JapanesePod101 is my personal favourite way to learn Japanese online, and I recommend it to everyone.
But how much does JapanesePod101 cost? Unfortunately there’s no straight answer, because it depends on lots of factors like your membership level and length of subscription. But as a very rough guide, expect to pay between $4 and $10 per month for a JapanesePod101 subscription.
You can also get absolutely loads of fantastic content with the free plan!
Here’s a breakdown of the different subscription plans with JapanesePod101, and how you can get it cheaper:
How much does JapanesePod101 cost?
JapanesePod101 runs on a subscription basis, so you pay each month to use the platform, for as long as you want to stay a member.
There are a few different levels of membership available: Free, Basic, Premium, or Premium Plus.
You can choose to pay monthly, or upfront for 3, 6, 12, or 24 months. The longer you sign up for, the better deal you get!
If your budget allows, I’d suggest going for the 24-month option, as it gives you the best value overall.
It’s a bit confusing, but you can compare all the different options in this chart.
As a general idea, Basic membership is $8/month if you pay monthly, but it can drop to $4/month when you pay for 24 months upfront.
Premium membership would be $25/month if you pay monthly, but drops to the equivalent of $10/month on a 24-month plan.
That said, you should never be paying full price for JapanesePod101. There’s almost always some kind of promotion running and you can usually get anywhere from 40% to 60% off!
If you sign up for a free account, you’ll start receiving emails with regular discounts and special offers.
And if you want to skip the wait, you can check my page with the latest JapanesePod101 discount codes.
With a decent coupon code, you can often get Premium for as little as $3.50 per month on a 24-month plan!
JapanesePod101 membership levels
JapanesePod101 free account
If you’re on a budget – or if you just want to try out JapanesePod101 before committing – start with the free plan. You don’t get full access to everything, but there is a LOT of content for free and it’s especially good for complete beginners!
Right now, they are actually offering their ENTIRE Absolute Beginners course for free. That’s an insane offer. It’s 100 lessons!
This is a limited time offer, but it’s still live at the time of writing – check for yourself here.
Here are some of the other features and bonuses you can get on the JapanesePod101 free plan:
- First 3 lessons in each pathway
- 2-5 new lessons each week, available for 3 weeks
- Japanese Word of the Day lessons – a new free mini-lesson every day
- Free kana workbook
- 2000 Core Words and Phrases ebook
- Free Secret to Learning 1500 Kanji e-book
- Free Japanese writing worksheets
- Free visual Japanese cheat sheets (great for travelling!)
- Free Japanese flashcards
- Innovative Language free app
JapanesePod101 Basic plan
With Basic (the cheapest paid plan), you get access to all the goodies of a free plan, plus:
- Full access to past audio lesson archives
- In-depth, downloadable lesson notes
I found that the new free lessons available on the free plan are mostly at the beginner level.
So if you’re a little more advanced in your Japanese studies, you’ll want to pay for at least the basic plan so you can access the higher level courses.
JapanesePod101 Premium
In addition to all the above, here’s what you get with a Premium plan:
- Line-by-Line Audio Dialogue
- Japanese Core Words & Phrases
- Daily Dose of Japanese Lessons
- Season Vocabulary
- Exclusive Custom Word Lists
- Interactive Lesson Quizzes
- Voice Recording Tools
- Vocabulary Slideshow
- Word Bank
- Spaced Repetition Flashcards
- Japanese Audio Dictionary
- Grammar Bank
In my opinion Premium is the best value for money and the most useful plan.
I especially rate the interactive tools such as the voice recording tool, to improve your accent and intonation. Line-by-line playback is also really helpful.
I have tried all of the different JapanesePod101 plans now and Premium is the one I keep coming back to!
JapanesePod101 Premium Plus
Premium Plus is the most expensive subscription plan at JapanesePod101 and the main draw is that you get 1-on-1 access to a teacher.
Note, you don’t get personal live lessons from them (you still need to work through the regular online lessons on your own) but you can message them with any questions and get a genuine answer within a day.
They also set and grade assignments for you.
This is a good option if you are really motivated to learn Japanese fast, if you have specific goals to meet, or if you want some extra accountability to get things done.
JapanesePod101 discounts
As I mentioned earlier, NEVER pay full price for JapanesePod101. They are constantly running some kind of sale!
If you sign up for the free plan, they will start sending you emails whenever they run a sale.
I’ve collected all the JapanesePod101 coupon codes and offers I’ve found on this page. Includes the SECRET lifetime membership deal, and discounts on multiple languages!
If you have any more questions about JapanesePod101 pricing, or any top tips on how to score discounts, drop them below. I’ll respond to everyone!
Related posts
- Is JapanesePod101 free? Free Account and Resources Uncovered
- 2026 JapanesePod101 Coupon Codes for Massive Discounts!
- JapanesePod101 Review (2026) – An Insider Look
Rebecca is the founder of Team Japanese. She spent two years teaching English in Ehime, Japan. Now back in the UK, she spends her time blogging, self-studying Japanese and wrangling a very genki toddler.