Moji vs Anki: Which Should You Use to Learn Kanji?

Moji is our app, and we think Anki is a great piece of software. It is also a different kind of tool. Anki is a flashcard engine: it schedules whatever you put into it. Moji is a kanji course: the content, exercises and order are built in. The right choice depends mostly on whether you want to build your system or follow one.

How each app teaches kanji

Anki does not come with a kanji course. You either download shared decks that other learners have published or make your own cards. You see a prompt, try to recall the answer, then rate how well you remembered, and Anki schedules the next review for around the time you are likely to forget. What a kanji card shows, such as readings, example words, stroke diagrams or audio, depends entirely on the deck. That flexibility is Anki's biggest strength, and also the reason some learners spend more time tweaking decks than studying.

Moji gives you a fixed library of 2,140 kanji from JLPT N5 to N1 and a path through it. You set a goal, a starting level and a daily pace of 1 to 20 new kanji. Each character has readings, meanings, components, example words, a translated sentence and pronunciation audio. Beyond flashcards, Moji adds Radical Builder, a Confusables Drill for look-alike kanji, Reading in Context sentences and writing practice. You give up Anki's freedom to design everything, and in return you get a structured course that works on day one.

Building a daily habit

Anki's habit loop is clear: open the app, clear your due cards, come back tomorrow. It works well for disciplined learners, and the free AnkiWeb sync means you can review on a laptop and a phone.

Moji adds a second loop through widgets. Lock Screen widgets on iPhone and Home Screen widgets keep a kanji in view, and the medium Quick Quiz widget lets you rate an answer straight from the Home Screen. Kira's Review Pile widget shows due counts and your streak. Short glances do not replace a real review session, but they keep characters in front of you on days when you never open a study app.

Writing practice

In Anki, reviews are self-graded. If you practice writing, you write the kanji somewhere and judge for yourself whether it was correct. That works if you are honest and already know what correct looks like.

Moji checks the writing for you. Guided writing gives live feedback on stroke order, start point, direction, shape and length. Outline practice fades the guide, and recall writing asks you to draw the full kanji from memory. For beginners who cannot yet tell a sloppy stroke from a wrong one, that feedback is the main reason to choose Moji for writing. You can also look up any character in our kanji stroke order tool.

Price and platforms

As of October 2026, Anki is free on Windows, Mac and Linux, AnkiDroid for Android is free, and AnkiWeb sync is free. The official iPhone and iPad app, AnkiMobile Flashcards, is a one-time $24.99 purchase on the US App Store, and its sales help fund Anki's development.

Moji is a free download on iPhone, iPad and Android, and learning requires Moji Pro: $7.99 per month or $69.99 per year on the US App Store, with a lifetime purchase also listed and a free trial for eligible new users. Moji has no web or Windows version. On price alone, Anki wins clearly.

Using Moji and Anki together

The two fit together well. A common setup is Moji for learning new kanji, radicals and writing, and Anki for vocabulary you collect from your own reading. Kanji live in Moji's spaced repetition queue and words live in Anki, so you are not reviewing the same item twice. If you want a single tool and you enjoy building your system, Anki is hard to beat. If you would rather follow a path and practice writing with feedback, Moji is the easier start.

Whichever you choose, the method matters more than the app. Our guide on how to learn kanji and our spaced repetition guide cover the habits that make either tool work.