Anki vs Quizlet
Updated 17 September 2026 · Written by the Reji team, who make one of the apps below.
Anki and Quizlet are both flashcard apps and that is where the similarity ends. Quizlet is a library: millions of shared study sets, a clean app, and a free plan with ads. Anki is a tool: free, open source, ugly, and built around a scheduling algorithm that decides exactly when you see each card again.
The third column in the table is Reji, which we make. It is only relevant if the thing you are memorising is vocabulary on an iPhone.
| Anki | Quizlet | Reji | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free on desktop and Android; AnkiMobile for iOS is $24.99 one-time | Free with ads; Quizlet Plus $9.99 per month or $44.99 per year | Free, no subscription |
| What is free | Everything on desktop, Android and web | Create sets, flashcards, basic Learn and Test; ads | Everything |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web | Web, iOS, Android | iOS, iPadOS |
| Spaced repetition | Yes, FSRS or SM-2, fully configurable | Partly: Learn mode adapts within a session, no long-term per-card schedule | Yes, per-card scheduling |
| Audio | Only what you add yourself or via add-ons | Text-to-speech | Native pronunciation on every card |
| Fills in cards for you | No, unless you install add-ons | Suggested definitions for some terms | Translation, example sentence, transcription and image added when you type a word |
| Import | CSV, .apkg, thousands of shared decks | Paste text or CSV, copy any public set | CSV, shared decks, public decks |
| Ads | None | Yes on the free plan | None |
| Sync | AnkiWeb, free | Account | iCloud |
| Offline | Yes | Plus only | Yes |
| Best for | Power users, medical students, anyone who wants total control | School and exam sets that someone has already made | Vocabulary you meet while reading, watching or talking |
Remembering: Anki wins, clearly
Anki keeps a schedule for every card. Answer well and the card comes back in days, then weeks, then months. Quizlet's Learn mode adapts the order of questions within a session and can remind you to study, but it does not keep a long-term per-card interval. For a test next week the difference is small. For a language, a degree or anything you want to know in a year, it is the whole point.
Getting started: Quizlet wins
Search Quizlet for your textbook chapter and someone has probably made the set. The app is pleasant, audio is automatic, and it works in a browser. Anki's shared decks are just as plentiful for big topics such as medicine, Japanese or the bar exam, but you have to find them, install them and understand the options screen. Expect an evening.
Price
Anki is free on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and the web; the iPhone app is a one-time $24.99. Quizlet is free with ads; Quizlet Plus, which removes ads and unlocks full Learn mode and offline study, is $9.99 a month or $44.99 a year. Over two years a Plus subscriber pays more than three copies of AnkiMobile.
Making your own cards
Both let you type term and definition. Anki's card templates can hold audio, images, cloze deletions and formatting, and add-ons automate a lot, at the cost of setup. Quizlet suggests definitions for common terms and reads cards aloud with text-to-speech. Neither fills in a language card for you; that is the gap Reji exists in.
Verdict
Choose Quizlet for a class you will pass and forget, especially if the set already exists. Choose Anki for anything you want to keep, and accept an evening of setup. If the material is words in another language and you are on an iPhone, Reji gives you Anki's scheduling with Quizlet's ease and costs nothing.
Questions people ask
- Is Anki better than Quizlet for languages?
- For long-term retention, yes, because of its spaced repetition. It takes more work per card: translation, example and audio are manual unless you use add-ons. Reji automates that part on iPhone.
- Can I move my Quizlet sets to Anki?
- Yes. Export a set from Quizlet as text, or copy it from the set page, and import it into Anki as CSV. Formatting and images do not come across.
- Is Anki really free?
- Yes on desktop, Android and the web. Only the iOS app, AnkiMobile, is paid: $24.99 once. That purchase funds the whole project.
Reji is free, has no ads and fills in translation, audio and an example for every word you save. Or try the public decks first.