Comparison

MarginNote 5 vs AnjiCard

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

MarginNote 5

This app enhances reading and studying with integrated note-taking and flashcard creation. It offers task-based templates for focused learning, AI assistance for content breakdown, and spaced repetition for effective review. Organize your research and master material with a comprehensive study workflow.

Highlights
  • Task-based reading templates
  • AI-powered content breakdown
  • Integrated flashcard creation
  • Spaced repetition review
  • Mind map organization
  • PDF and EPUB import
  • Sync across devices
Features
Read full description

MarginNote is a PDF tool for in-depth reading and study. Keep PDF highlights linked to mind-map cards, then add those cards to review. MarginNote 5 introduces task-based templates for reading, question practice, and vocabulary. MarginNote has evolved since 2013. The upgrade from MarginNote 4 is free. Your study sets, notes, and purchases remain intact. MARGINNOTE 5: ONE TASK, ONE SETUP • Templates — a template sets the bottom tools, menus, pens, and excerpt colors. The "Standard" template has four modes: Excerpt, Handwrite, Organize, and Recall. Each mode groups tools for that task. • Template Gallery — install official templates in one tap. Some templates include examples to help you get started: – Card Practice: write answers by hand on question cards, check your answers, and focus your next review on questions you haven't mastered yet. AI can split a whole workbook into cards. – Reading Vocabulary: collect words while reading English; an offline dictionary provides base forms, pronunciation, and definitions, and finished cards join review when automatic review is enabled. • Make it yours — the corresponding controls are highlighted as you edit. Find features and settings with Feature Search, and export or share your templates. • Traditional Interface — open the template menu and choose "Traditional Interface" (except on iPhone Duo). SYNC YOU CAN SEE The home screen shows where sync stands. The Sync Center lists notes and original documents separately and tells you when a document is still downloading. Manual sync reports results and offers a protective snapshot. Applying cloud changes also protects local study data. THE CARD AT THE CENTER • Organize excerpts by chapter; for books without a table of contents, AI can build one. • Title Links — notes on concepts you've studied resurface as you read new documents. • Extend — open writing space anywhere on a PDF: inline, in the margin, or folded away. AI AS AN ASSISTANT, NOT A SUBSTITUTE AI Breakdown · Question Extraction · AI TOC · AI OCR card templates · translation · chat. Save any answer as a card, or turn its outline into mind-map branches. Online AI sends task text or images to the service provider used for the request. REVIEW: THINK FIRST, THEN LOOK Use Recall mode to hide and reveal answers in the mind map. Add cards to a review deck for FSRS spaced repetition. Write directly on card snapshots while you review. On iOS/iPadOS/macOS 26+, when Apple Intelligence is enabled and its model is available on a supported device and in a supported region, on-device recall hints work offline without MarginNote credits. THE FULL WORKFLOW PDF, EPUB, Office-to-PDF import (online), video and audio · Zotero, cloud drives and external folders · side-by-side documents · handwriting layers and mind-map backgrounds · mind-map PDF export (structure or card flow) · read aloud · fast OCR WHO IT IS FOR Anyone who rereads material and needs to remember it: medical and law students, exam takers, researchers, language learners, serious readers. ACROSS YOUR DEVICES iPhone, iPad and Mac with one Apple Account; iCloud syncs study sets, notes and review progress. Native Apple Pencil handwriting on iPad. Also adapted for iPhone Duo. ABOUT PURCHASES Free to download. Some features require Pro (one-time unlock) or Max (subscription or one-time unlock). MarginNote Agent requires Max and uses MarginNote credits. Some online AI uses MarginNote credits; external AI is billed by its provider. A Max subscription includes 500 credits/month while active. Questions: service@marginnote.com Terms of Use: https://dist.marginnote.cn/MarginNote_Terms_and_Conditions.pdf Privacy Policy: https://dist.marginnote.cn/MarginNote_Privacy_Policy.pdf

About

AnjiCard

This app is a powerful learning tool designed to scientifically enhance your ability to remember information. It aims to significantly improve learning efficiency and test scores by transforming short-term memories into long-term ones. Utilize its advanced algorithms to master virtually any subject and retain knowledge for life.

Highlights
  • Scientific memory enhancement
  • Improved test scores
  • Efficient learning algorithms
  • Long-term knowledge retention
  • Multi-terminal access
  • Learn virtually any subject
Features
Read full description

AnjiCard is a sharp sword for learners. At present, only a few people learn it. In the exam, if one person has mastered the learning method of using AnjiCard, it will be a great injustice to others. It is a competition between fist and machine gun. 
 AnjiCard is not only a learning tool, but also an external embodiment of a learning method ahead of the times. If you want to spend the same time and want to surpass most people, AnjiCard, you should understand!
 What exactly is AnjiCard? AnjiCard is introduced in many places as a memory aid tool. Such introduction is unattractive and does not reflect the real value of AnjiCard. 
 I prefer to introduce it to others. AnjiCard is a learning tool to help you scientifically use your brain to remember all information. Compared with traditional learning methods, it does not improve the learning effect by 10% or 20%, but several times. 
 [as an ordinary person, what effect does AnjiCard have on me?] 1. Effectively improve test scores and apply to all tests 2. Improve learning quality and take the initiative to find weak knowledge points 3. Learning algorithms bring efficiency changes and reduce time waste 4. Focus more on the learning process and reduce the number of distractions 5. Multi terminal, learning anytime, anywhere 6. Knowledge will be remembered for life and will not be forgotten after learning [what can AnjiCard be used to learn?] If you ask me, AnjiCard is suitable for learning that knowledge, my answer is "almost everything". -Learning English with AnjiCard -Using AnjiCard to cope with the college entrance examination -Using AnjiCard to deal with postgraduate entrance examination -Learning mathematics with AnjiCard -Learning programming with AnjiCard -Study law with AnjiCard -Learning Chinese with AnjiCard -Learn to drive with AnjiCard -Learning medicine with AnjiCard -Almost everything you can think of can be learned with AnjiCard... 
 Because no matter what knowledge you learn, you almost need to learn by remembering the knowledge points. When you finish reading books and listening to classes, these knowledge is only short-term memory in your brain. The short-term memory can only last for a few minutes. When you need examination, expression and application, you can't retrieve and use the learned knowledge from your brain. 
 If you want to better test taking and application, you need to change the learned knowledge from short-term memory to long-term memory, so that you can call it quickly when needed, and AnjiCard was born to solve this problem. Subscription: You’ll get unlimited learning times ,unlock full features. Subscription information:Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period.Account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal. Terms of service:https://info.xiangqin9.com/Anjinotecardagreement.html A link to the terms of use in either the app description or EULA field of App store Connect.(Please visit :https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ )

Screenshots

MarginNote 54 screens
AnjiCard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: MarginNote 5 at freemium against AnjiCard's subscription. MarginNote 5 also leads on review sentiment (58% vs 47%). AnjiCard's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.5) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. MarginNote 5 sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 3 months and AnjiCard sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

AnjiCard holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 740 and 757 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 58% of MarginNote 5's written reviews are positive against 47% of AnjiCard's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on November 7, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
MarginNote 5 versus AnjiCard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMarginNote 5AnjiCard
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (740 ratings)4.7 (757 ratings) — better
Positive reviews58.5% of reviews — better47.1% of reviews
Number of ratings740757 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size372 MB33 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBeijing Yunsi Software Technology Co., LtdShenzhen Jiushan Technology Co., Ltd.

Customer experience

MarginNote 5

All ratings739 ratings
Positive86.5%
Neutral3.4%
Negative10.1%
Written reviews568 reviews
Positive58.5%
Neutral15.5%
Negative26.1%

AnjiCard

All ratings757 ratings
Positive92.1%
Neutral1.6%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews70 reviews
Positive47.1%
Neutral4.3%
Negative48.6%

User reviews

MarginNote 5

From 740 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful features
  • 📚 Great for academic/research use
  • 👍 Useful note-taking and organization
  • 🖊️ Improved handwriting and annotation

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and crashes frequently
  • 🕰️ Slow and laggy sync between devices
  • 🤯 Steep learning curve, poor documentation
  • 💰 Expensive upgrade from previous version

AnjiCard

From 757 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Helpful for studying
  • 💡 Works with video cards

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Doesn't work properly
  • 💰 Misleading about being free
  • 🔒 Lack of sync and export options
  • 🗣️ Language issues

Bugs and requests

MarginNote 5

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Disappearing annotations when using extend function
  • Inability to restore accidentally deleted mind maps
  • Inconsistent behavior with PDF file management

Requested features

4 requests
  • Improved iCloud/cloud sync reliability
  • More intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • Better support for external document libraries
  • Ability to disable auto-excerpt selection

AnjiCard

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App won't update
  • Keyboard issues
  • Importing/exporting problems

Requested features

3 requests
  • Ability to create more than 20 cards
  • Improve audio recording quality
  • Add more language support

In-app purchases

9 purchases

MarginNote 5

Subscriptions3
  • Subscription to MAX (3 months)7 Days trial$4.993 Months
  • Subscription to MAX (Annually)1 Month trial$12.991 Year
  • MarginNote Max Annual1 Month trial$16.991 Year
One-time6
  • 14 days Free Trial2 variantsFree
  • Upgrade to PRO from MN3(iOS)$4.99
  • Unlock PRO Forever (New)$12.99
Show 3 more
  • Upgrade to MAX from MN3(macOS)$19.99
  • Unlock MAX based on PRO (New)$40.00
  • Unlock MAX Forever (New)$51.99
10 purchases

AnjiCard

Subscriptions3
  • Subscription Vip For Month$4.991 Month
  • VIPForQuarter$9.993 Months
  • Subscription VIP For Year$17.991 Year
One-time7
  • Memory coins 6conis$0.99
  • 记忆币18币$2.99
  • 记忆币68币$9.99
Show 4 more
  • 记忆币88币$12.99
  • Permanent membership$29.99
  • 记忆币充值208币$29.99
  • 记忆币充值388币$59.99

Questions

Is MarginNote 5 free?
MarginNote 5 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is AnjiCard free?
AnjiCard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, MarginNote 5 or AnjiCard?
AnjiCard is rated higher. MarginNote 5 averages 4.5 out of 5 from 740 ratings, while AnjiCard averages 4.7 from 757 ratings.
Do MarginNote 5 or AnjiCard have ads?
Neither MarginNote 5 nor AnjiCard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MarginNote 5 or AnjiCard?
MarginNote 5 ships an update every 3 weeks, and AnjiCard every 3 weeks. Most recently, MarginNote 5 was updated on November 7, 2026 and AnjiCard on November 7, 2026.

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