I guess it depends when the site plans to returning to the original $5/month. If it isn’t for awhile then currently monthly pricing seems to make the most sense unless you plan to be using the site for 3+ years, which I’m not sure is a likely scenario.
Decisions decisions
We can hope that over time this site will evolve into something you will need even at every late stages of your journey. I am not sure what that would have to be though. Maybe sections with archaic Japanese and dialects? But that would be mostly for people that want to write haiku 
I just bought lifetime too! Even if I don’t break even it’s nice to support small businesses when you can. I hadn’t used my free trial before buying just kind of bought it on faith and now I’m a little overwhelmed though and I don’t know where to start…
been using the site for a little over a year
just bought lifetime since its been useful to me
only regret is that i didn’t get it earlier
i hope i dont slack off now that i no longer have a time limit on my access
If you are actually planning on really learning Japanese, it sure is a great investment. It probably will take a while (years), so try to go slow and dont get overwhelmed. It has been a very nice balance with WaniKani. There I have learned the kanji, and here I get to use it, while putting it in context. Good luck!
You’ll find there’s many people that think this site is a tremendous value, especially compared to other sites. There’s plenty of other study sites that offer less features and charge $60 or $80 per year. With that perspective, you’re “breaking even” in two years.
Besides, learning Japanese (or any language for that matter) is not something that you memorize once and then you know it for life. You have to keep practicing and reviewing for many years to come. 
First of all i would recommend to make sure you know how Cram works. It helps when you want to memorise some grammar that is problematic (eg how to convert to te form or past tense). You can train there.
Then i would recommend to choose a path and follow it for a while. If you don’t use any textbook then just follow default path. Doing 3-5 grammar point per day at the start should not overwhelm you. But be sure that you are reading each sample sentence outloud, and if you don’t know any word in the sentence then add it to you anki list.
On top of that it is better if you do your review 2-3 times per day. New grammar point reappear after just a few hours so you can review them when they are still fresh in you mind. It may be harder to review brand new grammar point after 24h.
Once you are at the lvl you can start some basic reading then it seems better to add grammar point in order you will meet them in the text.
Good luck on you journey 
If you straggle with anything just let us know in this forum. We will try to help (although I can be useful only on very basic stuff…)
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy bunpro a lot myself. It is sad it is not as popular as it should be.
When I was looking for the opinions about it i found one video on yt and some shit storm on reddit about some questionable decisions etc. It would be nice if bunpro would got more recognition among Japanese learners.
I got the lifetime membership a year ago. I do not regret at all. There is a lot to learn, plus the staff is very helpful and responsive. I am sure that I will spend more than 3 years to stop using it. Of course, it all depends of your goals. Not only I want to complete N5-N1, but I would like to reset all and redo it without the English translation and without furigana (to learn kanjis). A long way to go… Good luck in your study.
I got my Lifetime as a New Year’s present to myself, which may or may not simply be a way to phrase it that makes me feel better about spending the money all in one chunk. I don’t regret it, because it’s improved my grammar exponentially over the year I’ve been using it, and I’ve found it a super helpful resource for my learning outside of reviews. I think the use I get out of it more than justifies the price, though others may not agree. I’m on here multiple times a day, after all.
Why not start now? I only use furigana from time to time when I forgot the reading or where I encounter new word. It is doable from day one if you are ready to invest some time. If I can do it anybody can, so not need to shy away from it
Thank you for supporting the site. While I hope you reach your language goals before you break even on the purchase, know that you have invested in the education of future students as well, and that in itself is pretty awesome 
One step at the time sir. I am concentrating on grammar at this time, then I will concentrate on the Kanjis I do not know, plus it will allow me to revise grammar for a second round.
Nice. I’d certainly buy it if it was cheaper, though. Unfortunately, a single dollar is ~5.5x my currency – so lifetime Bunpro is almost the minimum wage here. 
ちょっど同じ考えと思います。アシャさんとテテラさんが優しい心をあるね。（╹◡╹）
Hm, where are you from?
I would highly recommend getting startet with kanji, specifically WaniKani (because it is the best application for learning kanji, simply put). It is easy to feel that one should “master” one thing before starting on another, but I really think it is a good approach to do many things at a time. You can start doing WaniKani but keep the workload low. I think that it will make the grammar a lot easier, because you will learn a lot new words and recognize so many kanjis.
Congrats on joining forever!
one of us… one of us…
I didn’t hesitate to get Lifetime and I would do it again. I have the flexibility of pausing my SRS and going back to it plus the holiday deal is excellent (and I can use it however I want in the future). I’ll have the grammar glossary for life which I use all the time. BunPro is arguably very underpriced for the value it provides. Plus, I’ve been adding my own custom sentences. Some numbers for perspective:
$120 is ~ 6 italki lessons for six hours assuming $20/hr pro teacher
First google hit for Japanese major was Stanford University so an extreme example. They charge ~$1200 per credit hour (and then consider a 120 hour undergrad schedule). So just pretending, a 4 credit course and 15 weeks…your cost to attend a single day class is higher than your lifetime subscription to BunPro 
There are other examples like the price for language school both in US and going to Japan which are price heavy, perhaps Europe is better but I wouldn’t know.
To keep BP growing, I think users like to see updates no matter how small even though there are areas of improvement. The site has grown considerably since I started. I know they make fixes and updates and don’t report it; I think users like hearing the site is continually being polished or fixed. The growing community engagement is another, WK has had a lot of success in that regard that developed their fanbase. I was so glad find others around the world studying as I do and an invaluable resource.
For context: 120$ is just a little bit more than my rent which include funding all communal stuff (taking care of trash, renovation and so on), hot and cold water plus heating. I usually even get refund if winter is warm. (It would be more expensive if would not own that flat)
So for many people it can be quite a lot of money. And Poland is not the cheapest country of there. Not even close.
I don’t say I would not be able to afford this, but it is far from the amount that I would spent without second thought.
Monthly deal looks far more reasonable to me.