move up when you get them right. The intervals go something like: 4 hours, 8 hours, 1 day, 2 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 4 months.

Get something wrong and it drops back down, sometimes multiple stages depending on how far along it was. This can be demotivating when a kanji you've reviewed 20 times suddenly drops back to Apprentice because you mixed up the reading.

The WaniKani system is strict about accuracy. You need to type the exact answer. Typos count as wrong answers. Some people install user scripts to ignore typos, but the default experience is unforgiving.

Anki's algorithm is more forgiving and customizable. The default settings use intervals like: 1 day, 10 days, then each correct answer multiplies the interval by 2.5x (Adjustable). When you mark a card Hard, it increases the interval but not as much as Good. Mark it Easy and the interval jumps higher.

You can tweak literally every parameter: starting ease, interval modifiers, maximum interval, and new card steps. Most people just use default settings, but advanced users optimize their decks obsessively.

Vocabulary learning: Coverage and context

WaniKani teaches around 6,000 vocabulary words alongside its 2,000 kanji. Every kanji gets several vocabulary examples showing how it combines with other characters. You learn 生 (sei/shou) means life, then you learn (sensei) meaning teacher, (gakusei) meaning student, and (seikatsu) meaning daily life.

The vocab selection is decent but limited. WaniKani focuses on common words that reinforce kanji readings. You won't learn super specialized terms or slang.

Anki decks for vocabulary range from a few hundred words to 30,000+. The Core 2K/6K/10K decks are popular because they teach high-frequency words first. These decks usually include example sentences, audio, and sometimes images.

Here's where Anki shines: you can create cards from real content you encounter. Reading a manga and don't know a word? Add it to your deck with the sentence it appeared in. This kind of sentence mining creates much stronger context than isolated vocabulary.

Integration with other learning tools

WaniKani plays reasonably well with other apps. Lots of people use WaniKani for kanji, Bunpro for grammar, and various apps for listening practice. Bunpro even has direct WaniKani integration so you can sync your kanji level and learn grammar patterns that match your vocabulary.

Anki integrates with basically everything because it's so flexible. You can import vocabulary lists from any source. There are add-ons that pull example sentences from massive databases, add pitch accent notations automatically, or even generate cards from subtitles.

The Yomichan browser extension (now Yomitan) lets you hover over Japanese text and instantly create Anki cards with one click. This workflow is insanely efficient for intermediate learners doing lots of reading.

Pricing and long-term value

Let's talk money. WaniKani costs $9/month if you pay monthly, which adds up to $108 per year. The annual plan drops it to $89. The lifetime plan is $299 upfront.

If you finish WaniKani in one year (aggressive but doable), the annual plan costs $89. If it takes you two years (more realistic), that's $178 total. The lifetime plan breaks even around the three-year mark.

Anki is free except on iPhone where it costs $25 once. That's it. Forever. All platforms, unlimited decks, unlimited cards.

The value calculation isn't just about money though. WaniKani's structure might save you dozens of hours of researching decks, configuring settings, and second-guessing your approach. That time has value.

On the flip side, Anki's flexibility means you can use it for kanji, vocabulary, grammar, listening practice, and any other language you decide to learn later. I've got Anki decks for Japanese, Spanish, and random trivia. One tool, multiple uses.

Which tool should you choose

After using both extensively, here's how I'd recommend thinking about it:

Choose WaniKani if you:

Choose Anki if you:

Use both if you:

Honestly? Both tools work. I know people who've reached high Japanese proficiency with WaniKani alone (plus other resources). I know people who've done the same with only Anki decks. The best tool is the one you'll actually use consistently.

If you want to actually use these kanji and vocab with real content, Migaku's browser extension and app let you look up words instantly and add them to SRS-supported flashcards while watching shows or reading articles. Makes immersion learning way more practical. There's a 10-day free trial if you want to check it out.

FAQs

Tools are for you to use. Explore more!

Don't overthink about choosing the perfect tool. Both Anki and WaniKani are good enough that the real determining factor is consistency. There are also other tools, like Migaku, which has built-in media consumption, a dictionary, and flashcards in one plug-in and app. Do it old school, and pick up words from extensive media consumption. That works too!

Choose one and make it work!