Since the winter sale is here now, I’m about to finish level 3 and am wondering which subscription is most worth it. I calculated that I may be able to finish Wanikani in a year and a half, but maybe not. Should I get the monthly, annual, or lifetime?
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I prefer the monthly one, even though right now there is an offer for the lifetime option… It alls depends if you expect to use this website for more than 2 years. Which, though i expect to use it for years and years to come, 200U$ is a lot when i convert for my currency…
Do you expect to use Wanikani even after getting to level 60 or no?
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Yea, for sure. I don’t live in Japan, so i need the daily exposure
WELCOME!
There is no best subscription. For me the lifetime isn’t worth it. I don’t think I’ll be doing this long enough that it will be worth the money. Yearly is pretty inexpensive in comparison if you only expect to be on for a year or two.
I don’t understand why you would still use wanikani even after getting to level 60. can you explain?
You can reset, for more exposure to the kanji especially the rarer kanji at higher levels.
You can also just use the forums.
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For you to burn all itens (which is REALLY remember word/kanji “forever”), it takes more than Lv60. And even some burn itens may not be really burned lol
Ty! I may get the yearly subscription and see if I can complete Wanikani before the subscription ends, I do like a little pressure to finish something since its a good motivational tool.
Oh damn, I forgot about burning items, ah yeah it may be better to get the lifetime one.
I think 1 year is a really difficult target. But that depends on your free time and prior knowledge…
After reaching lvl 60, you will need about 6 months to continue SRS-ing/burning latest items. The amount of reviews does not go down for months after hitting 60.
Today WK started the only sale event they run - Lifetime Sale 2020-2021: The Moment We've All Been Waiting For
so it’s the best time of the year to get lifetime since you have not invested any money into monthly/annual payments.
OTOH, if you will dislike the site after two months, it will be a waste.
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I have 0 prior knowledge but have eons of time with this quarantine.
This going to depend largely on what you know about yourself and how you do with motivation! Some people find that the pressure of a monthly or annual subscription helps them to keep at it, while some people (like me) find that not being under that kind of pressure makes the journey less stressful and easier to stick with.
I would say though that it’s rather hard to judge how long it will take you until you’re really quite a way in.
Financially, the lifetime subscription on sale is not vastly more expensive than two years of WaniKani, so unless you’re very convinced of your ability to finish faster than that - or if you know you will find the target super motivational - it probably makes more sense to go with the insurance of lifetime, assuming that’s within your budget.
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I personally do. I’ve been level 60 for a little over half a year now and I still use it daily to burn remaining items. Not only that, I use WK to unburn specific items I forget when I come across them in the wild and practice those again. Overall, I’m glad I got the lifetime.
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WaniKani is pretty damn expensive, but if you’re serious about Japanese and believe that WaniKani is the right tool for the job, then the lifetime subscription is very much a must for most people.
First of all, you don’t generally want to rush the level 60, and most people don’t, because you get burned out quickly and then slow down dramatically. Going at a steady pace instead is what will eventually get you there and it’s definitely gonna be more than 2 years.
I agree that it’s an outrageous initial investment into a tool that can by no means teach you Japanese, meaning that you’ll absolutely certainly need to get at least one more tool, but likely many more to cover the entirety of the language’s complexity.
I too hesitated before subscribing for the first time, but seeing the lifetime subscription at $200 now seems like a very welcome opportunity over paying $90 for a yearly subscription 3-5 times.
Of course, the month subscription is only a good idea for the first month to decide if you’re in or out. People who continue to use the monthly subscription for any longer than that must be out of their mind or they have some kind of a 200 IQ, precisely calculated plan, which, honestly, looking at the forums, no one has.
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Personally, I got myself a lifetime because it’s likely I will need to unburn some items (especially the more obscure ones) in the future, and it’s a pretty comforting feeling to know you can always do so.
I remember seeing someone here comparing getting a lifetime to buying, and thus ‘owning’, a product - if you can afford it and are serious about learning Japanese then it’s a good purchase in my opinion!
Or, alternatively maybe it’s just that $9.00 is more affordable than a big one off payment.
-monthly subscriber with bills and a family to look after-
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I was on monthly for about a year and a half. 6 months ago I bough the yearly, and then I got the lifetime last week during the sale test.
Buying lifetime from the beginning would have saved me at least $200 even without the sale. 
To put it on perspective, the Genki I and II books will run you a bit less than $100. If you move on to Tobira, that’s another $140 for the 4-book bundle.
The complete Japanese course on Pimsleur is $575.
So WK’s pricing is pretty reasonable.
The only caveat is that it’s only worth it if you stick around long term.
Yup, this was me the first year.
But last Christmas, I made a point of saving up to get the lifetime sale this year although I still did about 6 more months of monthly before I could get an annual sub in preparation for lifetime.
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My experience - I signed up to WK ages ago (like 4-5 years ago? but haven’t even finished level 1). Then last year I decided to give it a go (there was a lifetime sale mailing that reminded me of the service) and planned to finish 3 levels and decide if I want lifetime or not. However, after arriving at that moment I still wasn’t sure so I took the middle ground and opted for yearly one to see if I will stick with it (it was still almost half of lifetime sale). Today, after a year with WK (and only reaching level 10) I decided to go with lifetime (it seems I will need around a year for 10 levels so I’m looking at about 4-5 more years with WK so lifetime just makes more sense here).
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