RemNote vs Anki

Choosing between RemNote and Anki is a question of what you will practice, and what stays free while you practice it.

Anki is the better fit for a large set of atomic cards, shared decks, and a free desktop card engine. RemNote is the better fit when the job is writing an outline or annotating a PDF and practicing the cards generated from that writing. Neither is a universal winner.

Start with the object that actually gets reviewed.

Anki reviews cards generated from note fields. An Anki note is those stored fields, not a separate notes app. (Anki manual: getting started) After the answer is shown, you rate the card Again, Hard, Good, or Easy.

RemNote reviews the flashcard you create from a bullet, a cloze, or an image region. An unmarked document is not the review. RemNote’s switching guide says there are no decks; you study from a folder or document. (Switching from Anki)

If you have already decided to leave Anki and want a wider set of note-based options, use Anki alternatives for notes. If you have already decided to leave RemNote, use RemNote alternatives. The rest of this page stays with these two apps.

Choose by the job, not by the algorithm

In both apps, FSRS is something you turn on. That is a weak reason to switch. Anki’s manual, as opened on 22 September 2026, still documents SM-2 as the legacy scheduler and FSRS as an option. RemNote defaults to its Anki SM-2 scheduler, with FSRS v6 as a beta. Pick the app whose review unit matches the work you already do. The limits in the table are from official pages opened on that date.

What you actually review

Take one lecture distinction: in photosynthesis, the light reactions capture energy from light, and the Calvin cycle uses that energy to fix carbon dioxide into sugar.

In Anki you put that into fields. Two basic notes, one card each, can carry the distinction:

• Front: What do the light reactions capture? Back: Energy from light.
• Front: What does the Calvin cycle do with that energy? Back: It fixes carbon dioxide into sugar.

Anki generates each card from its note. You review the cards. The note is the stored fields behind the card. The longer lecture explanation can stay in whatever document you already use. Only the fields you turned into cards enter the queue.

In RemNote you can write the same distinction as bullets in a document. A bullet becomes a review when you make it a flashcard. A cloze hides one phrase inside a sentence you wrote there. An image region becomes a card when you occlude it. Lines you leave unmarked stay in the document and stay out of the queue. You then study that document or its folder. There is no deck to select.

You do not have to card the whole explanation in either app. Two prompts can carry the distinction. The rest can remain writing. Whether this material should be isolated cards or a connected explanation is a format choice, covered in notes vs flashcards.

Scheduling is not a tie

Anki still documents SM-2 as the legacy scheduler. FSRS is an option you turn on in deck options. In the FSRS guide opened on 22 September 2026, desired retention defaults to 90%. Some 2026 articles say FSRS is now Anki’s default. That was not what the deck options manual said on that date.

RemNote defaults to its Anki SM-2 scheduler. FSRS v6 is a beta you turn on.

After the answer, the two apps also ask for different kinds of judgment.

Anki shows the answer, then asks you to rate your recall: Again, Hard, Good, or Easy.

If you type answers in RemNote, the help center says AI grading is the default for that typed-answer mode and that it uses AI credits. You can switch that mode to fuzzy or exact matching. AI grading applies to that typed-answer mode, not to every review.

If you already use one of these apps, change the scheduler there. Switching products to “get FSRS” does not match what either manual described on 22 September 2026.

What you pay for

On 22 September 2026, the official download page listed desktop Anki 26.09.2 as a free computer version for Windows, macOS, and Linux, with free AnkiWeb sync. Anki describes that computer version as open source and free, and describes AnkiMobile as the paid app that supports development.

The US App Store listing for AnkiMobile showed $24.99 on that day. Local prices and taxes can differ. On that listing it is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. AnkiDroid is the Android app in the official Anki ecosystem.

RemNote’s pricing page, opened the same day, listed a $0 plan with unlimited notes and flashcards, and caps of 3 annotated PDFs, 5 image occlusion cards, and 1 handwritten document. Pro was listed at $8 a month when billed yearly ($96 a year). Check the page before you pay. Plan tables move.

RemNote documents a 25% education discount on Pro when you pay on the web at standard pricing. The discount does not apply to the Life-Long Learner license, the AI plan, extra AI credits, or subscriptions bought in the App Store or Google Play.

If you use RemNote’s AI features, credits are metered. The help center says free accounts get 250 AI credits a month, Pro gets 1,000, and Pro+AI gets 20,000. Additional credits, when offered, are described as $10 for 20,000 and do not expire. Typed-answer AI grading draws on those credits. The Anki manual pages opened for this article do not describe built-in AI generation.

Pro is what you pay for when you pass the free caps on annotated PDFs, image occlusion, and handwritten documents, when you want the exam scheduler, or when you want the higher monthly AI credit allotment (1,000 on Pro versus 250 on free). Unlimited notes and flashcards are already on the free plan.

Cards, files, and other people's decks

RemNote can make a flashcard from a cloze on a bullet you wrote. Anki’s getting-started guide also includes a cloze note type, which hides selected text and asks you to recall it. Hiding a phrase does not choose the app. The difference is where the sentence lived first: in a card collection, or in the document you were writing.

Image occlusion is a sharper split. Desktop Anki includes it natively from version 23.10 onward. AnkiMobile can study those cards. The AnkiMobile listing says you create them on the computer version. Add-ons do not run in AnkiMobile. On RemNote, image occlusion is a Pro feature with a small free trial. The pricing page lists 5 image occlusion cards on the free plan. The help center describes that trial as up to 5 images.

Shared decks are an Anki workflow. Anki lets you download decks other people have shared. For complex subjects, Anki’s own manual says those decks should supplement other material. A shared deck is still a set of cards.

The PDF reader is a RemNote workflow. RemNote documents annotation in the reader and cards made from highlights or occlusions. Free accounts can try annotation on up to 3 PDFs. The Anki manual pages opened for this article do not describe a built-in PDF annotator. Desktop Anki supports add-ons.

RemNote’s exam scheduler is a Pro feature, and a first exam can be tried free. It changes practice around an exam date. It sits on top of the main spaced-repetition scheduler and does not replace it. The Anki manual pages opened for this article do not describe an equivalent exam-date scheduler.

If you already have Anki cards, RemNote’s switching guide documents an .apkg import that can keep scheduling. Expect some cards not to look the same. After import you study a folder or document. RemNote can replace Anki when you want those cards inside documents you will keep writing. Keep the Anki collection when you still want it to work as shared decks.

Offline and where the apps run

Anki stores your collection on the device you use. AnkiWeb sync is optional. Anki’s sync documentation says AnkiWeb data can be deleted if you do not access or sync for 6 months, so a local copy matters. (Syncing with AnkiWeb)

The Anki computer version runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The official ecosystem also includes AnkiMobile, AnkiDroid, and AnkiWeb.

RemNote runs as a desktop app, on the web, and on iOS and Android. The desktop and mobile apps can be used offline after you have logged in. The desktop app keeps images and PDFs locally. The phone app may not have every file offline. Most AI features do not work offline.

Which one should you use?

Choose Anki if

• The work is a large set of atomic cards, and each card has its own interval and due date.
• You will use decks other people have shared, and you will treat them as a supplement when the subject is complex.
• You want the free desktop app as the main engine. The US AnkiMobile listing showed $24.99 on 22 September 2026, a one-time purchase. Local prices differ.
• The material is a list of isolated prompts, such as vocabulary pairs.

Do not switch a working shared-deck or add-on-heavy Anki setup just because RemNote also has cards. An import can keep scheduling and still change how cards look.

Choose RemNote if

• You are writing an outline, and the cards you want are bullets, clozes, or image regions from that writing.
• You annotate PDFs in the reader and make cards from highlights or occlusions.
• You want practice to lean toward an exam date, with the exam scheduler as an extra layer on the main scheduler.
• You will use what Pro adds. If you will not use PDFs, image occlusion, handwriting, the exam scheduler, or the higher monthly AI credit allotment (1,000 on Pro versus 250 on free), do not buy Pro.

Stay where you are if

Stay in Anki when the collection you already review is still the one you want: shared decks, the desktop card engine, and add-ons you use. RemNote can import the package. That is a migration.

Stay in RemNote when your reviews already come from documents you are writing or PDFs you annotate there.

Stay put when the only new information is a scheduler headline. FSRS is optional in Anki and a beta you enable in RemNote. Turn it on, or leave it off, in the app that already holds the material.

RemNote is the better fit when the next session should come from the outline or the PDF. Anki is the better fit when shared-deck practice should stay deck practice.

If you do not want cards at all

Some people comparing these apps do not want either card workflow. They want the page they wrote to come back as a page.

Yuhimo keeps notes as pages. You turn learning on for pages you want back. You rate the page yourself: Forgot, Barely, Remembered, or Easily. That grade is self-assessment. It is not an automatic score of whether you were correct. Optional questions are prompts on that page, not separate scheduled cards. AI can draft a page or questions from a topic, pasted text, or a PDF or DOCX. It does not decide whether you remembered the page, and it does not turn learning on by itself.

Anki remains the better fit for a large set of atomic cards. RemNote remains the better fit when you want cards generated inside the notes. If the choice left is Yuhimo versus RemNote, use Yuhimo vs RemNote. If you want the page-level version of review, use spaced repetition without flashcards.