Making your own flashcards can be tedious, but they’re such a great study tool that it would be a shame to let that stop you from using them. Although there are major retention benefits to writing information down by hand, busy learners don’t always have time—so here are some great online options for making and using flashcards.
The best online flashcards
There are some great, easy-to-use sites that allow you to create flashcard decks online, then use those virtual decks to study.
For finding pre-made flashcards: Brainscape
Brainscape gives you the option to make your own flashcards, but also to search for decks made by other learners. The free-account option allows you to use text, while the paid version lets you add images and sounds, do more advanced editing, study an unlimited amount, import materials, copy other users’ flashcards into your files, and see learning stats. One month of Brainscape is $19.99, six months cost $59.94, a year is $95.88, and a lifetime membership is $199.99.
Using your phone? Here’s the iOS version and the Android version.
For simplicity: Cram
Sometimes, all you need or want is the simplest flashcard deck, with cards that have a front and back and can be used for quizzing. Cram is so easy to use and it’s free. You get plain, white cards that the site displays either as traditional flashcards, a matching game with drop-down menus, or classic computer games (a jewel-matching game and a space shooting game) that pull your flashcard information into them. Besides the flashy games, there are no unnecessary frills here. Enter the information onto the cards and study. It’s that easy.
Download the apps, too: iOS is here and Android is here.
To add pictures: Quizlet
There are a number of flashcard generators that let you use pictures, but the pricing on many of them is weirdly opaque. Quizlet, a popular studying platform, allows you to create flashcards (with pictures!), browse other people’s flashcards, and take practice quizzes—and the pricing for getting rid of ads and studying an unlimited amount is straightforward: You pay $35.99 per year or $7.99 per month. You can import existing data, from Word or Excel, too, to create the flashcards even faster.
Download for your iPhone here and your Android here.
For spaced repetition: Anki
Anki is a program, so you’ll need to download it to your device before you can use the web version, but it is worth it if you use your flashcards for more serious studying. The program allows you to use spaced repetition, an evidence-based learning method that serves up difficult concepts and easier ones at different times, helping you retain them. The open-source program supports audio, video, and images, as well as LaTeX scientific markup, so while it’s a little more complicated than your usual web-based flashcard makers, it’s designed to help you with some pretty complex stuff. It’s free on many devices, but the iOS version costs $24.99. (And here’s the Android link.)
The best flashcards you can print
If you like using flashcards in the physical, IRL sense, but don’t want to hand-write them, you can still use software to make it easier. Try these.
For simplicity: Flashcard.online
Flashcard.online is a free website that allows you to make simple flashcards with text or images, save them, and print them. You can select if you’re going to make two, four, or eight cards per list, input the information, and then print them out. The website adds little borders so you can easily cut the cards to a uniform size and is automatically set to an A4 size paper.
For something flashier: Canva
Canva is the go-to online graphics software for a reason: It’s easy to use but it looks nice, plus the creators have thought of a variety of templates and use cases for just about anyone. Canva has a free flashcard maker that lets you pick the size and shape of the template, add a theme, resize your text, and drag and drop images. Start from scratch or use a pre-made template, then just print it out and cut it up.