The best flashcard apps

1. PrismoBest overall: you never make a card
2. AnkiBest free app if you write your own cards
3. QuizletBest for ready-made class sets
4. RemNoteBest for notes, PDFs and cards in one place
5. KnowtBest free Quizlet alternative for students
6. BrainscapeBest for exam prep with ready-made decks
7. MochiBest for Markdown fans who want a simpler Anki
8. Gemini Notebook (NotebookLM)Best free way to make cards from documents

How we judged them

A flashcard app is only as good as what it makes you do. Memory research points to two habits: pulling the answer out of your head instead of rereading it, and spacing those tests out over days and weeks. So for each app I asked five questions:

1. Who makes the cards? Writing good cards takes time for every chapter and every lecture, and it's the step most people quit on.
2. Does it make you recall, in more than one way? Flipping a card and grading yourself is one way. Multiple choice, fill in the blank and short answers test the same idea from different sides.
3. Is every review scheduled by your answers? Cards you miss should come back sooner, the ones you know later, without you planning it.
4. What's free, and what's behind the paywall? Several apps keep their best study modes for subscribers.
5. Where does it run? Phone, computer, or both.

Facts about each app come from its own website, help pages, pricing page and app store listings, checked on October 14, 2026, with links below. I use Prismo every day, since I build it; for the others I relied on their documentation, and I say so where it matters. I left out quiz-game apps like Kahoot, which are built for classrooms rather than for remembering on your own.

The comparison table

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Prices change; follow each app's link below for the current numbers. If something here is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.

1. Prismo: the best flashcard app overall

Best for students and adults who want what flashcards do for memory, without making flashcards.

Prismo is the app I make, and it's first because it removes the part of flashcards that makes people quit: writing the cards. After a lecture, a chapter, a course module or a podcast, you write or dictate a few lines in your own words, or add a photo of a page or a PDF. That's the only work you do. Prismo does the rest:

1. It keeps the ideas worth keeping. It pulls them out of your note and files them under topics, adding to what you already know instead of starting a new deck every time.
2. It writes the questions. Five kinds: multiple choice, true or false, fill in the blank, short answer, and questions that connect two ideas. You never write or edit a card; if something's off, you fix the note it came from.
3. It brings each idea back at the right time. Right answers wait longer, misses come back sooner, from about a day up to several months, so a few minutes a day keeps everything you've learned.

Why that makes it the best overall: a flashcard app works when you test yourself on everything you learn, at the right time. Most apps here schedule well but leave the cards to you, and most AI card makers write a deck once and then leave the scheduling, or the next deck, to you. Prismo does both, every time you add a note. And because you start by putting the idea in your own words, every note is already a first round of recall.

How Prismo works · Prismo vs Anki · Best apps to remember what you read

2. Anki: best free app if you write your own cards

Best for medical students, language learners and anyone who wants full control and doesn't mind making every card.

Anki is the reference flashcard app for spaced repetition. You write cards (front and back, cloze deletions, or image occlusion, where you hide parts of a diagram) or download shared decks, and Anki schedules each card from how well you answered, with SM-2 or the newer FSRS. Add-ons extend the desktop app. It's free on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android (AnkiDroid) and the web; the iPhone app, AnkiMobile, is a one-time $24.99.

Choose it if you need to memorize thousands of precise facts, want to tune every setting, or study mostly on a computer. Watch out for: the cards are on you. Anki's own manual recommends making your own cards for complex subjects and using shared decks only as a supplement, and turning a lecture into good cards takes real time. There are no built-in AI tools. Anki · Anki manual

Compared with Prismo: Same principle of spaced repetition, but in Anki you write every card. In Prismo you write a few lines and the questions are made for you. Prismo vs Anki

3. Quizlet: best for ready-made class sets

Best for students whose class or teacher already shares Quizlet sets.

Quizlet is one of the best-known flashcard sites, with a huge library of shared sets. You can make a set by hand, find one, or use Smart Assist to draft cards from your notes, a file or a topic, which you edit before publishing. Study modes include Flashcards, Learn (a personalized path with multiple choice and written questions), Test, practice tests and games. Flashcards has a spaced repetition option where you rate each card (Repeat, Hard, Okay, Easy), but only on the website for now.

Choose it if the sets you need already exist, or your teacher runs a Quizlet class: students in a class get free Learn and Test on the class's sets. Watch out for: the paywall. A free account covers flashcards, practice questions and activities, with ads. Learn and Test are subscriber features: free users get a free session of Learn and one free Test per set. Quizlet Plus allows 20 rounds of Learn and 3 practice tests a month; Plus Unlimited removes those limits. Both are sold monthly or yearly, with a 7-day trial on annual plans; Quizlet shows the price for your country on its upgrade page. Quizlet plans

Compared with Prismo: Quizlet is great when someone has already made the cards. Prismo makes them from your own notes, and schedules every review on your phone, not just on a website.

4. RemNote: best for notes, PDFs and cards in one place

Best for students who take notes on a computer and study from PDFs and textbooks.

RemNote is a note-taking app with flashcards and spaced repetition inside it. Any line of your notes can become a card (front and back, cloze, multiple choice, image occlusion), you can read and annotate PDFs, and AI can generate cards from your notes or documents, which spends AI credits. Reviews are scheduled with SM-2 or FSRS, the two algorithms Anki also offers. It runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, the web, iPhone and Android.

Choose it if you want your notes and flashcards in one system, with a free plan. Watch out for: it's a full note-taking system with its own way of working, which takes time to learn, and the free plan is limited to 3 PDFs, 250 AI credits a month and 5 AI card generations. Pro is $8 a month billed yearly ($96); Pro with AI is $18 a month billed yearly ($216). RemNote pricing

Compared with Prismo: RemNote is a study system you build and organize yourself; Prismo asks only for a few lines and does the organizing and the questions.

5. Knowt: best free Quizlet alternative for students

Best for high school and college students who want Quizlet-style study modes without paying.

Knowt positions itself as a free Quizlet alternative. You can import your Quizlet sets, make cards by hand, or have AI make flashcards from your notes and lecture videos. Its Learn mode mixes multiple choice, true or false, fill in the blank and flashcards, and its spaced repetition mode schedules cards from your rating (Again, Hard, Good, Easy), with adjustable intervals. Knowt says it doesn't put its study modes behind a paywall. It runs on the web, iPhone, Android and as a Chrome extension.

Choose it if you study for school exams and want free Learn and spaced repetition. Watch out for: the free plan has ads, and the plans page doesn't say how much AI you get for free. Ultra adds ad-free studying, AI summaries of PDFs, videos and slides, a lecture recorder and AP, SAT and ACT prep, for $149.99 a year (with a 3-day trial) or $24.99 a month. Knowt plans

Compared with Prismo: Knowt gives you free study modes for cards you make or generate; Prismo makes the questions from every note on its own and schedules them, with no deck to make or mode to set up.

6. Brainscape: best for exam prep with ready-made decks

Best for people preparing for a specific exam or certification who want expert-made decks.

Brainscape asks you to rate your confidence in each card from 1 to 5, and uses that rating to decide when it comes back: low ratings return sooner, high ratings later. You can type cards, import them, or have AI make a deck from a PDF, slides or a document. Its library includes "Certified" decks for exams and subjects. It runs on the web, iPhone and Android.

Choose it if a certified deck exists for your exam, or you like rating your own confidence. Watch out for: creating, sharing and studying your own cards is free, with AI for "100s" of cards, but you can study only 2,500 of Brainscape's pre-loaded cards, and images and sounds, reverse study and private decks need Pro, at $7.99 a month billed yearly. Brainscape pricing

Compared with Prismo: Brainscape shines when an expert has already built the deck; Prismo builds the questions from what you learned, in your own words.

7. Mochi: best for Markdown fans who want a simpler Anki

Best for people who like plain-text notes and want spaced repetition with a cleaner interface than Anki.

Mochi lets you write notes and flashcards in Markdown, link cards and notes together, and study with spaced repetition: its own algorithm by default, or FSRS if you switch. It imports Anki decks with their review history, and runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, the web, iPhone and Android, with your data stored on your device.

Choose it if you write your own cards and want something lighter than Anki. Watch out for: you still write every card, and syncing between devices needs Pro: $5 a month billed yearly or $6 monthly, which also raises the small AI allowance (used for things like example sentences). Mochi pricing

Compared with Prismo: Mochi makes writing cards pleasant; Prismo means you don't write them at all.

8. Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM): best free way to make cards from documents

Best for a one-off study project: a set of PDFs, slides or videos you need to know for one exam.

Google's research notebook, called NotebookLM until July 2026, answers questions about the sources you upload and can generate flashcards and quizzes from them, with a difficulty level, a number of cards and an optional prompt. You mark cards as got it or missed it, redo the ones you missed, and can export them as a CSV file. The free tier is generous.

Choose it to turn a stack of documents into cards for free. Watch out for: it doesn't schedule reviews, so nothing brings you back next week, and each notebook stands alone rather than building one library of what you've learned. Gemini Notebook

Compared with Prismo: Great for one study session, but nothing brings you back next week. Prismo schedules every review.

Also worth knowing

• Kern (iPhone): type the title of a book you've finished and it builds cards about the book's ideas. First book free. More in our best apps to remember what you read.
• Recall (recall.it): generates questions about articles, videos and PDFs you save, with spaced repetition, on its paid plan.

Which one should you choose?

• You want flashcards to work for you, without making flashcards: Prismo. This is the right choice for most people, whether you're studying for class or learning for yourself.
• You need to memorize thousands of precise facts and will write the cards: Anki, for free.
• Your class already shares Quizlet sets: Quizlet, or import them into Knowt to study them for free.
• You take notes on a computer and study from PDFs: RemNote.
• You're preparing for a certification with ready-made decks: Brainscape.
• You like Markdown and want a simpler Anki: Mochi.
• You need cards from a set of documents for one exam, free: Gemini Notebook.

Whatever you choose, the habit matters more than the app: answer from memory before you flip the card, and come back when it's due. Our guides to spaced repetition and active recall explain why, and our review schedule calculator gives you the dates if you'd rather plan reviews yourself.

Changes to this page

• October 14, 2026: first version. All prices and features checked on the apps' own sites, help pages and store listings that day.