Comparison

Lernkartei vs Zackly

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

Head to head
About

Lernkartei

Master German vocabulary and grammar with a comprehensive offline dictionary and interactive flashcards. Practice with six different modes and explore ready-made decks covering all proficiency levels. Includes grammar explanations and engaging flash games.

Highlights
  • Offline German dictionary
  • Interactive flashcard training
  • Six practice modes
  • Grammar explanations (A1-C1)
  • Ready-made vocabulary decks
  • Flash games for practice
  • Pronunciation audio
Features
Read full description

Lernkartei (German for a flashcard box) is a German dictionary with flashcard training, built for learners of German. Everything works offline: the dictionary lives on your device, nothing is sent anywhere, and there is no account. The interface is in German, which is the point: you learn the language in the language. If you would rather start in English, switch it to English in the settings. Lernkartei runs on iPhone and iPad. DICTIONARY Over 160,000 entries with short English meanings, German definitions, examples, articles, plural and conjugation forms, and pronunciation. About 9,000 words have two example sentences written at their level. Search understands inflected forms ("ist" leads to "sein", "Häuser" to "Haus") and English ("house" finds "Haus"). Every word and every example sentence can be heard, read by the best German voice on your device, even with the iPhone on silent. CARDS THAT GET TO THE POINT The front shows the word, the back what you actually want to know: "Haus" means "house", "gehen" means "go, walk". No long explanations, no rare senses in the way. If you want more, switch on the word class, the phonetic spelling, an example sentence or the definition in the settings. SIX WAYS TO PRACTISE Flip the card and swipe right if you knew it, left if you did not. Pick the English meaning out of four, or type it. Type the German word for an English meaning, where a small slip does not count as wrong. Only hear the word and choose its meaning. Or find the word missing from an example sentence. Switch modes any time in the settings. READY-MADE DECKS Eight levels from A1.1 to B2.2: up to B1 with the words of the Goethe-Zertifikat word lists, in the order a course brings them, and for B2 the most common words of that level. Plus the 4000 most frequent words, topic decks (travel, food, work, family, home, health, weather, shopping, body, clothes, feelings, nature and more) and decks by part of speech: the most common verbs, adjectives, and nouns by gender. Every deck shows its first words before you add it. A word list from your course becomes a deck with one tap, and any deck can be shared as a list. GRAMMAR LIKE A BOOK 100 chapters from A1 to C1, from articles and plurals through every tense, the cases, adjective endings and connectors to the Konjunktiv I and the nominal style. Every chapter explains its topic with tables, examples with their translation, a dialogue and the typical mistakes, and an index finds any topic by its name. You practise with the words of your own decks first: fill gaps, build sentences from tiles, type the forms. After a wrong answer the rule is shown underneath, and a short check per level shows what is still missing. FLASH GAMES Four quick games against the clock: in Number flash you hear a number, a price, a time or a date and find it among four that sound alike. In Article flash you pick der, die or das, in Perfekt flash hat or ist, and in Plural flash the right plural. READING, DICTATION AND SENTENCE BUILDING 80 short texts on everyday topics, ten per level, with a translation and questions on the text. Tap any word to look it up. In the dictation you hear a sentence and write it down; in sentence building you put an example sentence back together. SPACED REPETITION A proven scheduling method plans every card individually: what you know comes back less often, what you struggle with comes back sooner. You decide how many new words a day come in. A daily goal, a streak and statistics with a forecast, a calendar of your practice and your hardest words show where you stand. BACKUP AND ANKI A backup takes your decks and progress to a new device. Existing Anki packages import with front and back, and your decks export as .apkg files. LIGHT AND DARK Follows the system setting, or stays fixed to light or dark. Dictionary data comes from the German Wiktionary under CC BY-SA 4.0.

About

Zackly

Features
Read full description

Learn a language, step by step. Zackly gives you a clear path from A1 to C2 in German, English or Spanish. In each unit you learn new words, read a short story, have a conversation and take a quick test. Short grammar tips explain the rules along the way. Short daily lessons New words with audio and real example sentences. Hear each word, say it, and see it in context. About 10 minutes a day. Read it. Talk it. Every unit has a story built from the words you just learned, and a conversation where you answer questions and say your reply out loud. Practice after every unit Finished a unit? Come back for listening, fill-in-the-blank and conversation practice at your level. Earn stars and unlock new exercises as you go. Your smart coach Zackly sees which words are hard for you and gives you the right exercises to practice them. Save words you don't know Tap any word in a story or transcript to see its meaning and level, and add it to your personal dictionary. Your saved words come back in your practice. See every word you've learned Your personal dictionary keeps all your words and shows which ones you have learned. Review your words any time, and play games to remember them. Play with your words Quizzes, matching pairs, crosswords and 1v1 duels with friends. Keep your streak, reach your daily goal and earn badges as you progress. Exam-style content Listening and reading graded to your CEFR level, in the style of Goethe, TELC, IELTS and DELE exams. Speak privately Speaking practice runs on your phone. Your recordings never leave your device. AI conversation practice needs Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro or newer). Available in 22 languages Learn from English, Turkish, Arabic, Russian, Ukrainian, Hindi, Persian, Spanish, French, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Romanian, Polish, Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese or German. Free to start Start the path, play daily games and save words for free. Upgrade for unlimited lessons and practice, AI speaking, the Gap Map, offline mode and more. German · English · Spanish · A1 to C2 · Goethe · TELC · IELTS · TOEFL · DELE Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://zackly.app/privacy

Screenshots

Lernkartei4 screens
Zackly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Lernkartei at none against Zackly's 4. Lernkartei also leads on ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence, device support and iOS requirement 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. Zackly sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Lernkartei asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Lernkartei versus Zackly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLernkarteiZackly
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysEvery 9 days
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size61 MB111 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperSerden Sait EranilBekir Kagan YILDIZ

In-app purchases

None

Lernkartei

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Zackly

Subscriptions4
  • Plus — Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Premium — Monthly7 Days trial$6.991 Month
  • Plus — Yearly$14.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Premium — Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Lernkartei free?
Lernkartei is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Zackly free?
Zackly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Lernkartei or Zackly have ads?
Zackly shows ads; Lernkartei does not.
Which is updated more often, Lernkartei or Zackly?
Lernkartei ships an update every 9 days, and Zackly every 9 days. Most recently, Lernkartei was updated on November 9, 2026 and Zackly on November 5, 2026.

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