Retain Cards vs StudyNotes AI
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Retain Cards
This AI-powered flashcard app transforms your learning materials into effective study tools. Upload documents, videos, or notes to automatically generate flashcards and receive a personalized study plan based on your exam dates and goals. Optimize your learning with spaced repetition and active recall.
- AI-generated flashcards from various sources
- Personalized study plans based on exam dates
- Spaced repetition and active recall
- Progress tracking and visualization
- Import Anki decks
- Share flashcard decks
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Welcome to Retain – the AI-powered flashcard app that turns your personal learning materials into effective study tools. Whether you're in school, university, or pursuing self-learning, Retain helps you study faster, retain more, and stay on track. How it works: 1. Upload your study material (PDF/image/video) 2. Verify the AI-generated flashcards 3. Select desired grade and exam date 4. Follow your personalized learning plan What you can do with Retain: → Automatically generate flashcards from PDFs, slides, and handwritten notes. → Convert YouTube videos and online lectures into flashcards. → Set your exam date and goal and receive a personalized flashcard learning plan. → Track your daily study goals and visualize your progress. → Import Anki decks and sync learning progress across devices. → Use spaced repetition and active recall to improve long-term memory. → Share flashcard decks with friends or study groups. Retain is based on the latest findings in learning science and artificial intelligence, using proven methods like spaced repetition and active recall. This gives you a focused, efficient learning experience tailored to your progress. For anyone who wants to cut their study time in half: Whether you're preparing for your next exam or learning a new topic – Retain helps you make the most of your study time. Just follow the daily assigned flashcard reviews to achieve your desired grade on exam day. Terms of Service: https://app.retain.cards/terms Privacy Policy: https://app.retain.cards/privacy
StudyNotes AI
Transform your notes into interactive study tools with AI. Scan documents, record lectures, and generate summaries, quizzes, flashcards, and mind maps to learn faster. Organize all your study materials by subject for efficient revision.
- AI-powered note summaries
- Interactive AI Tutor
- Automated quizzes and flashcards
- Visual mind map generation
- Smart note capture (camera, PDF, voice)
- Organized study projects
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StudyNotes AI turns your notes into smart, interactive study material in seconds. Scan pages with your camera, import a PDF, or record lectures—then get AI-powered summaries, quizzes, flashcards, mind maps, and an AI Tutor that helps you learn faster and understand more deeply. Whether you're preparing for exams, revising lectures, or organizing research, StudyNotes AI keeps everything in one focused workspace so you can spend less time rewriting notes and more time actually learning. KEY FEATURES • Smart note capture Scan notes with your camera, import a PDF, or record voice notes and lectures. Advanced OCR and transcription turn your content into clean, editable text that's ready for AI. • AI summaries Get clear, structured summaries of long notes and textbooks. Highlight the most important concepts so you can quickly review before class or exams. • AI Tutor (interactive learning) Ask questions about your notes and get step-by-step explanations. The AI Tutor turns your content into interactive study help with follow-up questions—so you can learn faster, not just review. • Quizzes and practice questions Generate multiple-choice questions and short-answer quizzes from your own material. Test yourself, identify gaps, and track what you still need to learn. • Flashcards in one tap Create flashcards automatically from your notes. Review with spaced repetition and turn dead time into productive micro-study sessions. • Mind maps for visual learners Transform text into visual mind maps that show how concepts connect. Perfect for planning essays, revising complex topics, and seeing the big picture. • Organized study projects Group scans, recordings, summaries, quizzes, flashcards, and mind maps into projects for each subject or exam. Everything stays synced and easy to find. WHY STUDYNOTES AI? StudyNotes AI is built for students who want to study smarter, not longer. Combine the power of AI with your own notes to create high-quality study material in minutes instead of hours. Try core features for free, then unlock unlimited access with a 7-day free trial on any subscription plan—and see how much faster you can prepare for your next exam. By downloading or using this app, you agree to Apple's Standard End User License Agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
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Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: StudyNotes AI at 5.0 against Retain Cards's 4.2. Retain Cards's advantage is ratings volume (421 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Retain Cards sells 14 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month and StudyNotes AI sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
StudyNotes AI holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Retain Cards has 421 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Retain Cards ships an update every 3 weeks, StudyNotes AI every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Retain Cards | StudyNotes AI |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (421 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 50.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 421 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 21 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | +4 |
| Developer | Retain Labs GmbH | Aleksander Hamre Evensen |
Customer experience
Retain Cards
StudyNotes AI
In-app purchases
Retain Cards
- Retain Ultra (monthly)$12.991 Month
- Retain Ultra (monthly)$14.991 Month
- Retain Ultra (monthly)2 variants$19.991 Month
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- Retain Ultra (yearly)$47.901 Year
- Retain Ultra (yearly)$59.901 Year
- Retain Ultra (yearly)3 variants$71.901 Year
- Retain Ultra (yearly)2 variants$83.901 Year
- Retain Ultra (yearly)3 Days trial$83.901 Year
- Retain Ultra (yearly)14 Days trial$83.901 Year
- Retain Ultra (yearly)3 Days trial$95.901 Year
- Retain Ultra (yearly)$119.991 Year
- Retain Ultra (yearly)3 Days trial$119.991 Year
- Retain Pro (yearly)$999.991 Year
- Retain Pro (monthly)$999.991 Month
StudyNotes AI
- Weekly Subscription7 Days trial$3.997 Days
- Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$5.991 Month
- Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$39.991 Year









