Actually it depends on your finances and learning speed.
TL;DR
If you are short on money – take free SRS (Anki)
Have money but not sure if you really planning on learning all this stuff/ can learn fast – yearly is a great choice
Slow learner or want to support Wanikani – lifetime (costs like 3.5 yearly without sale)
If you don’t have much money to spare, I’d recommend you just use Anki or other free SRS. Maybe it won’t be so fancy and you won’t have super mnemonics/scripts, but everything will work just fine. Wanikani is great, but not unique.
If you are not in financial trouble, then I’d recommend you take yearly first (if you are planning on serious study) or monthly (though it is not money-efficient) There are people who managed to get lvl 60 in a year, so maybe you won’t need lifetime. Also, many people stop around lvl 30-40 which can be done in a year.
If the year passed and you are still are into Wanikani, but slow, you can buy lifetime in December when lifetime sale is on (after all, without discount, lifetime costs like 3.5 yearly)
Speaking of me, I had spare money and I believe I can learn ~40 levels in a year, so I bought yearly, also I wanted to support the creators (really like Tofugu).
It’s not that bad doing all lessons at once, I’m still doing it and it’s fine. I do between 200-300 reviews a day typically. Sometimes it stretches to 350. (Done all the reviews every day since I started pretty much last summer).
I think it is definitely worth it. Of course, keep your own finances in mind. Do not buy a product you cannot afford. Also, if you have doubts about Wanikani’s SRS methods, don’t do it.
For most people, Wanikani will allow you to move on your own pace. Although it doesn’t seem like it, the allowed pace turns out to be quite quick in the long run.
Getting a lifetime will not only allow you access to all content, but also give you flexibility. Suppose you feel a bit drained after 4 months and feel like taking a pause. With an annual subscription, you might feel pressured to continue, because not using your time is a waste of money. The result might be you get burned out.
Just take a look at my review intensity overview below. I’m not proud of it, but I suck at consistency. If you’re a bit like me, getting lifetime is worth it, because you can start again anytime without worrying about spending money again.
After studying for a long while, I gotta say that WK is merely a convenience. I don’t think you need it at all, but when you’re starting out it works out because it gives you a straightforward progression system. If you want that kind of thing (it helped me start out!) then yeah I would say it’s worth it. Otherwise, I honestly think you’re better off writing kanji by hand. But that’s just me, I learned kanji way better when I did that and WK is more of a “refresh” tool for me nowadays, which I could easily replace with anki decks.
It’s all about what kind of learner you are and what you need/want. WK is a great premium tool, but it’s not needed. What I personally like about it is the ease of it. I hate SRSs, seriously cannot stand them and WK makes the system far less painful for me. The mnemonics are built in and mostly fine, often even pretty funny if you mesh well with their sense of humor, which makes the process slightly more enjoyable; you don’t have to create your own cards, the vocabs are selected to both reinforce meanings and readings, etc – since all of this is automated for the user, I can spend my limited energy on other things without coming to resent/dread both kanji and the language, which is personally the most important thing for me. You need to think about the sort of learner you are to decide if it’s worth it to you.
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