Anki vs Memrise: Honest 2026 Comparison
Anki vs Memrise is not really a fair fight, because they are not trying to do the same job. Anki is a scheduling engine that assumes you bring the content and the discipline. Memrise is a guided language course that assumes you bring nothing but 10 minutes a day. Most comparisons pretend they are interchangeable flashcard apps and count features. In this one I'll start from the actual decision: do you want to drive, or do you want to be driven? Then we'll get into algorithms, free tiers, and what to do when you outgrow either app. And because the honest answer for most people is "a bit of both" - Memrise's ready-made structure and Anki's algorithm - I'll also show where the middle ground actually lives.
Two opposite philosophies
Every flashcard app sits somewhere on a spectrum between "you build everything" and "we built everything for you." Anki and Memrise are the two ends of that spectrum.
This placement explains almost every difference you'll notice between them, so keep it in mind as we go through the details.
What Memrise actually gives you
Memrise is built around official language courses. You pick a language (16 available), and the app walks you through a fixed sequence of words and phrases. Three things it does genuinely well:
- Native speaker videos. Short clips of real people saying each phrase, with different accents and speeds. This is Memrise's signature feature and nothing else on the market matches it.
- Zero setup. You are learning within 60 seconds of installing. No deck building, no settings, no decisions.
- Gamification that works on beginners. Streaks, points, and leaderboards keep you opening the app in the fragile first weeks.
The trade-offs come from the same design. You cannot meaningfully study your own vocabulary: the words from a novel you're reading, a class you're taking, or a conversation you had have no place in a Memrise course. The order is fixed. And the spaced repetition underneath is a proprietary, simplified system - you cannot see or tune the scheduling, and it does not adapt to your memory the way a modern algorithm does.
The free tier lets you sample courses with limits, and the full experience costs about $80 per year, among the priciest in the category.
What Anki actually gives you
Anki is the opposite deal. It gives you a scheduling engine - one of the best ever built - and nothing else until you provide it.
- FSRS scheduling. Anki's modern algorithm models your personal forgetting curve per card and times reviews with remarkable precision. If you want the deep dive, we compared it to the older SM-2 in FSRS vs SM-2.
- Total control. Card templates, fields, add-ons, deck options - everything is configurable, and a huge add-on ecosystem extends it further.
- Really free. Desktop and Android cost nothing, forever. The iOS app is a one-time $25 that funds the project.
The cost is paid in your time and attention. You make the cards, you tune the settings, you maintain the collection. The interface looks and feels like 2010. There are no courses, no audio unless you add it, no grammar help, and the shared community decks are unreviewed and wildly uneven in quality. Anki rewards the learner who enjoys building a system, and quietly punishes everyone else.
Where each one wins
A simple way to decide: Memrise is a great first month of a language. Anki is a great next five years. Memrise gets a complete beginner speaking and hearing real pronunciation faster. But its ceiling arrives quickly - when you finish the course tiers or want to study your own material, there is nowhere to go. Anki has no ceiling, but its floor is brutal: most people who abandon it do so in week one, defeated by setup and settings rather than by the language.
The gap both of them leave open
Notice what neither app covers well: a learner who wants curated, leveled content AND their own vocabulary AND a modern algorithm, without building or configuring anything. That middle of the spectrum is exactly where we built Words on Repeat: 200+ CEFR-aligned decks with grammar notes on every card, the same FSRS scheduling Anki uses, AI extraction to turn any article or video into flashcards, and a free tier with no ads. Put simply, it takes Anki's engine and Memrise's curation and removes the setup tax from both: the scheduling science serious learners want, plus the ready-made, leveled content beginners need, in one app that runs in your browser and on your phone with nothing to configure. You can check your starting level with a free vocabulary size test and go straight into a deck that matches it - no course lock-in, no template editor.
Feature comparison
| Feature | WoR Free | Anki | Memrise Free | WoR Pro | Memrise Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algorithm | FSRS | FSRS/SM-2 | Proprietary | FSRS | Proprietary |
| Your own vocabulary | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Curated/leveled content | 200+ decks | Community (uneven) | Courses (limited) | 200+ decks | Full courses |
| Native speaker video | No | No | Limited | No | Yes |
| Audio pronunciation | Yes (TTS) | Add-on | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Grammar notes | Every card | No | No | Every card | No |
| AI extraction from articles/video | 5/month | No | No | Unlimited | No |
| Setup required | None | Significant | None | None | None |
| Price | Free | Free ($25 iOS) | Free | $59/yr | ~$80/yr |
How to move from Memrise to Anki (or anywhere)
"Memrise to Anki" is one of the most common searches about either app, and there is an honest catch: Memrise does not offer a general export of your learned words. Your progress lives inside their courses. If you are leaving, here is the practical route:
- Reconstruct your word list. Scroll your completed course levels and copy the vocabulary out (tedious but doable), or simply accept a fresh start from a frequency-ordered deck at your level - you will blaze through words you already know.
- Import as text. Anki accepts CSV. Words on Repeat accepts pasted spreadsheet text, CSV, and Anki .apkg files directly, so a Memrise-to-Anki-to-WoR path also works.
- Trust the scheduler. The first week of reviews re-detects what you know: familiar words get spaced out fast, real gaps surface immediately. You lose the streak count, not the knowledge.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which app is best - Anki, Memrise, or Words on Repeat?
For most language learners, Words on Repeat, because it combines what the other two do well and drops what makes them frustrating. From Anki it takes the FSRS scheduling engine and the freedom to study your own vocabulary; from Memrise it takes curated, CEFR-leveled decks and a zero-setup start, then adds audio and grammar notes on every card and AI extraction from any article or video. Anki is still the better pick if you love configuring your own system or study non-language subjects, and Memrise still wins if native-speaker videos are the one feature you cannot give up. But if you simply want to learn a language efficiently without building everything yourself (Anki) or hitting a content ceiling (Memrise), Words on Repeat is the most suited choice for the widest range of users - and the core is free with no ads. You can try a real study session with no account or check your level first.
Is Memrise better than Anki?
For a complete beginner's first month in a new language, often yes: the native videos and zero setup get you moving immediately. For long-term vocabulary building, Anki's free price, FSRS scheduling, and support for your own content make it the stronger tool. They fail in opposite ways: Memrise runs out of depth, Anki runs out of patience. If you would rather not choose between the two, Words on Repeat is built to give you both in one app.
Is Memrise free?
There is a free tier with limited access to course content and features. The full experience requires a Pro subscription at roughly $80 per year, which is at the expensive end for the category.
Can I export my words from Memrise?
Memrise does not provide a general export of your learned vocabulary; progress is tied to its courses. If you switch apps, plan to reconstruct your word list manually or restart from a leveled deck and let spaced repetition quickly skip past what you already know.
Does Memrise use spaced repetition?
Yes, but a simplified proprietary version. You cannot inspect or tune the intervals, and it does not model your personal forgetting curve the way FSRS-based apps (Anki, Words on Repeat) do.
What is the best Memrise alternative?
It depends on what you liked. If it was the structure and curated content, Words on Repeat's leveled decks give you CEFR progression plus the ability to add your own words. If it was total control, Anki. If it was the videos specifically, no app fully replaces that - pair YouTube immersion with a real SRS and you get closer; we describe that workflow in learning vocabulary from YouTube subtitles.