Anki vs RemNote

TL;DR

• · Anki wins on cost and control: free on desktop, web and Android, a one-time purchase on iOS, desktop add-ons, a shared deck library, and a choice of SM-2 or FSRS.
• · RemNote wins when your notes and your flashcards should be the same thing: you write notes, mark cards inline, link ideas, annotate PDFs, and review in the same app.
• · Both offer FSRS, so the scheduler is not the deciding factor. Workflow and budget are.

Side-by-side

Sources: apps.ankiweb.net, the Anki manual (docs.ankiweb.net), the AnkiMobile App Store listing, remnote.com/pricing, remnote.com/feature/fsrs and the RemNote Help Center. Prices as of October 2026.

Spaced repetition: SM-2, FSRS, or both

Anki ships with its legacy SuperMemo 2 (SM-2) scheduler and offers FSRS as an alternative. FSRS is supported by Anki 23.10, AnkiMobile 23.10 and AnkiWeb, and by AnkiDroid from 2.17. It can only be enabled globally, so you cannot run FSRS on one deck preset and SM-2 on another.

RemNote advertises FSRS v6 and also keeps SM-2, with a switch between them in its scheduler settings. When you import Anki decks with their review history, RemNote says FSRS can start scheduling from that history immediately.

In practice both apps give you the same modern algorithm. What differs is everything around it: how cards are made, where they live, and what you pay.

How Anki works

Anki is built around notes and note types. You pick a note type on the Add screen (Basic, Cloze, or Image Occlusion, which Anki 23.10+ supports natively) and fill in its fields; Anki generates the cards. Desktop users can extend it with add-ons from Tools > Add-ons > Get Add-ons.

The shared deck list on AnkiWeb is a big part of Anki's appeal: on desktop you click Get Shared, download a deck package and import it; on AnkiMobile the same list opens from Add/Export. When you import someone else's deck, Anki 23.10+ lets you leave their learning progress behind. The manual also advises against enabling LaTeX image generation if you use shared decks, for security reasons.

Where it costs you: card creation is form-based and separate from wherever you took notes, and the interface is utilitarian. The payoff is control over every field, template and setting.

How RemNote works

In RemNote you write notes as bullets and make flashcards inline as you go. Type >> or == between a prompt and its answer for a basic card, << for a reverse card, <> for both directions, or :: for a concept, which generates cards in both directions by default.

Notes can reference other bullets; a reference creates a backlink and affects which flashcards are gathered when you practise a document. Document Sources tie a document to the materials you're learning from. Pro removes the free plan's caps on annotated PDFs, image occlusion cards, handwritten documents, tables and exams in the exam scheduler.

Where it costs you: the most useful extras are capped on the free plan, and heavy Anki customisation (CSS, JavaScript) does not carry over.

Pricing (as of October 2026)

• · Anki: desktop, AnkiWeb sync and AnkiDroid are free. AnkiMobile for iOS is $24.99 on the US App Store, a one-time purchase usable on devices in a household with the same Apple ID.
• · RemNote Free: $0. Unlimited notes, flashcards and synced devices; 3 annotated PDFs, 5 image occlusion cards, 1 handwritten document and 250 AI credits a month.
• · RemNote Pro: listed at $8/month or $96 billed yearly. Lifts those caps and includes 1,000 AI credits a month.
• · RemNote Pro with AI: listed at $18/month or $216 billed yearly, with 20,000 AI credits a month plus AI flashcards, quizzes and summaries from PDFs, a lecture recorder and AI grading.

Which to choose if…

• · You want to spend nothing. Anki on desktop and Android costs nothing, with no feature caps. On iPhone, AnkiMobile is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription.
• · A ready-made deck for your exam or language already exists. Anki, through the AnkiWeb shared deck list. Import it without the author's progress and start reviewing.
• · You take lecture notes and want cards to come out of them. RemNote. Marking a card is two characters inside the note, so the note and the card never drift apart.
• · Your course runs on PDFs. RemNote Pro, which annotates PDFs and makes image occlusion cards without a limit.
• · You customise card templates with CSS or JavaScript. Anki. RemNote does not import Anki CSS and does not support note-type JavaScript.
• · You already have years of Anki reviews but want RemNote's notes. Try the .apkg import with scheduling information on one deck first and check the cards before moving everything.

Migration notes

Anki to RemNote: in Anki, export a deck (or File > Export for everything) as an .apkg with “Include scheduling information”, deck presets and media ticked. Import the file in RemNote and deselect any decks you don't want. Basic, cloze and image occlusion cards and most custom note types come across with their review history, and imported cards go into a separate “Need to Learn” queue so your daily reviews don't explode. Image occlusion note types must keep their original names and field names, and the importer shows at most 2,000 tags for selection.

RemNote to Anki: RemNote exports a document or the whole knowledge base as Markdown, text or RemNote (Complete); the native format does not include images or PDFs. Its flashcard export bolds the correct answer of multiple-choice cards to help when moving them into Anki. On the Anki side, the text importer takes files separated by commas, semicolons or tabs, including CSV from a spreadsheet, with an option to allow HTML in fields. Expect to lose RemNote's note hierarchy and links: Anki stores flat notes.

From Quizlet: export your own set as text from Quizlet's website and import it into Anki as a text file. RemNote's documented importer is the Anki .apkg path, so going through Anki is the safe route there too.

Where SimpleQuizMaker fits

SimpleQuizMaker is a quiz maker, not a replacement for either app. It writes quizzes with AI in four question types (multiple choice, true/false, short answer and fill in the blank), and anyone can take them from a link without an account. Its flashcard decks use the SM-2 algorithm, not FSRS. The free plan includes 5 AI quiz generations a month; generating from a PDF or other file, a web page or a YouTube video, and exporting, are paid-plan features. Use it for a timed self-test before an exam, and keep Anki or RemNote for daily review.

FAQ