Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to I'm making an open-source platform for learning Japanese
The idea is actually quite simple. As a Japanese learner and a coder, I've always wanted there to be an open-source, 100% free for learning Japanese, similar to Monkeytype in the typing community. Unfortunately, pretty much all language learning apps are closed-sourced and paid these days, and the ones that are free have unfortunately been abandoned. But of course, just creating yet another language learning app was not enough - there has to be a unique selling point. And then I thought to myself: why not make it crazy and do what no other language learning app ever did by adding a gazillion…
KanaDojo is an open-source, free platform for learning Japanese, inspired by Monkeytype's approach to typing practice. Built by a Japanese learner and coder, it offers extensive customization with numerous color themes… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.
- 1OS
I'm launching UneeBee, an open-source tool for creating interactive courses like Duolingo: GitHub repo: https://github.com/zoonk/uneebee Demo: https://app.uneebee.com/ It's pretty early-stage, so there's a lot of things to improve. Everything on this project is going to be public, so you can check the roadmap on GitHub too: https://github.com/orgs/zoonk/projects/11 I'm creating this project because I love Duolingo and I wanted the same kind of experience to learn other things as well. But I think this could be useful to other…
2023 · uneebee.com · its alternatives →
- 2AF
I'm a long time lurker that recently quit my job to work on my own projects, a lot due to the inspiration from Hacker News. Now I have published my first serious project, an app for learning how to write Japanese characters. It's the app I always wanted but couldn't find when I was studying. It tries to be simple to use, you just start the quiz and go with the flow. There's no need to plan and manage your studies, and it uses spaced repetition for better retention. There's a promo page with more details up at http://www.kanjibyhand.com. It's only for Android so far. The free version includes…
2012 · kanjibyhand.com. · its alternatives →
- 3
Hey HN, it’s been 8 years since I posted on here about the launch of my Japanese dictionary app Nihongo [0] and I’m finally back with a new app: Nihongo Lessons! Think of Nihongo Lessons as the textbook to Nihongo’s dictionary. It’s an app for learning Japanese, specifically made for learners who are serious about becoming fluent, and want a guided set of content that will help them efficiently acquire vocabulary and grammar. The project came about when Adam Shapiro of Japanese Level Up (Jalup) [1] announced last April that he was shutting Jalup down. As a fan of Adam’s work I was bummed to…
2022 · lessons.nihongo-app.com · its alternatives →
- 4
A few years ago, right after high school, I decided to try to make a simultaneous translation app for Android as a side project, it took longer than expected (about 2 years) and I had to make a lot of compromises (I had to use Google's API and therefore make users use a developer key because at the time there were no free solutions for speech recognition and translation that had good quality). At the end of university, I decided to pick it up again and finally, using OpenAi's Whisper for speech recognition and Meta's NLLB for translation (with both running locally on the phone), I managed to…
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Hi HN, Just wanted to share a tool i've been working on to help with my own study routine. It’s a browser extension called Lingoku. The idea is simple: we spend hours browsing the web in English every day. This tool replaces some of the english words with Japanese vocabulary based on your japanese level (Similar to Toucan, but with a better user experience). It’s basically an attempt to make the "i+1" method actually passive, you understand the sentence because it's mostly english, but you pick up Japanese words naturally from the context. It uses an LLM in the backend to make sure the…
Dec 2025 · lingoku.ai · its alternatives →
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- 8GA
I've been fascinated by the Japanese language and culture for a while now, and I wanted to create a simple, no-fuss way for beginners to get started. So, I built *[Nihongo](https://nihongo.site/)*, a free and open-source web app designed to help you learn the fundamentals of Japanese in about a month. The name of the app, Nihongo (日本語), is the Japanese word for the "Japanese language." You can check it out here: *[https://nihongo.site/](https://nihongo.site/)* And for those who like to tinker, the code is available on GitHub:…
2025 · nihongo.site · its alternatives →
- 9
Douzo▲127Free Japanese typing practice organized by JLPT level
Mar 2026 · typingdouzo.com · its alternatives →
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Hi Everyone, I recently wanted to learn Japanese with duolingo but it kept giving me repetitive lessons. So I built an app that gives a variety of lessons from anime. You can try it out here:https://kanjieight.vercel.app/ Thanks everyone.
Nov 2025 · kanjieight.vercel.app · its alternatives →
- 13
Kann for Android▲171Learn Japanese vocabulary you care about!
2025 · play.google.com · its alternatives →
- 14
Kana Trainer▲65An iOS application to learn Japanese, the easy way.
2019 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
- 15
Kando is a cross-platform open source pie menu which I am currently developing! It offers an unconventional, fast, highly efficient, and fun way of interacting with your computer! You can use it to launch applications, simulate keyboard shortcuts, open files, and much more. Let me know what you think about it!
2024 · kando.menu · its alternatives →
- 16
Kanafication▲62The best place to start learning the Japanese alphabet
2019 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
- 17BA
2020 · librelingo.app · its alternatives →
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Edunin▲96Open-source problem-solving platform to learn how to learn
2023 · edunin.notion.site · its alternatives →
- 20
Turn anything into a language lesson, instantly
2022 · roshi.ai · its alternatives →
- 21
Mainichi▲133Learn Japanese, one prefecture at a time.
Jul 2026 · mainichiapp.com · its alternatives →
- 22
Giving kids superpowers through code!
2016 · podcasts.apple.com · its alternatives →
- 23
I quit my job last year and worked mostly on this full SwiftUI rewrite of my Japanese reading app, Manabi Reader. The rewrite gave me the opportunity to expand to macOS (and without Catalyst so it feels extra native) and redo the data layer to be offline-first via Realm with iCloud sync. The biggest differentiators compared with other language study apps are that it tracks every word/kanji you read so that you can see how much of a given webpage/article you're already familiar with and other features/analytics built on that foundation; it automatically builds a personal corpus…
2023 · reader.manabi.io · its alternatives →
- 24SL
When I was getting into web development I used a combination of Anki and git to help me quickly learn and retain skills. Figuring there might be demand for a product that uses the same strategy (without the requirement that you already know Anki and git), I created SkillPress. No account is needed to start learning. I would greatly appreciate any feedback or suggestions.
2022 · app.skillpress.io · its alternatives →
Also compare
- Open-source tool for creating courses like Duolingo alternatives
- App for learning how to write Japanese alternatives
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →