Anki alternative for iPhone, cheaper than AnkiMobile
AnkiMobile, the official Anki app for iPhone, costs $24.99 (£24.99) once. To get your Anki decks on iPhone for less, sumi: Flashcards & Revision opens Anki .apkg decks for $9.99 (£9.99) once, with no subscription, no ads and no account, and is free to try with 1 deck, 100 cards and 2 imports. MintDeck is free to study with. Guru, Flashi, Deckbase and Mochi have free tiers, and their paid plans are mostly subscriptions.
Last checked: 3 November 2026.
Anki alternative for iPhone: price comparison
Anki-compatible iPhone apps, by price, as listed on 3 November 2026. US price first, UK price in brackets.
| App | Price (US / UK) | One-time or subscription | Opens Anki .apkg | Devices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AnkiMobile Flashcards | $24.99 (£24.99) to buy | One-time | Yes. The official app; keeps review history through free AnkiWeb sync | iPhone and iPad |
| sumi: Flashcards & Revision | Free to try (1 deck, 100 cards, 2 imports); sumi Pro $9.99 (£9.99) | One-time | Yes: card text and cloze. Images, audio and review history do not come across | iPhone and iPad only |
| Guru: Flashcard Study Coach | Free for up to 5 decks; Pro $4.99 a month, $39.99 a year or $24.99 lifetime (£4.99, £39.99, £24.99) | Subscription, or a one-time lifetime unlock | Yes, .apkg and .colpkg, with media and scheduling state (per developer) | iPhone and iPad |
| MintDeck | Free to study; optional AI credit packs $2.99 and $4.99 (£2.99, £4.99) | No subscription | Yes, with media and review history (per developer) | iPhone and iPad |
| Flashi | Free plan (2 decks); Pro $2.99 a month or $24.99 a year on flashi.app. The App Store also lists $4.99 and $6.99 monthly and $39.99 yearly (£2.99 to £6.99 monthly, £24.99 to £39.99 yearly) | Subscription | Yes, .apkg and .colpkg | iPhone and iPad |
| Deckbase | Free plan; Basic $5.99 a month or $59 a year, Pro $11.99 a month or $119 a year (£5.99, £59, £11.99, £119) | Subscription | Yes, with note types and layouts (per developer) | iPhone and iPad, plus Android and web |
| Mochi | Free; Pro $5 a month billed yearly, or $6 month to month (USD, sold on mochi.cards; UK price not stated) | Subscription for Pro | Yes, including review history (per Mochi's docs) | iPhone and iPad |
Prices are from the US and UK App Store and each developer's own site, checked on 3 November 2026. “Per developer” means the claim is the developer's own and we have not tested it. “Not stated” means we could not find it. Prices change, so check the App Store before you buy.
Anki on a computer and AnkiDroid on Android are free.
Flashcard apps for iPhone with a one-time purchase and no subscription
- AnkiMobile: $24.99 (£24.99) once.
- sumi: free to try, then sumi Pro for $9.99 (£9.99) once. No subscription and no ads.
- Guru: a $24.99 (£24.99) Lifetime Pro unlock, sold next to its monthly and yearly plans.
- MintDeck: studying is free; the only paid part is optional AI credit packs.
- Pay-once apps that are not built around Anki decks, such as Flashy, Remcard, Flashcards Deluxe and Flashcard Hero ($4.99 or £4.99 each), are compared in Quizlet alternatives with no subscription.
What AnkiMobile does that cheaper apps may not
AnkiMobile is written by Anki's lead developer and has been around since 2010. It syncs with Anki on your computer through a free AnkiWeb account, so your review history and scheduling stay in step, and it stores images and audio on the device for offline study. If you study in Anki on a computer most days and want your phone to match it card for card, AnkiMobile is worth the $24.99.
When sumi is the better fit
- Your deck is stuck on a laptop and you want it on your iPhone or iPad for $9.99 (£9.99) instead of $24.99.
- Your cards are mostly text: vocabulary, definitions, dates, cloze sentences.
- You would rather pay once than subscribe, and you want an app with no account and no tracking.
sumi is not the right pick if you need images or audio from your Anki decks, sync between devices, your old review history, or Android. Imported cards start fresh, there is no sync (backup is a manual export), and sumi runs on iPhone and iPad only.
Moving an Anki deck to sumi
- In Anki on your computer, export the deck as an .apkg file. Shared decks are usually .apkg already.
- Get the file into the Files app on your iPhone, for example with AirDrop or iCloud Drive.
- In sumi, tap Import cards, then Choose file, and pick the .apkg.
The full walk-through, with what comes across and what does not, is in Open an Anki .apkg on iPhone without AnkiMobile.
Try your own deck free, then $9.99 (£9.99) once.
Questions
Is there an Anki alternative for iPhone cheaper than AnkiMobile?
Yes. sumi: Flashcards & Revision opens Anki .apkg decks on iPhone and iPad for $9.99 (£9.99) once, against $24.99 (£24.99) for AnkiMobile. It is free to try with 1 deck, 100 cards and 2 imports. MintDeck is free to study with, and Guru, Flashi, Deckbase and Mochi have free tiers with paid plans. Prices checked on 3 November 2026.
How much is AnkiMobile?
AnkiMobile costs $24.99 on the US App Store and £24.99 on the UK App Store, paid once (checked 3 November 2026). Anki on a computer and AnkiDroid on Android are free.
Which flashcard apps for iPhone are a one-time purchase with no subscription?
sumi ($9.99 or £9.99 once for sumi Pro), AnkiMobile ($24.99 or £24.99), and Flashy, Remcard, Flashcards Deluxe and Flashcard Hero ($4.99 or £4.99 each). Guru also sells a $24.99 lifetime unlock next to its subscriptions, and MintDeck is free to study with.
Will my Anki review history come across to sumi?
No. sumi imports the cards, not the review history or scheduling, so imported cards start fresh. AnkiMobile keeps your history through AnkiWeb sync, and Guru, MintDeck and Mochi say their .apkg import keeps it.
Does sumi need an account, and does it sync?
sumi needs no account and has no tracking, and your decks stay on your device. There is no sync between devices; backup is a manual export.