Anki alternatives: which apps keep your decks and review history

What moves with you when you leave Anki

A deck in Anki is two things: the cards, and the review history that decides when each card comes back. Export a deck as a deck package (.apkg) with "Include scheduling information" checked and both are in the file. Export it as Notes in Plain Text and you get only the text of each note, fields separated by tabs (Anki manual).

Which of the two an app accepts decides what you keep. An app that reads the .apkg with its history can keep scheduling cards you have reviewed for months. An app that only takes text treats every card as new, so cards you already know come back as if you had never seen them. Each app's import route below comes from its own documentation. The entries are grouped by the reason you might be leaving. I left out apps that don't replace Anki for studying a deck and apps I couldn't price at their own pages. Top of Class is my own app, so I've marked it.

If the $24.99 iPhone app is the reason

Anki's computer app is free, AnkiDroid on Android is free, and syncing between them through AnkiWeb is free (Anki). The official iPhone app, AnkiMobile, costs $24.99 once on the US App Store (App Store), and Anki says those purchases help fund its development. AnkiWeb also lets you study online (Anki manual), so you can review your synced collection in a browser at ankiweb.net without paying.

Anki's FAQ says AnkiApp (now AlgoApp) and Anki Pro (now Noji) were made by separate groups, are not part of Anki, and don't work with the other Anki apps (Anki FAQ). AnkiMobile is sold by Anki Software LLC.

1. Top of Class: if writing the cards is the slow part (ours)

I build Top of Class, so this entry has a conflict of interest. I used Anki for about eight years, for studying and for learning new material when I changed jobs. I built Top of Class because I wanted a nicer experience, a better iPhone app and less manual work, while keeping Anki's core learning functionality.

You paste lecture notes or a textbook passage, and Atlas, the AI card writer, drafts recall cards from it. You decide which ones to keep. Reviews use spaced repetition with two buttons, Again and Good, and the app decides when each card comes back.

On iPhone you can import an Anki deck package. The import brings the cards, their review history and their images; audio is not imported. Writing cards by hand and reviewing them is free on iPhone and on the web. Atlas drafting and sync between iPhone and web need Scholar, bought in the App Store, which shows the current price before you buy. Import doesn't work in the browser, Atlas reads pasted text only, not PDFs, and there's no Android app. For a side-by-side look, read Top of Class vs Anki.

2. Mochi: if you like how Anki works but not how it looks

Mochi keeps Anki's model of decks, templates and scheduled reviews, with cards written in Markdown. It imports Anki .apkg files including review history. It strips custom CSS and JavaScript and converts HTML to Markdown, so heavily styled cards may look different afterwards (Mochi docs).

Mochi schedules with its own algorithm by default, and you can switch to FSRS in the review settings (Mochi docs). The free plan has unlimited cards and decks but no sync between devices. Pro adds sync for $6 a month, or $5 a month billed yearly (Mochi pricing). It runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android and the web (Mochi).

3. RemNote: if you want your notes and cards in one place

RemNote makes flashcards inside the notes you write, so a lecture page and its cards are the same document. Its Anki import takes an .apkg with flashcards, review history and media, including cloze and image occlusion cards. Custom CSS and JavaScript are not imported (RemNote help).

RemNote schedules with an Anki SM-2 scheduler by default, and FSRS is an option it calls a beta feature (RemNote help). The free plan has unlimited notes and flashcards but only five image occlusion cards, which matters if your deck is full of them. Pro is $8 a month billed $96 yearly, and Pro with AI is $18 a month billed $216 yearly (RemNote pricing). It runs on desktop, iOS and Android (RemNote).

4. Brainscape: if you want fewer decisions per card

After each card in Brainscape you rate your confidence from 1 to 5, and the app times the next review from that (App Store). The free plan covers unlimited cards you make and importing existing cards (Brainscape pricing).

Brainscape's own pages describe importing spreadsheets and pasted lists, not Anki decks. To move, export your notes from Anki as plain text and import them, and every card starts as new. Pro is $95.99 a year or $19.99 a month on the US App Store; Brainscape's pricing page shows $7.99 a month. It runs on the web, iPhone and Android (Google Play).

5. Quizlet: if you want sets other people already made

Quizlet is built around sets, many of them shared by other students. It has no Anki import, but on its website it builds a set from pasted text with each term and definition separated by a tab, comma or dash (Quizlet help), which Anki's plain-text export gives you for two-field notes. Review history doesn't come along.

A free account covers flashcards, practice questions and activities (Quizlet help). Quizlet Plus purchases on the US App Store start at $9.99; the listing doesn't say for what period (App Store). If you need to remember a course for months, read Anki vs Quizlet first.

When to stay with Anki

Keep Anki if a premade Anki deck already fits your course. You can import it into Mochi or RemNote, but it loses its custom styling, and in Brainscape or Quizlet it arrives as plain text.

The same goes if you have tuned Anki's scheduler. With FSRS turned on, Anki's optimizer fits the schedule to your own review history and lets you set the recall rate you want, 90% by default (Anki manual). And if your cards depend on custom templates or styling, they may not look the same elsewhere. Mochi and RemNote both say custom CSS and JavaScript are not imported.

How this article was made

Researched and drafted with AI assistance from each app's documentation, pricing page and App Store listing, then fact-checked against those sources on 20 October 2026. Top of Class details come from its product documentation and code, checked again on 20 October 2026.

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