We make EasyPalmCards, a card maker for speeches and study, so we are not neutral. We have tried to write this the way we would want to read it: facts about Quizlet and Anki come from their own help pages and manuals, the date we checked is at the bottom, and we say where each one is better than us.
The short answer
- Choose Quizlet if you want to start in seconds, study from sets your class already made, and enjoy games and a polished app. Expect ads on the free account and a paid plan for the fuller study tools.
- Choose Anki if you are learning a large amount of material over months (medicine, law, languages) and want a free, precise spaced repetition schedule you can tune. Expect a steeper learning curve and a paid iPhone app.
- Choose neither if what you really need is cards on paper, or cue cards for a talk. That is what EasyPalmCards is for, and it reads both Quizlet and Anki exports.
Quizlet vs Anki at a glance
| Question | Quizlet | Anki |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free account; paid Plus and Plus Unlimited plans | Free on computers and Android; AnkiMobile (iOS) is a paid app |
| Ads | Runs ads; Plus subscribers see no third-party ads | None mentioned on the official download page |
| Scheduling | Learn adapts to your answers (a paid-plan feature) | Spaced repetition with SM-2 or FSRS |
| Sync | Your account, across web and apps | Free AnkiWeb sync across devices |
| Printing | Print from the set page on a computer | No print layout in its export formats |
| Export | Text export of sets you created | Plain text, deck package (.apkg), collection (.colpkg) |
How each one decides what you review
This is the biggest real difference. Anki shows each card on a schedule: a card you answer easily comes back after a longer gap, and a card you forget comes back soon. Anki’s manual describes two schedulers, the older SM-2 algorithm and FSRS, the Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler, which you can turn on in the deck options. You rate each answer yourself (Again, Hard, Good, Easy), and the gaps grow from days to months. Done every day, this is a very efficient way to remember thousands of facts.
Quizlet is built around study sessions rather than a daily queue. Flashcards let you flip through a set, Learn asks questions in rounds and adapts to what you get wrong, and Test makes a quiz. Quizlet’s help centre lists Learn and Test among the features that come with its subscriptions. It is great for getting ready for a quiz this week; it gives you less control over a deck you will keep for years.
Making and sharing cards
Quizlet makes creating a set very easy: type terms and definitions, or paste a list where a comma, tab or dash separates each term from its definition. Its biggest strength is everyone else’s sets. For many school subjects someone has already made the set you need. Rich text (bold, italic, underline, highlight) is for Plus subscribers.
Anki uses notes and note types, so one note can make several cards (front to back and back to front, or cloze deletions, where you hide part of a sentence). Image Occlusion turns a diagram into cards, and add-ons extend the app further. You can download shared decks, and Anki’s manual suggests using them alongside your own learning material rather than instead of it. The flexibility is the point, and it takes time to learn.
What each one costs
Anki is free on Windows, macOS and Linux, AnkiDroid is free on Android, and AnkiWeb sync is free. AnkiMobile, the official iPhone and iPad app, is paid, and the Anki site says purchases help fund development. The US App Store listed AnkiMobile at US$24.99 when we checked; prices differ by country.
Quizlet has a free account with ads and paid plans that renew automatically: Quizlet Plus, with monthly limits on some tools, and Quizlet Plus Unlimited. There are also teacher, family and group plans. Prices vary by country and change during the year, so check Quizlet’s upgrade page rather than relying on a figure from a blog post, including this one.
If you want your cards on paper
Some people remember better with a stack of cards in their hand, and some exams and talks do not allow a phone. Neither app is built for this. Quizlet can print a set from a computer, and Anki’s exports are text files and deck packages rather than pages to print.
EasyPalmCards is built around printing. Paste your cards, and they are laid out on A4 or US Letter with cut lines, or one per sheet on 3×5, 4×6, A7 or A6 card stock. Double-sided lines each answer up behind its question, and Fold in half works on any printer. You can still study on screen with Learn, Test, Match and an SM-2 schedule, free (the free plan has ads, never while you study). It is simpler than Anki and has no public library like Quizlet’s, so it suits people who make their own cards and want them on paper too.
Moving cards between them
All three tools speak plain text, so you are never locked in.
- Quizlet to anything Open a set you created, choose the more menu, then Export, then Copy text. Quizlet only exports sets you made, and images are not included.
- Anki to anything In Anki, choose File, then Export, then Notes in Plain Text. Fields are separated by tabs.
- Into EasyPalmCardsOpen the flash card import, paste the text or choose the file, and check the preview.
- Back out again From the Export tab, copy your cards for Quizlet’s Import box, or download a CSV or an Anki-ready text file.
Images and audio do not travel through plain text, and study history stays in the app it came from. Move the words, then add anything visual by hand. For tips on what to put on each card, see how to make flashcards.
Sources
Checked on 28 October 2026. Quizlet: help.quizlet.com articles “Subscribing to Quizlet”, “Exporting your sets”, “Printing sets”, “Studying offline with Quizlet mobile apps”, “Creating sets by importing content” and “Reporting bad ads”. Anki: apps.ankiweb.net (platforms, free desktop version, AnkiDroid, AnkiWeb sync), docs.ankiweb.net (“Getting Started”, “Studying”, “Deck Options”, “Exporting”, “Importing text files”) and the AnkiMobile Flashcards listing on the US App Store. Quizlet and Anki are trademarks of their owners; this page is not affiliated with either.