Anki
Open-source spaced-repetition flashcard app for desktop and mobile, synced via AnkiWeb.
Loved for memorizing language vocabulary1234 and as a daily study habit that commenters say noticeably improves long-term retention.5678 The most common complaints are clunky reviewing and card-editing UX91011 and daily reviews that can turn into a chore.1213
Why people recommend it
Language learning · 3
Widely used to drill vocabulary and sentences for languages like German, Spanish, French and Russian.
“All the sentences are saved in Anki, where I have now around 7000 german sentences”
“my retention before and after I started using Anki is night and day.”
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“cramming these with Anki. You can get gist with about 10 hours of study and be much more useful than 100 hours of Duolingo.”
Retention · 3
Users report much better recall, even of words last practiced months ago.
“my retention before and after I started using Anki is night and day.”
“it's a godsend for me.”
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“I used a lot of Anki for spanish on top of classes. I'd say (anecdotally) it can bump you up a half to full letter in the A-C system”
Integrations · 3
AnkiConnect and add-ons let other tools and LLM workflows create and edit cards directly.
“I let the AI add it directly to Anki via AnkiConnect.”
“it's also excellent for mining Anki cards. This works with AnkiMobile on iOS and AnkiConnect on desktop.”
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“there are plenty of Anki extensions that make use of the tech for card creation”
Daily habit · 3
Many make it a fixed part of their daily routine and workflow.
“My morning ritual is now coffee and anki.”
“it has been truly transformative to my learning and daily habits”
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“As a daily user of Anki and Math Academy”
Versatility · 3
Used beyond languages, for chess, trivia, job knowledge, books and note-taking.
“it's a godsend for me.”
“I’ve maintained an Anki deck about facts relevant to my job”
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“it has been truly transformative to my learning and daily habits”
Low cost · 2
Free on PC and Android, with a one-time fee on iOS.
“Anki: $25 on iOS, free for Android”
“Anki, free for pc and android, cheap for iphones”
Caveats and dissent
Clunky UX · 3
Some find extra steps between cards and an awkward card-editing interface.
“unnecessary extra steps to move onto the next card in tools like Anki”
“It sure feels like it helps me learn more effectively when I write high-quality cards myself”
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“I've been using Anki for 10+ years and love it”
Review burden · 2
Daily reviews can feel like a burden and take time out of the day.
“first with the Mnemosyne Project and later switching to Anki”
Card quality · 3
Commenters say AI-generated cards and other people's decks are rarely useful; self-written cards work better.
“It sure feels like it helps me learn more effectively when I write high-quality cards myself”
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“my retention before and after I started using Anki is night and day.”
Data portability · 2
The data format is complicated, and some users want to export their notes as a precaution.
“because we use Anki and have thousands of cards there already”
“I love anki.”
Leech flagging · 1
Repeatedly failed cards get flagged as leeches, which one user found frustrating.
“I noticed this in Anki. Some cards are effortless, some take a bit of practice”
Locked networks · 1
It can be hard to deploy on locked-down school networks.
“I use it extensively in my teaching.”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
From the makers not counted in the ranking
“We define our API into the Rust via protobufs[0] and some codegen.”
Threads where it came up
- A Love Letter to Flashcards 12 mentions
- Ownership of open source flashcard app Anki transferred to for-profit AnkiHub 4 mentions
- Show HN: Turn native language audio into flashcards and shadowing practice 2 mentions
- Ask HN: What are your best purchases under $100? 2 mentions
- Hashcards: A plain-text spaced repetition system 2 mentions
- Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Nov 2025) 2 mentions
Data: anki.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 42
“I've used those to also build Anki decks for flash cards.”
“don't worry, I still use actual Anki as well”
“All the sentences are saved in Anki, where I have now around 7000 german sentences”
“my Anki setup”
“I noticed this in Anki. Some cards are effortless, some take a bit of practice”
“As a daily user of Anki and Math Academy”
“the option to make an Anki flashcard”
“Anki is indeed popular”
“it has been truly transformative to my learning and daily habits”
“My morning ritual is now coffee and anki.”
“I used a lot of Anki for spanish on top of classes. I'd say (anecdotally) it can bump you up a half to full letter in the A-C system”
“my retention before and after I started using Anki is night and day.”
“I got an idea to make an Anki flashcard collection consisting of all the words I've needed to look up while reading.”
“That was fun and quite effective as far as I can tell.”
“I used anki for learning japanese”
“I let the AI add it directly to Anki via AnkiConnect.”
“first with the Mnemosyne Project and later switching to Anki”
“it's a godsend for me.”
“turn a YouTube URL I want to learn into a stack of Anki flashcards”
“sentence mining into Anki”
“learn stuff with Anki”
“there are plenty of Anki extensions that make use of the tech for card creation”
“I also wanted something that tightly integrated with Anki”
“for writing practice I just grabbed a "top 5k most common characters" deck online”
“I've been using Anki for 10+ years and love it”
“Make flashcards (I use Anki) with facts that you want to keep in active memory.”
“I’ve maintained an Anki deck about facts relevant to my job”
“unnecessary extra steps to move onto the next card in tools like Anki”
“to add to Anki”
“These days the new hotness is FSRS [1] which Anki uses.”
“I make quick Anki cards from the Opus reading sessions so I don't forget plot bits.”
“cramming these with Anki. You can get gist with about 10 hours of study and be much more useful than 100 hours of Duolingo.”
“I used DallE and Anki to teach my son to read.”
“I use it extensively in my teaching.”
“All what I care about when using Anki is what's on the 2 sides of a Card”
“I love anki.”
“As someone who has used Anki for a decade, a thank you to dae for everything.”
“did spanish vocabulary anki sessions”
“Anki: $25 on iOS, free for Android”
“Anki, free for pc and android, cheap for iphones”
“Anki is great for memorizing words”
“It sure feels like it helps me learn more effectively when I write high-quality cards myself”