WaniKani Alternatives: Ways to Learn Kanji in 2026

Short answer: The main alternatives to WaniKani are Anki with a shared or self-made deck, a book method such as Remembering the Kanji, a picture-story app such as Kanji Guide, textbook-led study, and learning kanji through vocabulary and reading. Each suits a different learner. Pick by what you need: a fixed course, full control, a specific order such as JLPT levels, or the lowest cost.

WaniKani is a well-known paid course that teaches radicals, kanji and vocabulary in its own order with mnemonics and spaced repetition. Plenty of people finish it and like it. Others want a different order, a lower cost, or more control. If you are leaving because of a big review pile, read WaniKani burnout first: that is usually fixable without switching.

We make Kanji Guide, so we have a stake in this list. We describe each option as fairly as we can.

1. Anki with a kanji deck

Anki is a free, open-source flashcard program with spaced repetition. It is free on desktop and Android, and the official iPhone app is paid. You download a shared deck or build your own.

• Good for: learners who want control over content, pace and order, and who are fine with some setup.
• Watch out for: settings. With too many new cards a day, the review pile grows just as it does elsewhere. Deck quality varies.
• More: Anki kanji decks compared.

2. A book method: Remembering the Kanji and others

James Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji teaches a keyword and a short story for each kanji, built from parts, before readings. Other books, such as the Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Course, take a different order and include readings and words.

• Good for: learners who like a fixed, written path and want to own the material.
• Watch out for: RTK leaves readings for later, which some find frustrating. You will need a separate SRS for reviews, often Anki.
• More: Remembering the Kanji explained.

3. Picture-story apps (Kanji Guide)

Kanji Guide gives each kanji an English keyword and a story built from its parts, with a picture for many beginner kanji, readings, example words and animated stroke order. Kanji are grouped by JLPT level from N5 to N1, and reviews use spaced repetition.

• Good for: visual learners, beginners who want a guided start, and people who want to follow JLPT levels.
• Watch out for: pictures exist only for N5 and part of N4 so far; other kanji show the story with the large character. It is a kanji tool, so pair it with vocabulary and reading.
• Cost: the web app is free to use today, in a phone browser or on a computer, and there is an iPhone app.

4. Other SRS apps and sites

There are many other kanji apps and websites with spaced repetition. They differ in order, mnemonics, price and whether they teach vocabulary. Before you pay for any, try the free part and check three things: the order (JLPT levels, school grades or its own), whether you can control the daily load, and whether you can export or keep your progress.

5. Textbook-led study

Courses such as Genki or Minna no Nihongo introduce kanji alongside grammar and vocabulary. You learn fewer kanji at first, but every kanji is tied to words you are using in the lesson.

• Good for: classroom learners and anyone following a course.
• Watch out for: the pace is slow if your main goal is reading.

6. Vocabulary and reading first

Some learners skip a separate kanji course. They study vocabulary with kanji (for example a frequency deck in Anki) and read a lot, picking kanji up through words.

• Good for: learners who already read some Japanese, or who want readings and words from day one.
• Watch out for: similar kanji are harder to separate without studying their parts. See kanji or vocabulary first.

How to choose

Ask yourself four questions:

1. Do I want a set path or control? Set path: WaniKani, a book, Kanji Guide. Control: Anki.
2. What order do I need? For the JLPT, a tool that groups by level helps. For a textbook, follow the textbook.
3. How much time do I have each day? Pick a tool that lets you limit new items.
4. What can I spend? Anki on desktop or Android, library books and Kanji Guide’s web app cost nothing today.

Moving from WaniKani without starting over

Kanji you know stay known. In a new tool, mark the kanji you are sure of as known, or review them quickly, and spend your time on the rest. Expect the keywords to differ: 休 might be “rest” in one tool and “day off” in another. Keep the meaning you already have unless the new one helps.

A fair warning about any method

No method removes the work. All of them need daily reviews and, eventually, reading real Japanese. The best tool is the one you will still open in six months.

Where to go next

For a closer look at three of these, see picture stories vs WaniKani vs Anki. To try the story approach, open 休 or 学, or start in the study app.