Hi,
Does anyone have an idea of how much this will cost per month once it releases as a pay service? I’m trying to figure out if I can afford to keep using this. I finished the N5 deck and wanted to start the N4, but not before I know if it’s worth it.
Thanks,
Gabriel
Hi Gabriel,
The prices currently mentioned on the landing page and WK forum thread are $7.50 per month, $80 per year or $250 for lifetime.
However, I am currently exploring whether it’s possible to lower the price, have free content or create tiered subs (so cheaper subscriptions but with less options) or something similar.
I am also thinking about postponing the launch for a while in order to be able to deliver a more feature-rich product. Instead, I was thinking about adding a donation option which will count as prepayment for when the website actually launches later on (so say you donate 5$, you will get 5$ credit in your account for the launch). This way I’d (hopefully) get some financial pressure off my back and can continue to rapidly implement new features.
As soon as I have a solid idea about where to go with this, I will announce it. For now you can just keep on using it for free 
Thanks for the info 
Well, for me, particularly, I am just thinking of keep using the N5 to burn everything and start the N4. No special features for me needed, like adding vocab or decks, or anything, so a tiered sub would be nice.
I think depending on the use someone wishes for the service, the subs could be adjusted to that. I’m not sure how that would be implemented, or if it would be well received, but personally, I tend to use a finished deck rather than creating my own, since choosing what vocab to learn is not effective, in my opinion.
Anyway, tiered subs - Yes, please 
And keep up the great work
Cheers, I’ll let you know!
It’s interesting that some people are already satisfied with the basic functionality, but it wouldn’t make much sense to pay the same as someone who creates 1000 cards per month and uploads a gigabyte of stuff.
How about something like a “per deck lifetime” where you can just buy a deck, with prices depending on the server load it creates, and some additional fee depending on the creator, etc? The monthly subscribers get more decks for free or discounts.
That makes it more attractive to people who just want to test it or do a specific deck. Personally I dislike basic accounts that put a paywall to prevent a product from being useful (like “you get 50 reviews for free in Kitsun Basic per day” or something).
I agree with your line of thinking, but I would not feel comfortable to charge for specific decks as that would mean I’m directly taking money for something I did not create (even though it might have been created in Kitsun) and it could get really messy in terms of copyright claims and such… If I personally (or with a team) made decks like I did with the N5 and N4 decks, I’d feel comfy to do it though.
Regarding the basic subs:
It wouldnt limit reviews or anything, rather something like only being able to use community decks, but not create your own decks etc
Yes, it may be quite messy. I just have that dream where decks a la JALUP or an official WK deck are available and you act more like a distributor for the content, you would be charging in the name of someone while also covering your costs.
However, that would require that the creators of the deck have the copyright fully under control, the usual “I just copy/pasted some stuff I found on the internet into this deck” will cause only headaches. But that will cause trouble for you either way I guess because you will be the one making copyrighted material available.
I think that in terms of copyright, copying the way Youtube deals with it is good enough imo. So, instead of deleting a video, you would “hide” the deck for new users. On Youtube, people that have seen the video already consumed the content. Leaving the deck available for users already using it kinda follows the same argument of consuming the product.
You could also direct all the possible profit to the copyright owners, just like Youtube does with the monetizing.
You would also have to figure out a way to stop people from uploading this same deck a bunch of times. If not, it would break the rule I mentioned above (users using the deck before it disappearing are still capable of using it).
Also, uploading a list of vocab from a book as a deck is different than uploading Wanikani or iKnow decks. So your policy for the latter would have to be more extreme.
Tbh, Kitsun is not there yet to be worried about this stuff though.
I’m very sceptical when it comes to a tiered product. I think the free version must be improved, that’s all. It doesn’t feel just right yet. The sub will come with more features.
I agree in part with your last statement. For me, I’m just finishing the N5 deck and I plan to use only the N4 for now, so paying the $7.50/month seems a bit steep.
Yes, improving the free version would be nice, but I’m prepared to pay for it, if the sub would be a bit less. Maybe between $3.50 - $5. Or have a fixed price per deck.