The best flashcard apps in 2026

The best flashcard app for most serious learners is Anki, through its iPhone and iPad app AnkiMobile: it uses the same scheduling as the free desktop program, including the FSRS algorithm, and it is a one-time $24.99 purchase with no subscription. The best free option is Knowt, which lists unlimited rounds of its Learn mode as free and adds spaced repetition, practice tests and a large library of shared sets. If you want Anki-style review with a friendlier interface, look at Noji or Brainscape.

Quick answer

• Best overall: Anki (AnkiMobile). The deepest spaced repetition engine on iOS, with free sync to the free desktop version, for a one-time price.
• Best free option: Knowt. Free Learn mode, spaced repetition and AI tools that turn notes or videos into cards.
• Best for exam decks: Brainscape. Confidence ratings from 1 to 5 drive the review timing, with expert decks for the MCAT, NCLEX, the bar exam and more.
• Best Anki alternative: Noji. Anki-style "Again, Hard, Good, Easy" buttons in a cleaner app, with import from Anki deck files.
• Best for shared study sets: Quizlet. The biggest name in flashcards, with Learn, practice tests and spaced repetition, but heavy tracking.
• Best for language vocabulary: AlgoApp. Automatic translation, text-to-speech, furigana and pinyin, plus FSRS scheduling.
• Best for notes and cards: Mochi. Markdown notes and cards that link to each other, free with no in-app purchases listed.
• Best for multi-sided cards: Flashcards Deluxe. Up to five sides per card and spreadsheet import for a $4.99 one-time price.

Comparison table

How to choose a flashcard app

• If you study for months or years (medicine, law, a language): pick an app with a real spaced repetition scheduler you can tune. Anki is the reference; Noji, AlgoApp and Brainscape are easier to start with.
• If you need cards for next week's test: Knowt or Quizlet. Both mix flashcards with multiple choice, written answers and practice tests, which suits short-term cramming better than a long review queue.
• If you are on a budget: Knowt's free Learn mode, Mochi (no in-app purchases listed) or the free Anki desktop program, which you can use on its own before deciding whether AnkiMobile is worth buying.
• If you hate subscriptions: AnkiMobile ($24.99) and Flashcards Deluxe ($4.99) are paid up front. Brainscape, Noji and AlgoApp also list lifetime options, at higher prices.
• If you want premade decks: Brainscape (expert and community decks), Quizlet and Knowt (student-made sets) and Noji (a library of about 50,000 decks, the developer says).
• If privacy matters: Anki, Brainscape, AlgoApp, Knowt and Mochi declare no tracking. Quizlet declares tracking across seven data types.

Coming from Quizlet in particular? Our page on Quizlet alternatives compares apps on what each does differently from it.

Anki: Best overall

Anki is the free, open-source flashcard program many medical students and language learners use for years-long review. AnkiMobile is its official iPhone and iPad app, written by Anki's lead developer according to the listing. It costs $24.99 once on the US App Store in November 2026, with no in-app purchases; the developer says the price funds both the computer and mobile versions. The desktop program is free on Windows, Mac and Linux, and on Android the separate AnkiDroid app is free as well.

The listing says AnkiMobile uses the same SM2 and FSRS scheduling algorithms as desktop Anki, syncs through a free cloud service, handles decks of 100,000+ cards and stores images and audio offline. The screenshots show cloze deletions, LaTeX math, and the "Again, Good, Easy" buttons with the next interval printed on each.

Strengths: the most configurable scheduler here, a huge ecosystem of shared decks and add-ons on desktop, no tracking declared. Limits: $24.99 before you see a single card on iPhone; the interface in the screenshots looks dated; the app's rating is 4.0, the lowest among our picks; the last update was in September 2025, more than a year before this page.

Knowt: Best free option

Knowt is the closest thing to a free Quizlet. The listing says Learn mode is free with unlimited rounds, alongside Practice Test, Match and Spaced Repetition modes. The screenshots show a Learn round with multiple choice answers and an audio button, an AI PDF summarizer that outputs notes or flashcards, and an AI lecture note taker that records audio. Knowt also says you can bring sets over from "popular sites like Quizlet" and offers free AP exam study guides.

The paid tier, Student Ultra, is listed at prices from $9.99 to $149.99 on the US App Store in November 2026, with weekly, monthly and annual items. The listing does not spell out which AI features need it.

Strengths: a generous free core, a large library of student-made sets, sync with the website, no tracking declared. Limits: the app is in English only; spaced repetition is one mode among several rather than the center of the app, so it suits class tests more than long-term review; the Student Ultra price list is long and confusing.

Brainscape: Best for exam decks

Brainscape asks you to rate each card from 1 to 5 by how well you knew it, then schedules repeats from that rating. The developer calls this confidence-based mix of active recall and self-assessment its core method. The latest release notes add a way to adjust repetition intervals and an "overdue cards" view.

Its other draw is content: the listing names expert-made collections for the MCAT, NCLEX, the bar exam (MBE), Series 7, the GRE, AP courses and languages, plus millions of community cards and AI card creation from notes, PDFs and images. The screenshots show the 1 to 5 rating row and a deck table on desktop.

Brainscape Pro is listed at $19.99, $59.99 and $95.99, plus a lifetime option at $199.99, on the US App Store in November 2026. Item names do not give billing periods.

Strengths: good premade decks for professional exams, no tracking, 4.8 rating from 21,600 reviews. Limits: English only; the lifetime plan is the most expensive one-time option on this page; the listing does not say which decks are free.

Noji: Best Anki alternative

Noji (whose price list still includes items named "AnkiPro Premium") is built for people who like Anki's method but not its interface. The screenshots show the familiar "Again, Hard, Good, Easy" buttons with intervals, and an import screen that accepts PDF files, YouTube links, photos and APKG files, which is Anki's deck format. The developer says it uses an enhanced spaced repetition algorithm, has a web version, and offers a library of about 50,000 premade decks.

The price list is long: Premium items range from $4.99 to $89.99 on the US App Store in November 2026, including a 1-month plan at $4.99 or $19.99, annual plans at $44.99 and $89.99, and a lifetime plan at $74.99. The listing does not say what the free version includes.

Strengths: easy to learn, Anki deck import, cards from videos and PDFs, a web version for studying on a computer. Limits: the privacy label declares usage data used for tracking; several overlapping prices for the same plan make the real cost hard to read; it is not compatible with Anki's own sync.

Quizlet: Best for shared study sets

Quizlet is the best-known flashcard app, with a 4.8 rating from 1.1 million reviews. It now goes well beyond cards: the listing describes Learn (adaptive practice), practice tests, spaced repetition, study guides built from your notes, lecture recordings turned into cards, AI explanations ("Ask Quizlet"), audio podcasts from your sets and a puzzle game called Charms. The screenshots show a flashcard with a diagram, a generated study guide and a step-by-step textbook solution.

Quizlet Plus is listed at $9.99 and $44.99, Plus Unlimited at $44.99 and Quizlet Go at $44.99, on the US App Store in November 2026. The listing does not say which modes are free.

Strengths: the largest pool of student-made sets, many study modes, works for almost any school subject. Limits: the privacy label declares tracking across seven data types, including location, search history and your own content; the listing does not explain the free tier; iOS 17 or later is required. See Quizlet alternatives for apps that handle these points differently.

AlgoApp: Best for language vocabulary

AlgoApp (the price list includes an "AnkiApp Unlimited" item, an earlier name) is a separate product from Anki, with its own sync to desktop and web. For language learners it has the most built-in help here: automatic translation between 120 languages when you type a word, text-to-speech in 39 languages, and automatic furigana for kanji or pinyin for Chinese characters, according to the description. It supports FSRS scheduling natively and works offline.

For other subjects, it turns PDFs, photos of handwritten notes and lecture slides into cards with AI. The screenshots show a card generator working from a photo of notes and a built-in image occlusion editor for hiding labels on a diagram.

Unlimited is listed at $9.99 (1 month), $29.99 (1 year) and $149.99 (lifetime) on the US App Store in November 2026.

Strengths: strong language tools, image occlusion, no tracking. Limits: the listing does not say what the free version allows; the app is in English only; its lifetime price is high.

Mochi: Best for notes and cards

Mochi combines a markdown notebook with spaced repetition. You write notes, turn parts of them into cards with one click, and link cards and notes to build a web of related ideas, the developer says. The screenshots show a cloze-style card from a pharmacology deck with plain check and cross buttons, and a markdown note on the same topic. Recent updates add dictionary examples, including inflected Korean verbs.

The app is free and the listing shows no in-app purchases. The description does not mention sync or a paid plan, so check the developer's site if you need either.

Strengths: free, minimal, fast to write cards if you know markdown, no tracking declared. Limits: only 175 ratings, so far fewer users have reported on it; no premade deck library is mentioned; the interface assumes you are comfortable with markdown; English only.

Flashcards Deluxe: Best for multi-sided cards

Flashcards Deluxe has been on the App Store since 2009. It costs $4.99 once on the US App Store in November 2026; its only in-app purchases are optional monthly donations from $0.49 to $1.99. The developer also mentions a free Lite version.

Its niche is flexibility: up to five sides per card (for example word, pronunciation, example sentence and definition), cards built in a spreadsheet or text file, offline text-to-speech, spelling tests, multiple choice and audio slideshows. Spaced repetition is optional. The screenshots show an art history card and a multiple choice round with photos of birds.

Strengths: cheap one-time price, no subscription, no tracking, handles very large sets. Limits: the screenshots show an older visual style; the 341 ratings are few; it suits people happy to build decks in a spreadsheet more than those who want AI card generation.

What we left out

• Amazing Flash Cards: a good ad-free app with free unlimited text cards, covered on our Quizlet alternatives page instead.
• Spaced Repetition SmartCards+: imports Anki and Quizlet decks and supports Apple Watch, but its privacy label links location data to you.
• Flash Cards GO: not updated since December 2021.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free flashcard app?

Knowt is the strongest free pick for school subjects: its listing says Learn mode is free with unlimited rounds, and it adds spaced repetition and shared sets. For long-term memorization, the Anki desktop program is free on computers and AnkiDroid is free on Android; only the iPhone and iPad app costs $24.99. Mochi is free on iOS with no in-app purchases listed.

What are the best Anki alternatives?

Noji is the closest in method, with the same four rating buttons and import of Anki deck files. Brainscape replaces Anki's buttons with a 1 to 5 confidence scale and adds expert decks. AlgoApp supports FSRS scheduling and has better tools for language vocabulary. None of them syncs with Anki's own service, so you would keep two separate collections.

Is AnkiMobile worth $24.99?

It is worth it if you already use Anki on a computer or plan to review cards for months, because the price is one-time and sync is free. If you only need flashcards for a single class, a free app like Knowt is enough. Note that AnkiMobile was last updated in September 2025.

Quizlet or Anki: which is better?

They solve different problems. Quizlet is better for quickly finding a set someone else made and practicing it in several formats before a test. Anki is better for remembering thousands of facts over months, because its scheduler is built around reviewing cards just before you forget them. Quizlet also declares much more tracking.

Do I need spaced repetition?

If you want to remember material weeks or months later, yes. Spacing out reviews is one of the most consistently supported findings in learning research. For a test two days away, plain practice with flashcards and practice questions works fine, and any app here will do. For broader study habits, see our guide to study apps.

Can I move my decks from one app to another?

Often, yes. Noji's screenshots show import of Anki's APKG files, Knowt says it can bring in sets from Quizlet, SmartCards+ imports from both, and Amazing Flash Cards and Flashcards Deluxe work with CSV or spreadsheet files. Scheduling history usually does not carry over, so expect to restart your review intervals.