im guessing wanikani only teaches kanji and not grammar, right? and if so, can anyone recommend me apps that teach grammar but also free?
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I would highly recommend googling that sort of stuff or searching on this forum. This question has been asked multiple times with many good answers.
That being said, Genki is a good textbook. Tae Kimās guide is a great free textbook online. Bunpro.jp is an SRS app just like Wanikani but for grammar.
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there are a few sites that teach grammar. i personally have only properly used Bunpro which has a 30 day free trial, and MaruMori which has a 14 day trial, along with the Genki textbooks.
this site has links to different resources that can help you out. a lot them seem to be free resources like Cure Dollyās youtube channel and even transcripts for her videos, and Tae Kimās website.
If you get the Genki textbooks, Tokini Andy has some great playlists going through them.
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renshuu is free and has great content.
Just power through the horrible UX.
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Bunproās SRS is paid, but its content is free, so you can read through each lesson and take notes as if it was a textbook. Just canāt use the flashcards.
Itās not free but very cheap ($10 USD) and great quality: Human Japanese. Itās an app but really itās structured more like an textbook. Itās what I used when I first started and I highly recommend it! The one issue I have with it is that they take forever to teach kanjiā¦ but luckily thatās what WaniKani is here for 
Japanese Ammo with Misa is a great youtube channel that goes over lots of vocab/grammar
Personally I do like Cure Dolly, but for the most part Iād say sheās more for the upper beginner / intermediate level, not for absolute beginners. Still, she does have some beginner-friendly videos. Highly recommend watching her video on transitivity
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If you want a single app that teaches everything Japanese, then you might want to try
Itās not free, but it has a free trial period, so youād be able to see for yourself.
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In addition to everything already mentioned, thereās also Tae Kimās Japanese Grammar Guide, which is completely free. And as for Bunpro, you can actually read through the grammar points for free, you just canāt use their srs without a subscription. And each grammar point has a list of links to other resources, so you can use it an index too.
But if you want a program that teaches kanji and grammar (and more) Marumori is the way to go.
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FYI, just in case. WK is not free. You can access the first 3 levels for free, but once you complete that the rest will be locked.
It is free, but with some functionality/features/content as āpremiumā which require payment. With respect to grammar in particular about 3/4 of the content is premium. I have used renshuu and it is pretty decent, once I pushed through my aversion to their UI, which initially felt like an assault to the senses and had way to much cutesy cutesy for me. Although I have come to like Kao-chan these days.
I would agree with what many others have said already, that grammar is probably best learned in a more structured, text-book like,way. For the learning and understanding part.Once past that, quiz based systems are great for practicing and checking your learning.
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I almost forgot, free textbooks by the Japan Foundation, the Irodori series also exist. the Japan Foundation is also behind the Marugoto textbooks. Those ones are paid textbooks.
Hereās an article from Tofugu.
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Teaching Kanji and also free, would be renshuu.org and https://kanji.koohii.com/ (which references a not free book)
WaniKani is actually free if not using SRS.
jpdb.io is free with SRS, but no mnemonics. Also, Anki.
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Here to throw in another vote for Bunproās free content ā with some major caveats.
I use Bunpro primarily as a starting point. Their free-to-access grammar pages are organized by JLPT level, so it helps you work your way up from zero (start with N5). For example, when I made the decision to put serious effort into learning grammar not long ago, I took the N5 grammar points from Bunpro, listed them in a spreadsheet with a link to each grammar point page (along with a link to supplementary material), and then split them into small groups I thought I could tackle in a weekās time. Iām nearly done and will do the same for N4, N3, etc.
Some of Bunproās explanations are less than great in my opinion. I supplement quite a lot with the grammar articles from Tofugu and other free online resources. Tae Kimās online guide, which is what I started with when I had just begun learning Japanese, is also an excellent resource that I keep going back to.
I donāt know of a grammar SRS that isnāt behind a paywall of some kind* (many of them have limited āteaserā content for free in hopes youāll like it enough to purchase the rest, much like WaniKani). But Iāve also tried a couple and came to the conclusion that multiple choice and text-input quizzes may not be a great way to remember and learn how to use grammar concepts.
Iād say some of the best ways to get a good grasp on grammar points after initially learning them is to consume content (so youāre exposed to many examples of the grammar in use in the real world) and consistently practice coming up with your own sentences. Itās okay if youāre not correct with your usage every time; itās more important that youāre getting accustomed to thinking in the languageās structure overall; nailing the specifics will come with exposure, practice and time.
Whenever I learn a grammar point, I re-write what Iāve read and learned in my own words, along with my own example sentences. Not only does it help to get the information to stick in my brain, but Iām slowly building a handy quick reference guide of everything Iāve learned, customized just for me.
* I had to give up on Renshuu because I donāt have the tolerance for bad UI that some of the others in this thread do, but as others have mentioned, much of their content is also behind a paywall.
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Yeah. I came to tolerate it, but not like it. It is still like a stiff smack in the face every time I open it up. But probably more so than the visuals even is just the design/structure/layout and configuring/finding stuff. As I am not a paying customer I donāt complain about it. But on the other hand the design and usability means it is not something I would pay for.
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Another vote for irodori
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I just wanted to add to what you said. Marugoto is also available completely free as an online course with identical content to the textbooks. With added audio and video.
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I didnāt realise they had a free course based off them! Thatās pretty nice!
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I think that Cure Dollyās Organic Japanese playlist is perfect for starting from the beginning. Understanding structure from (almost) the beginning has saved me so much time and frustration, itās unbelievable. To be fair, I wasnāt a exactly beginner exactly when I found her, and my mind works in way in which I have low tolerance for ambiguity and I like to learn principles and apply them, rather than learning a bunch of seemingly random rules that I got from my classes in college back in the day. So, her way of teaching works for me, and I may be a bit biased because of that.
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you can finish N5 on bunpro in less than amonth, if you like you can continue and in one year you can get to N1 just like I did
But I dont recommend grammar so soon because instead of spending time focusing on grammar point you will be looking up words in the sentence and the main thing wonāt be learned IMO
I only started bunpro on lvl 33 here and no regrets, I could only focus on grammar there since I knew most of the words already.
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Good to know! I guess to be fair I mostly think of her upper level content since thatās what I focused on when I found out about her
oh yeah iām planning on paying for WK since i think itās the best app for kanji. Atp i think iāll buy the Japanese From Zero textbook, it looks pretty good. What do you think?