Hello! I was thinking in start the subscription once I finish lvl 3. My goal with this post is just to satisfy by curiousness.
I wanted to know how long it took you to get to level 60, if you had any breaks or something like that and most importantly: how much money did you spend here? (I know this question is quite personal but well, I wanted to know how much I would be spending if I’m consistent and active here!)
Thank you!
You don’t need to be level 60 to know that the lifetime subscription is where it’s at. There is usually a sale in December
This thread might be useful for you to learn about the experience of several level 60.
Don’t be fooled by the small sample of people who made it to 60 in less than a year. There is a graph somewhere showing that people climbing up higher on WK drops off exponentially as level rises.
If you want to make it to 60 and have it be cost effective, lifetime is the only guaranteed way. Anything else is a bet that you will have hours a day to devote to your lessons and reviews, not just now but for a year, with no breaks or slacking.
I first registered here 8 years ago, went through the free trials then a monthly sub for a while, then got a year sub. Not even sure if I managed to complete that year, but it lapsed as I had a hard time combining it with school when I reached level 15. Was able to get a discount through tofugu if I ever returned. That break lasted about 5 years. Cause I knew it would be good way for me to improve my mental health, I resubbed and made use of that discount. Wasn’t in the position to afford lifetime at that time, but that changed I think last year or so. Anyway I didn’t quite aim at getting to 60 this year, just happened…
The most cost effective way is definitely getting a lifetime sub at a discount at the end of the year. While it is possible to get to 60 within a year, it is quite a challenge and have seen a lot of members taking 2-3 years maybe even longer. That is just to learn all the kanji, if you wanna burn everything that’s gonna take even more time.
Anyway only you know really what you can and can’t do yourself.
Took me two and a half years. I bought lifetime during an xmas sale so I only paid $200.
You are in time for the Christmas sale. So, Lifetime might be the best option if you can afford it 
I’d love to see that. Any idea where you came across it?
It took me four-ish years because Wanikani is my best “look-busy-at-work” activity and there was one year where I didn’t have access to a personal computer at work.
“But ourtangledbones, why not just study at home during that year?” you may ask. Well the answer is that I am a lazy POS. I like my free time to absolutely and utterly unproductive.
Also: lifetime subscription is the best option without question.
I was subscribed for 2 years - two year subs back to back. I got to 60 in about 16 months. It was intensely useful, but a savage pace. I did the majority on stubborn discipline, because there was nothing fun about it, and it burned me out on SRS quite badly. In 24 months, I had 30 total days in which I didn’t do reviews.
I can’t say I regret doing it, since there are reasons why it worked for me, but I also can’t really recommend it. It made it even harder to have enough time and energy to also do grammar and immersion. Going hard on WK while also progressing the other crucial aspects easily turns into 3-4+ hours of studying per day.
Started WK in 2015 & finished it in 2021. Took two big breaks, but if we ignore the breaks WK took me a little under 2 years to complete. Bought a lifetime subscription (on sale) and in hindsight I’m really glad I did, since it allowed me to pick up WK again and finish it without having to pay more - if it wasn’t for that I honestly probably wouldn’t have bothered to pick up Japanese again at all.
Get either the annual or monthly subscription now, then upgrade to lifetime when it goes on sale. Any active subscription is refunded on a prorated basis when you upgrade, so you won’t have wasted any money. Annual is a touch more cost effective than monthly, but with so little time left in the year it’s a trivial difference.
It took me about 2yrs 2mos to finish WK.
I was on monthly for about 14 months and then got yearly in anticipation of the lifetime sale last year and then got lifetime.
All in all I spent around $360 in total. The first year or so I wasn’t sure if I was going to finish WK so that’s why I was on monthly for so long.
Considering the fact that most people take around 3 years to finish, getting yearly and then lifetime during the winter sale is probably the best deal.
Seriously, get lifetime.
There are some super dedicated people here, who are massively immersed and get like nothing wrong.
I’m not one of these people, starting around level 30 every level takes me like a month and old failures come back again and again. I’m very happy I got lifetime. It will take me well over two years to finish.
I think it depends on how stress free you want the experience to be. Since you’re already level 3, you saved some time. If you’re really radical, you can probably get away with 1-2 years of subscription. Or you can take the lifetime subscription and not worry about time restrictions 
.
I would personally recommend the latter. Speeding to level 60 means you may struggle with balancing your JP learning diet in favor of kanji, but neglecting any of grammar, vocab, etc. Unless you have plenty of time to do all of that without burning out .
I bought 2x annual don’t plan to renew afterwards. I hit 60 within a year, no breaks. A subscription kinda motivates me to do things faster compared to lifetime.
I second that.
starting from level 30 onward I spend so much time going through backlocks before I even start kanji from my new level i end up with 30 days level ups or something.
(and i also make some stupid mistakes over and over and over 
)
helpful thread, I’m in the same boat. thanks helpful people
I really don’t think that completing in less than a year is reasonable. Most people will take a break. The speed at which my brain learns, like actually learns not just memorizes, two years is the minimum. Then again the way that yearly is priced versus life time. I still haven’t seen lifetime as worth it, yet. I also bought two annuals like sarzorwyn. I plan to get to level 60 at about a year and 6 or 7 months. I don’t think I will burn everything before 2 years though.
I might buy one more annual just to un-burn and re-burn everything.
I forgor lmao 
