Published August 13, 2026. Updated September 6, 2026
Renshuu vs Moji: Free Breadth, or One Focused Path?
The short version: Renshuu is a free, broad, community-driven Japanese study platform covering vocabulary, kanji, grammar, and sentences on web, iOS, and Android, with an optional Pro subscription for extras. Moji - Learn Japanese Daily for iPhone is much narrower on purpose: one hand-edited study order over 8,237 words, FSRS-6 scheduling with nothing to configure, and a free tier covering the whole comprehension path.
If you want more material and more control for less money, Renshuu wins outright, and there is a section below that says so plainly. If you want the decisions already made and one thing to do each day on a phone, that is the case for Moji.
What Renshuu actually is
Renshuu is a Japanese study platform built by an independent developer, Michael Hominick, around the idea that repetition alone is not enough. Its own homepage puts it directly: “A deep understanding comes through varied practice, not flipping a card over repeatedly.”
That philosophy shows up as breadth. Renshuu covers vocabulary, kanji, grammar, and sentences as four separate study categories, with material organised by JLPT level N5 through N1, by school grade for kanji, and by textbook for people working through Genki, Tobira, or Minna no Nihongo. Its App Store listing advertises over 15,000 native-recorded audio files, 17,000 hand-picked images, and 160,000 example sentences on the vocabulary side; “12,000+ kanji, with no limits on what you can study” plus over 2,000 mnemonics; and over 800 grammar expressions, each with native-written model sentences, construction diagrams, audio, and over 7,500 hand-made quiz questions.
Study happens through varied question styles: multiple choice, writing, drag-and-drop, and listening. There are dictionaries, a sentence lookup, crosswords, a battle game with a mascot, forums, and user-made lessons. Renshuu describes its system as able to “instantly adjust what and how you see Japanese to match your knowledge level, down to each, individual kanji.”
It runs in a browser, on iPhone and iPad, on Apple Silicon Macs, on Apple Vision, and on Android. That is a wider platform net than most Japanese apps manage.
What Moji does instead: one path, no configuration
Moji is not a platform. It is one study path.
There is a single hand-edited order over 8,237 words, derived from frequency data and then adjusted by hand where the raw ranking taught things in an unhelpful sequence. Core particles are pulled forward deliberately: は enters around position 63, が around 89, か around 109, and を around 129, each introduced with an example sentence chosen so the particle’s placement is visible. You do not build a schedule, pick a term list, or choose question vectors. You open the app and study the next thing.
Every entry carries a curated example sentence with an English meaning, and those sentences have a stated difficulty budget rather than a vibe. For study slots 151 to 586, each example uses at most one word the learner has not yet been taught at that slot, with katakana loanwords exempt. Slots 1 to 150 satisfy a looser three-band budget.
The catalog is annotated rather than large: 5,880 entries have hand-edited mnemonics (kanji words only), 7,741 carry pitch-accent annotations, 8,000 have frequency ranks, and 6,444 have usage notes, written only where there is a true, non-obvious, actionable fact and left empty otherwise.
The scheduling difference: configurable schedules vs FSRS-6 defaults
Renshuu’s scheduling is something you shape. You choose schedules per category, pick from pre-made lists or build your own, and the system tracks mastery across different aspects of a term rather than treating it as one flashcard side. That granularity is genuinely powerful, and for people who like tuning a system it is the main reason to stay.
Moji goes the other way. It runs the official FSRS-6 formulas with all 21 parameters at their published defaults and a 90% target retention, and exposes no settings for any of it. Grading is two buttons: swipe left for again, swipe right for good. That is a deliberate simplification of FSRS-6’s four grades, chosen because fewer buttons means faster reviews and no grade anxiety. There is no daily review cap, so everything due gets served. More on the algorithm itself in how FSRS works in Moji.
Worth being straight about one thing: Anki also offers FSRS as an optional scheduler, so Moji’s difference is FSRS-6 with zero setup, not exclusive access to the algorithm. That comparison lives in Anki alternative for Japanese.
Renshuu vs Moji: a direct comparison
| Renshuu | Moji - Learn Japanese Daily | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Vocabulary, kanji, grammar, sentences | Vocabulary and kanji, via one word path |
| Content size | 12,000+ kanji, 800+ grammar expressions, 160,000 example sentences (per Renshuu) | 8,237 words, every one with a curated example sentence |
| Ordering | You pick schedules and term lists | One hand-edited frequency order, no choices |
| Grammar | A first-class system with diagrams and quizzes | No grammar course; grammar shows up in example sentences |
| Scheduler | Configurable mastery schedules, adjustable intervals | FSRS-6, all 21 parameters, 90% target retention, no settings |
| Grading | Multiple choice, writing, drag-and-drop, listening | Two-button swipe: left for again, right for good |
| Pitch accent | Not advertised as a core feature | 7,741 entries annotated |
| Writing practice | Writing question types available | Kanji and kana stroke practice with feedback (KanjiVG data) |
| Community | Forums, user-made lessons, games | None |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, visionOS, Android | iPhone only, iOS 18.0+ |
| Free tier | Core study free, no ads, no timer paywall | Full comprehension path, permanently free |
| Paid | Renshuu Pro: monthly, 1 year, or lifetime | $8.99/month or $49.99/year |
What each one costs
Renshuu is the cheaper option, and it is not close. The core study system is free with no ads and no timer paywall, and Pro is positioned as extras and support rather than as the gate on learning. The US App Store listing shows renshuu pro subscription at $3.99 and $6.99, one year access at $49.99 and $59.99, and lifetime access at $109.99 and $129.99, so there is more than one price point per option in the listing.
Moji’s free tier covers the full comprehension path permanently: flashcards with mnemonics and example sentences, kana writing, vocab and kana quizzes, and the Daily Mix. Moji Premium, $8.99 per month or $49.99 per year, unlocks focused practice modes: listening, cloze, weak-words drills, kanji writing, and the full quiz library. Nothing free is later taken away, but the paid line sits closer to the middle of the product than Renshuu’s does.
Choose Renshuu if…
Several of these are outright wins for Renshuu, so read them honestly.
- You want grammar taught properly. Over 800 expressions with model sentences, construction diagrams, and thousands of quiz questions is a real grammar course. Moji has nothing comparable, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest.
- You are not on an iPhone. Renshuu runs in a browser and on Android. Moji is iPhone-only, iOS 18.0 or later, with no Android and no web version.
- You want the most for free. Renshuu’s free tier covers more ground than Moji’s, across more content types, on more devices.
- You are following a textbook. Renshuu’s pre-made lessons align with Genki, Tobira, and Minna no Nihongo. Moji has one order and will not follow your class.
- You like tuning your own system. Custom schedules, term lists, and adjustable intervals are the point of Renshuu. Moji deliberately gives you none of that.
- You want people around. Forums, user-made lessons, and games are part of the experience. Moji is a solitary app.
Choose Moji if…
- You have bounced off configurable study systems before and want the decisions already made.
- You want FSRS-6 with published parameters and a 90% target retention running by default, with nothing to tune.
- You want core particles front-loaded so ordinary sentences start making sense in the first few hundred words.
- You want pitch accent visible while you learn, on 7,741 annotated entries.
- You study in short bursts on a phone, with home-screen and lock-screen widgets pulling you back in.
- You want an adaptive placement test to drop you at the right level rather than picking a starting list yourself.
- You are coming off a streak-driven app and want something with an actual endpoint. That path is covered in what to use after Duolingo Japanese.
What Moji is not
Moji is not a dictionary app and not a reference platform. It is a study system: one curated order, FSRS-6 scheduling, one path. It is iPhone-only, English-interface, and made by one independent developer. The dictionary base is JMdict from EDRDG, frequency ordering comes from JPDB data, and stroke data is KanjiVG, all then hand-curated entry by entry. If you want a place to look things up and study grammar and read forum threads, that is Renshuu’s job, and it does it well. Both, and four other apps, are ranked for the phone in the best iPhone app to learn Japanese.
If a single decided path sounds closer to what you want than a system you configure, Moji’s free tier is the whole comprehension path, so you can find out without paying anything: Moji is on the App Store.
Sources
- Renshuu homepage, study philosophy, coverage, and platform links: https://www.renshuu.org/
- Renshuu App Store listing, content counts, free version framing, in-app purchase prices, developer, and OS support: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/renshuu-japanese-learning/id1542730063
- Renshuu on Google Play (Android availability): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.renshuu.renshuu_org
- JMdict dictionary data (EDRDG): https://www.edrdg.org