Flashcard Makers Compared: Anki, Quizlet, Knowt, RemNote, Brainscape and AI Generators
By the PDFStudy team · Updated · 5 min read
There is no single best flashcard maker. The right one depends on two questions: where your material comes from (you type the cards, you share decks with a class, or you start from PDFs and slides) and how you want to review (a spaced repetition schedule, games and practice tests, or notes and cards in one place).
Below is what each popular tool is best at, based on the tools' own websites as checked on October 19, 2026. Plans and prices change often, so confirm on the linked page before you pay. We make one of these tools, PDFStudy, and we describe it with its limits too.
At a glance
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | Cards from a PDF | Exports to Anki |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anki | Long-term spaced repetition | Desktop, Android and AnkiWeb are free; the iPhone app is a one-time purchase | Not built in | It is Anki (.apkg) |
| Quizlet | Ready-made sets, study games, classrooms | Flashcards, practice questions, diagrams and activities | Yes, its AI tools turn uploaded files into cards | Text export of sets you created |
| Knowt | Free study modes and AI cards from notes | Free plan with Learn, practice tests and spaced review | Yes, PDF or PowerPoint | Not documented (PDF export) |
| RemNote | Notes and flashcards in one workspace | Unlimited notes and cards, 3 annotated PDFs | Yes, AI cards from text, PDF and slides | Yes (.apkg) |
| Brainscape | Simple self-made decks, paid expert decks | Create, share and study your own decks | From pasted text; its pages disagree on file upload | Not documented (spreadsheet backup) |
| PDFStudy | Multiple-choice cards with explanations from PDFs | Free plan with limits | Yes, PDF (slides saved as PDF) or a photo | Yes, depending on plan |
Anki: the standard for spaced repetition
Anki schedules every card individually and brings it back around the time you are likely to forget it, which is why medical students and language learners rely on it for years-long decks. The desktop app, AnkiDroid for Android and the AnkiWeb sync service are free; the iPhone app, AnkiMobile, is a one-time purchase (Anki FAQ).
The trade-off is that Anki does not write cards for you. Making a deck from a lecture by hand is slow, which is why many students generate a deck elsewhere and import it as an Anki package.
Choose it if you want a review schedule you can trust for months and you are happy to build or import your decks.
Quizlet: a huge library of shared sets
Quizlet's free account includes flashcards, practice questions, and interactive diagrams and activities; paid tiers are Quizlet Plus and Plus Unlimited, plus teacher and family plans (Quizlet help). Its strength is the huge number of sets other students and teachers have already made, and the classroom features around them. Its AI assistant, Ask Quizlet, can also create flashcards from uploaded files, PDFs included (Quizlet help).
If you created a set, you can export its terms and definitions as text from the Quizlet website (Quizlet help); sets copied from other users cannot be exported. The text can then be imported into other tools. We could not open Quizlet's pricing page to confirm current prices, so check it directly.
Choose it if someone has already made a good set for your exact course, or your teacher uses it in class. If you are mainly looking to leave Quizlet, see how the tools below compare on free study modes and imports, or read our Quizlet alternative page.
Knowt: generous free study modes
Knowt offers free Learn and practice test modes and a spaced repetition mode, and its AI flashcard maker accepts pasted notes or an uploaded PDF or PowerPoint (Knowt). A paid Ultra plan adds more AI use (Knowt plans). Its export guide documents exporting flashcards as a PDF, not as an Anki deck (Knowt help).
Choose it if you want Quizlet-style study modes without paying and do not need Anki.
RemNote: notes and flashcards together
RemNote is a note-taking app where flashcards live inside your notes. The free plan includes unlimited notes and flashcards and three annotated PDFs; paid plans add more PDF annotation and AI. It can make AI cards from text, PDFs and slides, and it exports flashcards as an Anki .apkg file (RemNote help).
Choose it if you take your notes digitally and want cards to come out of them.
Brainscape: simple decks and expert content
On Brainscape, creating, sharing and studying your own content is free; Pro adds unlimited AI flashcards and access to its catalog of expert-made decks. Its own pages disagree on whether you can upload a PDF directly or need to paste the text, so test that before relying on it. Pro users can export a deck backup as a spreadsheet file (Brainscape help).
Choose it if you like a clean, minimal study screen and might use its premade decks.
AI generators that start from a PDF
If your material is already in PDFs, a dedicated generator saves the most time. Two of the most visible ones both export Anki decks: AnkiDecks (free plan with a few generations a month on short documents) and StudyCards AI (first deck free, then monthly plans). We have not tested their output quality.
PDFStudy, the tool we make, takes a PDF (lecture slides saved as PDF work too) or a photo of notes (scanned pages are read with OCR, and for long PDFs you choose the pages). Instead of term and definition cards, it writes multiple-choice questions with four options, the correct answer and a short explanation, which you can practice in the browser and edit. Decks export as a PDF, a PDF without answers for self-testing, or an Anki deck, depending on the plan; see pricing. What it does not do: it has no mobile app and no review scheduler of its own (exporting to Anki covers that), and it works in English only.
How to choose
- You already have a good shared set: Quizlet.
- You need to remember a large deck for months: Anki, whatever tool you use to make the cards.
- You take notes digitally: RemNote.
- You want free study modes and AI from notes: Knowt.
- Your material is lecture PDFs and slides, and you want exam-style questions with explanations: PDFStudy, then export to Anki for spaced review.
Whichever you pick, the tool matters less than the habit: answer each card before you look, and review a little every day. Our guide to whether flashcards are effective explains why.