About Kana Lab

Kana Lab is a free study tool for the JLPT N5. It started as a hiragana and katakana drill, and the kana grid is still the best place to begin — but the site now covers the written side of the exam: kana, vocabulary, kanji, and grammar.

All four subjects run on one spaced-repetition engine. A mistake comes back within a few questions, a correct answer is spaced further out, and the dashboard shows what is due. Nothing is split across separate apps with separate progress.

There is no audio on the site, so pair it with listening practice from another source. There are also no full-length timed papers; the drills are the daily work rather than the rehearsal.

Everything works without an account and saves in your browser. A free account adds cross-device sync and nothing else.

Kana Lab is independent. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Japan Foundation or JEES, the organisations that administer the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test. “JLPT” and “N5” are used descriptively to describe what the practice material covers.