Every comparison on Sensei Next Door follows the same rules, so you can check my work.
1. Official information first
Specs, prices, and plan details come from the company’s official pages. I don’t copy numbers from other review sites, because that’s how outdated prices and invented details spread. Each article shows the date its prices were checked.
2. Real total cost, not sticker price
For anything shipped from Japan, the listed price is rarely what you actually pay. I compare the total you can expect to pay — product price plus shipping, and import taxes or duties where they commonly apply — and I say which country the estimate is for.
3. No fake hands-on experience
If I haven’t personally used a product, I don’t write as if I have. Comparisons based on official information are labeled as such. When I do have hands-on experience, that’s labeled too, so you can weigh it differently.
4. Non-affiliate options stay in
Some good tools don’t have public affiliate programs. They still appear in my comparisons when they fit, because leaving them out would make the comparison less honest — and less useful.
5. Rankings follow the reader’s job, not the commission
Different tools do different jobs. A subtitle reader, a grammar course, and a flashcard system aren’t really competitors, so I compare products by what they’re actually for, and recommend by use case rather than declaring one universal winner.
If you spot an error — a changed price, a discontinued plan, anything — please let me know via the Contact page. I’ll fix it and note the correction date.