I‘m planning to buy the Genki 1 textbook for self studying today, there is a bundle on Amazon that costs 20 bucks more but also includes the Workbook plus the answer key. I‘ve heard that this Website already contains all the exercises in the workbook for free. Is that true and is the Workbook worth buying?
Yes that website includes all the exercises in the workbook; however, a chunk of the questions had to be slightly rewritten to fit the constraints of an auto-graded fill-in-the-blank keyboard input format.
I don’t think that would matter if you’re studying on your own, but the website won’t be a good substitute if you are using Genki as part of a Japanese class, as the questions won’t exactly match.
First off, that website is fantastic and I use it for practice. Yes, it does rewrite some of the workbook questions, such as the writing questions which you have to provide the answers (like, “What’s your name?” “Where are you from?” etc.) The workbook questions are not exactly the same, but close enough.
I’m self-studying and I bought the workbook for Genki 1 and it was good for extra practice. For Genki 2, I didn’t bother with the workbook, but I do the workbook exercises on the website. I bought the books individually, so I didn’t have the option to bundle. I do have the answer key, which has the answers to the textbook and workbook questions for both Genki 1 and 2 (At least, for most of them. Obviously not the one’s that are considered group or pair work).
I think it comes down to how much work you’re willing to put into old-fashioned textbook learning. If you want the extra workbook practice plus having the ability to write your answers on physical paper with a real pen, I would say go for the bundle. Since you would have the answer key as well, you could do the textbooks exercises and check your answers. If you don’t mind not having a physical copy of the workbook, the website in question will be enough.
I realize that this is a TL;DR answer, but it mostly come down to personal preference. You can do what you want to if you’re self-studying! 
I used to think all that was needed after learning new grammar was input input input. But now, two years into my studies, I wish I had just done the bloody exercises in the workbook. It would have made things easier.
Doing the workbook exercises is annoying, but it’s annoying precisely because it demands effort. It’s a great way to drill in the material.
Whether or not you buy the book, I do recommend doing the exercises.
Thanks for sharing your experience. At the end I decided to go with the Bundle, because I’ve already learnt how to write hiragana and katakana physically and it would be useful practice
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