StudyGlen vs Anki: The Modern AI Flashcard Alternative

StudyGlen offers a generous free tier for flashcard generation. Anki's desktop app is free and open source, but AnkiMobile for iOS costs $25. StudyGlen works on any device with a browser — no separate app purchases needed.

Yes! Both StudyGlen and Anki use the FSRS (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler) algorithm, which is significantly more efficient than the older SM-2 algorithm. Anki adopted FSRS in version 23.10 (late 2023). You get the same scientifically-proven scheduling with StudyGlen's modern interface.

The biggest difference is card creation. Anki requires you to manually create every flashcard — reading your material, extracting concepts, and formatting cards one by one. StudyGlen uses AI to generate complete flashcard decks from your PDFs, notes, or text in seconds. Both use FSRS for spaced repetition, but StudyGlen eliminates the creation bottleneck.

Yes — bring your existing Anki library with you. StudyGlen accepts .apkg, .colpkg, .txt, .csv, and .tsv files. For .apkg and .colpkg uploads you can opt to preserve your scheduling: StudyGlen reads your SM-2 review state (intervals, ease, lapses) and converts it to FSRS, so the cards you've already learned don't reset to day zero. Free tier includes 5 imports per day; credit packs unlock unlimited imports. Note: media files (images and audio) are skipped — import is text-only by design.

StudyGlen is a web application that works on any device with a browser — phone, tablet, or desktop. Unlike Anki, which requires separate apps for each platform (AnkiDroid for Android, AnkiMobile for iOS at $25), StudyGlen provides a consistent experience everywhere with automatic cloud sync.

Yes, and it's free. Every flashcard deck can be downloaded as a CSV file that imports directly into Anki — open Anki, choose File → Import, select the CSV, and map column 1 to Front and column 2 to Back. Quizzes you generate on StudyGlen can also be exported as native Anki .apkg decks. Both export paths are free, unlimited, and don't cost any credits, so you can move your cards into Anki anytime — there's no lock-in.

Yes — AnKing's text-based cards (the bulk of the deck) import cleanly. Upload the AnKing .apkg, toggle 'Preserve progress', and StudyGlen converts your SM-2 review state to FSRS. The full tag hierarchy (#AK_Step1, #AK_Step2, #AK_Bros2 etc.) is preserved, so you can keep filtering by subject. The catch: AnKing relies heavily on image-occlusion cards for anatomy and imaging, and image-occlusion specifically does not work in StudyGlen — those cards survive but the visual question is gone (see the next FAQ). Most other AnKing cards — basic Q/A, cloze, drug name memorization, ethics — transfer fine.

Honest answer: not yet. StudyGlen strips embedded media on import, so image-occlusion cards (the kind that hide regions of an anatomy or imaging diagram) lose their visual layer. The card text and tags survive, but the question they were asking about a specific labeled region is gone. If image-occlusion is critical for your study workflow — e.g. radiology, anatomy lab, ECG strips — keep using Anki for those decks specifically. For the 80% of your deck that's text-based (drug names, mechanisms, definitions, cloze deletions), StudyGlen is a clean upgrade with FSRS, AI-generated diagrams on new cards, and modern UI.

Yes — cloze cards are first-class in StudyGlen. The full {{c1::syntax}}, {{c2::}}, and multiple-cloze-per-card patterns all import correctly. The hint syntax {{c1::word::hint}} is preserved. Cloze cards are scheduled with FSRS just like basic cards, and you can review them on any device. AnKing-style cloze cards (which dominate the Step 1 / Step 2 deck) transfer with no manual cleanup needed.