Free Flashcard Apps With Real Spaced Repetition (Not Just Practice Mode)
TL;DR: Most "free flashcard apps" only shuffle cards within a study session. The genuinely free ones with real spaced repetition, meaning a scheduler that plans future reviews on a forgetting curve, are Anki and AnkiDroid (both now include FSRS), RemNote's free tier, and Mochi's free tier. Quizlet, Knowt, and Brainscape are free or cheap but use session-based practice, not true scheduling. If you want FSRS without the Anki learning curve and you study on iPhone, Imprimo is a paid option, but you do not have to pay to get real spaced repetition.
There is a quiet bait-and-switch in the flashcard world. A lot of apps call themselves spaced repetition tools, but when you look at what they actually do, they reshuffle the cards you got wrong and show them again later in the same session. That is practice. It helps. It is not spaced repetition.
Real spaced repetition schedules each card for a future day based on how well you recalled it, so the app brings a card back right before you would forget it. That scheduling is the entire point, because it is what turns a week of cramming into months of retention. This guide is about the free apps that actually do it, and how to spot the ones that only pretend.
The test: does it schedule, or just reshuffle?
Before the list, here is the one question that sorts every flashcard app into two piles.
Does the app plan when you will see a card next, days or weeks out, based on your answer? If yes, it has real spaced repetition. If it only re-shows cards you missed within the current session, it has adaptive practice. Both are useful, but only the first is built for remembering material long after the session ends.
The reason this matters: for a quiz next week, practice mode is fine. For an exam in two months, or a language you want to keep, you need the scheduler. The difference between active recall and spaced repetition goes deeper, but that one question is enough to judge any app.
The genuinely free apps with real scheduling
1. Anki
Anki is the obvious answer and still the strongest. It is free on desktop and free on Android through AnkiDroid, and it is built entirely around spaced repetition. As of recent versions it includes FSRS, the modern open-source scheduler, alongside the older SM-2, so you are not stuck on a dated algorithm. It is the default tool for medical students and language learners because the retention genuinely holds up over years.
The cost is not money, it is friction. The interface looks like it predates the smartphone, the setup assumes you know what an ease factor is, and the official iPhone app charges a one-time fee of around 25 USD when everything else is free. If you can get past the learning curve, nothing on this list beats it for raw effectiveness. If you cannot, that is exactly why gentler tools exist. I compared the experience trade-off in best Anki alternatives.
2. AnkiDroid
AnkiDroid is the free, community-built Android version of Anki, and it deserves its own mention because it removes Anki's one real cost for Android users. Same scheduler, same FSRS support, same decks, no fee. If you are on Android and willing to learn the Anki way of doing things, this is real spaced repetition for nothing.
The interface inherits Anki's complexity, so the learning curve is the same. But for an Android student who will not pay, nothing free does more.
3. RemNote (free tier)
RemNote is a notes app with flashcards built in, and its free tier uses FSRS for scheduling. The pitch is that your notes and your cards live in the same place: you write a note, turn a key line into a card inline, and the scheduler handles review from there.
The free tier is real but capped, and the app does a lot more than flashcards, so there is more to learn before it feels simple. If you study from your own writing and want notes and cards unified, the free tier is worth trying. If you only want cards, it can feel like a large app for a small job.
4. Mochi (free tier)
Mochi is a cleaner, more modern take on Anki with a free tier that includes a spaced repetition scheduler. It looks far better than Anki and is easier to start with. The free tier limits how many decks and cards you can keep, and the scheduling is more basic than FSRS, but it is genuine spacing rather than session practice.
Good for someone who wants something simpler than Anki and is studying a modest number of cards. The limits push heavier users toward the paid plan.
The apps that look free but only do practice mode
These are not bad apps. They are just not spaced repetition apps, and it is worth being clear about that so you do not pick one expecting a scheduler.
Quizlet. The free tier shows cards and runs Learn mode, which adapts within a session. Real scheduling lives in the paid plan and even then is closer to adaptive practice than a forgetting-curve model. Great for cramming pre-made sets, weaker for long-term retention. More in Quizlet vs Imprimo.
Knowt. Free and genuinely good as a Quizlet replacement, with AI cards and set import, but its study modes are session-based adaptive practice, not a forgetting-curve scheduler. I compared it directly in Knowt vs Imprimo.
Brainscape. Uses a confidence-based rating system, which spaces cards somewhat, but the useful features are subscription-only and the model is simpler than FSRS. Better described as structured practice than true scheduling.
Where paid apps fit, honestly
If free apps have real spaced repetition, why pay at all? The honest answer is that the free option with the best scheduler, Anki, charges you in setup and interface instead of money. You pay elsewhere for a gentler path: AI card generation from your own material, a modern design, and far less configuration.
I built Imprimo as one of those paid options. It runs FSRS by default on iPhone, generates cards from your PDFs, notes, URLs, YouTube videos, and scans, and keeps the interface calm. It is paid after a free trial, with no permanent free tier. I am including it because some people genuinely want FSRS without the Anki learning curve and will pay to skip it. But I would rather be straight with you: if you can handle Anki, you do not need to spend a cent to get real spaced repetition. Pay only if the gentler experience is worth it to you.
So which free app should you pick
- You want the most capable free scheduler and can learn it: Anki, or AnkiDroid on Android.
- You study on Android and will not pay anything: AnkiDroid.
- You want notes and cards in one place: RemNote's free tier.
- You want something simpler than Anki for a modest deck: Mochi's free tier.
- You want FSRS without the Anki learning curve on iPhone and will pay: a paid app like Imprimo.
The thing to avoid is picking a practice-mode app while believing it schedules your reviews. For a quiz, that is fine. For anything you need to remember months later, make sure the app actually plans the next review, because that is the feature doing the work.
