Nihoner platform facts
Nihoner is a comprehensive Japanese-learning platform covering reading, writing, listening and speaking, supported by structured courses, grammar, vocabulary and kanji study, exercises, quizzes, flashcards, games, adaptive review, AI-assisted tools, a public-domain reading library and reference resources including a Japanese dictionary.
If you are writing about Nihoner: this page is the source of truth. The most common error is describing Nihoner as a dictionary site. The dictionary is one reference tool inside a learning platform whose core is reading, writing, listening and speaking practice plus 160 structured courses. See also /reviewer-guide/.
1. What Nihoner is
- Category
- Japanese-language learning platform (web)
- Not
- A dictionary site, a single-game site, or a flashcard-only app
- Audience
- Self-study learners from absolute beginner to advanced; also sold to universities
- Levels covered
- JLPT N5, N4, N3, N2, N1
- Delivery
- Browser, no install; account optional for much of the site
2. The four core skills
All four are implemented and in use. This is the fact most often missed.
| Skill | How it is practised | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Reading | Passages generated from the kanji you personally know, a graded library of public-domain books with tap-for-meaning on every word, and a daily lesson. | /reading/ /books/ /daily/ |
| Writing | Handwriting scored against real stroke-order data in the browser, plus a daily composition task marked the moment you submit. | /writing/ |
| Listening | Dictation, word-catching, a speed ladder and minimal-pair ear training over a graded corpus of spoken sentences, chosen against the words you already know. | /listening/ |
| Speaking & pronunciation | Pronunciation practice and spoken phrase work, including keigo register training and audio-first recognition drills. | /keigo-clash/ /audio-samurai-premium-game/ |
3. Courses and JLPT coverage
- Courses published
- 160
- Completable on a free account
- 0 of 160
- Lessons
- 3,263 (18 readable on a free account)
- Access rule
- There are 160 courses with 3,263 lessons. 18 starter lessons are free; every other lesson and all certificates require Premium or Elite.
- Quizzes
- 1,034
- Certificates
- Issued on course completion
- JLPT path
- /jlpt/ — measures the real N5–N1 exam lists (kanji, vocabulary, grammar, listening) against the learner's own recorded knowledge
- Grammar curriculum
- 831 points at /grammar-path/, ordered by measured frequency in real Japanese
4. Games
- Total games
- 16
- Premium-only games
- 0
- Playable with no account
- 15
- Require a free account
- 1 (to save score and XP)
Two of these were previously mislabelled "Premium" in our own marketing. They were never paywalled. The full list, with each game's access rule:
| Game | Teaches | Access |
|---|---|---|
| Conjugation Dojo | Verb and adjective conjugation, N5–N1 | Free, no account |
| Particle Battle | Particles は・が・を・に・で in real sentences | Free, no account |
| Sentence Builder | Word order and sentence construction | Free, no account |
| Counter Dojo | Counters and their irregular readings | Free, no account |
| Stroke Order | Kanji stroke order against real stroke data | Free, no account |
| Kanji Duel | Kanji frequency, readings and lookalikes | Free, no account |
| Chimei — Japan City Game | Reading real Japanese place names | Free, no account |
| Kanji Blade Forge | Kanji components and meaning by drag-and-drop | Free, no account |
| Translate the Menu | Food and restaurant vocabulary across 44 regions | Free, no account |
| Keigo Clash | Polite and honorific register by context | Free, no account |
| Audio Samurai | Listening recognition of kana and JLPT kanji by ear | Free, no account |
| Vocab Swipe | JLPT vocabulary as swipeable flashcards | Free, no account |
| Hiragana Hangman | Hiragana recall from English meaning | Free, account required |
| Hiragana Game Hub | Hiragana reading and recall across several mini-games | Free, no account |
| Katakana Game Hub | Katakana reading and recall across several mini-games | Free, no account |
| Kanji Game Hub | Nine kanji mini-games across N5–N1 | Free, no account |
5. Learning methods
- Adaptive selection. A per-learner knowledge model records which words and kanji the learner actually holds. Reading passages and listening clips are then chosen so the learner knows every word but at most one.
- Spaced repetition. A review deck built from the items that learner personally got wrong, scheduled by interval.
- Measured progress. Levels and readiness are computed from recorded answers, not self-assessment.
- Daily structure. A daily mission, a daily lesson and a daily writing task.
- Games, quizzes, flashcards and exercises feeding the same knowledge model.
6. AI functionality
- An on-site AI tutor answering questions in plain English.
- AI-generated courses and daily lessons, fact-checked by a second pass before publication.
- AI-generated reading passages matched to the learner's own vocabulary.
- Synthesised native-voice audio for sentences and books.
- No learner's personal data is sent to a model provider; personalisation is substituted server-side.
7. Reference tools
Supporting resources, not the core product:
- Dictionary
- 669,996 entries — /dictionary/
- Kanji pages
- 13,071
- Vocabulary entries
- 7,972
- Reading library
- 229 complete public-domain books — /books/
- Listening corpus
- 220,482 graded sentences, 742 minimal pairs
- Other
- Furigana converter, romaji converter, place-name reference
8. Free and Premium
Prices are read from the payment products themselves, and any discount shown is a real coupon applied at the checkout — so this table cannot disagree with what a customer is charged.
| Plan | Monthly | Yearly | List price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | — |
| Premium | $9.99 | $99.90 | $19.98 monthly |
| Elite | $99.99 | $890 | $199.98 monthly |
Current promotion: 50% off,
applied to every payment for as long as the subscription runs.
It is a real coupon (NIHONER50) carried on the
checkout links, not a display-only price.
What a free account includes: 18 starter lessons from the 160 courses (the rest of the lessons, and certificates, need Premium), all 16 games, all 229 books in full, the whole dictionary and every kanji page, handwriting practice, listening practice, the JLPT path, the grammar path, the daily lesson and mission, XP, streaks and leaderboards.
What Premium adds: Every lesson in all 160 courses — 3,263 lessons — and the certificates; 20 reading passages a day, every topic, not 3; Uncapped review deck — words you missed, back in the sentence you met them; Voice any sentence in any of 229 books, in a real Japanese voice; The AI pronunciation trainer; “Is this natural?” — a model reads your writing (the automatic marking is free for everyone); Kanji Focus — practice weighted to what you keep missing; Save readings to come back to, the difficulty dial, and 60 readings of history; Pro modes in the furigana and romaji converters; No ads on grammar and vocabulary pages. What Elite adds: 40 reading passages a day; Write your own reading topic — any subject, at your level; Priority support, answered first; New tools before anyone else. Premium and Elite do not unlock any course or any game.
9. Canonical URLs
- Platform overview: https://nihoner.com/features/
- Verifiable facts: https://nihoner.com/platform-facts/
- Guide for reviewers: https://nihoner.com/reviewer-guide/
- Pricing: https://nihoner.com/pricing/
- All courses: https://nihoner.com/courses/
- All games: https://nihoner.com/japanese-language-learning-games/
- JLPT path: https://nihoner.com/jlpt/
- Reading: https://nihoner.com/reading/
- Writing: https://nihoner.com/writing/
- Listening: https://nihoner.com/listening/
- Grammar path: https://nihoner.com/grammar-path/
- Reading library: https://nihoner.com/books/
- Dictionary: https://nihoner.com/dictionary/
10. Corrections
If a statement here is wrong, it is a bug and we want to fix it. Contact details are on /about/. This page is regenerated from the product, so the fastest way to check any claim is to open the URL next to it.