Best flashcard app 7 apps for spaced repetition, AI cards and vocabulary
For spaced repetition you can tune and decks of 100,000+ cards, pick Anki: it is free on computers and Android and costs $24.99 once on iPhone. For cards made by AI from your own notes, pick StudySmarter or Quizlet, and Quizlet also has the largest library of shared sets. Memrise and Lingvist suit foreign language vocabulary, StudyGo suits Dutch school word lists, and Knowunity suits school students who learn from classmates’ notes.
Short answer
- AnkiLong-term memorization with your own decks
- StudySmarterAI flashcards from lecture notes and PDFs
- QuizletReady-made sets on almost any subject
- KnowunitySchool students who learn from shared notes
- MemriseLanguage vocabulary with native speaker videos
- LingvistThe most frequent words of a language first
7 flashcard apps at a glance
| Name | Best for | Price | Free plan | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anki | Long-term memorization with your own decks | Free on computers and Android; AnkiMobile $24.99 once (US App Store) | Yes: the computer app, AnkiDroid on Android and AnkiWeb sync cost nothing | — |
| StudySmarter | AI flashcards from lecture notes and PDFs | Free; Premium €9.99/mo or €59.99/yr (Germany, June 2024) | Yes: unlimited own flashcards, notes, shared sets and AI tools with limits, with ads | 4.5 on the App Store (9.1K) |
| Quizlet | Ready-made sets on almost any subject | Free; Plus €35.99/yr or €7.99/mo, Plus Unlimited €44.99/yr (Europe); $44.99/yr on the US App Store | Yes: create and study sets, limited Learn rounds and one practice test per set, with ads | — |
| Knowunity | School students who learn from shared notes | Free; Pro $49.99/yr (US), €83.99/yr (Germany) | Yes: notes and verified content, with ads and limited AI answers, study plans and uploads | 4.6 on the App Store (59.5K) |
| Memrise | Language vocabulary with native speaker videos | Free; Pro $61.99/yr, $24.99/mo or $329.99 Lifetime (US) | Yes, with limits: some lessons, videos and conversations, one speaking session a day, with ads | 4.8 on the App Store (217.2K) |
| Lingvist | The most frequent words of a language first | €9.99/mo or €79.99/yr (EU); $9.99/mo or $79.99/yr on the US App Store | No free plan; the yearly plan starts with a 14-day free trial | 4.6 on the App Store (3.7K) |
| StudyGo | Word lists for Dutch secondary schools | Free vocabulary for students up to 18; Plus from €10.99/mo on a yearly plan (Netherlands) | Yes, for students up to 18: vocabulary and key terms with the free test modes. Teachers use it for free | 4.4 on the App Store (2.2K) |
- Long-term memorization with your own decks
Anki
🇺🇸 United StatesAnki is an open-source flashcard program that runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iPhone and Android, with free sync through AnkiWeb. Since February 2026 the US company AnkiHub, based in Flagstaff, Arizona, takes over business operations step by step from the original developer. Cards can hold audio, images, video and LaTeX, and the FSRS scheduler is an opt-in alternative to the older SM-2 algorithm.
Pros
- Handles decks of 100,000+ cards
- Imports text files, .apkg decks and Mnemosyne 2.0 files
- AnkiMobile keeps media on the device for offline study
Cons
- No AI card generator in the core app
- AnkiMobile is a companion app: note types and image occlusion cards are made on a computer
- Price
- Free on computers and Android; AnkiMobile $24.99 once (US App Store)
- Free plan
- Yes: the computer app, AnkiDroid on Android and AnkiWeb sync cost nothing
- AI flashcards from lecture notes and PDFs
StudySmarter
🇩🇪 Munich, Germany · founded 2017StudySmarter in Munich builds flashcards, summaries and mock exams from uploaded scripts, slides and PDFs. Cards can hold images, drawings and formulas, and spaced repetition schedules reviews. In the US and Spain the same app is called Vaia.
Pros
- Imports sets from Quizlet
- AI turns a PDF into flashcards
- Multiple choice and typed answer modes
Cons
- Offline flashcards and CSV export need Premium
- Current Premium prices show only after sign-up
- Price
- Free; Premium €9.99/mo or €59.99/yr (Germany, June 2024)
- Free plan
- Yes: unlimited own flashcards, notes, shared sets and AI tools with limits, with ads
- Rating
- 4.5 on the App Store (9.1K)
- Ready-made sets on almost any subject
Quizlet
🇺🇸 United StatesQuizlet is a San Francisco study app with more than 60 million users, according to its App Store listing. Anyone can search and create flashcard sets for free, and the app builds sets and study guides from typed, pasted or uploaded notes and recorded lectures. Learn mode adapts to the learner, and spaced repetition brings cards back for review.
Pros
- 4.8 on the US App Store from about 1.1 million ratings
- Imports terms pasted from a document or spreadsheet
- Match and Blast turn a set into a game
Cons
- Offline study works only in the iOS and Android apps
- Only the set’s creator can export it, and only as copied text
- Price
- Free; Plus €35.99/yr or €7.99/mo, Plus Unlimited €44.99/yr (Europe); $44.99/yr on the US App Store
- Free plan
- Yes: create and study sets, limited Learn rounds and one practice test per set, with ads
- School students who learn from shared notes
Knowunity
🇩🇪 Berlin, Germany · founded 2019Knowunity in Berlin gives students in grades 5 to 14 a library of notes from other students. The AI tutor Knowie builds flashcards, quizzes and mock exams from PDFs, slides or YouTube links. Flashcards here sit inside a study plan for an exam date.
Pros
- Flashcards from a PDF or a YouTube link
- Study plan built around an exam date
Cons
- A 2024 redesign removed community features and user study sets, US reviewers write
- Offline downloads need Pro
- Price
- Free; Pro $49.99/yr (US), €83.99/yr (Germany)
- Free plan
- Yes: notes and verified content, with ads and limited AI answers, study plans and uploads
- Rating
- 4.6 on the App Store (59.5K)
- Language vocabulary with native speaker videos
Memrise
🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom · founded 2010Memrise in London has 32 official courses in 29 languages, with a video of a native speaker for every word and phrase. Spaced review brings words back from 4 hours to 6 months later. In 2026 user-made word lists returned to the app.
Pros
- Native speakers on video in official courses
- A one-time Lifetime plan
- MemBot runs practice conversations
Cons
- Only languages
- Older community courses stay on a separate site outside the app
- Price
- Free; Pro $61.99/yr, $24.99/mo or $329.99 Lifetime (US)
- Free plan
- Yes, with limits: some lessons, videos and conversations, one speaking session a day, with ads
- Rating
- 4.8 on the App Store (217.2K)
- The most frequent words of a language first
Lingvist
🇪🇪 Tallinn, Estonia · founded 2013Lingvist in Tallinn teaches vocabulary on cards with one word missing from a real sentence, ordered by how often each word appears. Spaced repetition returns words before the learner forgets them. Custom Decks turns any uploaded text or word list into a course.
Pros
- 16 courses in 15 languages in one subscription
- Custom Decks from any text
- No ads
Cons
- No free plan
- A Trustpilot reviewer reports custom decks failing to load on some days
- Price
- €9.99/mo or €79.99/yr (EU); $9.99/mo or $79.99/yr on the US App Store
- Free plan
- No free plan; the yearly plan starts with a 14-day free trial
- Rating
- 4.6 on the App Store (3.7K)
- Word lists for Dutch secondary schools
StudyGo
🇳🇱 Amsterdam, Netherlands · founded 2005StudyGo, called WRTS until 2023, has official word lists from Dutch textbooks, plus lists from classmates and teachers. Students can make a list from a photo and practise in seven test modes, including Learn with spaced repetition. StudyGo Live turns a word list into a classroom game.
Pros
- Word lists match Dutch textbooks
- Make a word list from a photo
Cons
- Built for Dutch and Belgian schools
- Users aged 19 and over must pay
- Price
- Free vocabulary for students up to 18; Plus from €10.99/mo on a yearly plan (Netherlands)
- Free plan
- Yes, for students up to 18: vocabulary and key terms with the free test modes. Teachers use it for free
- Rating
- 4.4 on the App Store (2.2K)
How to choose a flashcard app
You write your own cards and study for months or years, for medicine, law or a language. Anki gives you the most control over the review schedule and handles very large decks. It costs nothing on a computer or Android phone. On iPhone you pay $24.99 once for AnkiMobile.
You want cards made from lecture notes, slides or PDFs. StudySmarter, Quizlet and Knowunity all build flashcards with AI. StudySmarter imports existing Quizlet sets. Quizlet adds the largest library of shared sets, and Knowunity puts cards into a study plan for a school exam.
You learn a foreign language. Memrise pairs each word with a native speaker video and has a free plan. Lingvist teaches the most frequent words first and builds decks from any text, but has no free plan. Dutch secondary school students get their textbook word lists for free in StudyGo.
What free plans leave out
StudySmarter and Knowunity put offline study behind a subscription. Quizlet supports offline study and set creation in its iOS and Android apps, but not on the web. AnkiMobile stores card media on the device, so a paid-once app covers offline study on iPhone.
Anki syncs decks between devices for free through AnkiWeb. AI card generation comes with limits on free plans: StudySmarter and Knowunity cap AI use, and Quizlet limits AI Practice Tests and Study Guides. Anki has no AI generator in the core app.
How we picked
Each app on this list lets you study with flashcards and brings cards back with spaced repetition. We compared how cards are created, what imports and exports exist, AI card generation, offline study, sync and price. Prices and plan limits come from official pages, help centers and App Store listings, checked on 6 October 2026, and from our company profiles.
Five apps come from European companies. Anki and Quizlet are US-based, and we included them because a list of flashcard apps without them would mislead. Seneca was left out: it teaches through revision courses and has no flashcard decks of your own.
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Categories
Sources, checked on 7 October 2026
- Anki
- AnkiMobile, App Store US
- Anki manual, importing
- Anki manual, deck options and FSRS
- Anki forums, Anki’s Growing Up, February 2026
- AnkiHub terms of service
- Quizlet upgrade page
- Quizlet, App Store US
- Quizlet Help Center, Studying on Quizlet
- Quizlet Help Center, Creating study sets
- Quizlet Help Center, Exporting your sets
- Quizlet Help Center, Studying offline
- StudySmarter magazine, prices June 2024
- StudySmarter help center, spaced repetition
- StudySmarter Premium benefits
- Knowunity Pro
- knowunity.com
- Memrise plans
- Memrise community courses
- Lingvist pricing
- Lingvist Custom Decks
- StudyGo, learning vocabulary
- StudyGo plans and prices
Best flashcard app: FAQ
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