Anki alternative
An Anki alternative that writes the cards for you, and keeps your decks
Anki is the gold standard of spaced repetition. What it doesn't do is make your cards. FlashCardz keeps what Anki gets right, brings your decks and history with you, and writes new cards from your own files.
What Anki does brilliantly
Anki is free on desktop, open source, endlessly customisable, and has a huge community of shared decks and add-ons. If you've built a deck over years, it works, and nothing here asks you to throw that away.
Where students lose time
The hours go into making cards: copying from slides, formatting, deciding what's worth a card, and remembering where each fact came from. FlashCardz takes that part on. You keep the reviewing, which is the part that makes you learn.
FlashCardz and Anki side by side
| Anki | FlashCardz | |
|---|---|---|
| Spaced repetition | SM-2, or FSRS when turned on | FSRS, built in |
| Writes cards from your files | No (add-ons can help) | Yes, each with its quote and page |
| Checks cards against the source | No | Every AI card |
| Imports Anki decks | Yes | Yes, with images, subdecks and history |
| Exports to Anki | Yes | Yes, on every plan |
| Runs in a browser | AnkiWeb, for basic review | Yes, the full app |
| Price | Free on desktop and Android; paid on iPhone | Free for your own cards |
Bring your decks and your history
Import an .apkg file and your cards come with their images and subdecks. Choose to keep your review history and your cards keep their schedules, so nothing you've already learned starts over. Your imported cards and the ones FlashCardz writes are reviewed together.
What it adds
- Cards written from your lectures, PDFs and notes, each linked to its page.
- New cards every night for what you missed, on Plus.
- A card maker beside your PDF, free, that keeps the page on every card.
- Image occlusion cropped straight from a page.
- Daily rings, streaks and a weekly leaderboard with friends.
Switching in a few minutes
- In Anki, export the deck you want as a package (.apkg), with media included.
- In FlashCardz, import it into a course and choose whether to keep your review history.
- Add this week's lecture to the same course, and your new cards join the deck you already have.
- Study as usual: imported and new cards share one daily review, scheduled by FSRS.
When to stay with Anki
If you rely on particular add-ons, custom note types or heavy card templating, Anki will serve you better. And you can always take your cards back: FlashCardz exports to Anki on every plan.
Questions
Will my Anki review history come with me?
Yes, if you choose it when importing. Your cards keep their schedules.
Can I go back to Anki later?
Yes. Export your cards as a file Anki imports, on any plan, with each card's source and page.
Does FlashCardz use FSRS?
Yes. Every review is scheduled with FSRS, the same open-source scheduler Anki offers.