Comparison · Anki alternative
Anki is the reference for spaced repetition, and it has earned that. Mindlet keeps the same standard for memory but builds the cards from your own material.
Mindlet Anki At a glance
The same criteria as our other comparisons, plus a few rows that matter for Anki users.
| Criterion | Mindlet | Anki |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, no time limit: 3 collections, 100 cards. Reviewing is always free. | Yes: Anki on desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux), AnkiDroid on Android and AnkiWeb in the browser are free. |
| Paid price (monthly) | From €5.99 a month on the web (€4.99 a month billed yearly). A bit more through the app stores. | AnkiMobile (iPhone, iPad): one-off purchase, $24.99 in the US (€29.99 in France), which funds Anki's development. |
| AI-generated cards | Yes, from your own material, in a dozen formats (flashcard, multiple choice, fill in the blank, open question…). | Not built in. Third-party add-ons offer it on desktop. |
| What you can import | PDF (even scanned), Word, PowerPoint, Excel, ePub, images, audio, video, YouTube, websites, text, Anki decks. | Cards written by hand. Imports decks (.apkg, .colpkg) and text or CSV files. |
| Review scheduling | FSRS-6 spaced repetition, adjusted weekly to how you forget. | Two algorithms. FSRS (built in since 23.10, version 6 since 25.07) is switched on in the deck options. |
| Answer buttons | Three by default (Acquis, Flou, Oubli: got it, fuzzy, forgot). Four, Anki-style, on cards imported from Anki if you set it that way. | Four: Again, Hard, Good, Easy. |
| Platforms | Web, iPhone, Android. | Windows, macOS, Linux, iPhone and iPad (AnkiMobile), Android (AnkiDroid), browser (AnkiWeb). |
| Interface language | French only. Content generated in 9 languages, English included. | English, French and dozens of other languages. |
| Coming from Anki | Imports .apkg and .colpkg with « Garder ma progression » (keep my progress, on by default): due dates, review history and suspended cards carried over. Image occlusions imported with their masks. No export back to Anki. | Exports as a deck (.apkg) or a whole collection (.colpkg). |
| Source code | Closed. | Open (AGPL v3 for Anki; AnkiDroid is open source too). |
| Extensions | None. | A large add-on catalogue, on desktop. |
| AI models | Mainly Mistral AI (France). | No built-in AI model. |
| Your content and AI training | Mindlet does not use your content to train models (terms of use). | No built-in AI. If you sync, AnkiWeb stores cards and review history in data centres in the EU and the USA. |
Anki facts checked on October 22, 2026 on the publisher's own pages (listed in the sources). Offers change: tell us if something is out of date.
The main difference
In Anki, every card starts as a note you type: a front, a back, sometimes a cloze or a masked image. Writing them is a real exercise in synthesis, and a genuine reason to prefer Anki. It also means hours of typing before your first review.
In Mindlet, you drop in the material as it is: a PDF (even a scanned one), a slide deck, a YouTube video, a lecture recording. The AI finds the key notions and writes cards in several formats: flashcards, multiple choice, true or false, fill in the blank, ordering, open questions graded by a model. You check them, edit them, delete them. AI can get things wrong, so reviewing the cards is still your job.
Scheduling
FSRS (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler) is an open algorithm that estimates, card by card, how likely you are to remember, and picks the day of the next review accordingly. Anki added it in version 23.10 and moved to FSRS-6 in version 25.07. It is still optional there: you switch it on in the deck options, then optimise it.
Mindlet has a single engine, FSRS-6, on from day one. It starts from average settings and adjusts them every week to how you forget, with no button to press. If you come from Anki with a well-tuned FSRS, the logic will feel familiar; if you never turned it on, it's done for you.
Price
Anki is free on desktop, on Android (AnkiDroid) and in the browser (AnkiWeb). On iPhone and iPad, AnkiMobile is a one-off purchase: $24.99 on the US App Store as of 22 October 2026. That purchase is what funds Anki's development, as its authors say plainly.
Mindlet has a free plan with no time limit: 3 collections, 100 cards, and reviews that are always free. Paid plans, from €5.99 a month on the web (€4.99 a month billed yearly), raise your generation capacity and limits; they cost a little more when you pay through the App Store or Google Play. Notes imported from Anki don't count towards card limits. Details on the pricing page.
Its strengths
Anki is open source and free on most devices, and its code is public. AnkiWeb, also free, syncs your decks and lets you review in a browser. Its add-ons cover very specific needs, and its deck options go further than most people will ever need.
Mindlet makes the opposite trade: fewer visible settings, more work done for you. If you like building your own cards and tuning your tool, Anki will suit you better, and we would rather say so.
Which one for you?
Switching
Your decks aren't lost: Mindlet reads them. Allow a few minutes per deck. The import screen is in French, like the rest of the app.
Export from Anki
Export a deck (.apkg) or your whole collection (.colpkg) from Anki's export menu.
Import into Mindlet
In your library, choose « Importer un paquet Anki » (import an Anki deck). A deck can be up to 2 GB. Leave « Garder ma progression » (keep my progress) on, as it is by default: your due dates, review history and suspended cards come across as they are. Text, CSV and TSV files work too, and you pick the columns.
Find your note types
Basic, reversed, type-in-the-answer, cloze, image occlusion: Anki's note types exist in Mindlet, and image occlusion cards arrive with their masks.
Keep your four buttons
On cards from Anki you can keep the four Anki-style buttons. The advanced tools (card browser, tags, filtered collections) are there too, switched off by default.
FAQ
It depends on what bothers you about Anki. If it's typing cards, an app that generates them from your material, like Mindlet, saves the most time. If it's the interface, Mindlet is more guided, but it is only available in French. If it's the iPhone price, Mindlet has a free plan on mobile. Our full comparison covers seven tools.
No. Anki is free on desktop, on Android (AnkiDroid) and in the browser (AnkiWeb), but AnkiMobile, the iPhone and iPad app, costs $24.99 on the US App Store (checked on 22 October 2026). It's a one-off purchase, not a subscription, and it funds Anki's development. AnkiWeb stays free for reviewing in your phone's browser.
Anki has no built-in AI card generation; third-party add-ons add it on desktop. Mindlet is built around generation: you drop in a PDF, a video or a recording, and it writes cards in several formats, then schedules them with FSRS-6. You can also import your existing Anki decks.
Anki has a learning curve: note types, deck options, turning on FSRS, add-ons. Many people get on with it very well, and its manual is thorough. Mindlet hides those settings by default: you drop in a course and you review. The advanced tools borrowed from Anki are still there when you need them.
Yes. Mindlet schedules every review with FSRS-6, the version Anki has offered since 25.07. The difference: in Anki you switch FSRS on in the deck options; in Mindlet it is the only engine, and its parameters adjust every week to how you forget. More on spaced repetition.
Yes, when you import a deck (.apkg) or a collection (.colpkg). The « Garder ma progression » option (keep my progress), on by default, carries over your due dates, review history and suspended cards as they are. If a card already exists in Mindlet, « Mettre à jour ce qui existe déjà » (update what already exists) keeps the progress it has there. A text or CSV file only brings the cards.
Yes, in one direction: Mindlet imports your Anki decks (.apkg, .colpkg) and text files. Mindlet doesn't export back to Anki, and there is no sync between the two apps. Some people keep Anki for an old, finely tuned deck and use Mindlet for new courses they no longer want to type up.
Notes imported from Anki don't count towards the plans' card limits, and neither do notes you write yourself. The limits (3 collections and 100 cards on the free plan) apply to collections and generated cards. Details on the pricing page.
Checked on October 22, 2026, on the publishers' own pages and app store listings. Mindlet publishes this page and is one of the products compared: weigh it accordingly. Facts about Mindlet come from the product itself. Spotted an error? Write to support@mindlet.app.
Drop a PDF, a link or a lecture recording. Mindlet does the preparation, you do the learning.
Free to start, no credit card · Web, iPhone, iPad and Android
