AlgoApp vs Plain Flashcards
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
AlgoApp
This app helps you learn languages or study for tests using advanced flashcards. It offers automatic translation, text-to-speech, AI-powered PDF conversion, and offline access. Sync your progress across devices and organize your study materials with folders.
- Automatic translation for 120 languages
- Text-to-speech for 39 languages
- AI PDF to flashcard conversion
- Offline study mode
- Cross-device sync
- FSRS spaced repetition algorithm
- Anki deck import
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Learn languages, or study for school and tests, with the most powerful and user-friendly flashcard app. Millions of language-learners and students have studied over 2 billion flashcards with AlgoApp. Ranked #1 Education app in multiple countries world-wide. Featured in the New York Times. Designed by learning experts, including a published neuroscientist. Whether you're learning a language to live somewhere new or just for fun, need to get through med school, or just want to crush your tests, AlgoApp has already done it for over 5 million people. Why AlgoApp? FOR LANGUAGE LEARNERS • Automatic translation. Make vocab flashcards faster by typing words in the language you know, then AlgoApp translates to the language you're learning (or vice versa). Supports 120 languages including Japanese, Chinese, Korean, English, German, French, and more... • Speaks flashcards to you, in dozens of languages (automatic text-to-speech). Supports 39 languages including Japanese, Chinese, Korean, English, German, French, and more... • Automatically generates furigana annotations for kanji, or pinyin annotations for hanzi. FOR STUDENTS • Converts PDFs directly into flashcards using AI. Upload lecture slides and have a full deck of flashcards ready in seconds. • Prompt AI to make flashcards for you based on text and pictures. Turns handwritten notes and diagrams into flash cards for you. • Format your cards with colored text, bulleted lists, underlines, and more (no CSS needed). • Works offline, so you can study and make cards even when you don't have signal. • Syncs automatically with desktop, web app, and your other phones and tablets. So you can make cards on a computer with a full keyboard, then study on your phone. • Natively supports FSRS, the most-advanced spaced repetition algorithm. • Imports Anki decks (.apkg), AlgoApp (.xml) files, or spreadsheets (.csv). • Supports folders and subfolders, to keep your classes organized. • Notifications tell you when it's time to study (opt-in). • Share decks and study with your friends using Study Groups. • No ads. For the most-dedicated students, try AlgoApp Unlimited free for 7 days. Study as much as you want on all your devices. If you want to upgrade to AlgoApp Unlimited, you can either purchase "Unlimited: 1-Year" which is a 1-year auto-renewing subscription, or "Unlimited: Lifetime" which is a one-time purchase. • Unlimited grants you access to unlimited cross-platform multi-device sync, and more.. • If you choose "Unlimited: 1-Year", the subscription will automatically renew, unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Payment will be charged to your Apple Account within 24-hours before the end of the current period (renewal or trial period). • You can manage your subscription and disable auto-renewal by going to your Account Settings after purchase. Terms of Service: https://www.algoapp.ai/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://www.algoapp.ai/privacy.html
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 review sentiment: Plain Flashcards at 73% against AlgoApp's 50%. AlgoApp's advantage is ratings volume (20K vs 314) and rating (4.7 vs 4.4). 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. AlgoApp sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 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.
AlgoApp holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: AlgoApp has 20K ratings behind it against 314, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 50% of AlgoApp's written reviews are positive against 73% of Plain Flashcards's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
AlgoApp ships an update every 4 days, Plain Flashcards weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | AlgoApp | Plain Flashcards |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (20K ratings) — better | 4.4 (314 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 49.7% of reviews | 73.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 20K — better | 314 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 51 MB | 38 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | AlgoApp Inc | Going Merry LLC |
Customer experience
AlgoApp
Plain Flashcards
User reviews
AlgoApp
From 20K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Efficient flashcard creation and review
- 🚀 Sleek and user-friendly interface
- 💡 Useful AI-powered features
- 🚀 Convenient cross-device syncing
- 👍 Effective spaced repetition algorithm
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent glitches and bugs
- 🔒 Lack of transparency around paid features
- 🐛 Syncing and data loss issues
- 🐛 Unreliable audio playback
- 🐛 Confusing and unintuitive UI changes
Plain Flashcards
From 314 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
AlgoApp
Reported bugs
5 issues- Cards disappearing from decks
- Inability to log in or sync across devices
- Formatting issues when copying/pasting text
- Inconsistent behavior when editing cards
- Frequent app crashes and freezes
Requested features
6 requests- Ability to edit/customize downloaded decks
- Option to review cards in creation order
- Customizable daily study limits
- Global search across all decks
- Markdown support and rich text formatting
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Improved folder/deck organization tools
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
Show 15 moreShow fewer
- 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
Show 28 moreShow fewer
- 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
AlgoApp
- Unlimited: 1-Month$9.991 Month
- AnkiApp Unlimited$24.991 Year
- Unlimited: 1-Year$29.991 Year
- Unlimited: Lifetime$149.99
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 AlgoApp free?
Is Plain Flashcards free?
Which has better reviews, AlgoApp or Plain Flashcards?
Do AlgoApp or Plain Flashcards have ads?
Which is updated more often, AlgoApp or Plain Flashcards?
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