Best Flashcard Apps Compared: Which One Suits You?

There is no single best flashcard app. There are a few good ones, and each suits a different kind of learner. Some are built for power users who want to tune every setting. Some are built around decks that other people have already made. Some mix flashcards with notes, and some are really language courses. This guide compares the main flashcard apps and says who each one suits, including our own free app, Flashcards.

This comparison is based on what each product is designed for. Plans, features and prices change, so check each app's own site for current terms.

The short version

App	Best for	Platforms	Works offline	Free to use
Anki	Serious learners who want full control and add-ons	Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone, web	Yes, in its apps	Has a free version
Quizlet	Ready-made study sets, games and classes	Web, iPhone, Android	Check their site	Has a free version
Brainscape	Rating your confidence and expert-made decks	Web, iPhone, Android	Check their site	Has a free version
RemNote	Turning your notes into flashcards	Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android, web	Check their site	Has a free version
Memrise	Learning a language with a guided course	Web, iPhone, Android	Check their site	Has a free version
Flashcards (EveryApp)	Making your own cards fast and studying a few minutes a day	Any browser; installs on iPhone, Android and computers	Yes, once installed	Yes

Anki

Anki is a spaced repetition app. It decides when each card comes back based on how well you remembered it. It is open source and has a library of shared decks, including many for medicine and languages. Cards can hold images, audio and formatting. Add-ons and detailed settings let you change almost everything about how it schedules and shows cards.

The desktop app, the web version and the Android app are free. The official iPhone app is paid, and its sales help fund the project.

Choose Anki if you study large amounts of material over months or years, like medical school or a language, and you want to control the details. Its shared decks and add-ons are a real strength that our app doesn't match. The trade-off is a steeper start. New users often need some time to learn how decks, note types and settings fit together.

Quizlet

Quizlet is built around study sets. You can make your own or search sets made by other students and teachers. It has several ways to study a set, including matching games, practice tests and a guided learn mode. Teachers use it to share sets with a class.

Choose Quizlet if you want to find a set someone else has already made for your course, or you like studying with games. It also suits teachers who want to share material with students. Some of its study tools are part of its paid plan, so check what the free version includes.

Brainscape

Brainscape uses confidence-based repetition. After each card you rate how well you knew it, and it uses that rating to decide how soon the card comes back. It also offers decks made by experts and publishers for many subjects and certification exams.

Choose Brainscape if you like rating your own confidence and you want ready-made decks for a specific exam. It works well for people who would rather study good material than write every card themselves.

RemNote

RemNote combines a notes app with flashcards. You write your notes as usual, and you can turn lines into flashcards as you go. Those cards then come back through spaced repetition. It suits students who take detailed notes and want to review them without making a separate deck.

Choose RemNote if you want your notes and your flashcards in one place. If you only want quick cards and nothing else, it may be more than you need.

Memrise

Memrise is a language learning app that uses flashcard-style review. It has courses with videos of native speakers, so you hear words and phrases the way people say them. It works like a guided course, with lessons planned for you.

Choose Memrise if your goal is a new language and you want someone else to plan what you learn. For other subjects, a general flashcard app is a better fit. For more options, see our guide to the best language learning apps.

Where Flashcards fits

Flashcards is our free flashcard app at EveryApp. It sits closest to Anki in how it works: you make your own cards, and spaced repetition tells you what to study each day. It aims to be simpler. You can make a deck and start studying in a minute, with no settings to learn first. It doesn't try to be a library of shared decks or a language course.

What Flashcards does well

• Spaced repetition with four buttons. Show the answer, then tap Again, Hard, Good or Easy. Cards you know come back after longer gaps. Cards you miss come back soon.
• Make a whole deck at once. Type cards one by one, or paste two columns copied from a spreadsheet, or lines like "word - meaning", or open a CSV file. Each line becomes a card.
• Decks and cards on the free plan. Making and studying cards is free, and Pro doesn't unlock more decks or cards.
• Learn and Test modes. Learn mode goes through a whole deck whenever you like. Test mode quizzes you with multiple choice. Neither one changes your study schedule, so they're safe to use before an exam.
• Export any time. Download every card as a CSV file, with its front, back and deck, to open in a spreadsheet or another app.
• A daily study reminder. One reminder a day is free with an EveryApp account.
• Works on any device. It opens in any browser. You can install it from the browser on iPhone, Android and computers, with no app store. On iPhone, open it in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. On Android, open it in Chrome and tap Install.
• Works offline. Once it's installed, you can make cards and study without a connection. If you've signed in, your cards and progress sync when you're back online.
• Private by design. You can use it without an account, and your cards stay on your device. Sign in with a free EveryApp account if you want them synced across your devices or want a daily reminder. Your cards are never sold, and you can download or delete them any time.

What Flashcards doesn't do

Be clear about the limits. Cards hold text only. You can't add images or audio, so for anatomy diagrams or listening practice, Anki is the better choice. There is no library of shared decks to search, which is where Quizlet and Brainscape are stronger. There are no add-ons. You can't share a deck with a class or study it together. It doesn't open Anki or Quizlet files directly, though you can paste or import cards from a spreadsheet or CSV.

Some features need Pro. Cards studied both ways, cloze cards with gaps to fill in, exam-date mode, printing cards or a study sheet, retention stats, a 30-day forecast, a longer history and up to three reminders a day are part of Pro. If free cloze cards matter most to you, Anki is the better choice.

How to choose

Start with where your cards come from, then think about how much control you want.

• You want to make your own cards and study a few minutes a day. Flashcards or Anki. Pick Anki if you want images, audio, add-ons and deep settings. Pick Flashcards if you want to start in a minute, on any device, with nothing to set up.
• You want cards someone else already made. Quizlet for study sets from other students. Brainscape for decks made by experts. Anki also has shared decks.
• You take detailed notes. RemNote. It turns your notes into cards so you don't write everything twice.
• You're learning a language. Memrise for a guided course with native speakers. Flashcards or Anki for your own word lists. Our Vocabulary Builder is made for saving and reviewing new words, and Learn Language gives you short lessons.
• You have an exam on a fixed date. Any of these can help. In Flashcards, use Test mode the week before, or set an exam date on a deck with Pro.
• You use an iPhone and a Windows laptop. A browser-based app avoids the gap. Flashcards runs in any browser and installs on both. Anki, Quizlet and RemNote also cover both.
• You teach a class. Quizlet is built for sharing sets with students. Flashcards suits a teacher making cards to print, with Pro.

You can use more than one. You could keep a big Anki deck for a long course and use a simpler app for a short quiz. To plan when you study, try the study planner. To keep your sessions short and focused, use the focus timer.