Brainscape vs Plain Flashcards
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Brainscape
This app uses AI and spaced repetition to help you learn faster and remember longer. Create your own multimedia flashcards or access a vast marketplace of expert-curated content for various subjects and exams. It's designed for serious learners who want to optimize their study time.
- AI-powered flashcard maker
- Spaced repetition algorithm
- Expert-curated flashcard marketplace
- Create multimedia flashcards
- Collaborative content creation
- Active recall and self-assessment
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Learn faster and remember longer with Brainscape, the AI flashcard app that combines scientifically proven spaced repetition and active recall. Create flashcards instantly from notes, PDFs, images, and text, or study millions of expert-created flashcards for exams, languages, certifications, and more. Whether you're switching from Anki or another flashcard app, Brainscape helps you study more efficiently. Brainscape’s intelligent study system is designed around proven cognitive science principles that help you learn faster and remember longer. By combining active recall, metacognition, and spaced repetition, Brainscape helps serious learners spend less time studying and retain more of what they learn. How Brainscape works. Study any subject using smart flashcards designed to maximize retention: - Actively recall answers instead of passively rereading notes - Rate your confidence from 1–5 after each card - Let Brainscape automatically optimize review timing using spaced repetition - Focus more time on difficult concepts and less on material you've already mastered This unique combination of active recall, self-assessment (metacognition), and spaced repetition is designed to help you learn more efficiently. Where do all of Brainscape’s awesome flashcards come from? Three places: 1. Exper-created flashcards: Study professionally designed collections covering: - Foreign languages - MBE (Bar Exam) - NCLEX - MCAT - AP courses - Series 7 - GRE - And many more 2. Community-created flashcards: Search millions of flashcards created by students, teachers, professionals, and organizations around the world. 3. Create your own flashcards: Instantly create multimedia flashcards from: - Notes - PDFs - Images - Documents - Text input Add images, audio, and collaborate with classmates or colleagues. Why learners all over the world use Brainscape - AI-powered flashcard creation - Scientifically designed spaced repetition - Active recall learning techniques - Progress tracking and study insights - Millions of existing flashcards ready to study - Available across web and mobile devices How much does it cost? Creating and sharing great text flashcards is FREE. (Woohoo! And sorry, we do have to charge for image creation for security reasons.) And for unlimited access to ALL of Brainscape's user-generated and premium, expert-curated content, as well as optional features, like bookmarks and card reversibility--or to me your content private, you can upgrade to Pro for $19.99 (monthly), $59.99 (every 6 months), or $95.99 (annually). Alternatively, you can unlock a LIFETIME of learning with Brainscape for a one-time cost of only $199.99 American dolla billz. The fine print: The 3 recurring subscriptions (monthly, semiannual, and annual) will renew automatically within 24 hours before the end of the current period, unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the period. You can cancel auto-renewal any time by going to Account Settings, and the cancellation will apply after the active subscription period is complete. Go ahead and learn more about our Terms and Privacy Policy at brainscape.com/terms. What’s on the horizon? It’s our vision to empower everyone, everywhere to rise to the challenge of personalized forever-learning. And for this reason, we love hearing from our user community: it’s through your feedback that we can continue to innovate our platform to be more convenient, efficient, and even fun and social to use!
Plain Flashcards
Create flashcards from text, PDFs, or images using AI. Supports spaced repetition, translation, and pronunciation for over 20 languages. Syncs across devices and offers customizable study sessions.
- AI flashcard generation from text, PDF, or image
- Spaced repetition system (SRS)
- Translation and pronunciation for 20+ languages
- iCloud sync across devices
- Customizable study sessions and reminders
- Import and export card data
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Flashcards app is ideal for expanding vocabulary, foreign language learning, and training for exams with spaced repetition support. New: AI Flashcards Generation Generate complete study sets in seconds from a text prompt, a PDF document, or an image. Powered by advanced AI to help you skip the manual entry and start studying immediately. Key Features: - Create your own lists of cards using text and images. - Spaced repetition support (SRS) for long-term retention. - Translation and pronunciation support for 20+ languages. - iCloud Sync: Keep your cards safe and synced across all your devices - Set reminders to stay consistent with your goals. - Export and import cards to stay in control of your data. - Shuffle mode and customizable study sessions. Privacy Policy: https://goingmerry.xyz/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://goingmerry.xyz/terms-conditions/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Brainscape at 4.8 against Plain Flashcards's 4.4. Brainscape also leads on ratings volume (21K vs 281) and review sentiment (82% vs 73%). Plain Flashcards's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Brainscape sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month and Plain Flashcards sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Brainscape holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Brainscape has 21K ratings behind it against 281, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of Brainscape's written reviews are positive against 73% of Plain Flashcards's.
Brainscape ships an update every 3 weeks, Plain Flashcards weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Brainscape | Plain Flashcards |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (21K ratings) — better | 4.4 (281 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 82.2% of reviews — better | 73.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 21K — better | 281 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 42 MB | 38 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Brainscape | Going Merry LLC |
Customer experience
Brainscape
Plain Flashcards
User reviews
Brainscape
From 21K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Amazing flashcard app
- 👍 Great for studying and learning
- 👍 Helpful for passing exams and tests
- 👍 Convenient to use on mobile devices
- 👍 Effective spaced repetition algorithm
Room to improve
- 💰 Expensive subscription
- 🐛 Buggy app with crashes and syncing issues
- 🔒 Limited functionality in free version
- 👎 Difficult to edit and organize cards
- 👎 Inaccuracies in some pre-made decks
Plain Flashcards
From 281 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 💰 Completely free, no ads or subscriptions
- 🖼️ Ability to add photos to cards
- 🌐 Built-in translation function
- 🚀 Efficient for studying and saving time
Room to improve
- 🔀 Cards automatically shuffle and cannot be turned off
- 🗂️ Cannot move or rename sets of cards easily
- 🔄 Editing order is inconsistent
- 🖱️ Swiping to move cards can be finicky
- 🔍 No search function within decks
Bugs and requests
Brainscape
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes when switching between cards
- Syncing issues causing data loss
- Difficulty importing and organizing custom cards
- Inconsistent performance on different devices
Requested features
5 requests- Allow more customization of cards (e.g., adding images, audio)
- Improve search and browsing functionality
- Provide more detailed progress tracking and statistics
- Offer family/group subscription plans
- Add support for more languages
Plain Flashcards
Reported bugs
20 issues- Cannot turn off shuffle feature
- Cards automatically shuffle and cannot be turned off
- Cannot rename or move sets of cards and have them stay in order
- Editing order is inconsistent
- Swiping to move cards is finicky
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- No search function within decks
- Not optimized for iPad
- Text-to-speech quality is poor
- Daily study limits or lockout
- Photo replacement bug after adding new photos
- Translation feature is unreliable or stops working
- App crashes when exporting decks
- Cannot delete cards easily
- Spaced repetition feature not working correctly
- Audio sometimes doesn't play
- Translation button not responding
- Cards flip over when studying in reverse
- Tutorial is confusing
- Cards disappear after writing them
- Scrolling issues after updates
Requested features
33 requests- Option to turn off shuffle
- Ability to move multiple cards at once
- Search function within decks
- Folders for organizing decks
- Ability to merge decks
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- Ability to duplicate decks
- Alphabetical sorting of cards
- Option to edit individual cards easily
- Improved iPad interface
- Widget support
- Apple Watch integration
- Option to donate to developer
- Ability to combine decks
- More consistent translation functionality
- Improve text-to-speech quality
- Add a share feature for decks
- Ability to see a list of all cards in a deck
- Option to pin decks
- Improve photo handling
- Add drawing/annotation capabilities
- Option to customize font size
- Option to see how many cards are left
- Back/front arrow for faster review
- Increase photo size option
- Option to manually arrange cards
- Ability to move cards between decks in bulk
- Rearrange order of decks
- Improve spaced repetition functionality
- Option to combine decks or select multiple cards at once
- Option to add icons to decks
- Option to change card colors or add icons for front/back
- Ability to delete decks
- Add a tutorial or better instructions
In-app purchases
Brainscape
- Brainscape Pro$19.991 Month
- Brainscape Pro$59.996 Months
- Brainscape Pro$95.991 Year
- Brainscape Pro Lifetime$199.99
Plain Flashcards
- Plain Flashcards Plus - Monthly$3.991 Month
- Plain Flashcards Plus - Annual$17.991 Year
- Say Thanks$1.99
- Support the Mission$4.99
Questions
Is Brainscape free?
Is Plain Flashcards free?
Which has better reviews, Brainscape or Plain Flashcards?
Do Brainscape or Plain Flashcards have ads?
Which is updated more often, Brainscape or Plain Flashcards?
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